Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, April 27, 1993                   TAG: 9304270070
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Cox News Service
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

CONGRESSMAN ENDS FAST, SAYS GOALS ARE MET

He had a V-8.

"That is good!" the Ohio Democrat said as he sipped the thick, red vegetable juice from a plastic cup in his Capitol Hill office. "Nice and salty. Nice and thick. It's food."

Hall ended the fast shortly after Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy announced that the Clinton administration would sponsor a national conference on hunger in America, followed by a series of regional hearings around the country.

Friday, the World Bank announced that it would sponsor a conference on world hunger that could lead to a worldwide series of meetings on the issue.

Those developments - plus an outpouring of support from private organizations and individuals from around the country - caused Hall to conclude that the fast had served its purpose, he said.

Hall stopped eating on April 5 to protest the demise of the House Select Committee on Hunger, of which he was chairman, and to call attention to the problem of hunger.

Hall said he lost about 23 pounds during the fast and that "I'm going to enjoy putting back every pound."