A week after reversing course and promising to hold five public town hall meetings, U.S. Rep. Brian Baird has announced the final three meetings, including one on Sept. 2 in Centralia.

    The meeting, on a Wednesday night, will be held from 7 to 9:30 p.m. at Centralia College’s Corbet Theatre.

    Baird, a Vancouver Democrat, also announced meetings on Monday, Aug. 31, at South Puget Sound Community College’s Minnaert Center for the Arts and on Tuesday, Sept. 1, at Ilwaco High School.

    He will also hold a meeting at 7 p.m. tonight at the Cowlitz County Expo Center, 1900 Seventh Ave., Longview.

    Baird made national news earlier this month when he announced he would hold “telephone town halls” instead of public meetings during a congressional recess to avoid an “ambush” by people with a “lynch-mob” mentality.

    He said members of Congress were receiving death threats and that he equated some of the activity as “close to brownshirt tactics,” a reference to Nazi stormtroopers.

    Baird backed down from that position a week later, issuing a lengthy statement apologizing for his remarks and promising five public meetings in his Southwest Washington district.

    At the first of his five meetings last night in Vancouver, more than 900 people signed up to ask questions. A moderator picked from the cards at random.

    The Sept. 2 meeting in Centralia will be the last of those town halls.