BY JANET C. WETZEL
The Cincinnati Enquirer
MIDDLETOWN -- Three decades after civil rights leader the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was slain, he will have special recognition here.
The wait was long, but it resulted in more than just a small street being named for Dr. King.
A 5-mile stretch of highway has been designated as the new Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Way. It will be dedicated during a ceremony Saturday.
The event will begin with a short parade at 10:45 a.m. and culminates with the 11 a.m. ceremony, which will include snippets of Dr. King's famous "I Have a Dream" speech, said Louie Cox, president of the Middletown branch of the NAACP.
"I'm tremendously elated that our city finally has come around to the reality that a man of Dr. King's stature, nationwide and worldwide, should be recognized in a dignified manner," Mr. Cox said.
Jim Armbruster, city commission chairman, said he was born just three years after Dr. King was killed in 1968, but he recognizes that the memorial highway is long overdue.
"It's hard for me to imagine that Middletown is just now doing this -- that it took 30 years to recognize the nation's most important civil rights leader," Mr. Armbruster said.
He and fellow commissioners will erect the last of 38 signs that will mark the memorial route -- which runs from Ohio 122 at Interstate 75, west to University Boulevard, jogs south on University, proceeds west on Fourteenth Avenue and ends at the intersection of Fourteenth and South Main.
Mr. Armbruster said city commissioners also are designating Saturday as "Unity Day," and "hope it will link the various sections of the community -- bring the fragmented sections together."
Art Baer, Middletown public service administrator, said crews will finish installing the signs on posts and utility poles this week. The project cost will be under the $8,300 approved by city commissioners, he said.
Previous attempts to get a street in this Butler County city of about 54,400 people, including about 12 percent African-Americans, named for Dr. King, failed. That was primarily because people and businesses objected to address changes, officials said.
Last year, Mr. Cox said his wife, Carlene, asked him why Middletown couldn't have a street named for Dr. King, since nearly everywhere they've traveled he is recognized.
"I said the chapter will get to work on it, and this time we'll be successful," Mr. Cox said.
He proposed the plan to city commission early this year after it was approved last year by the NAACP branch. No addresses will be changed, since the street names will remain the same and the memorial designation will be added.
About 400 people are expected at Saturday's event, said Mr. Cox. Area churches, clubs and organizations are invited to participate in the parade.
