Monday is Martin Luther King Jr. Day and area residents will have plenty of opportunities to pay tribute to the slain civil rights leader at several planned events.

The activities begin as early as Sunday with a ceremony hosted by the Currituck County chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. The ceremony is set to start at 4 p.m. at Currituck County Middle School in Barco. The ceremony continues at 11 a.m. Monday with a caravan leaving Border Station in Moyock and traveling through the county.

Other events scheduled in observance of MLK Day include the following:

• A memorial march starting at 10 a.m. at the G.R. Little Library on campus at Elizabeth City State University and ending at the Pasquotank County Courthouse. Officials recommend participants arrive as early as 9:30 a.m.

• The 6th annual MLK Jr. Community Breakfast starting at 8 a.m. Monday at ECSU's K.E. White Center. The breakfast is sponsored by the National Association of University Women. Cost is $15 per adult, $8 per child and 4 and under free. For tickets, call 335-0175.

Also Monday area public schools will be closed, as will ECSU, College of The Albemarle and public libraries.

King was shot and killed April 4, 1968, while standing outside on a balcony at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tenn. A man named James Earl Ray was later arrested and charged with King's assassination. Four years before his death, King received a Nobel Peace Prize for his work as a civil rights leader.

In 1983 President Ronald Reagan signed a bill establishing MLK Day as a federal holiday to be observed annually on the third Monday of January.

In taking over as Elizabeth City's new mayor, Steve Atkinson recently proclaimed Monday, Jan. 21 as MLK Day in Elizabeth City.

"I encourage all citizens to observe this day with appropriate activities and programs that honor the memory and legacy of Dr. King," Atkinson stated in the proclamation.