NATCHEZ &045; As it begins to look like changes of some kind are ahead for Natchez’s Ramada Inn, at least one longtime Natchez civic group is moving its weekly meetings from the hotel.

Rotary will begin holding its Wednesday meetings at Bowie’s Tavern, Page Ogden said Monday.

The decision was made &uot;out of conservatism,&uot; Ogden said, noting that the hotel &045; whose owners have been in negotiations to sell the property &045; is likely to be undergoing changes such as a sale or construction soon.

&uot;We wish all sides the best,&uot; Ogden said.

Rumors about the future of the hotel have been circling for some time as negotiations were ongoing between the owners and Charles Cato, a Florida developer who hoped to use the hotel as part of his new gaming complex. Cato had previously said the talks were off, but he could not comment on the negotiations Monday.

The Great Mississippi River Balloon Race is scheduled to have its pilots stay in the hotel during the annual event, and balloon race organizer Laura Godfrey said that as of Monday that was still the plan.

But she said the committee would have a contingency plan if the hotel is not available.

The hotel apparently lost power for a couple of hours Monday morning, Entergy customer services representative Steven Carothers said.

He could not say anything else about the outage.