From staff reports
BIRMINGHAM — Congressman-elect Gary Palmer has announced the hiring of his district director, field director and constituent service liaison.
Ray Melick will join Palmer’s district office as district director and local media liaison. Melick is well known throughout central Alabama after two decades as a member of the Birmingham sports media. Melick was a longtime sportswriter, as the Alabama beat writer and later lead sports columnist for The Birmingham Post-Herald before joining The Birmingham News as sports columnist in 2003.
Melick left Birmingham media in 2010 and was named director of communication for BP’s Gulf Coast Restoration Organization in the aftermath of the Deepwater Horizon incident. In that role, he worked closely with national and regional media, as well as with Gulf Coast communities along the Florida panhandle, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana. In 2013, Melick left BP to become public affairs manager for Georgia-Pacific in Mississippi.
Ethan Vice will join Palmer’s district office as field director, a position he has held for the past two years as a member of former Congressman Spencer Bachus’ staff. Prior to joining Bachus’ office, Vice spent five years with Rep. Robert Aderholt, as a field representative and as a legislative assistant in Aderholt’s Washington, D.C. office. A native of Gadsden, Vice is a graduate of the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
Denise Weaver will join Palmer’s district office in constituent services. Weaver is a graduate of UAB with a bachelor’s degree in education and a master’s in rehabilitation counseling. Weaver has been involved in a number of volunteer programs around the Birmingham area, and previously worked at Enrollment Advisors, helping individuals with insurance questions and issues.
“I am blessed to have such an exceptional group of people working with me for the people of the 6th District,” Palmer said.