On the town

Students and activists hailed at King breakfast

The holiday observance on Monday began early, with more than 700 people attending the 17th annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. leadership and awards breakfast at the Coliseum in St. Petersburg.

Event partners are the St. Petersburg Martin Luther King Jr. Commemorative Commission and the St. Petersburg Metropolitan Section of the National Council of Negro Women.

The keynote speaker was Will Packer Jr., chairman of Rainforest Films in Atlanta, a film and video production company. Packer graduated from St. Petersburg High School and Florida A&M University.

"It's always good to be welcomed home," he said, "especially when the Bucs go to the Super Bowl for the first time."

Packer urged his audience to brush up on current events, daydream and take positive actions.

"Talk to your children," he said. "Talk to your grandchildren. Talk to somebody else's children. Xbox (an interactive game), BET (Black Entertainment Television) and PlayStation 2 (another interactive game) don't take time off."

Mayor Rick Baker gave Packer a key to the city.

NCNW president Mary Clowers presented the 2003 Humanitarian Award to Dorothy Gilliam, founding president of the 13th Street Heights Neighborhood Association.

Associate member Thomas "Jet" Jackson gave the Faith-Based Award to the Rev. Louis Murphy, pastor of Mount Zion Progressive Baptist Church, in recognition of his congregation's attendance at the event last year.

President-elect Dianne Speights recognized Boca Ciega High School student Tikisha McRae, president of the NCNW's youth council, the Precious Jewels, and recipient of the Verdya Dennard Robinson scholarship.

Cristina Coffin announced the Doug Jamerson scholarships, presented by Verizon, which will go to McRae, Alicia Franklin, Nikkia Ganey, Erika Holden and Rashan Williams. Jamerson, a longtime legislator and former education commissioner, died in April 2001; his mother, Neva Jamerson McGill, attended the breakfast.

The Commemorative Commission scholarship went to Christopher Brown, a student at St. Petersburg High.

Among public officials attending were St. Petersburg City Council members James Bennett, John Bryan, Rene Flowers, Bill Foster, Virginia Littrell, Richard Kriseman and Earnest Williams; Deputy Mayor Goliath Davis; Pinellas School Board members Lee Benjamin, Mary Brown, Carol Cook, Linda Lerner and Mary Russell; Seminole Mayor Dottie Reeder; state Rep. Frank Peterman; Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Judge Mark Shames; Pinellas County commissioners Bob Stewart and Ken Welch, with his wife, Donna; and St. Petersburg Area Chamber of Commerce president Russ Sloan.

Also in the crowd were Shirley J. Thornton, the Rev. Keturah D. Pittman, Watson L. Haynes II, the Rev. Callist Nyambo, Ray Arsenault, Barry McIntosh, Maria Scruggs-Weston, Bill Heller, Mark and Marty Petty, Beth Sholar, Victor Lucas, William McClendon, Richard Martin and Bobbie Tampa.

The Rev. M. Mason Broughton Walker and Charles Carroll are commission chairman and co-chairman, respectively. Carroll sat at the head table on Monday. Walker was unable to attend because he was ill.

WTVT-Ch. 13 news anchor John Wilson was master of ceremonies.

Bayfront on Vine and the 40th anniversary gala for the Stuart Society of the Museum of Fine Arts kept me in St. Petersburg on Saturday; you'll hear more about those events on Sunday.

But my Tampa colleague Amy Scherzer reports that an emotional evening awaited more than 1,000 guests at the fourth Florida Holocaust Museum To Life awards dinner at the Hyatt Regency.

Besides the honorees, Lisl Schick and the Stanford Newman family, actor Jon Voight and four-time world heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield played roles at the event.

Museum president Geoff Simon turned the mike over to Voight for a surprise tribute to John Loftus, past president of the museum. The men hit it off after Voight read one of Loftus' books and asked to meet the author. Voight became a trustee of the museum, and a movie based on Loftus' Nazi- and terrorist-hunting career is in the works, starring Voight and Gary Sinise.

Holyfield came for his friend Kenny Schick, general manager of HBO Sports and Lisl's eldest son. Two years ago while in Tampa for the Super Bowl, Kenny Schick took Holyfield to the museum, where the boxer eagerly offered his help. Five pairs of his autographed boxing gloves sold at the silent auction.

During dinner, Holyfield said his mother instilled the same values that the museum promotes: tolerance and forgiveness. (That's why he didn't bite Tyson back.)

Voight broke down in tears when he introduced Lisl Schick, who was 11 when she and her brother were loaded onto a Kindertransport in Vienna. Her father escaped to join them in England in 1942, her mother escaped to the United States, and they were reunited in 1945.

Schick says she survived "to teach about hatred and bigotry." Besides Kenny, her three other children, a stepson and 12 grandchildren were at the dinner.

Stan Newman, patriarch of the J.C. Newman Cigar Co.; his wife, Elaine; and their sons, Eric and Robert, and daughters-in-law, Lyris and Merideth, were honored for their generosity.

In the past 12 months, they have given financial support to 159 nonprofit agencies from A to Z, from the arts to Congregation Schaarai Zedek.

LOOKING AHEAD

Saturday

EINSTEIN ON WINE: Eighth annual event benefits K+

I+

Jan. 3

DINNER WITH THE ARTS: Benefits Gulf Coast Museum of Art. Guest speaker, Earl A. Powell III, director, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. 7 p.m. Radisson Hotel and Conference Center, 12600 Roosevelt Blvd., St. Petersburg. $150. (727) 518-6833, ext. 213.

Feb. 11

SWEETHEART SURVIVORS: Sword of Hope, American Cancer Society event benefits Tampa Hope Lodge, scholarships for cancer survivors. Luncheon, fashions by Stein Mart with cancer survivor models. 11 a.m. St. Petersburg Yacht Club, 11 Central Ave. $40. (727) 345-4492.

-- Mary Jane Park can be reached at (727) 893-8267; faxed at (727) 893-8675; e-mailed at park@sptimes.com; or written to at P.O. Box 1121, St. Petersburg, FL 33731.

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