Fla. doc fired over 'doughnuts equal death' sign

Would any­one have com­plained if it was Krispy Kreme?

PENSACOLA, Fla. — Dr. Jason New­som railed against burg­ers, french fries, fried chick­en and sweet tea in his cam­paign to pro­mote bet­ter eat­ing in a part of the coun­try known as the Red­neck Riv­iera. He might still be lead­ing the charge if he had only left the dough­nuts alone.

A 38-year-old for­mer Army doc­tor who served in Iraq, New­som returned home to Pana­ma City a few years ago to run the Bay Coun­ty Health Depart­ment and launched a one-man war on obe­si­ty by post­ing sar­don­ic warn­ings on an elec­tron­ic sign outside:

"Sweet Tea (equals) Liq­uid Sugar."

"Ham­burg­er (equals) Spare Tire."

"French Fries (equals) Thun­der Thighs."

He also called out KFC by name to make peo­ple think twice about fried chicken.

Then he par­o­died "Amer­i­ca Runs on Dunkin'," the dough­nut chain's slo­gan, with: "Amer­i­ca Dies on Dunkin'."

Some pow­er play­ers in the Gulf Coast tourist town decid­ed they had had their fill.