The Barometer Online

A day filled with events honoring Martin Luther King Jr. included the rededication of Walnut Park in honor of the civil rights leader.

"When most people think about Martin Luther King Jr., they think about the past. I think it's about time to think about the future," Terryl Ross, director of the Office of Community and Diversity at OSU, said at the event.

This message was the focus of Monday's events to honor King, which included a peace breakfast and a can drive where about 25 volunteers brought in more than 50 bags of food.

The volunteers included people from the Retired and Senior Volunteer Program, Americorp Vista and student volunteers.

The afternoon was focused on the dedication of Martin Luther King Park. Many people arrived with family and friends.

"I was looking for something MLK-related to do with my son, Xane and this was the only thing listed in the paper," said Dana Ross, a community member.

"My spouse, Joan Collison, who is a member of the commission for Martin Luther King Jr., is out of town and I am here to report to her what happens," said Brooke Collins, a retired OSU faculty member.

"Martin Luther King Jr. earned his place in our history by his exercise of moral leadership," Corvallis Mayor Helen Berg said, quoting a 1986 speech by former Mayor Herb Jones. "He tested the freedom and justice in our social arrangements and found the warranting. He knew our ideals, and he understood how America's history exemplifies aspirations widely shared throughout the world. But he also knew our history of suffering inflicted on the disadvantaged, the cancer of exclusion and the gaps between promise and reality. He called for us to live by the principles on which the country was founded, to keep the faith of our fathers and mothers, and to walk and work together to create genuine communities in which there is freedom and justice for all, equality of opportunity and peace."

Corvallis first took the third Monday in January to honor King in 1986.

At the rededication, other speakers were excited about the park's new name.

"This is a beautiful park and I couldn't be happier in renaming it," said Kent Daniels, chair of the park and recreations board.

"I would like to embrace the people who showed their concerns. I am glad they had flexibility in the name change. This is still the same park," said Debra Hobbs from the Corvallis Martin Luther King commission.

"Naming this park Martin Luther King Park is a symbol to people that justice delayed is justice denied," said Cal Henry of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. "It is time for us to tell the truth and heal our nation ... Dr. King gave us a start to the road of healing and we should never forget that."

"We spend so much time thinking about the dreamer that we forget about the dream -Martin Luther King gave us a different way to do things than we have already done," said Ross.

The sponsors of the event were all enthused with the turn out.

"I feel so excited that people came. You never know with these type of events. I think the day went well starting with the peace breakfast this morning and amazing turnout here. I believe we are commemorating his life and working towards the future," said Jose Jutierrez, a junior in sociology who put the event together.

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