Today is the day that most of our nation takes the day off to honor the great American Civil Rights Leader Martin Luther King, Jr; so we thus spotlight an interesting MLK Day story appearing in this morning's Deseret Morning News. From the article:
Today marks the first day of the 2008 Utah Legislature and could be the last day that Utah lawmakers meet on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.A similar resolution failed in 2000. Better late than never, we guess. It will now be up to Utah voters to decide whether the legislature will recess for the MLK holiday in the future.
It's a welcome potential change for many of Utah's minority leaders, who have long called for lawmakers to recess on the holiday.
Senate President John Valentine, R-Orem, said the start date has given lawmakers "a great chance to honor Dr. King" with a ceremony at the Capitol.
However, last year, Valentine said he "wanted to honor the request of the minority community" when he was Senate sponsor of a resolution to amend the state's Constitution to change the start date. The measure passed with unanimous support, but because it is a constitutional change, it won't take effect unless voters approve it this November.
"It's a little bit bittersweet this year," Valentine said. "I hope voters do approve the [constitutional amendment ballot] measure."
Historical factoids: In 2000, Utah was the very last state to recognize Martin Luther King Day by name, renaming its Human Rights Day state holiday.
This, curiously, was also the same year that South Carolina became the last state to make MLK Day a paid holiday for all state employees. Until then, South Carolina employees could choose between celebrating it or one of three Confederate-related holidays.
Now that's what we call progress.
