Topic: News: Mobile, Ala., tanker Web site sponsors weightlifting meet

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

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Mobile, Ala., tanker Web site sponsors weightlifting meet

Mobile County, Ala., hopes to give the Northrop Grumman-EADS aerial refueling tanker a boost by sponsoring a weightlifting tournament.

Thus, KeepOurTanker.com has become the title sponsor of USA Weightlifting's 2009 American Open, Dec. 11 to 13 in Mobile.

KeepOurTanker.com is supported by Mobile County and backs the Northrop Grumman-EADS tanker, which would be assembled in Mobile.

"Sponsoring the weightlifting championship gives us an opportunity to expose the Web site and the tanker issue to all parts of the nation," Mobile County Commission President Mike Dean said in a news release.

Mobile County Commissioner Stephen Nodine added: "People around the nation need to know what's happening here. They need to understand the importance of putting politics aside and picking the better plane for the taxpayers and for our fighting men and women."

The American Open is an annual event that will draw more than 150 of the top lifters in the United States, according to USA Weightlifting.