Church hosts regional conference this weekend

Larry J. Echo Hawk, an attorney, legal scholar, former U.S. Marine and General Authority for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, will speak in Kalispell this weekend at a regional conference.

A member of the Pawnee Nation, Echo Hawk was the first American Indian in U.S. history elected as a state attorney general (Idaho, 1990). Before that, he served two consecutive terms in the Idaho House of Representatives (1982-86) and subsequently worked as a law professor at the J. Reuben Clark Law School at Brigham Young University, returning to the school where he played college football.

In 2012, at the time of his appointment as a General Authority of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Echo Hawk was serving in the Obama administration as the Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs in the U.S. Department of the Interior.

The Kalispell Stake of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints holds two semi-annual stake conferences each year, at which the 4,800 local church members are invited to gather to hear from church leaders. The conference will be today at 7 p.m. for ages 18 and older and Sunday for all ages at 10 a.m. Visitors are welcome.