EX-AG OFFICIAL TO TALK AT JACKSON CHAMBER FETE

JACKSON -- Peter Myers, a former U.S. Department of Agriculture official, will be guest speaker at the Jackson Chamber of Commerce Banquet June 26.

New chamber officers will be installed during the banquet, to be held at the Bent Creek Golf Club, starting with a social hour at 6:30 p.m. New officers are Larry Hall, president; Jeff Moore, vice president; and Brent Wills, secretary-treasurer.

A highlight of the banquet will be the presentation of the annual R. A. Fulenwider Meritorious Community Award, presented to people for outstanding service to the community. The award was established in 1978, in honor of the late R.A. Fulenwider, a longtime civic and chamber leader in Jackson.

Reservations for the banquet are available by calling the Jackson Chamber of Commerce, 243-3131.

Meyers, president of Adopt A Farm Family of America Inc., a Christian outreach to farm and outreach families in the United States, is also president of Myers Land Management Co. of Sikeston, a farm management and consulting business.

Myers, who farmed in Southeast Missouri for 30 years, spent 10 years in Washington, seven of those with the Agriculture Department, where he served as deputy secretary. He also served as assistant secretary of Natural Resource and Environment, and as chief of the Soil Conservation Service.

Meyer later worked with the National Pork Producers Council and the Farm Credit System before returning to Southeast Missouri.