ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, March 30, 1996 TAG: 9604010032
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: BEDFORD
SOURCE: RICHARD FOSTER STAFF WRITER
Lech Walesa, the former president of Poland and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, will be guest speaker at an invitation-only dinner and reception April 12 at Thomas Jefferson's Poplar Forest.
Walesa, 52, who helped overthrow communism in Poland through his Solidarity labor movement, is said to be an admirer of Jefferson. The dinner, which is being held on Jefferson's 253rd birthday, will honor contributors to the effort to restore Jefferson's year-round Bedford County retreat.
"If you stop and think about this whole project to preserve Poplar Forest, it's not just about the bricks and the landscape, it's about remembering Jefferson's beliefs and ideas," said Lynn Beebe, executive director of the nonprofit Corporation for Jefferson's Poplar Forest.
"We felt it was important to bring to Poplar Forest people who in their own lives now are implementing Jefferson's ideas ... and Walesa has committed a significant portion of his life to ideas that he and Jefferson share."
Walesa has been negotiating with Poplar Forest since he was Poland's president, Beebe said, and Poplar Forest was the first commitment that the statesman and electrical worker from Gdansk made for his 1996 tour of the United States.
Beebe would not say how much Walesa will receive for the appearance and added that no topic for Walesa's talk has been announced.
Other speakers at the semiannual dinner have included former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in 1993, and Gov. George Allen in 1994.
Jefferson designed and built Poplar Forest in the early 1800s as a retreat from his Albemarle County home, Monticello.
LENGTH: Short : 38 linesby CNB