Georgia congressman to visit Meridian

By By William F. West / community editor
Oct. 4, 2002
A Georgia congressman will be in Meridian on Saturday night to speak at a community banquet and urge people to vote in the Nov. 5 election.
U.S. Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., is the featured speaker for the event set to begin at 7 p.m. at the Council of Organizations Inc. building, 814 45th Ave.
The Labor-Religious-Community Forum Banquet is the result of an association of businesses, churches and labor rights activists, said Andrew Shelton, an AFL-CIO liaison for the state's 3rd Congressional District.
Shelton said Thursday that the idea for the banquet came after Lewis was asked to inspect a dilapidated religious building in Meridian.
Shelton said the plan was to ask Lewis and U.S. Reps. Ronnie Shows and Bennie Thompson, both Mississippi Democrats, to seek funding for a restoration.
Shows plans to attend the banquet. Shows faces U.S. Rep. Chip Pickering, a Republican, in the November election for the newly redrawn 3rd Congressional District.
Pickering's campaign had no comment on the banquet or Shows' appearance.
Shelton said the banquet will be a non-partisan event. But Lewis is a Democrat and is well-known for his opinions.