McDonald named to chair key committee

By By Fredie Carmichael / staff writer
Feb. 14, 2004
JACKSON Gov. Haley Barbour on Friday appointed a Meridian man to head an influential state effort to fight the Defense Department's next round of base closures.
Barbour named Lamar McDonald to chair the Mississippi Military Communities Council the state's point group on the upcoming 2005 round of military base realignment and closures, or BRAC.
Barbour has said he believes every military base in Mississippi is a potential target of the 2005 round of base closures, including Naval Air Station Meridian and the 186th Air Refueling Wing of the Mississippi Air National Guard.
McDonald agreed.
McDonald, head of the Navy Meridian Team, has been an MMCC member since 1996 and has played a key role in protecting NAS Meridian from closure rounds as one of the base's strongest proponents.
State Rep. Greg Snowden, R-Meridian, was in Jackson on Friday when the governor announced McDonald to chair the military council.
Snowden said having Meridian residents like McDonald and Bill Crawford, who was recently named deputy director of the Mississippi Development Authority and will play a key role in defending the state's military bases from BRAC, in such important positions should strengthen Meridian's efforts to protect its bases.