By By William F. West / community editor
Oct. 3, 2002
U.S. Rep. Ronnie Shows will be in Meridian Saturday to address a group of supportive veterans and military retirees. The rally is set for 11 a.m. on the steps of the Lauderdale County Courthouse.
Shows spokesman Troy Colbert said veterans have been encouraged by Shows' support for Tricare for Life, a health care system for people who have served in the armed forces.
Colbert said the Veterans of Foreign Wars Political Action Committee has endorsed Shows. Colbert said Shows is committed to veterans because his father, Clifford, was a prisoner of war during World War II, having been captured in the Battle of the Bulge.
Shows, a Democrat from Bassfield, faces U.S. Rep. Chip Pickering, a Republican from Laurel, in the Nov. 5 election.
Pickering's campaign manager, Henry Barbour, said Wednesday that neither candidate has cornered the market on honoring veterans.
Barbour said Pickering was also involved in the Tricare for Life bill.
Shows, elected in 1998, represents Mississippi's 4th Congressional District. Mississippi lost a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives after Census 2000, and Shows will face Pickering in November in a re-drawn 3rd Congressional District.
Pickering, elected in 1996, represents the current 3rd District.