This brief pause between acres of Georgia farmland boasts two grocery stores, three cemeteries and a pair of billboards advertising the McDonalds on Main Street.

But Dawson is a small town with a big problem — it is the county seat for Terrell County, the heaviest county in the state, with 38 percent of its adults considered obese according to the U.S. County Health Rankings.

“We know that we’re almost always going to be near the [top],” said Carolyn Maschke, the public information officer for Terrell County’s health district. “It’s really a tough situation.”

The University of Georgia joined the state’s fight against obesity with the UGA Obesity Initiative in 2012, a multi-million dollar research and outreach program.

Two years later, the initiative has yet to establish a meaningful presence in the counties with the highest obesity rates. These are often in the rural areas, such as Northeast and Southwest Georgia. While UGA has a representative in Terrell County, health officials weren’t even aware of the initiative’s existence.

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