City to host Uzbekistan Special Olympians

Mountain Home will welcome 25 athletes and three coaches from Uzbekistan as a host city for the 2009 Special Olympics World Winter Games.

The athletes, 19 floor hockey players and six snowsnowers, will arrive in Mountain Home on Feb. 3.

Athletes and coaches will stay with host families until the start of the Games, Feb. 7, to acclimate to the area's weather and culture.

On Feb. 4, the Nazarene Church of Mountain Home, which is playing host to the delegation, is holding a reception for the group at the church at 6:30 p.m. That event is open to all members of the community.

Earlier that day, the Special Olympic Flame of Hope, which resembles the Olympic Torch, will pass though Mountain Home.

The torch will arrive in Mountain Home at 2:35 p.m. at the city's new parking lot on what used to be the El Rancho site and will follow essentially the same route used for the Air Force Appreciation Day Parade before ending at Mountain Home Junior High School.