U.S. Rep. Renee Ellmers will be the speaker for the April 12 meeting of the Moore County Republican Men’s Club.

The meeting will be held at the Country Club of North Carolina in Pinehurst. Registration begins at 11:30 a.m., and lunch is at noon. The program will begin about 12:30 p.m. and is expected to last about 30 minutes.

Under redistricting enacted last year by the N.C. General Assembly, Moore County moves into the 2nd Congressional District, now served by Ellmers. The county is losing affiliation with the 6th District, represented by Congressman Howard Coble. Both are Republicans.

Ellmers will speak on the chief function of Congress in making of laws. She was elected two years ago and is seeking re-election this year.

Prior to her election, she had worked as a nurse alongside her husband in their Trinity Wound Care Center in Dunn.

Ellmers was born in Ironwood, Mich. After graduating from Madison High School, she spent eight years working full- and part-time jobs, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in nursing from Oakland University.

She met her husband, Brent, a surgeon, while working as a surgical intensive care nurse at Beaumont Hospital. After their son was born, while visiting family in Cary, they decided to move to North Carolina.

She has been active in community affairs in the local Chamber of Commerce, the Dunn Planning Board, the board of the Betsy Johnson Hospital Foundation and the Harnett County Nursing Home Committee.

When the health care debate — an area she knew well — heated up two years ago, Ellmers decided to run for Congress and won. It was her first time running for public office.

She currently serves on the House committees on agriculture, foreign affairs and small business, where she chairs the Subcommittee on Health Care and Technology.

COBLE — A television program on bullying spurred Coble to take to the House floor Wednesday to join the chorus of those opposed to bullying.

Coble referred to the “Huckabee” program on Fox News that featured interviews with the victims of bullying.

“Bullying, Mr. Speaker, has become a severely significant issue in some schools across our country,” Coble told his House colleagues. “Bullies, with limited exception, select their targets or victims in this manner: The victims are smaller in physical stature than are the bullies and are usually younger in years. The victims of bullying, Mr. Speaker, become depressed and embarrassed, resulting in physical and emotional damage. One young lad became so distraught that he died by his own hand. Yes, he took his own life, because of the damage that bullying had inflicted upon him.

Coble said the Huckabee program also featured the director of a recently released movie titled “Bully.” He urged them to watch the movie.

“Mr. Speaker, I want to insist that bullies are punished at their schools, by their parents, and are prosecuted as juveniles if they are still minors,” he said. “We should cut no slack to bullies. They deserve no slack. And if exposure to link the bullies to the aforementioned suicides, perhaps that should be pursued, as well.

“Mr. Speaker, this bullying plague must be resolved, but it will be resolved only when the bullies receive the punishment they deserve.”

GATHERING — Democrats in Southern Pines are hosting a meet and greet from 5 to 7 p.m. Monday at the Southern Pines Civic Club at 105 S. Ashe St. across from the downtown tennis courts.

The five precincts of Southern Pines are hosting this social time to provide an opportunity for Democrats to get together and also to share ideas about local, state and national issues.

Local Democrats are invited to stop by after work, enjoy some refreshments and meet some fellow Democrats.

CORRECTION — The cost for the luncheon for the April 2 meeting of Moore Republican Women is $16.

An item in a previous Pilot Light included an incorrect amount. The Pilot regrets the error.