Featured speaker for the community observance of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. national holiday will be Winston Price, M.D., board certified pediatrician and recently named Chief of Staff at Memorial Hospital and Manor.

It is expected he will address this year’s theme of “Uniting in Divisive Times,” when he speaks at the memorial program at Hutto Middle School at 11:45 a.m. Monday, January 15.

Price served as President of the National Medical Association from August 2004, to July 2005, and during his term he guided the NMA to focus greater attention on the use of information technology and HER’s toward improving consumer health education, maximizing patient healthy outcomes in their healthcare interactions and eliminating health disparities.

His resume reflects his many efforts and skills at working together with various organizations to improve healthcare for all.

His current Georgia Board participation includes the Decatur County Board of Health, Chair of the Southwest Georgia Area Health Education Center and he serves as the Medical Coordinator for the Decatur County Telehealth program with local schools.

Dr. Price also practices clinical medicine serving the southwestern population in Georgia, with a focus on preventive care.

Dr. Price enjoys traveling worldwide with his family, as well as being an active part of the Bainbridge and Decatur County tennis community. He is currently on the boards of the Bainbridge Tennis Association and the LevelUp Education & Tennis Academy of Decatur County.

The opening ceremony of the day will be held at the East entrance to the Courthouse on West Street at 9:45 a.m. Opening greetings will be given by the 2018 Grand Marshal, Mrs. Jeanette Grimsley, Principal of Potter Street Elementary. Musical selections will be performed by soloist Lora Akins and  by Brandie Sanders of Antioch M.B. Church, Brinson. Prayer will be offered by Rev. Henry Flowers III of First African Baptist Church. Liz Tomlin will give the welcome and introduction of the Grand Marshall, followed by greetings from Mayor Edward Reynolds and from Sheriff Wiley Griffin. After the congregational singing of “We Shall Overcome” the group will begin the march/parade, going first to Pilgrim Rest, where Marlon Breedlove will offer reflections and prayer. The parade will then continue on to Hutto Middle School for an assembly at 11:45 a.m., where Dr. Price will be the principal speaker.

The program will open with the posting of colors by the BHS Jr. ROTC. Dr. Larry Clark, Principal of Jones Wheat Elementary School will serve as Master of Ceremonies. They will include selections from the Hutto Middle School Chorus, and the Jones Wheat chorus, along with comments from Dr. Crycynthia Gardner, Principal of Hutto Middle School; Rev. Spenser Wilson of First African Baptist Church on Webster Street, Mr. Tim Cochran, Superintendent of Schools, Dr. C. T. Stafford and Brock Washington, president of the NAACP. A creative dance will be performed by students of Hutto Middle School. Other officials scheduled to speak briefly are Joseph K. Mulholland, D.A., Pete Stephens of the County

Commission, Carol Heard, Elections official and Dr. Linda Walden of Cairo. The Rev. James Clarke Community Choir will also offer selections.

A luncheon will follow the program and is open to the public, as are all of the other events of the day.