Town Hall speaker series kicks off in January

All of the speaker events are held at the Registry Resort and Club and begin at 6 p.m.

The series kicks off on Monday, Jan. 12, with documentary filmmaker Ken Burns who will present "Great American lives and their influence on our culture."

Among Burns' film works are 1994's "Baseball," 2001's "Jazz" and 1990's "The Civil War," the highest-rated series in the history of American public television. Burns' works have earned many awards, including an Emmy for "Baseball" and an Academy Award nomination for "The Statue of Liberty."

On Friday, Feb. 13, Mary Matalin and James Carville will speak on "All's fair: Love, War and Politics." Matalin is a former assistant to President Bush and counselor to Vice President Dick Cheney; Carville, her husband, is a well-known political consultant who worked with President Bill Clinton on the road to his 1992 presidency.

Carville also acts as co-host of CNN's "Crossfire" and the couple appears on HBO's new political series, "K Street."

On Saturday, March 6, Gen. Tommy Franks will present "The Campaign Trail -- Afghanistan to Baghdad and beyond." Known as an astute strategist with more than 30 years of U.S. military service, the four-star general led a coalition of more than 60 nations in the recent wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Franks has been awarded many medals and honors, including the Legion of Merit, the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart. Franks retired from the military in August.

On Wednesday, March 17, financial television journalist Stuart Varney will give a talk about "A new day in America: Its economy, its politics and its culture." Presently, Varney is the host of CNBC's "The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board with Stuart Varney," and also served as co-host of CNN's "MoneyLine News Hour" from 1999 to 2001.

Varney, who joined CNN when it was founded in 1980, earned a Peabody Award for excellence in journalism for his coverage and analysis of the 1987 stock market crash.

Cost of tickets to the series of four are as follows: Two benefactor-level tickets are $3,050 and include lecture and dinner tickets, cocktail reception, question-and-answer period, and an invitation to attend all speaker press conferences and to dine with a guest speaker; lecture and dinner tickets are $775 per person and include lecture, cocktail reception and question-and-answer period; lecture-only tickets are $310 per person.

For more information, call 261-6524.