En route to Nicaragua to monitor elections, former President Jimmy Carter will speak tonight at the Pennsylvania Holstein Association's 77th annual convention.

Carter will be the featured speaker at the group's opening banquet at the Days Inn Penn State, 240 S. Pugh St.

One hundred people have tickets to the banquet, and another 538 will be watching Carter's speech on closed circuit television from the hotel's ballroom, said William Nichols, the association's executive secretary.

The former president is scheduled to arrive at the dinner at 7 and begin his speech at about 8:30, Nichols said.

"We anticipate he'll go about a half-hour, but if he goes longer we're certainly not going to stop him," he said.

Nichols said he does not know the topic of Carter's speech.

"I suspect he might be talking about his Habitat for Humanity program or his trips to Africa and what he's done there, or possibly some of the things that happened during his administration that you never hear about when a president is in office," Nichols said.

The United States Secret Service arrived in town yesterday to prepare for Carter's visit, he said.

"The secret service people are already here and have made all their visits to the area and so forth," Nichols said.

A spokesperson for State College Bureau of Police Services said Lt. Jack Orndorf knows about Carter's visit, but borough police have no special security measures planned.

"They have been informed of Carter's visit and will assist if the Secret Service asks," she said.

University President Bryce Jordan also is scheduled to attend the dinner.

Carter will be flying to Nicaragua later tonight, to help monitor the country's elections. Recently, Carter's activities have included: observing Panamanian elections, which he denounced as fraudulent; prompting negotiations to end civil wars in Ethiopia; and working with officials in Ghana to rid the country of a human parasite, the Guinea worm.

Association member Wayne Harpster, a friend of the former president, arranged Carter's visit. Carter has been to the area before to hunt and fish at Harpster's Pennsylvania Furnace farm.

The 55,000 member association is a member service organization offering educational programs, sales and shows for Holstein breeders across the state.

Other scheduled events for the convention include the group's yearly meeting 12:30 Friday afternoon, a sale of 70 top head of cattle Friday night at the University's Agricultural Arena and several seminars and lectures.