Gainesville remembers MLK

GAINESVILLE - Many in Gainesville paused Monday afternoon to remember Dr. Martin Luther King Junior.<br> <br> The 33rd annual MLK march and rally marked the official observance of the slain civil rights leader&#39;s birthday. The march and rally began in Gainesville in 1970, long before the King holiday became a reality. The observance is sponsored each year by the Newtown Florist Club.<br> <br> Several hundred people turned for the rally and heard keynote speaker Rev. Ron Sailor, pastor of Christ the King Baptist Church on Brown&#39;s Bridge Road, urge them to keep working and praying and calling into question anything that is not right.<br> <br> This year&#39;s rally was moved to the Georgia Mountains Center because of acoustical problems at the Butler Center where it has usually been held. The march, which usually begins downtown, began at Butler this year.<br> <br> While schools and government offices were closed Monday, as were selected other places, it was business-as-usual for most people and businesses in the Gainesville area.