Pres. Carter to Conduct MLK Mediation

Martin Luther King, Jr.’s heirs wish to settle a lawsuit over the ownership of his 1964 Nobel Peace Prize and his famed traveling bible. In Atlanta, a Fulton County Superior Court judge set a mediation deadline that passed last month and previously granted a stay in the case so that the King's daughter could negotiate a deal with her brothers. According to reports, former president, Jimmy Carter, has now agreed to serve as the King siblings’ mediator the ongoing court battle over sale of their father’s possessions. Brothers Martin Luther King III and Dexter Scott King are suing sister Bernice King over the ownership of the fifty-year-old Nobel Prize and King Bible, apparently used and signed by President Obama during his second inauguration. Bernice King has argued the items are sacred and should remain with the family. King’s estate is controlled by his sons who already sought an order for their sister to surrender the items which are in her possession. In a board of directors meeting last year, they voted 2-1 against Bernice King to sell the two valuable artifacts to a private buyer. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in 1968. His widow, Coretta Scott King, died in 2006. Yolanda King, the eldest King child, died in 2007. Originally, as previously covered by this blog, the case was set to go to trial last February. Sibling rivalries are among the toughest challenges for a mediator to solve. There are times when celebrity adult children can navigate their own conflict, but other times require a process affording for the airing of grievances in a non-public forum, such as mediation. President Carter, who recently revealed to the world that he’s begun treatment for cancer that has spread from his liver to his brain, said he is honored to be working with the King family in an effort to resolve the outstanding legal issues relating to their legacy and believes he will be able to resolve the difficult dispute once and for all. See story here-- http://bit.ly/1VDaW0u