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THE WHITE HOUSE

                     Office of the Press Secretary
                            (Jaipur, India)
________________________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release                                     March 22, 2000
         PRESIDENT CLINTON NAMES TWO MEMBERS TO THE PRESIDENT'S 
                    COMMITTEE ON MENTAL RETARDATION

The President today announced his intent to reappoint Lorenzo H. Aguilar-Melantzon and Ruth Luckasson as Members of the President's Committee on Mental Retardation (PCMR).

Mr. Lorenzo H. Aguilar-Melantzon, of El Paso, Texas, is the President of PERSPECTIVA, an architecture, planning, interior design, and construction management company. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Association of Retarded Citizens (ARC) of Texas and a Governor's Appointee to the Texas Advisory Committee on Early Childhood Intervention. Mr. Aguilar-Melantzon is an active member of the Life Management Center, an agency that raises funds for programs and improvement of services for parents of children with mental retardation and other developmental disabilities. Mr. Aguilar-Melantzon received B.F.A. and M.A. degrees from the University of New Mexico.

Ms. Ruth Luckasson, of Albuquerque, New Mexico, is a Regent's Professor of Special Education and Coordinator of Mental Retardation Programs at the University of New Mexico at Albuquerque. She teaches courses, conducts research, advises students, and provides other services to the university and the community. Ms. Luckasson is also Chair of the American Association on Mental Retardation's Ad Hoc Committee on Terminology and Classification, and the former Chair of the Arc Legal Advocacy and Human Rights Committee. Ms. Luckasson received a B.S. and a M.A. from the University of New Mexico and a J.D. from the University of New Mexico Law School. She is a member of the Bar in the State of New Mexico.

The President's Committee on Mental Retardation was created by Executive Order in May 1966. The Committee provides advice and assistance to the President and the Secretary of Health and Human Services and publishes an annual report regarding the concerns of the mental retardation community.

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