Harlem officials will treat area veterans to breakfast

Harlem city officials will be working hard over a hot stove Saturday morning to say thank you to area veterans.

For the second year, the mayor and city council will honor Columbia County military service members, veterans and their families with a hearty breakfast at the City of Harlem Memorial Day Breakfast.

"It's from us. It's us giving back," said Mayor Scott Dean. He and the four city council members are paying for the event, he said. "We're just giving back to the soldiers."

The breakfast begins at 8 a.m. at the Harlem United Methodist Church Fellowship Hall and features guest speaker Georgia National Guard Sgt. Robert Cash, who returned from his deployment to Iraq in April.

Cash, who was a military policeman in the 48th Brigade, flew a Harlem city flag wherever he went during his deployment.

"That was his little piece of Harlem he had with him everywhere he went," Dean said.

Cash will be returning the flag to city officials and giving a slide presentation of his deployment, Dean said.

The menu for the breakfast - which attracted about 30 veterans and their families at the 2005 inaugural breakfast - includes bacon, eggs, sausage and grits. Dean said it is open to all veterans of military service.

"Any military personnel that has served, wartime or not, they were still serving us," Dean said.

Though the event is free, reservations for the breakfast are requested. For more information or to make a reservation, call the Laurel and Hardy Museum in Harlem at (706) 556-0401.