When you look for an example of Dr. King’s Dream being alive, you don’t have to look past our very own community. In fact, you can look to the organization of this year’s event – where a very diverse group of individuals set aside their differences and busy schedules to celebrate Dr. King’s dream of peace and freedom. If you are reading this before Monday morning, we hope you will join us at 10:30 a.m. at the Eddy County Courthouse to participate in the annual march to MLK Park. Nate Banks will be our keynote speaker this year and we will then have lunch together.
So much credit goes to the members of the Martin Luther King Committee, who overcame a great deal of adversity to move forward with this year’s events. Committee members included Dr. Joy James Foster, Julia Williams, Bernita Smith Payne, Barbara Mounce, LaWanda Scholl, Dave Rogers, Tina Ausley, the Reverend Smith, Karen Orgain and Kyle Marksteiner. Many of these committee members have been volunteering for decades for this event.
Thank you all for showing us that Dr. King’s Dream is alive in and well in Carlsbad.
Thank you to the many wonderful sponsors who really stepped up this year. La Tienda, Albertsons and the Carlsbad Community Foundation made Monday’s lunch possible. Barbara Mounce made a very generous donation to help with our musical service Sunday, while First Christian Church sponsored the essay contest.
The Carlsbad Current Argus, Carlsbad Local and Carlsbad Radio all helped get word out. Angie Parraz and Pizza inn helped feed our singers. The Stevens Inn, La Quinta, Nichols Printing and Jo Ann’s Trophies all provided in-kind donations.
The City of Carlsbad and Carlsbad Municipal Schools were also very happy to help. First United Methodist Church and Mt. Olive Baptist Church helped to host events, and the Foundation also served as the fiscal agent. Last, but most significantly, the event received very significant donations from Chevron, ConocoPhillips, CNB Bank, the American Legion, Denton Wood Funeral Home, Intrepid Potash, Nuclear Waste Partnership and Marathon Oil Corporation. These donations helped with this event and with the Committee’s scholarship program. If we left anyone else out, please let us know.
We also had some of Carlsbad’s wonderful citizens contribute to Monday’s ceremony, including the honor guard, the Rev. Dave Rogers, our high school band, Voncile King and Nate Banks. Thank you to Donnell Hill, Archie Miller and everyone who assisted with Sunday’s worship service.
During Monday’s service, we will be honoring three wonderful men who were an important part of Carlsbad’s Martin Luther King Jr. Scholarship Committee – Gary Giddens, Bob Scholl and finally, Captain James Williams. The contributions these three great men made to our community truly have helped make Dr. King’s Dream a reality here.
We hope you will join us on Monday for the march, and then for the ceremony and lunch that will follow.
Sincerely,
Carlsbad Mayor Dale Janway