MLK holiday not just a day off

Published 8:37 pm Monday, January 16, 2006

By By Jo Bonner
"We are not makers of history. We are made by history."
– Martin Luther King, Jr.
This year marks the 20th anniversary of the federal holiday honoring the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
President Ronald Reagan signed the bill making the third Monday of January a national holiday when schools, federal offices, post offices, and banks across America close to celebrate the life of Dr. King.
America has only honored two other individuals with national holidays-George Washington and Christopher Columbus.
This year's theme is Remember! Celebrate! Act! A Day On, Not A Day Off!
People all across the country have planned service events to participate in honoring the legacy of Dr. King. These projects range from a Habitat for Humanity build in Tuscaloosa to an after-school program in Modesto, California, designed to teach students about Dr. King and social change.
Winter/Spring newsletter released
One of the many ways we have found to stay in touch with my constituents in south Alabama has been through the release of district-wide newsletters.
These newsletters, which are typically distributed as inserts in each of the daily and weekly newspapers in the six counties of the First District, have proven to be an effective way of providing a central source of information on the latest events in Washington.
Moreover, rather than sending these newsletters out as a mass-mailing to your home or post office box, the newspaper insert format enables our office to save the taxpayers thousands of dollars in printing and distribution costs.
My winter/spring 2006 newsletter will be distributed this week in the weekly papers throughout the First District and in the Mobile Register on Sunday. If you do not receive a copy, you can call my office toll free at 1-800-288-8721 to request a copy, and a member of my staff will be happy to mail one to you.
Additionally, the newsletter has been posted in Adobe format on my Internet website. You can download this by going to http://bonner.house.gov and clicking on the link for my winter/spring 2006 newsletter.
Along with my website, this weekly column, and our weekly television and radio shows, the district-wide newsletter has proven to be an effective way of getting news on events in our nation's capitol to each of you.
I hope you enjoy reading through the articles and information provided in this most recent newsletter, and as always your comments on this and future newsletters are always welcome.
Reminder of Town Hall Meetings
As a reminder, next week my staff and I will be traveling throughout the First District to conduct our latest series of 20 town hall meetings.
I hope each of you will take the opportunity to find the meeting closest to your home and come out to visit with my staff and me.
Tuesday, January 24, 2006
Wednesday, January 25, 2006
Thursday, January 26, 2006
My staff and I work for you. Please call if we can be of service.
Jo Bonner is a U.S. congressman. His column appears weekly.

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