Tampa Bay Times from St. Petersburg, Florida • 11

6B TIMES SUNDAY, APRIL 25, 1993 Hot Dog from 1B Mandatory HIV test leads to suit The case, filed in Broward Circuit Court, pits a dental assistant against his former boss, who he says fired him for refusing to be tested. tested br HIV, the virus thought to cause acquired immune deficiency syndrome, Buckhalt said. But some dmtists have encouraged their employees to be tested. Few have ordered their employees to be tested, le said. "Wfch the Bergalis scare in Florida, I could understand a dentist using this tactic," Buckhalt said.

"But this cas will probably bring about a whole new area of concern the privacy rights of the professional individual." i In tie lawsuit, the medical assistant referred to as John De accuses his former employer of breaking a Florida law that prevents employers from requiring an emdoyee to get an AIDS test as a condition of hiring, promotion or continued employment unless the absnce of AIDS is a conditional qualification for the enployee. Tht lawsuit alleges that on July 17, 1991, the dentistordered his clerical staff and dental assistants to subnit to biannual HIV tests. Th employees also were required to waive their confidmtiality rights on their test results, the lawsuit says. I Thi dental assistant was fired because he refused to be tested. Th; suit is seeking unspecified damages for the assistait's lost wages while he was out of work.

of Saudi Arabia. "I thought this was what the States were all about but I guess not." In explaining the crackdown, Rice's office produced a thick folder of letters from the public about the hot dog vendors. Although one or two defended the T-back enterprises, most of the writers ticked off reasons to shut them down: indecency, traffic accidents, crime and the risk of contaminated food. Salaman says none of the concerns is justified. Spend a day watching her work, and decide for yourself.

Dear Sheriff Rice, It is extremely repulsive to drive down any highway in Pinellas County and see the T-back vendors flaunting their bodies. My question to you is-. How long will the average citizen of Pinellas County have to be openly confronted with these perverted lifestyles? With a head of golden hair, long legs and a few threads covering the rest of her, Salaman is a roadside LadyGodiva. As the sun pours down, workers and tourists pack U.S. 19 with lunch hour traffic.

Salaman has parked her cart just south of Belleair Road and is scrambling to fill orders for all-beef hot dogs, Polish sausages, potato chips and soda. Behind her, the line lengthens. Executives in white shirts and wingtips. Boys in baggy shorts. Guys with grimy hands and blue collars.

No one is complaining about the wait. They are too busy staring. Salaman doesn't mind being on display. She says, "I love that!" For every driver who stops, another 10 honk, holler or hoot their appreciation. That's the only public opinion toll Salaman needs.

She says most FORT LAUDERDALE A dental assistant is suing the dentist who" fired him because the assistant refused to be tested for the virus that causes AIDS. The lawsuit, reportedly the first such action in Florida, was filed in Broward Circuit Court last week, according to the Sun-Sentinelin Fort Lauderdale. The parties to the lawsuit agreed that the names of the dental assistant and the "dentist would be kept secret for now. Circuit Judge Geoffrey Cohen will decide if the names remain confidential. "This is the first time I've heard of such a case," said Bill Buckhalt, executive Rector of the Florida Board of Dentistry.

Dentists in Florida and elsewhere have increased precautions since Kimberly Bergalis apparently contracted AIDS through her dentist in Stuart. Miss Bergalis, 23, of Fort Pierce, died in December 1991. No law requires dentists or their assistants to be 'JlrJ In 3 Adult from IB -7 Air ht people like what they see and the people complaining are a minority made up of "church people" and women her age. Of the church folks, she says, "I see it like it's art. God gave me the body, so why not?" She saves harsher words for the young women.

"Thev're iust iealous." she mm I vv says. "They're so ugly, so fat, so insecure." Born in Saudi Arabia, Sala- i 1 1 man moved here with her Time photo BRIAN BAER A group plays charades at the day-care center, one of six operated by Neighborly Senior Services in Pinellas County. Hala Salaman says young women who don't like her outfit are jealous mother, sisters and brother 11 years ago. After graduating from Clearwater High School, she lacked the money to go to college. So she ended up selling hot dogs from a roadside cart.

Older Americans Act. It was a time of increasing concern for the welfare of the poor and the elderly. But before Congress authorized the money, several tests were tried, including some in Pinellas. Politicians now praise efforts like day care because they let elderly people avoid costly hospitalization and nursing home care. The centers also provide a break for spouses or families who can't provide 24-hour care or need to work during the day.

But such programs are crunched in the same vise as other social services in the '90s: increasing demand, decreasing dollars. "It seems for the past three years, we've gone through these fires, worrying we might have to close a center because the money wasn't there," said Fred Buch-holtz, executive director of Neighborly Senior Services. The non-profit group operates six day-care centers serving more than 600 people and other elder programs in Pinellas with donations and government money. Like other elder services agencies in Florida and nationally, the group has not gotten an extra government dime for many of its programs for several years, or it has watched inflation erode whatever small increases are awarded in other programs. Meanwhile, waiting lists grow.

With the state and nation graying quickly, especially the older-than-75 group, Buchholtz and others are wondering about the future even as they celebrated the center's silver anniversary Friday. "The size and number of programs aren't expanding," Buchholtz said. "But the needs are." There was a small need when the center started in April 1968 with only eight people, said Dale Sklenar, director of the six adult day-care centers. Many people were a little puzzled or saw it as welfare since there is no or little charge for services, officials say. "It was a hard sell at first," said Buchholtz, who joined the 1990.

She has gone to the center since and says she finds it wonder- 1 ful, especially the companionship. Her days are filled with a variety of activities. They usually start 1 with coffee and doughnuts, and they can include light exercise like stretching, discussion of current events, occasional speakers and a hot lunch. The centers also have a nurse on staff who can help with health care and medication. "This is a second home to me," said Paul Koerner, 82, who lives alone.

Wally Turnbull agrees, using one of his favorite words, "Nice." As he talked, there is laughter in another room where a group is playing charades. But Turnbull is not playing. He is sitting quietly at a table, weaving an afghan. The needle in his left hand the only one he can use darts through the plastic mesh. The work reminds Turnbull of his youth, when he learned uphol- i stery from his father in Minneapo- lis.

But now he says he can make it, with the help of the center and his sister and brtther-in-law with 1 whom he lives. agency in 1969. "Peope were not familiar with it." 1 The thought then vas families took care of their elders, or the elders took care of hemselves. And when the time cime that it became too hard to wJk or clean or cook for themselves the option was usually a nursing lome. And day care was something associated with childnn, not people older than 65.

"There were peopfe who were alone and needed somt socializing and a good hot meal," Jklenar said. Things have changid. "The participants are getting a little older, more impured," said Bette Jenkins, the scuth county site supervisor. The average age i about 85. The same thing is hippening in other places, as the fstest growing portion of the senio' population is the group that is oker than 85.

They are usually the ones who need the most service and often have no one close wh is able to care for them all day. "I was home alone nuch of the time, and I would get alittle lonely and depressed," said Katherine Minor, 85, a widow vhose sons live in Pasco County and North Carolina. "You can't jist read all the time." Mrs. Minor is a retired librarian and has had trouble getting around since an auto accident in Timet photo CHERIE DIEZ Sharon Adams of Tolland, photographs hot dog vendor Hala Salaman. in your car or you're going to get Maced." While some men act badly, so do some women.

One time, Salaman recalled, she was leaning over her cart to get a cold soda. A woman customer grabbed, in Salaman's words, "two hands full." When Salaman protested, the woman said: "I couldn't help myself." As a father, lean appreciate the temptations that are everywhere in our culture, but this seems to be a blatant attempt to let sex be the come-on The old saying is, "Those who advertise usually have something to sell, "and hot dogs do not seem to be the item of interest here. Salaman has heard the talk: The hot dog carts are fronts for prostitution, drug dealing and luring customers into nude dance clubs. "We're just out here selling dogs," she says. "We're not selling anything else." But don't take her word for it; check with police.

Of the eight women cited by deputies for violating roadside regulations, none has state or county criminal records. And sheriffs spokesman Sgt. Greg Tita said police have no evidence of illegal activity. "None of these girls has ever been arrested for anything other than simple county ordinance violations," Tita said. As for working the X-rated clubs, Salaman says she's not interested.

"You're in the sun all day. You're pretty tired. You don't want to work anywhere else at night." If one of these girls has a bite and scratches her rear end, there are no facilities to wash their hands, and I for one would not want to be her next customer even though I know there are enough perverts out there who would fight over it. Salaman's smile fades. She marches around the side of her silver cart and points to the faucets there.

"We have a sink right over here. Hot water, cold, soap," she says angrily. "That's how a lot of people try to shut us down. Say all we do is play with our G-strings and move dogs. That's not true.

I don't like to be served that way. I won't serve that way." She has a question of her own and an answer. 'Have you seen me touch my bottom? No!" Well, technically, Salaman does touch to flick away a lovebug or rub on oil. But in every instance, she says, she cleanses her hands before serving more food. An official of the state Department of Business Regulation could not locate inspection records on Salaman's carts last week.

But the official said all carts are required to have sinks, and inspectors have found few cleanliness problems. "Generally, there's not a whole lot that can go wrong with a hot dog cart," said Al Gray, a sanitation and safety supervisor with the state office. This is to vehemently protest the harassment being brought upon innocent hot dog vendors in Pinellas County. They are doing no harm, and they should sue to safeguard their just rights. Salaman isn't the first woman to sell hot dogs in a T-back, nor the first to face a legal challenge.

Last year in Palm Beach County, for instance, county commissioners tried to force vendors wearing G-strings, thongs and pasties to work inside a 4-foot opaque enclosure or risk jail time. The vendors have challenged the law. In Pinellas, officials are enforcing two laws: a state law prohibiting sales on public rights of way and a county ordinance against people selling food while exposing "his or her genitals, pubic hair, pubic hair region or buttocks." While the state law could apply to many types of roadside stands, deputies have focused on the T-back vendors. Salaman and others have hired lawyers, but she hopes to avoid a court showdown. She has better things to do with her time: like make money.

After paying for supplies, insurance and staff, Salaman says she clears $300 in a good week. She'd like to use some of that money to buy some sunscreen and to chase her American dream. "I'm either to open up a sports bar or a restaurant or a car wash," she says. "But I'm always going to be working for myself." As the afternoon wears on, the dust blows around Salaman, sticking to her skin. The exhaust fumes swirl into her lungs.

She opens can after can of soda to fight off dehydration. She never sits down. "You have to show your sign," she says. "You can't sit on it" Tlmm researcher Kitty Bennett and Barbara Hljek contributed to this article. "One day at a time," says.

And he smiles. DEATHS To Salaman, the job offered a heady blend of social and economic freedom. In Saudi Arabia, women can't wear bathing suits in public. They marry young, have children and hide their faces. "You just wait around for your husband to support you," she says.

"That's not what I want at all." When she began peddling hot dogs, Salaman drew stares with skimpy shorts. Then she slipped into a thong suit. The undress spelled success; four years after she sold her first wiener, Salaman has become the self-styled queen of Pinellas' T-back vendors. Salaman lives at home with her mother. She says she saved enough money to buy seven carts, valued at $1,500 to $4,500 each.

She hired employees and placed them at intersections in Pinellas' industrial midsection in hopes of luring hungry passers-by. Most of those who stop are men. Take, for instance, Todd. He's 24, long-haired and wearing wrap-around sunglasses. Because he's under house arrest on a drug possession charge, he says stopping at Salaman's cart is a rare treat.

"Any time she's out here, I stop," Todd says. "I don't have a social life; she's it." Or Dan Glasser, a 37-year-old salesman. He makes no apologies for admiring Salaman's olive skin. "Now I can see why the women in Saudi Arabia wear veils." The men aren't alone. Linda Emond and her husband spend winters in New Port Richey, and they regularly bring their visitors down U.S.

19 for a hot dog and some visual relish. "This is pure Florida," Mrs. Emond says as her husband observes. "You come to Florida. You expect to see the beach, the T-backs and the hot dog girls." Mrs.

Emond's only complaint: that there aren't more hunky hot dog boys. Having inspected what male vendors there are, she gripes: "They're dumpy, 'old guys." Many times on the highway I have had to slam on my brakes to prevent an accident because of men swerving in the road, stopping with no signal or just becoming more interested in the "bare" on the side of the road than on their driving. mm Mike Binns is one of Salaman's regular customers. He points at the line of cars whizzing by. "It's ridiculous," he says.

"Traffic's not slowing down. The tourists who come down here and try to decipher the road signs are more of a hazard." Rice asked the Florida Highway Patrol to investigate whether any accidents could be traced to drivers distracted by the hot dog vendors. The answer came back in an April 8 letter from Capt. Earl R. Woody of the highway patrol.

Woody said his troopers recalled 14 accidents in the area of the vendors over a 2-year period. None involved T-backs "as a contributing factor." Salaman's undraped figure may not be a proven car-wrecker. But it brings other hazards. Smooth talkers, for instance. While Salaman was talking to a reporter the other day, a short man with long sideburns and a vaguely foreign accent walked up.

He spoke in a whisper, but after Salaman sent him off with a shake of her head, she recounted the conversation. "Would you pose for me nude? I'm from Playboy." "Do you even have a business card?" "No, I don't have a business card yet" "Good tryP' Then there are the tightwads. A man with a white mustache and floppy hat walked up with a camera slung over his shoulder. "I'm over here from Australia for the holidays, and I've never seen the likes of it. Would you mind if I took a picture of you?" Salaman knows the type.

He won't even put down a dollar for a cold drink. She said, "I wouldn't mind but we do charge for pictures." The man slunk away. Then there are the people who make remarks not fit for repetition. And the ones who just sit in their cars and leer. Even as Salaman trades on her sex appeal, she draws the line.

A stare or slightly sexist remark will a tight smile. But crude talk or groping hands prompt a sterner response. Salaman tells them, "Get M.S. Degree in Mental Health Counseling If you already have a tachelor's degree, now you can earn a master's degree in Mental Health Counseing without interrupting your career. WILLIAM CURRY HOLDEN, 96, an archaeologist who unearthed and helped preserve the history of Indians and the South Plains, died Wednesday in Lubbock, Texas, after a brief illness.

A former dean of archaeology research at Texas Tech University, he reconstructed Pueblo ruins near Santa Fe, N. between 1933 and 1950. An informational meeting will be held on Saturday, May 22, 1993, at 10:30 a.m. -12 noon Room 78 The deadline for applications is June 25,1993. Nova's field-based mster of science degree program in Mental Health Counseling features: Weekend classe- A convenient loation A distinguished acuity.

Applications are beinl HOVAUNIVERSITY accepted for classes hat will begin in September "B93. Classes will be held i St. Paul's School 1600 St. Paul's Drive Clearwater, Florida 3546-6493. Yes, I already twe a bachelor's degree.

Yes, I am intereted in the M.S. degree in Menial Health Counseling. I Please send me alditional information and application materials. Tohono O'odham Indian leader who waged a relentless battle to make gambling the economic linchpin for his tribe, died Monday in Tucson, of colon cancer. He was in his second four-year term last spring when federal agents seized electronic gaming machines from a tribal casino near Tucson and from four other Arizona tribes.

Mr. Moore fought the seizure and became a widely recognized spokesman for tribes across the state as they battled Gov. Fife Symington for the right to casino-style reservation gambling. Local obituaries and the Suncoast Deaths appear in regional sections. Name Address.

City ftesidence I Telephone I Ollice nova UNivERsrrr School of Psychilogy-Graduato Admissions 3301 College Averue, Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33314 Hon UimersHf a xaediled tt Commission on Coileoes ol Southern tssoemm at Colleges no scwrts wr oxneiot 1. master i eduanati scKuhst rl oovoni OKcees Am Ummsiy units students ol any nee. etna, set aye. KmnsQiuiilying handicap, leiiQKmaaeM. ot mini 01 tfiniJt 191 3-I'M.