Smith, Carmichael on CBS

By By Fredie Carmichael / staff writer
June 20, 2002
Mayor John Robert Smith and businessman Gil Carmichael are expected to appear in a report set to air during CBS's morning news show at 8 a.m. Sunday.
A CBS crew was in town last week to interview Smith and Carmichael about the future of passenger rail. Smith chairs the Amtrak board and Carmichael chairs the Amtrak Reform Council.
Amtrak has been struggling with financial problems in recent months. Officials have threatened to eliminate long-distant trains including the Amtrak Crescent if Congress doesn't come up with more than $1 billion to fund the system.
Before coming to Meridian, the crew from CBS' "Sunday Morning" show interviewed David Gunn, the new president and chief executive officer of Amtrak.
The crew also shot footage aboard the Crescent on its south-bound run between Meridian and New Orleans.