Club’s ‘Kiss A Pig’ winner announced

Alexander Cain
The Union-Recorder

March 26, 2008 12:15 am

— Shortly after lunch on Monday afternoon, Milledgeville resident and local businessman Linton McKnight was witnessed cradling a bottle of Cool Mint Listerine and wiping his mouth with his sleeve in the parking lot of the Boys and Girls Club on West Charlton Street.
It wasn’t what he had eaten for lunch that had caused his unusual behavior, however. McKnight had just become up close and personal with a 100-pound, somewhat-uncomfortable pot-bellied pig named “Oreo.”
“That was a first. The pig hair felt real brittle. It was intense,” McKnight said.
As the winner of the Boys and Girls Club of Baldwin & Jones County’s annual “Kiss A Pig” Contest, McKnight was forced to pucker up to the precocious porcine outside the club’s office Monday.
Having raised a total of $1,166 for the club was a “small price to pay,” McKnight said, to have undergone the swine smooch.
“It’s one of our most profitable fundraisers, and it’s all for a lot of fun,” Paul Bernard, executive director for the Boys and Girls Club of Baldwin & Jones County for more than 25 years, said.
The four “contestants” this year were Nadirah Z. Ross, diversity program coordinator for institutional equity and diversity at Georgia College & State University; Kiwanis Club member Linton McKnight, co-owner and co-founder of landscaping business Birthflowers.com LLC; Bobby Michaud, owner and operator of Old Clinton Bar-B-Que’s Gray and Milledgeville locations, and Bruno Jones, assistant vice president of Exchange Bank.
Jones came in second, raising an estimated $700, while Michaud and Ross raised “about $200 each,” according to Bernard.
McKnight’s wife and business partner Linda was the main reason behind Linton’s first-place finish, Bernard said.
“I ran an advertisement in both radio stations, made announcements at Kiwanis club meetings, and when we would go out to restaurants, I would carry a bucket with a ‘Wanted’ sign for his participation and people would send donations from other tables,” Linda McKnight joked. “Ken Vance was eating nearby once and sent us some money. We did that a lot — at a Business After Hours event sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce, I had a stuffed pig that I used to ask for donations, and we received $54 almost immediately.”
The four contestants raised around $2,500 in total for the Boys and Girls Club of Baldwin & Jones County, which works with around 500 youth in both counties each year, according to Bernard.
John Sallstrom is a friend of McKnight’s and a supporter of nonprofit organizations in Baldwin County such as the Boys and Girls Club and Habitat for Humanity.
Sallstrom was one of the only bystanders present for Monday’s meeting between man and pig — a meeting which nearly didn’t happen.
The McKnights arrived at 12:59 p.m. The meeting was scheduled for 1 p.m.
“I’m here to help see to it that he actually goes through with it,” Sallstrom chuckled. “I think that it’s a wonderful event, and it’s all a good way to raise some money for the club. I came by today to see if Lin would actually follow through with his obligations.”
The kiss, which lasted less than three seconds, was immortalized through photographs taken by The Union-Recorder and McKnight’s wife Linda.
“It was wiry and bristly. That was a surprise. It was definitely not soft and furry,” McKnight said after it was all over.
For Revel Pogue, the kiss was one of the best images she could have seen all day.
As the chairperson with the Boys and Girls Club of Baldwin & Jones County “Kiss A Pig Committee,” Pogue had overseen much of the event’s more comical portions.
For instance, Pogue saw to it that every few weeks each lucky participant received a postcard from Oreo thanking them for participating in the contest and noting that Oreo was “looking forward” to meeting one of the four individuals raising money for the organization.
“I feel like it went really well. It’s a really good feeling, and the community has always given us a good reception,” Pogue said. “A lot of people don’t realize how strong of a Boys and Girls Club we have in these two counties, thanks in part to Paul Bernard and his dedication to the organization.”
After the kiss was over, it was difficult to tell who was more relieved — Oreo or Linton McKnight.
Owner Joni Adams will take Oreo back to her residence in Milledgeville where the pig sleeps on a blanket inside the house each evening.
“I got her at Smiley’s flea market in Macon last July. She’ll be one year old in a few months,” Adams said. “I have a fenced in yard, and Oreo stays there while I’m at work. I think all of this is great. I’m always glad to do anything I can to help the Boys and Girls Club.”
The Boys and Girls Club of Baldwin & Jones Counties will soon begin to mail out informational reminders and packets to local residents providing an opportunity to sponsor a child in the Boys and Girls Club for $500.
The club is also scheduled to hold a golf tournament at Little Fishing Creek in May.

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