Celebrate MLK Day at Second Missionary Baptist
Service starts at 11 a.m.

The Rev. Dr. Thomas E. Gilmore, the first black sheriff elected in Greene County, Ala., will be the keynote speaker at Simi Valley Second Missionary Baptist Church's annual Martin Luther King Jr. Community Celebration at 11 a.m. Monday, Jan. 21 at 1063 Pacific Ave., Simi Valley.

The event will include praise dancers and singing. The public is welcome.

Gilmore was born and raised in Forkland, a rural town approximately 100 miles south of Birmingham, Ala. He became interested in politics and the Civil Rights Movement after a racial shooting occurred in his hometown and the shooter was never brought to justice.

He met King when the Southern Christian Leadership Conference began secretly meeting with local ministers and community leaders to register voters. After several complaints and appeals, a federal court ordered Greene County to purge their voter registration rolls. They found hundreds of deceased white voters registered and someone illegally casting ballots in their names.

In 1970, a special election was held by the National Democratic Party of Alabama. Gilmore became one of three blacks elected to a county office.

Because of Gilmore's belief in nonviolence, he put his weapon aside and became known as the "sheriff without a gun." He served for 12 years as sheriff.

Today Gilmore is the senior pastor of First Baptist Church of Ensley/Birmingham in Alabama.

For information about the event, call Mary Winn-Howard at (805) 358-6386 or the Rev. Willie Mack Gray at (805) 522-5241.