Snow delays D.C. trip

By Vershal Hogan (Contact) | The Natchez Democrat

Published Tuesday, February 9, 2010

VIDALIA — Miss-Lou officials won’t be spending the week in Washington, D.C., — they’ve been snowed out.

The mayors of Natchez, Clayton, Ferriday and Vidalia, as well as representatives of the Concordia Economic and Industrial Development District and the Natchez Board of Aldermen, had plans to attend the U.S. 84 El-Camino Corridor conference in the nation’s capital this week, and planned to lobby congressional leaders for funding for local projects when not at the conference.

But their flights got cancelled last night because of snow in the Washington, D.C., area, and a Tuesday flight couldn’t be guaranteed because more snow was expected, CPEIDD Director Heather Malone said.

Congressional offices were also closed due to the snow, she said.

“We thought it best just to go ahead and back up and schedule another trip,” Malone said. “We could have taken the trip and sat in a hotel room, but that wouldn’t have been productive.”

Malone said she has sent e-mails to the Congressional offices to see if the delegation can keep its appointments by phone when the offices reopen.

“That will allow us to have conference calls during those appointment times because we have some time-sensitive projects we wanted to discuss,” she said.

The group was able to cancel their hotel reservations without losing any money, and will be able to reschedule their plane tickets, Malone said.

Natchez Mayor Jake Middleton said he’s hopeful his delegation can reschedule a trip for sometime in early March. Alderwoman Joyce Arceneaux-Mathis and City Engineer David Gardner were also going.

Nearly three feet of snow had fallen in the Washington, D.C., area by Monday evening. More is predicted. For a full weather story see page 5A.