West Plains, MO. – The City of West Plains is formally recognizing Juneteenth with a closure of city offices. In addition, there is an event planned for the Lincoln School which has reached maximum capacity.
Juneteenth, officially known as Juneteenth National Independence Day, is a federal holiday within the United States, and is annually celebrated on June 19th to commemorate the ending of slavery within our country.
According to an announcement from the City, while City Hall and other city buildings will be closed tomorrow in observance of the holiday, but the Civic Center will be open due to a full schedule of activities for the day. Lastly, residential trash routes will not run tomorrow, and the usual Wednesday route will be consolidated onto Thursday.
As an additional way of celebrating Juneteenth, local cultural and education center, the Lincoln School, will be hosting a presentation with speaker Lamar Johnson, an African-American man from St. Louis who was wrongfully convicted of the murder of Markus Boyd, who was shot to death in 1994.
Johnson was released last year in February, having been exonerated. An interview took place between “48 Hours” correspondent Erin Moriarty and Johnson. This interview can be found by clicking here.
