Greenwood hotel executive Suresh Chawla almost got to meet Vice President Joe Biden this week, but Biden canceled close to the last minute.
“It’s a big disappointment for the Mississippi Delta,” Chawla said. “Any time a president or vice president comes to the Delta, it’s big news.”
Chawla said his company, Chawla Hotels Inc., was initially contacted last week by the Secret Service about booking rooms in Greenwood and Indianola.
“Since (last) Friday, we had Secret Service agents and members of the vice president’s advance team at our Greenwood Hampton Inn and Holiday Inn Express and at the Hampton Inn in Indianola,” he said.
Chawla said Biden’s plans changed abruptly when news broke on Sunday morning of the mass shooting in an Orlando nightclub that killed 49 people and injured dozens more. The assailant, Omar Mateen, 29, was killed in a shootout with police.
The White House announced on Monday night that President Obama will visit Orlando on Thursday to pay his respects to the victims.
Biden’s itinerary in the Delta would have included a visit to Itta Bena followed by a tour of the B.B. King Museum in Indianola, Chawla said. In Itta Bena, Biden would have visited with Mayor Thelma Collins and Itta Bena citizens at the L.T. Brazil Center.
The visit to Itta Bena was at the recommendation of Hope Enterprise Corporation of the Delta’s CEO, Bill Bynum of Jackson.
Bynum’s company opened Hope Credit Union in Itta Bena last year when Regions Bank pulled out of the town and donated its building. Another branch opened in a former Regions Bank in Moorhead around the same time.
Bynum was chair of the Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) fund of the United States Treasury and served under the George W. Bush and Obama administrations, consulting on community development and financial services issues.
Ed Sivak, Hope’s chief policy and communications officer, said Bynum wanted to showcase the Delta to Biden and chose Itta Bena as one of the places he should see.
“The purpose was for him to see firsthand the needs and opportunities of the region,” Sivak said.
“We had been talking to him about our work and hoped to tell our story.”
Sivak said the two Hope Credit Union branches in Itta Bena and Moorhead have done very well in their first year with over 1,000 members so far.
“When we have the opportunity to tell our story, those of us who live and work in the Delta, it’s an opportunity we want,” he said.
Collins said she hoped to talk with the vice president about some of the challenges of living in a small Delta community.
“I was going to talk to him about some of the needs of Itta Bena,” Collins said. “The lifestyles, background and history of living in the Delta, of course, but also what it’s like to live in a town with no grocery store, with very little economic development, in a place where some of our basic needs are not being met because we’re in somewhat of a challenged area.”
Collins said she would have liked to tell the vice president how valuable Hope Credit Union has been to the town’s revitalization efforts.
Collins said Itta Bena had been swarming with Secret Service agents who were scrutinizing the Brazil Center from top to bottom.
“There were scores of Secret Service checking out every room, looking at the ceilings, talking about getting on top of the building. They inspected every inch,” she said.
A walk-through with police-trained dogs was scheduled for Thursday.
“We were just kind of on top of the world,” said Collins. “Even though I felt that this was the biggest thing that could ever happen to Itta Bena — the vice president of the United States coming to Itta Bena! — some things take precedence over others. And with the events in Orlando, we completely understand the vice president’s responsibilities.”
Chawla said he was not sure if Biden planned to stay over in one of his company’s hotels. Thirty or 40 rooms had been booked with the largest number of guests, including Biden’s staff, scheduled to arrive today and Thursday.
The vice president was scheduled to fly into and out of Greenville.
“From a personal standpoint, I had talked to the vice president’s staff and I was going to get a chance to meet the guy, so I’m a little disappointed,” Chawla said, adding that he completely understood that the situation in Orlando trumped any visit the vice president had scheduled.
In 2008, then-U.S. Sen. Barack Obama stayed in Chawla Hotels’ Holiday Inn Express in Greenville.
“Eight years later, I would have met his vice president,” he said.
“That would have been a nice bookend for this administration.”
• Contact Kathryn Eastburn at 581-7235 or keastburn@gwcommonwealth.com.
