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Fran
Rickers, Yassin Barwari and Michele Erickson are
attending President Bush's speech today in Fargo --
but they're going for very different reasons.
Rickers will receive an award from Bush for her many
years of volunteer service.
Barwari hopes to thank Bush for removing former
Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein from power.
And Erickson wants to give 18 Girl Scouts a chance
to see the president and learn about Social
Security.
The president is expected to talk about his plans
for revamping Social Security.
Rickers said Wednesday she's scheduled to meet Bush
right after Air Force One lands.
Bush will present the President's Volunteer Service
Award to the 65-year-old Moorhead resident.
Rickers said she doesn't plan on saying anything
special to the president.
"I just hope I'm not speechless," she said. "It will
be a real honor."
Rickers also is scheduled to ride in the
presidential motorcade and to be seated in a special
section during the speech.
Since 1977, Rickers has volunteered more than 3,300
hours at the Fargo Veterans Affairs Medical Center.
She visits the hospital once a week, meets with
patients and distributes handmade quilts and other
items, all free of charge.
She also serves on the medical center's voluntary
services advisory committee and helps organize bingo
games, holiday activities and special programs for
the patients.
Rickers estimated she volunteers about 260 to 270
hours annually.
Barwari, a Kurd who has lived in Fargo since 1981,
wants to give Bush a personal "thank you" for
ordering the invasion of Iraq, which led to Saddam's
overthrow.
For too many years, the United States only watched
as Saddam killed and terrorized Kurds, Barwari said.
"Then President Bush acted, and so I want to thank
him," Barwari said.
Barwari doesn't think his chances of talking with
Bush today are good.
"But it would mean so much to me if could. So I'll
try," said Barwari, a member of the North Dakota
Kurdistan Democratic Party who traveled to Chicago
to vote in last weekend's Iraqi elections.
Shirley Blake, a Fargo Republican who first met
Barwari at a support-our-troops rally in Fargo,
helped him get tickets for today's speech.
Blake also said Barwari's chances of meeting and
thanking the president are slim.
"But it would be wonderful if he could. I know how
much he appreciates what President Bush has done,"
she said.
Eighteen Girl Scouts from Fargo's Nativity
Elementary School will be attending Bush's speech
today, said Erickson, the mother of two of the
scouts.
"They are absolutely excited beyond belief," said
Erickson, wife of U.S. District Judge Ralph
Erickson.
Nine-year-old Jennifer Friese burst into tears after
hearing Erickson had picked up tickets for Troop
888.
"I'm so honored," Friese said Wednesday with big
eyes. "I want to go so bad."
The fourth-grade Republican said she has paid
attention to politics in the news since her uncle
Lee went to Iraq with the 141st Engineer Combat
Battalion.
Friese said she's most excited just to see the
president in person.
Erickson said she hopes the event will be a civics
lesson for the girls. The adults plan to help
educate the girls about Social Security, which will
be a critical issue for them when they join the work
force, she said.
Seeing Bush is especially significant to Erickson,
she said, because he nominated her husband to the
federal bench in 2003.
But today won't be the first time Erickson has seen
the president in person. She had her picture taken
with Bush when he visited Fargo during a campaign
stop in October 1999.
"Ever since I met him in person, I've always been
impressed by his personality," Erickson said.
Readers can reach Forum reporters Jonathan Knutson
at (701) 241-5530 and Amy Dalrymple at (701)
241-5590
http://www.in-forum.com
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