King family draws fees from --- ..


DC national memorial project


 The family of the Rev. Martin
Luther King Jr. has charged the
foundation building a monument to
the civil rights leader on the
National Mall about $800,000 for
the use of his words and image an
arrangement one leading scholar
says King would have found offen-
sive.
 The memorial including a 28-
foot sculpture depicting King
emerging from a chunk of granite -
is being paid for almost entirely
with private money in a fundraising
campaign led by the Martin Luther
King Jr. National Memorial Project


Foundation. The monument will be
turned over to the National Park
Service once it is complete.
 The foundation has been paying
the King family for the use of his
words and image in its fundraising
materials. The family has not
charged for the use of King's like-
ness in the monument itself.
 "I don't think the Jefferson fami-
ly, the Lincoln family ... I don't
think any other group of family
ancestors has been paid a licensing
fee for a memorial in Washington,"
said Cambridge University histori-
an David Garrow, who won a
Pulitzer Prize for his biography of
King. "One would think any family
would be so thrilled to have their
forefather celebrated and memori-
alized in D.C. that it would never
dawn on them to ask for a penny."
 According to financial docu-
ments, the foundation paid


$761,160 in 2007 to Intellectual
Properties Management Inc., an
entity run by King's family.
Documents also show a "manage-
ment" fee of $71,700 was paid to
the family estate in 2003.
 In a statement, Intellectual
 Properties Management said the
 proceeds it receives go to the King
 Center in Atlanta, where King and
 his wife, Coretta Scott King, are
 entombed. The statement said the
 arrangement was made out of con-
 cern that fundraising for the monu-
 ment would undercut donations to
 King's son Dexter serves as the
 center's chairman, and his
 cousin Isaac Farris Jr. is
 president and chief exec-
 utive officer. King's two
 other surviving children,
 Martin Luther King III
 and Bernice King, are
 lifetime members of the
 board of directors.
 A review of the King's
 Center financial docu-
 ments shows that public
 support for the nonprofit
 organization did decline
 each year from 2004 to
 2006, while fundraising
 for the Washington
 memorial was under way.
 The monument will be
 on the banks of the Tidal
 Basin, between the
 Lincoln and Jefferson
 memorials, and would be
 the first major tribute to
 the 1964 Nobel Peace
 -Prize winner outside
 Atlanta.
 For years, King's fami-
ly has sued entitiers for a share of
the proceeds from the use of his
words and images in merchandise
and publications. In the 1990s, the
family reached settlements with
USA Today and CBS over their use
of King's "I Have a Dream" speech
without permission.
 But historians and the National
Park Service said they are not
aware of any other case in which
builders of a national monument
had to license the image of their
subject.
 National Park Service spokesman
Bill Line said licensing fees are
"unfamiliar territory" for a memori-
al that will eventually be turned
over to the government.
 Harry Johnson, president of the
Martin Luther King Jr. National
Memorial Project Foundation, said
that the fees were not a burden and
that the foundation has a good rela-


tionship with the King family.
 The foundation hopes to begin
building the $120 million memorial
this year. It has raised $104 million
of that so far, including $10 million
from Congress. It has tapped chari-
table foundations, Fortune 500
companies and individuals, sending
letters to more than 1 million poten-
tial donors.
 The intellectual property issue
first surfaced in 2001, when the
King family's efforts to seek a
licensing agreement briefly stalled
fundraising.
 Johnson said the memorial's cen-
tral sculpture does not fall within
the family's intellectual property
rights, and nearly all the King quo-
tations being incorporated into the
design are in the public domain,
which means no licensing fees need
to be paid.
 The foundation did not pay any
fees to the King family in 2008, but
it could face more licensing fees in
the future if it uses certain words or
images in its activities.
 Rebecca Rimel, president and
CEO of the Pew Charitable Trusts,
which gave $1 million to the project
in 2007, said the group was not
aware of the licensing arrangement
but is now asking that its gift be
used only to support the memorial's
construction.
 "We think the memorial is an
important and overdue recognition,
but we really don't want to get
involved with relationships with the
family and their estate," Rimel said.
 Charon Darris, a New York
banker and alumnus of Morehouse
College, King's alma mater, said he
raised about $1,000 for the memori-
al project with friends and did not
have a problem with the fees.
 "I don't think that's an unreason-
able amount," he said. "Ultimately,
the kids lost their father, the wife
lost her husband."


Shown above are Pastor Charity Newton, Pastor Leonard Dantzler, Lacree Carswell, Adult Services Chief
Sandra Hull Richardson, Joan Turner, Betty Smith, Veronica Eskridge, Ken Johnson, Claore Cooper and
Debra Vasquez. Shown below left is Comunity Development Chief Lacree Carswell presenting a surprise
award to Joan Turner for enhancing the image of the Independent Living program. R. Silver photo

 Independent Living Program presents 17th

 Annual Volunteer Appreciation Luncheon
 ., ..The Independent Living Program
 ,"-held their 17th Annual Volunteer
 Appreciation Luncheon last week
 at the Emmett Reed Community
 Center. The program included
 greetings by City Chiefs and words
 of gratitude from several of the
 program's recipients.
 Many volunteers contribute to
 making the program a success log-
 ging tens of thousands of hours
 throughout the year. With every-
 "thing from luncheons and holiday
 baskets to media programs and
 "senior companions", the programs
 benefits are endless.
 -With emphasis on the disadvan-
 .taged elderly, the city sponsored
 Program provides concentrated
 -services to the northside of Duval
 ; County with emphasis on the
 ...Mayor's Neighborhoods Action
 S- Plan Implementation Areas.


 Applications Available for Zonta Club
 Klausman Women in Business Scholarship
 Applications for the 2009 Zonta International Jane M. Klausman Women
 in Business Scholarships are now available from the Zonta of Jacksonville.
 Thescholarships, first awarded in 1998, are open to women pursuing an
 undergraduate degree in business leading to a business management
 career. The program is designed to encourage undergraduate women to
 enter careers and to seek leadership positions in business-related fields.
 Applications can be obtained on-line at www.zontajacksonville.com and
 are due to The Zonta Club of Jacksonville by May 30, 2009. Applicants
 are asked to describe their academic and professional goals in a short essay
 and provide a transcript and letters of recommendation. Students must be
 in their third or fourth year of business-related studies by the Fall 2009.
For more information, contact Christina Salvatore at 904-465-5099. or




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Aprfl 23-30, 2009


Page 2 Ms. Perry's Free Press


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