MIAMI, Jan. 18 (UPI) -- The attorney involved in the flap over a Martin Luther King plaque that mistakenly credited convicted assassin James Earl Ray with "keeping the dream alive," said Friday no decision has been made on what to do next.
William J. Cone said no decision on any legal action would be made until after the weekend is over.
The plaque was intended for actor James Earl Jones, but instead named the man who was convicted of killing Martin Luther King in 1968. Merit Industries of Texas has apologized for the mistake. The error caused a national stir leading into Saturday's ceremonies at Lauderhill.
Cone represents Adpro Marketing of Lauderhill, which arranged for the plaque on behalf of the city's "King Day Task Force."
"We haven't let this go yet. We're looking at our options and during a further investigation," Cone said. "We're getting a lot of stories about how this could happened. We're wondering which one is the truth.
"But we don't want to take anything away from the festivities, so we'll wait until next week," he said.
Herbert Miller, sales manager for Merit Industries, said it was an innocent mistake. He said some of the company's workers are barely in their 20s and don't speak much English.
"They don't know who James Earl Ray from James Earl Jones from the man in the moon," he said.
He also said the engraver was working on another plaque for a man named Ray Johnson at the same time and that added to the confusion.
The task force has elected to buy Jones a piece of African-American sculpture rather than give him a corrected plaque.
Chairwoman Margaret Bates told a task force meeting Thursday, "We want the plaque to go its way and we will go our way."
