CARD to finalize MLK honor

In response to the confusion and public outrage that greeted reports of their last meeting, the directors of the Chico Area Recreation District have scheduled a special meeting for Thursday, May 26, to define just what CARD is doing to honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

The negative reaction occurred after the CARD Board of Directors’ last regular meeting on May 19, when the directors reportedly declared that honoring King in connection with Community Park was not the done deal most thought it was.

This came after a long struggle staged by a community coalition that seemed to end when the Chico City Council voted to rename Whitman Avenue, which leads to Community Park, as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway and also sent its endorsement to a suggestion that language pertaining to the slain civil-rights leader’s legacy be incorporated into the park’s name on a monument and/or plaque or archway.

A story in the May 20 Enterprise-Record suggested the CARD board, in the absence of Chairwoman Jan Sneed, had rejected the suggestion and decided to go back to square one.

Not true, said Mary Cahill, CARD’s executive director.

“The board just wants a better definition on what we are looking at for Community Park,” she said. “They just want some classification.”

She said she is confident (and really hopes) the May 26 meeting set for noon at the CARD Center will finally bring resolution to the matter.