King committee plans new home in proposed Agassi charter school

Tuesday, Jan. 18, 2000 | 10:32 a.m.

The Martin Luther King Day Committee has announced a partnership with the Andre Agassi Foundation -- a move the committee says will give it a new home in a yet-to-be-built West Las Vegas charter school.

"Our committee's direction for the coming year includes more youth involvement," said Assemblyman Wendell Williams, D-Las Vegas, the founder of the Martin Luther King Day Committee. "That is why we are announcing today on Martin Luther King Day that we are entering into a partnership with the Andre Agassi Foundation."

The foundation, which does philanthropic work for the world's top-rated pro tennis player and longtime Las Vegan, is in the process of financing a $6 million charter school and $4 million teen center.

The tentative site for the charter school and teen center, H Street and Owens Avenue, is awaiting approval of the Las Vegas City Council.

Williams said his organization, which in 1982 began hosting a downtown parade in honor of the civil rights leader who was assassinated on April 4, 1968, plans to open its permanent headquarters in the complex.

The announcement was part of Monday's federal holiday festivities that included a peace rally in front of the Clark County Neighborhood Services Center, 2424 Martin Luther King Blvd., and a breakfast at the County Government Center.

The Martin Luther King parade on Saturday -- the actual birthdate of King, who was born in 1929 -- drew an estimated 40,000 to 44,000 people.

The committee also announced Monday that it has commissioned an artist to sculpt a 14-foot bronze statue of King to be placed at the northeast corner of Martin Luther King Boulevard and Carey Avenue in time for next year's holiday.

King, a Baptist minister who in 1964 won the Nobel Peace Prize, led the American Civil Rights movement from 1955 until he died a day after delivering his famous "I've Been to the Mountaintop" speech to striking Memphis sanitation workers.