MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT WILL RETURN

A member of the British Parliament will make a return visit to Cape Girardeau.

James Gray, a Conservative Party member in Great Britain, will attend the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce Second Friday Coffee April 9. Gray and U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson will be speakers at the coffee.

The first Friday in April falls on a holiday, Good Friday. The coffee will be held April 9 at 7:30 a.m. at the Show Me Center.

Emerson will present a congressional update, and Gray will discuss his observations of the political systems in the U.S. and Great Britain.

Gray, who was elected to Parliament in May 1997 from an agricultural district 100 miles west of London, was in Southeast Missouri last fall. He took in the sights at the SEMO District Fair in Cape Girardeau.

Gray was in the United States last year as part of a two-week visit. The trip was part of a cultural exchange coordinated by the British-American Parliamentary Group that lets U.S. and British lawmakers get a firsthand look at each other's government.

He will be in the United States in April for speaking engagements at St. Louis, Cape Girardeau and West Plains, said Atalie Ebersole, Emerson's campaign manager.

After the coffee, Gray will speak to a Southeast Missouri State University legislative process class. Later in the day, he will speak to The St. Louis Discussion Club, a group of conservative men and women that was founded in 1955.

Gray will attend a reception with faculty of University of Missouri-St. Louis during the afternoon of April 9 and speak before the St. Louis Golden Tusk group that evening. The Golden Tusk is a tour of conservative Republican Party contributors. Gray will wind up his Missouri trip April 10 at West Plains, where he will address the Howe County Lincoln Day meeting.