U.S. District Judge for the Southern District Keith Starrettwill be speaking Monday at Copiah-Lincoln Community College as thethird guest in the new Co-Lin Lecture Series.

Starrett will deliver a 45-minute message on ethics twice at theWesson school.

The first lecture will be held at 10 a.m. in the Rea Auditorium,and the second speech will be delivered at 6 p.m. in the Ewing FineArts Auditorium. Admission to the speaking events is free and opento the public.

Following the evening presentation, there will be a reception inwhich the audience will have a chance to meet and speak withStarrett. He served as 14th District Circuit Court judge forLincoln, Pike and Walthall counties from 1992 until his appointmentto the federal bench in 2004.

Co-Lin Lecture Series organizer Leslie Hood said speakers forthe lecture series are chosen based on their fields of expertise inrelation to current national events and topics.

“We try to choose a speaker that is relevant for the times,”Hood said. “Something the audience would enjoy – a hot topic kindof thing. Judge Starrett came up at the right time, with all thejudge scandals going on in Mississippi.”

The first speaker to appear at the lecture series last year wasBrig. Gen. Robert Crear of the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers, thehead of the Mississippi Valley Division in Vicksburg who commandedTask Force Hope in New Orleans, La., during recovery efforts fromHurricane Katrina.

The second speaker of the year was Col. Robert Thomas, a CrystalSprings native who assumed command of the Abu Ghraib prison afterthe prisoner abuse scandal had occurred.

The first speaker committed to the lecture series during the2008/2009 school year is Dr. Ed Thompson, head of the MississippiDepartment of Health.

“The lecture series exposes students and the general communityto topics they otherwise wouldn’t get the real details of,” Hoodsaid. “These lectures give them more information about things thathave actually happened. Being in a rural community, that’ssomething the community really lacks – an informative lecture oncurrent topics.”

So far, the lecture series has been appreciated. Hood said thatabout 300 people have attended each lecture from the community andstudent body, who usually have plenty of time to attend theengagements with the cancellation of class.

“Our teachers really support the lecture series,” Hood said.”They encourage the students to go.”

Hood also said that the lecture series organizers are urgingarea high schools to take time out to bring their students tolectures in the future.

Dr. Kevin McKone, another of the lecture series’ organizers,said plans for the future of the series include bringing nationalspeakers to the college.

Starrett’s lectures will be the last of the lecture series forthis school year. More information on the series can be foundonline at http://www.colin.edu/lecture/.