Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, September 14, 1993                   TAG: 9309140013
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-2   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: Paul Dellinger
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

IT CLEARS YOUR DRAINS, DOESN'T IT?

Basically, it's about vinegar.

A friend of mine in the news business and I were unofficial tasters and testers of this beverage when it was first marketed in Southwest Virginia.

It was developed by retired Alabama farmer Jack McWilliams, who put it on the market in his hometown in 1989.

Its popularity has been spreading ever since, and it has arrived in this part of the state.

In our approaches to such things as conspiracy theories and UFOs, I tend to be more of a skeptic than my friend.

Maybe that's why our sips from those early 64-ounce, $5.95 bottles affected us differently, giving us results we expected and perhaps psychologically engineered.

McWilliams, 67, once an elementary school teacher for four years and a chamber of commerce president, is his own best salesman. He said he suffered from arthritis and arterial blockages before he started his vinegar regimen.

"You know, if our grandmother was here . . . she would tell you to take some vinegar," he said. "Well, folk medicine. Everybody laughs. We all laughed, including myself."

But he tried it, mixing small amounts daily with soft drinks.

"I'm not a brave person. I couldn't take vinegar straight," he said.

Gradually he began feeling better, he said.

Not only did he have more energy, but one day he pulled a T-shirt over his head and realized it hadn't hurt. "I hadn't anticipated a change for the arthritis," he said.

He had used vinegar to clean milking machines, kitchen drains and farm equipment. Might the stuff clean out arteries too? "Well, in that context, maybe Grandma's old remedy was not so folksy."

He urged his concoction on relatives with, he said, good results:

"One day, I had to accept that it was incumbent upon me to make this known to the nation or forget it."

So he became an entrepreneur. He has done so well that he got a certificate of appreciation this year from his governor "in recognition of your outstanding contribution to the economic growth and development of the state of Alabama."

McWilliams is careful to make no health claims for his mixture of vinegar and fruit juices - "You don't want to give anyone false hope" - but will happily share excerpts from letters sent by people who say a couple of ounces a day have lowered their cholesterol.

He will even show you a few who say it has improved their sex lives.

After only a few days, my friend said he thought he did feel better. He also found he could eat spicy foods without the heartburn he usually got.

As for me, I didn't notice any difference one way or the other.

One morning, however, I found the bottle missing from the refrigerator. It turned out that my wife, not knowing why I'd had it, spotted it when she was looking for beverages to bring to a bridal shower and had confiscated it.

As far as I've been able to ascertain, the folks at the shower experienced no miracle cures. But they liked the taste just fine.

Paul Dellinger covers Pulaski County for the Roanoke Times & World-News' New River Valley bureau.