BREAKING NEWS 5
Published 12:00 am Monday, January 25, 2016
Braving the cold Monday morning and carrying the Boys and Girls Club banner in the annual MLK Commemorative March in Batesville were (from left) D.J. Key, Fredrick Cosby, Stevelasher Simpson (who created the banner), Devan Key and Cory Stewart. The Panolian photo by Glennie Pou
By Rupert Howell
A crowd estimated at 450, many coming in from a cold walk from Mt. Zion Church, converged on Batesville Intermediate School Auditorium to hear Dr. Frank E. Ray Sr. expound on conservative Christian values while delivering the address Monday to the annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Commemoration Service ending a holiday weekend-long MLK celebration.
Ray told the crowd that God provided a “manual” for life, the Bible, while noting, “We’ve moved away from the manual,” and then stated, “We’ve got the ladder on the wrong building.”
He recalled the day that men would, “Rather fight than switch,” stating it was a day of working men and pretty women.
“Now we have working women and pretty men,” Ray said referring to the “manual’s” references against homosexuality.
“It’s not right for a policeman to take a life,” he said, adding, “it’s not right for us to take a life either,” mentioning abortion and murder in the same sentence.
“God is the only one that should take a life,” he said.
During his delivery, Ray, pastor of the New Salem M.B. Church of Memphis, compared some of today’s lifestyles to “a fish out of water,” and “Grass removed from the ground,” noting they cannot survive.
“Go back to the manual,” he noted. “Man has to stay committed to God—go back to the manual. There is man or woman. There is no in-between,” he told the cheering audience.
Ray finished his presentation urging the crowd to, “Go to the One that made you to fix you.”
Monday’s crowd at the annual commemoration service was entertained by South Panola Tri-Hi-Y and Hi-Y Choir as well as the traditionally rousing performance of the MLK Celebration Choir.
Dr. Zannie Leland presented scholarships to three recipients, announced winners of the basketball jamboree held the previous Friday and presented MLK Queen Madison Morgan of Nelson Chapel Church.
A “Wind Beneath My Wings” award was awarded posthumously to Freddie Allen Bibbs who previously worked tirelessly on the MLK weekend festivities, according to Leland who presented a plaque to Bibbs’ son, Tony Allen.
