Annual MLK events planned

By Rita Howell
Plans are under way for the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Commemoration Weekend in Batesville. The local celebration, which coincides with the national holiday January 16, the civil rights leader’s birthday, includes a full weekend of activities.
The local observance is coordinated by the Sardis District Association’s Pastors and Ministers Division, and by South Panola High School’s Tri-Hi-Y and Hi-Y Clubs.
A basketball tournament is set for Friday, January 13, beginning at 6 p.m., in the Batesville Junior High School gym. A beauty pageant for ages 15-18 will take place Saturday, January 14, at 6 p.m. in the Batesville Junior High auditorium. A musical program will be held Sunday, January 15, at Mt. Zion M.B. Church in Sardis, at 6 p.m.
Activities on MLK Day will begin with a prayer breakfast for clergy and community leaders at 9 a.m. at Mt. Zion Baptist Church in Batesville. At 10 a.m. a commemoration march will set out from Mt. Zion Church, where Dr. King spoke in the spring of 1968, shortly before his death in Memphis.
Traditionally several hundred participate in the march, which includes church and school groups and individuals.
The march will proceed through the Batesvile Square and end at the Batesville Intermediate School auditorium, where a program will be held.
The keynote speaker will be Dr. Frank Ray Sr., pastor of New Salem Missionary Baptist Church in Memphis, who spoke at last year’s MLK Day program.
Ray has served the Memphis church since 1972. The New Salem congregation has grown from 50 members to 5,000.
The church operates 40 ministries from its facilities that include a sanctuary, banquet hall, recreational center, prayer center, audio and video media ministry, gym, book store and classrooms.
Dr. Ray is a sought-after evangelist and Bible teacher for crusades, revivals and conferences. His “God Is Good Ministries” reaches a worldwide audience through radio and television.
For information on activities, call 934-6474 (basketball tourney), 654-0420 (beauty pageant and musical program),  563-3020 or 609-2448 (commemoration march and service).