Following King’s example

Lawrence students join together to honor civil rights icon

After listening to children talk about activities they did to honor Martin Luther King Jr., the Rev. Leo Barbee Jr. said it reminded him of something.

“Scripture says that a young child shall lead them,” said the pastor of Victory Bible Church, 1942 Mass. “I think they’re really showing us.”

About 350 to 400 people came to the Lawrence school district’s Martin Luther King Jr. celebration Thursday night at Lawrence High School.

Students from every school in the district told the crowd of the activities their school did or will do in honor of King.

Students from Sunset Hill School gathered nearly 400 books for Toys for Tots. Wakarusa Valley School students will plant grass at Clinton Lake in the spring. Lawrence Alternative High School students’ activities include recycling items such as pop cans and donating the money to Habitat for Humanity.

Langston Hughes School’s activities include collecting money to help tsunami victims.

“Like if they’re shopping with their parents or something and they see a $5 item that’s going to break anyway, they can save that spare change and give it to people who need it more than they do,” explained sixth-grader Nolan Frank.

“Who needs that stuff anyway?” the 11-year-old said of “cheap trinkets.”

The program included a poetry performance by some students from West Junior High School and music from the South Junior High School ninth-grade band.

At a service project to recognize and honor Martin Luther King Jr., at center from left, fifth-grader Jacob Von Feldt and fourth-graders Dalen Reed and Zach Gifford, all three members of the Broken Arrow School student council, clean sleeping pads at the Salvation Army shelter.

Howard Harris filmed the event for the Ecumenical Fellowship, an association of historically black churches in Lawrence.

“(King) gave so much of himself — you very seldom see that nowadays,” he said. “People are so greedy now. They think more of themselves than other people.”

He said he was encouraged to hear of the children’s activities to honor King.

Barbee, who is heavily involved in the five-day community celebration for King, said the students also encouraged him.

“It shows really what our schools are doing,” said Barbee, whose daughter Victoria was the first black homecoming queen in Lawrence. “You hear something like this, it shows there are a lot of positive things going on in our schools.”

The school district’s event was the first night of Lawrence’s 20th annual Martin Luther King Jr. Community Celebration, which ends Monday.

CLOSINGSNearly all area government offices will be closed Monday for the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, including Lawrence City Hall, the Douglas County Courthouse and the Judicial and Law Enforcement Center.Only DeSoto City Hall will be open Monday in this area.In Lawrence there will be no disruption of trash pickups.The Lawrence Transit System, or the T, will be in operation. The Lawrence Bus System will not be running.Students at Kansas University are still on holiday break and offices at KU will be closed Monday. Haskell Indian Nations University also will be closed.Douglas County Senior Services Inc. and the Lawrence Senior Center will be closed Monday. All activities, including clubs, classes and the noon meal, will be canceled that day at the senior center, 745 Vt. Meals will not be served at the following sites: Babcock Place, Edgewood Place, Lecompton, Eudora and Baldwin. Cancellation of meals includes home delivered meals. Bus 62 services will also be canceled.Lawrence Meals on Wheels will deliver Monday.The Lawrence Public Library, 707 Vt., will be open Monday.Most local banks will be closed Monday.Lawrence post offices will be closed and only Express Mail deliveries will be made. UPS and FedEx will provide normal services.The Lawrence Journal-World and USA Today will be published and the circulation office will be open.Downtown parking meters will not be monitored Monday.EVENTS¢ The MLK Historic Exposure event will be from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Friday at the Boys & Girls Club of Lawrence, 1520 Haskell Ave.¢ The annual banquet will be at 6:30 p.m. Saturday in the Kansas Union Ballroom.¢ The annual gospel musical will be at 6:30 p.m. Sunday at Lawrence Free Methodist Church, 31st and Lawrence Avenue.¢ The commemorative program will be at 11:15 a.m. Monday at the Lied Center. Keynote speaker will be Terrence Roberts, one of the “Little Rock Nine” — the black students who were the first to integrate the Little Rock, Ark., public schools in 1957.