Bush taps Mecum

WASHINGTON - President Bush plans to nominate former Hall County Sheriff Dick Mecum to be U.S. Marshal for the Northern District of Georgia.

Mecum has been a consultant for U.S. Security Associates in Roswell since 1998 and owned Nekam Security, Inc., from 1991 to 1998. He was sheriff of Hall County for eleven years.

Mecum said he did not seek the post, but was contacted about it in February by Cong. Nathan Deal. The nomination must be approved by the U.S. Senate. It's not known when the Senate will take it up.

The post is currently held by Bob McMichael, a former sheriff of Fulton County. McMichael was appointed to the job eight years ago by President Clinton. The post is a political appointment and the office-holder serves at the pleasure of the president.

If the nomination is approved, Mecum would become at least the third Hall countian to hold the post. Ronnie Angel was U.S. Marshal for the Northern District of Georgia during the Carter administration and Gen. James Longstreet served in the 1880s.