Tim Hicks - Managing Editor

Ronnie Tobin pauses during the MLK Day walk in Williston to encourage his fellow ambulators.

Tim Hicks - Managing Editor

Walkers cross U.S. 278 duringtheir Jan. 18 MLK Day walk.

Tim Hicks - Managing Editor

Walkers trek down the walking trail in Williston during the Jan. 18 MLK Day walk.

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It was freedom coming through the feet - freedom of movement; freedom of assembly and the freedom to celebrate those that helped make the freedom possible.

About 70 walkers began at Springbranch Missionary Baptist Church at 509 Main St. in Williston and walked the approximately 2.5 miles to the clubhouse of the Men's Community Service Club of Williston at 146 Joseph St.

The walk, starting at 9 a.m., was in observance of Martin Luther King Day Jan. 18. A few mothers pushed strollers cargoed with babies. Williston Mayor Tommy Rivers also joined the walk. The procession was led and trailed by golf carts to give the footsore a lift.

At the end of the trail the Men's Community Service Club served breakfast to the walkers, cooked by club secretary Ronnie Brown.
A program honoring Martin Luther King followed breakfast.

For those unfamiliar with the club, Judd Bing, its vice president, gave a quick overview of it.

"The Men's Community Service Club of Williston is primarily a few good men from the area trying to improve things in the community and leave a legacy for the community like Martin Luther King did," Bing said.

"We are proactive in eliminating need in the community," he said. "We are about men coming together in to promote and improve the community."

Bing also made a call for new members to the club, which now has about 30 members.

Members must be men of good character and standing in their lives with the "aspirations and initiative to help the community," he said.

"If we get just a few of those - we can do a lot," Bing said.

The Men's Community Service Club of Williston is a nonprofit group that aids worthy causes through fund-raisers and also mentors and tutors youth and assists with other civic projects.

Other speakers during the program highlighted King's achievements during the civil rights movement.

Edgar Brown, one of the club members, recited from memory King's Aug. 28, 1963 "I Have a Dream" speech that King gave from the Lincoln Memorial during the March on Washington D.C. by 200,000 civil rights supporters.

As Brown neared the end of the recital, the crowd in the clubhouse began joining him until all were saying the final words of King's speech, "Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

"America is essentially a dream" Edgar Brown said.

A milestone in seeing that dream realized occurred nearly a year ago when Barack Obama was inaugurated Jan. 20, 2009 as the 44th president of the United States, he said.

"We hope this was an inspiration to you and got you pumped up," said Ronnie Brown at the end of the program.

In closing, Bing urged all those present to "find the gift that God has given you and use it."

"God has given you a gift not to sit on it but to serve," he said.