Martin Luther King’s son speaks at lunch

Mirna Alfonso

Friday, Jan. 30, 1998 | 9:26 a.m.

Martin Luther King III will come to Las Vegas this weekend as guest speaker at a luncheon held to reward college-bound youths with scholarship money.

King, son of the late civil rights leader, is slated to deliver a speech during the first scholarship luncheon organized by the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Committee.

Scheduled for noon Saturday at the Moulin Rouge on Bonanza Road, the luncheon also hopes to raise money for next year's $15,000 scholarship fund, committee Executive Director Deloris Sawyer said.

The organization has been awarding scholarships to college-bound youth for eight years, she said.

The committee will award 12 scholarships ranging from $500 to $4,000 to be spread out over four years, she said.

After the luncheon, King will travel to the King Center, 1316 Morgan Ave., where he will meet with striking workers from the Frontier Hotel, Silver State Disposal and other companies experiencing labor disputes.

Sawyer said King's willingness to convene with the strikers is in keeping with the ideals of his father, who always championed the rights of the powerless and even spoke in support of sanitation workers during his last speech before his assassination.

A number of Silver State workers have been out of work since January, when they lost their jobs in what the employees call a lockout and the company calls a wildcat strike.

Frontier Hotel workers have been on strike for more than two years.

Both groups have alleged unfair labor practices are at the root of disputes with their employers.

King also will mingle with youngsters from the Marble Manor Housing Project to give youths not attending the $20-a-plate luncheon an opportunity to meet a role model, Sawyer said.

Formed 13 years ago for the purpose of working toward making Dr. King's birthday a Nevada holiday, the committee since has expanded to offer a number of services to the community, including a tutorial program on the Paiute Indian Reservation, a program for senior citizens, summer recreation programs and preparatory classes for the college entrance examination.

Eventually the group hopes to build a $5 million cultural arts and community center in West Las Vegas to be named after Dr. King, she said.