ATHENS – Athens State University will be hosting its annual Flag Day Ceremony sponsored by the Athens State Alumni Association on Friday, June 13 at noon in the Sandridge Student Center Ballroom. A free hot dog luncheon will follow the ceremony courtesy of Limestone Bay Trading Company.
Jerry Barksdale will serve as this year’s speaker. He graduated from Athens High School in 1960 and married his high school sweetheart in 1961. While working over 90 hours a week at McConnell’s Funeral Home he attended the then Athens College for 3 years before going to the University of Alabama where he graduated with a law degree in 1967.
After practicing one year in Fort Payne, Alabama with noted Criminal Defense
Jerry Barksdale
Attorney Robert B. French, he returned to Athens in 1968 and formed a partnership with Henry Blizzard. They rented two $30.00 rooms in what was once Booth’s Pool Hall on North Marion Street and hung out their shingle. Blizzard became Circuit Judge ten years later and Barksdale continued private practice.
In his 43 year career Barksdsale tried thousands of cases including capital murder, murder, bank robbery, kidnapping, medical malpractice, product liability lawsuits, land-line disputes and divorces. He is a founding member of the Alabama Veterans Museum and Archives and a columnist for the Athens News Courier and Athens Now.
Barksdale’s first book, When Duty Called is a collection of World War II stories. He is author of Cornbread Chronicles, Duty, a thriller novel, The Fuhrer Document. He has just completed Revolutionaries and Rebels, a historical novel that was released in mid 2013.
Barksdale retired from law practice in 2010 and moved to a small farm on Elk River where he writes.
Music for the event will be provided by the Athens State University Community Band under the direction of Dan Havely. Carissa Lovvorn will sing the national anthem.
“Everyone looks forward to the annual patriotic event,” says Lisa Payne chairperson of the Flag Day Committee. “I am excited that Jerry Barksdale will entertain us with his speech entitled Our Flag: Beacon of Liberty and Hope.” The Flag Day Celebration at Athens State is free and open to the public.
MEDIA RELEASE/ATHENS STATE UNIVERSITY/GUY MCCLURE, JR.
