County has closings, march to honor MLK

Orange County will be commemorating Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Monday, January 20, with a traditional march and activities. Also, some local public offices will be closed, along with federal and state offices.

The Orange County Courthouse will be closed as will city offices in Orange and Pinehurst. All non-emergency employees in the county, and for Orange and Pinehurst will have the day off, though law enforcement and fire protection will be on regular duty. Regular garage service will continue.

State offices, including the Texas Department of Public Safety driver's license bureau, will be closed. The U.S. Postal Service will not be delivering mail that day and the post offices will be closed.

The Orange Chapter of the NAACP will be having its annual march with the theme of Renew, Commit, Dream. The march will begin this year at 10 a.m. at the Orange County Courthouse and then go through downtown to the Mount Olive Baptist Church Life Center at 106 West Park Avenue. From 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. there will be an open program, and then a lunch. A bounce house and other activities will be provided for children.

The march is open to all interested people and they should begin gathering at the courthouse at 9:30 a.m. to get organized before the march.

The Reverend John Jefferson, Jr., is present of the Orange NAACP. Maquettia Ledet is vice president, Beverly Robinson is secretary, and Margaret Adams is treasurer.

President Ronald Reagan in 1983 signed the bill to make a national holiday to honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the assassinated civil rights leader. The first national holiday was held in 1986 and the Orange NAACP had its first annual march that year. Since then, the local group has missed sponsoring a communitywide march only a a few years.