TERRE HAUTE —
Randy Gentry, Republican vice chairman of Indiana’s 8th Congressional District and Vigo County GOP secretary, said he is more worried about potentially violent groups in Tampa than he is about the weather.
Gentry will be a national delegate at next week’s Republican National Convention.
Reached Thursday, Gentry, who studied climatology and has been a professional weather forecaster, said Mother Nature is not at the top of his list of safety concerns.
“I’m more concerned about my safety regarding organizations on the ground,” he said.
On Tuesday, the FBI and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security issued a warning that “anarchist extremists are preparing to use violence and criminal tactics in an attempt to disrupt” the Republican and Democratic party conventions. In the past, among other things, those tactics have included blocking traffic, setting fires and violent clashes with police, the warning stated.
As for Tropical Storm Isaac, Gentry said the RNC has contingency plans in place to evacuate the convention if that becomes necessary. As a former weather forecaster, Gentry also said he knows that predictions of where a tropical storm or hurricane will reach land are difficult to make with great accuracy several days in advance.
“We’ll get a better feel for [the storm] as we track it,” Gentry said.
Nevertheless, some convention business that had been scheduled for later in the week has been moved forward out of concern for the weather, Gentry noted.
This is Gentry’s second GOP convention. He served as a delegate in Minneapolis-St. Paul in 2008 and remembers a hurricane also disrupted that event. Then-president Bush canceled plans to speak at the convention in light of Hurricane Gustav, which was threatening the Gulf Coast.
Gentry is the Republican vice chairman of Indiana’s 8th District, giving him a voting position as one of 46 Hoosier delegates at the convention. He was also a voting delegate in 2008.
“It’s like Las Vegas on steroids,” Gentry said of the convention atmosphere. Add to that a potential hurricane, and the RNC’s week in Tampa could really be one to remember, he said.
Reporter Arthur Foulkes can be reached at (812) 231-4232 or arthur.foulkes@tribstar.com.
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