Holiday Hours: Martin Luther King Jr. Day

The Rev. King waves to the hundreds of thousands gathered on the Washington Mall in 1963 when he gave the 'I Have a Dream' speech.

Martin Luther King Jr. Day is being celebrated Monday, Jan. 20. It is a federal holiday to commemorate the birthday of the civil rights activist born Jan. 15, 1929. It is observed on the third Monday in January.

King, a Baptist minister, led the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s by espousing nonviolent protest. His best-known address, the "I Have a Dream" speech, was given in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., to a crowd of 250,000 who participated in the March on Washington. The 1964 Nobel Prize winner was assassinated on April 4, 1968.

While the reverend was born in Atlanta, he has ties to Massachusetts. He earned his doctorate from Boston University and met and married his wife, Coretta Scott, in Boston. The state's U.S. Sen. Edward Brooke sponsored the first bill to declare a holiday in his honor in the 1970s. MLK Day was first observed as a federal holiday in 1986 but a number of states, particularly in the South and West, did not add it to their list of state holidays until some years later.

While federal and state offices are closed, only about a third of businesses give their employees the time off.

Northern Berkshire Community Coalition will hold its annual Day of Service on Monday and present the annual Peacemaker Award in MCLA's Venable Hall gym. This year's award will be presented to Gina Coleman, director of diversity equity and inclusion for the Brien Center, former educator and administrator in the Pittsfield Public Schools and at Williams College, and longtime musician and community leader; the celebration begins with check-in at MCLA's Church Street Center at 8:30, volunteering at various sites from 9 to 11:30, then lunch and presentations beginning at 12:30 at the center. 

Berkshire Community College will start off its annual Day of Service event with keynote speaker Rachel Melendez Mabee, Greylock Federal Credit Union's vice president of DEI, culture and brand, and breakfast at United Methodist Church at 10 a.m. This event is co-sponsored by the Berkshire Branch of the NAACP. Volunteer activities in Partnership with Berkshire United Way will follow; lunch will be provided by UpStreet Smoke, a Pittsfield-based Black-owned business.

Multicultural BRIDGE hosts a day of service starting with a blessing at 9 a.m. at Macedonia Church on Rosseter Street in Great Barrington, followed by work proejcts at various sites. A circle gathering and a bag lunch from Momma Lo's BBQ (RSVP for lunch) is at 1 p.m. and then a swap shop, cataloging, card delivery and food distribution at the Solidarity House and in Pittsfield from 2 to 5. To participate, complete the MLK Day of Service form.

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Clarksburg Officials Debate Need for School Repairs, Renovations

By Tammy Daniels iBerkshires Staff
05:46PM / Thursday, January 16, 2025

Select Board member Colton Andrews stands next to a bucket catching leaks as he talks to the joint gathering. 

CLARKSBURG, Mass. — School officials acknowledged that Clarksburg School is need of renovation or rebuild but declined to commit at this point to plan of action.

 

"We can't say that because it hasn't even been put out to the town," said School Committee member Cynthia Brule. "So I mean, we could say, 'yeah, I want a new school,' but it means nothing."

 

The comments had come during a joint meeting of the Select Board and School Committee last week over what to do with the leaking roof. 

 

"We're dealing with a pretty leaky roof that's affecting several classrooms," said Superintendent John Franzoni. "The leaks are continuing and impacting the classroom learning."

 

Select Board Chair Robert Norcross had pushed for the committee to make a declaration after talks with the governor's Western Mass office over the lingering $500,000 in a bond bill for the roof. 

 

He and Assistant Superintendent Tara Barnes had spoken with Kristen Elechko, Western Mass regional director, he said, and Barnes had mentioned the school could use more than a roof. 

 

"Kristen sent me an email the next day saying that I can't go for a roof if we're going to go for a new school or if we're going to go for something bigger," Norcross said. "You have to decide quickly what we want to do, because all these deadlines are coming up. So that's why I wanted to push the meeting forward and that's why I asked the Finance Committee and the Select Board to be here, because we got to make a decision tonight."