Posted by morlock on Thu Mar 2 00:09:47 2000: IP Address: 12.72.23.75
In Reply to: Clinton schedule posted by morlock on Wed Mar 1 20:52:36 2000:
Selma Times Journal 3/1/99
President's Plans Finalized
Visit to Brown AME Chapel left off of itinerary
By Jonathan McElvy The Selma Times-Journal
Published Wednesday, March 01, 2000 8:33 PM CST
President Bill Clinton will arrive in Selma at noon Sunday and will depart a few hours later after
marching across the Edmund Pettus Bridge. The President will not visit Brown AME Chapel during
his visit.
Sarah Gegenheimer, of the White House Press Office, confirmed on Wednesday the President's
plans for this weekend.
"The President will arrive at a Montgomery airport at 11 a.m. Sunday," Gegenheimer said. She
would not confirm which airport, but Air Force One most likely will land at Maxwell Air Force
Base. "He will then leave Montgomery on a helicopter and arrive in Selma probably 20 minutes later,"
Gegenheimer said. The President usually travels on Marine One, his helicopter.
Gegenheimer would not say where the President would land in Selma, but it's likely to be Craig
Airport.
After the President lands in Selma, he will motorcade to the National Voting Rights Museum,
where he will tour that building for about 15 minutes, according to Gegenheimer.
"When he completes his tour of the Voting Rights Museum, President Clinton will join the speaking
program at the base of the Edmund Pettus Bridge," Gegenheimer said. "There, he will make
his remarks to the people of Selma."
Plans are not confirmed concerning the speaking program, but sources say Clinton will join Rep.
John Lewis (D-Ga.), Rev. Jerome Harris of Brown Chapel and some local youth on a stage set up
at Songs of Selma Park. Other speakers for the event have not been announced.
Selma Mayor Joe Smitherman said his role in the event will be limited.
"I'll do whatever they ask me to do," he said.
"This is not the city's event. We support it and will do everything we can to help."
Smitherman said Sam Walker of the Voting Rights Museum has contacted him about sitting
in a roped off, VIP area.
"I don't even think Gov. Siegelman is going to be on the stage," Smitherman said. "He's probably
going to be seated where I am."
After Clinton gives his speech, he then will march across the bridge as part of the re-enactment.
However, Gegenheimer did say that Clinton will not march with the rest of the re-enactors.
"He will go ahead of everyone else," she said.
After Clinton crosses the bridge, he will then get back in the motorcade and travel back to the
helicopter landing site and depart for Montgomery, according the Gegenheimer.
"He's going to leave right after the march because there will be people coming from right
behind him and we don't want him to get run over," she said.
There's one thing quite obviously missing from the President's itinerary. Nowhere is there a stop
scheduled for Brown AME Chapel, where the 1965 march began and where Martin Luther King
Jr. delivered a sermon.
Nancy Sewell, a member of the Selma City Council and member of the board of trustees at
Brown Chapel, was distraught after hearing the news.
"I am very greatly disturbed," Sewell said. "I really felt he would want to retrace Martin's footsteps.
And Brown was prepared to have speakers outside."
Indeed, workers at Brown Chapel could be seen last week painting the stairs at the historic
church, where a bust of King guards the church.
Rev. Harris could not be reached Wednesday night for comment. He supposedly was in a
meeting with representatives from Washington, still discussing plans for Sunday.
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