Next season's Town Hall Lecture Series will include a best-selling author of thrillers, an Irish tenor, a social activist and a Carol Burnett sidekick.

        The 2001-02 lecture series, presented by Montgomery Woman's Club, opens Sept. 12 and 13 with “The Wit and Wisdom of Dave Barry.”

        The former Pleasantville High School “class clown” is also a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for Miami Herald, who is syndicated in hundreds of newspapers including the Enquirer. The author of several best-selling books, he was the inspiration for a prime-time TV series, Dave's World (1993-97).

        The series continues with:

        Oct. 24-25: David Balducci, best-selling author of Absolute Power, Saving Faith, The Simple Truth and Total Control.

        Nov. 14-15: Vicki Lawrence, tells “The True Life Adventure of Miss Fireball.”

        Ms. Lawrence started her television career, which has encompassed prime-time comedy, game and talk shows, when, as a high school senior, she wrote to Carol Burnett and invited the comedian to come watch her perform in a local fire department Miss Fireball contest. She got the job playing Ms. Burnett's kid sister, a role she continued for 11 years.

        Feb. 27-28: Arun Gandhi, grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, will offer practical ideas and methods for social change in his presentation “Everything I Need to Know I Learned from My Grandfather.”

        March 20-21: Ronan Tynan, an Irish tenor, physician and champion disabled athlete (both his legs are amputated below the knee), will speak about “Living Life to the Fullest.”

        Lectures take place at 11 a.m. Wednesday and Thursday at Paramount's Kings Island and 8 p.m. Wednesday at Sycamore Junior High School, 5757 Cooper Road.

        Tickets are $70 and sold for the full series only.

        Ticket requests should be mailed, with a self-addressed, stamped envelope, to: Montgomery Women's Club Inc., PO Box 42114, Cincinnati 45242. Checks should be made payable to Montgomery Women's Club.

        Call 684-1632 for a copy of the Town Hall Lecture Series brochure.

        Proceeds support college scholarships for seniors from area high schools; grants to college students; grants to Sycamore-area women who need further education to enter the workplace; and Sycamore Student Culture Series that provides cultural experiences for students from kindergarten through 12th grade.

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