Latta will not attend meeting

NORWALK — U.S. Rep. Bob Latta's office confirmed on Wednesday the congressman will not attend a town hall meeting next week in Norwalk being organized by a constituent group. The only explanation was that the congressman had a scheduling conflict preventing him from attending. Latta has not responded to written inquiries from the Reflector. His spokesman, Craig Wheeler, provided a statement previously in response, but did not confirm the congressman's availability until after a news story published. Other questions sent by the Reflector to Latta's office, including his position on potential changes to the PACT Act, a veteran's health benefits law, were not answered. One of the town hall's organizers, Kate Rivet, of the Firelands Indivisible citizen activist group, reiterated that the meeting would proceed without Latta's participation, adding that they had not heard back from Latta's office on their invitation to him. "Since we expected him not to participate, we have been planning a town hall without him," Rivet said. "We have lined up a group of experienced local panelists to speak to some of the major issues we feel that people in Ohio's 5th (Congressional) District are concerned about." According to Rivet, the group has assembled a panel with wide-ranging knowledge on the issues constituents wanted to present to Latta. The panel consists of the following individuals: • Joe Logan, former President of the Ohio Farmers Union, who will discuss farming-related issues. • Brandi Bartly, a 30-plus year medical professional working for University Hospitals, who will discuss medical issues. • Ken Harbaugh, a former United States Navy pilot, who will emcee and discuss veterans' concerns. • Gina Perez, professor at Oberlin College and author, who will address issues concerning the local immigrant population. The group is still in the process of confirming that the speaker is concentrating on social issues. "We hope also to have a panelist who can speak to issues concerning jobs and family service programs getting cut or greatly reduced, but we don't have them confirmed yet," Rivet said. The group plans to begin the event with each panelist presenting a prepared discussion followed by a question and answer portion with the audience. Town hall details • Who: Hosted by citizen activist group Firelands Indivisible • What: Town hall/panel • Where: Milestone Event Center, 11 S. Prospect St., Norwalk • When: 7 p.m. on Tuesday, March 18