Obama stand-in gets inauguration tickets

WASHINGTON — The family of Army Staff Sgt. Derrick Brooks, who stood in for President-elect Barack Obama at an inauguration rehearsal on Sunday, will get to attend the real event next week.

Brooks, 26, who grew up in Fayetteville and Robeson County, is stationed at Fort Meade, Md., as part of the Armed Forces Inauguration Committee.

He was tapped to serve as the stand-in for the new president last fall before Obama won the election, and his comrades have teased him about his resemblance to the 44th president ever since, said his mother Donna Books, who lives in St. Pauls.

Derrick Brooks had been unable to obtain tickets to the inauguration, so he and his family planned to watch the event on television. But Mike McIntyre, North Carolina's Seventh District representative, secured three tickets so Brooks' parents and daughter could attend.

Brooks can't attend himself because he will be on duty Tuesday.