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TUESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2003
Volume 2, Issue 59
Santa Monica Daily Press A newspaper with issues
Looking at the soul, spirit that drove King BY CAROLYN SACKARIASON Daily Press Staff Writer
Hundreds turned out to a local church on Monday to celebrate Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and to better understand the mark his message has had on the world. One of the largest Martin Luther King Jr. events in Southern California, the Martin Luther King Jr. Westside Coalition held its 18th annual celebration of King’s life at the First United Methodist Church. On Wednesday, King would have turned 74 years old. It wasn’t just the ordinary, run-of-themill celebration, however. In recent years, the media has given
only sound bites to Dr. King’s message usually in the form of excerpts taken from his “I have a dream” speech. But often times they are used with no context and have little meaning to the general public, Monday’s keynote speaker said. Sylvia Rousseau focused her speech on Dr. King’s soul and spirit. She said it’s time that we rediscover what King taught the world, particularly its leaders about nonviolence, negotiation, racial understanding and working toward solutions, Carolyn Sackariason/Daily Press especially in times of war. “Sound bites of Martin Luther King’s (Left) The New Direction Choir sings ‘This Little Light of Mine’ to a packed audience on Monday at First United Methodist Church celebrating Martin message is an injustice,” she said. “We need to spend some time to delve into Dr. Luther King Day. (Right) Hundreds listen as the SMC Emeritus Gospel Choir and the John Adams Middle School Norsemen Choir sing. Their performSee KING, page 6 ance inspired a standing ovation from the packed pews.
FBI holding car of Max Factor heir for evidence Investigators interviewing residents for leads on Andrew Luster’s whereabouts By staff and wire reports
The vehicle belonging to Max Factor cosmetics heir Andrew Luster remains in Santa Monica where investigators are searching it with a fine tooth comb looking for clues as to where the fugitive may have gone. The green Toyota 4-Runner was found Sunday afternoon in an upscale Santa Monica neighborhood near the corner of 10th Street and San Vicente Boulevard. A resident who noticed the car sitting in the same spot for Andrew Luster’s car is being held at an more than two weeks called the Santa Monica Police Department reporting a suspicious vehicle. A check of the undisclosed location in Santa Monica.
license plate showed that the car belongs to Luster, who allegedly jumped his $1 million bail on Jan. 3. The car apparently turned up in the neighborhood just two or three days after Luster failed to show up in court to answer to charges of raping three women at his Mussel Shoals beachfront home after secretly giving them a date-rape drug. He disappeared midway through his rape trial and a Ventura County jury is considering his fate in absentia. The 39-year-old great-grandson of cosmetics magnate Max Factor failed to report to law enforcement officials and didn’t show up in court Jan. 6. Kathy Rubens who lives on the corner of San Vicente and 10th Street said she first noticed Luster’s car either Jan. 8 or Jan. 9. Rubens said she walked her dogs past the vehicle for See HEIR, page 6