Published: January 08, 2009 08:10 am      

Committee announces MLK speaker, celebrations

The Dr. Martin Luther King Commemoration Planning Committee of Kosciusko/Attala County announces activities scheduled to celebrate the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

The 11th Annual Image Award Banquet is scheduled for Saturday, Jan. 17, at 6:30 p.m. at the Kosciusko High School Commons. This year’s Image Award is for Political Development in the community. Tickets for the banquet are $20 and may be purchased from any committee member.

Festivities will conclude Monday, Jan. 19 with the Birthday Celebration Program. The program will be held at the Kosciusko Jr. High School Auditorium at 10 a.m.

Rev. Cynthia Ashford, a native of Kosciusko, will be the guest speaker. She is the daughter of the late Otha B. Ashford and Martha Ashford Winters.

She is married to Kosciusko native Todd Cross. The couple lives in Meridian and have four children, Erica M. Lewis, Ashford, Taylor and Christopher Cross and nephew and ward LaMarcus Cross.

Cross is presently the pastor of Haven Chapel United Methodist Church in Meridian and St. Mark United Methodist Church in Daleville.

She is an ordained Elder of the MS Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church.

Rev. Cross received a Masters of Divinity Degree from Memphis Theological Seminary; Bachelors of Theology from Magnolia Bible College in Kosciusko and a Bachelors of Art in Public Administration from the University of Texas at Austin.

Rev. Cross is a certified tax collector and municipal clerk by the State of Mississippi – serving a total of 15 years for the City of Kosciusko and the Attala County Chancery Clerk’s Office in Kosciusko.

Contact Elizabeth Peteet, committee chairperson at 289-7937; Iretis Mallett, banquet chairperson at 289-1188 or Willie Alice “Pie” Kern, birthday chairperson at 290-0909 for further information.