White House State of the Union Guests

WASHINGTON – White House guests at the State of the Union address (one seat left empty to symbolize "the empty place many Americans will always have at their tables and in their lives" because of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks):

-- Four people who volunteer in or run organizations that help the needy: Henry Lozano of Los Angeles, who works with a group called Teen Challenge and runs Californians for Drug-Free Youth; Tonja Myles of Baton Rouge, La., who founded the "Set Free Indeed" program for addiction problems at the Healing Place Church; Sister Maria Fest, a Pittsburgh nun who directs a family support services center for the Sisters of Divine Providence, and Lenwood Compton, a college student from Detroit who hopes to teach middle school math and mentors other youth through AmeriCorps and other programs.

-- Two doctors the White House says were hurt by malpractice insurance costs: Kurt Kooyer, a pediatrician who relocated from Mississippi to West Fargo, N.D., because of rising liability costs and who helps provide health care to underprivileged families, and Denise Baker, a Bradenton, Fla., obstetrician/gynecologist who stopped delivering babies last fall because her insurance expenses exceeded her salary.

-- People, families and small business owners who would benefit from President Bush's tax-cut proposal: John Cochran and Greg Hantak, co-owners of JS Logistics in St. Louis; Joseph and Kristen Pappano of Sterling, Va., and Richard Phillip and Georgia Louise Beck of Colorado Springs, Colo.

-- Two members of the U.S. military operation in Afghanistan: Air Force Reservist Capt. Maureen Allen of Montgomery, Ala., -- seated next to the first lady -- who served as the senior medical member of an evacuation flight crew in Afghanistan from last June to September, and Army Master Sgt. Juan Carlos Morales of Holley, N.Y., a reservist who served five months at Bagram Air Base and over six months in Kabul with a team that worked on school repairs, medical clinics and water wells.

-- Marine Corps Cpl. Michael Vera, of Jersey City, N.J., who was less than 20 yards from the site of impact of a hijacked plane into the Pentagon on Sept. 11 and who, with a fellow Marine, went into the burning building 14 times to rescue people.

-- Presidential historian David McCullough.

-- A Peoria, Ill., couple, James and Mildred Beemer, who switched health care coverage to a cheaper network plan when premiums got too high.

-- District of Columbia Mayor Anthony Williams.

-- Two Bush family members, the president's sister Doro Koch and a sister-in-law, Margaret Bush.

-- Dr. Peter Mugyenyi, a special guest of first lady Laura Bush and director of the Joint Clinical Research Center in Uganda, which has pioneered advanced drug treatment for HIV and AIDS in Africa.

Also, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., invited retired Washington Redskins cornerback Darrell Green. Green, who ended his 20-year professional football career this winter, is setting up a center for disadvantaged children in Nashville.