Mink to lie in state today, tomorrow
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By Will Hoover
Advertiser Staff Writer
Thousands of people are expected to pass by the closed casket of the late U.S. Rep. Patsy Mink from 4 p.m. today through tomorrow morning at the State Capitol atrium.
Details were still being worked out yesterday for the Friday service at 10 a.m., but House Democratic Leader Richard A. Gephardt is expected to attend, along with a 25-person congressional delegation and members of Mink's staff, said family spokesman Jim Manke.
Gephardt, who is to be among the speakers, will represent President Bush, Manke said. Gov. Ben Cayetano also will speak. Richard Port, former chairman of the Hawai'i Democratic Party, will officiate.
The Royal Hawaiian Band will perform at the Capitol today before the flag-draped casket arrives at 3:30 p.m., carried by military pall bearers, said Cedric Yamanaka, press secretary for Cayetano.
Mink will lie in state in the atrium, which will remain open to visitors through the night under National Guard watch. Two members of Mink's family will stay with the casket until 9 p.m.
Visitors can take photographs and bring flowers, Manke said. An area of the grounds will be set aside for floral arrangements.
Free parking will be available from 4 p.m. in the Civic Center parking structure at the corner of South Beretania and Alapai streets. Security officers will be on duty overnight.
The public is invited to join more than a dozen women's organizations holding flowers to form a "lei of aloha" around the Capitol from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. in honor of Mink, for championing the rights of workers, women, minorities and the poor.
