MLK adviser named as replacement speaker for university dinner

A new speaker is lined up for Southeast Missouri State University's Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration Dinner after a cancellation by Newark, N.J., Mayor Cory Booker.

Clarence B. Jones, an adviser to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. who helped draft the famous "I Have a Dream" speech, will present the keynote address at the Jan. 22 dinner at the Show Me Center.

According to a news release, Jones served as a political adviser, counsel and draft speechwriter for King. He is a visiting professor at the University of San Francisco and scholar writer in residence at the Martin Luther King Jr. Research & Education Institute at Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif.

Booker, the speaker originally slated, is campaigning for a U.S. Senate seat in New Jersey vacated by the unexpected death of Frank Lautenberg and will be unable to attend, the release said.

Tickets for the Martin Luther King Jr. Dinner will go on sale in December. The theme of this year's dinner will be "Behind the Dream."

Pertinent address:

1333 N. Sprigg St., Cape Girardeau, MO