Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 5, 1995 TAG: 9503080061
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: THE NEW YORK TIMES
DATELINE: ATLANTA LENGTH: Medium
\ In a thawing of three months of icy relations between the family of the Rev. Martin Luther King and the National Park Service, family members reopened King's birthplace to free, Park Service-conducted tours Saturday at 10 a.m.
Dexter Scott King, head of the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change, said the decision was a temporary agreement spurred by his disappointment at seeing schoolchildren who had traveled to the King historic district kept outside the two-story, clapboard and shingle birthplace.
King, the youngest son of the slain civil rights leader, barred the Park Service's uniformed guides and interpreters from the house Dec. 28, when the two institutions clashed over Park Service plans to build an $11 million visitors center near the King center.
The King family had hoped to use the same site for a multimedia, interactive civil rights museum. The family accused the Park Service not only of infringing on its property rights but also of trying to appropriate King's legacy.
Dexter King, 33, said he and the board of the King center would re-evaluate the temporary agreement in July.
``They have recognized and respected our intellectual property rights,'' King said of the Park Service, ``and they have agreed to work with us to decide what is appropriate in terms of the interpretative part of the visitors center. We stood on a principle, and legally if you don't protect your rights, you lose them.''
Troy Lissimore, superintendent of the five-block national historic site who will oversee the visitors center, said he was pleased with the family's decision and looked forward to ``a stronger working relationship.''
The historical site draws more than 3 million visitors a year.
Despite the conditional tone of King's comments, others on the center's board said the announcement represented the beginning of a broader accord with the Park Service.
John Cox, secretary of the board, said that the Park Service was considering resumption of the more than $500,000 a year for maintenance it had been providing the King center and that it might provide logistical help on the interactive museum, which would be privately financed.
Three months ago, King and his allies accused the Park Service of ``dark ambitions'' to appropriate the King legacy while being ``poorly qualified to interpret the people's history.'' They sought public support for their positions, but found that most Atlanta residents, including city officials, supported the Park Service's plans as a lever to redevelop the historic district.
And instead of arousing a nationwide protest against the Park Service, Cox said, they found that the dispute just confused people.
by CNB