Instant Issues: Ambassador Mark G. Hambley on Yemen

Ambassador Mark G. Hambley , trustee of the Next Century Foundation , will speak at an Instant Issues brown bag lunchtime discussion series event on Monday, March 25, 2019 in the 3rd Floor Community Room of the MassLive Building at 1350 Main Street, in downtown Springfield on Update on Yemen: Is Peace Finally at Hand?

The cost with a box lunch–tuna, turkey, vegetarian or roast beef sandwich–is $20 for Council members and $25 for nonmembers. The cost for members without a lunch is $5 and for nonmembers, $10.

The RSVP deadline is Thursday, March 21, 2019.

NOTE: As we expect this event will be popular, attendees who wish to eat lunch—purchase from us or bring your own—at a table are invited to do so between Noon and 12:30 PM in Community Room B (the one on the left). The talk will begin at 12:30 in Community Room A, set up theater style without tables. (You may eat off your lap if you wish during the talk.) We also encourage you to register quickly to ensure you have a space.

Mark Hambley, former US Ambassador to Lebanon and Qatar, served more than three years as the U.S. Consul in Sanaa in the 1970’s during which time he traveled throughout the country, was hijacked on a Yemen Airways DC-3, met his future wife Patricia, acquired a near fatal form of hepatitis, set the record for the fastest travel by car from Sanaa to the port city of Hodeidah in a Camaro  Z-98 , and lived to tell the tale after he drove the same car off the side of a 1500 foot cliff, coming to rest, fortuitously on a coffee terrace only 80 feet below the road surface.

More recently, Mark was engaged to liaise with some of the Yemenis held at the Guantanamo prison complex and visited Yemen on a series of private missions several times over the past two decades. He describes Yemen as “at one time my favorite place in the world.”

The Instant Issues series is generously sponsored by Wilbraham & Monson Academy & Sir Speedy. Special thanks to NAI Plotkin and 1350 Main Street, LLC.

Valet parking is now provided by the MassLive Building. Rates are $2 for the first 20 minutes, $4 for 20 minutes to 2 hours, and $2 per each additional hour. The parking station is on City Hall Place, around the corner from Court Street, between City Hall and 1350 Main Street. Currently the Council does not validate parking.