It is difficult to read any quotes that are attributed to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. without feeling emotional.

The man was a terrifically gifted, world-class orator. Nearly everthing he said was riveting and remarkable.

Take this excerpt, for example, from a simple speech he made to his staff in 1966: "..I'm concerned about justice. I'm concerned about brotherhood. I'm concerned about truth. And when one is concerned about these, he can never advocate violence. For through violence you may murder a murderer but you can't murder murder. Through violence you may murder a liar but you can't establish truth. Through violence you may murder a hater, but you can't murder hate. Darkness cannot put out darkness. Only light can do that."

For those who did not know, the name of the county in which you live was picked not because a gold crown looks neat on a sign. The eponym was borrowed from a man named King.

It was not, however the same man whose birthday we honored on Monday. Way back in 1852, with hopes of gaining speedy admission to the Union by currying favor with the new administration, (Washington did not become a state until 1889) officials of the newly formed Washington Territory named King County for William Rufus DeVane King in honor of his inauguration as Vice President to Franklin Pierce in that year.

In later years, as Americans and the world began to come to their senses, we realized that racism is abominable and when new generations learned that (according to abolitionist John Quincy Adams) William Rufus King was a slave owner, it was time for a fundamental change.

Well beyond simple political correctness, this was an embarrassing legacy for us to continue to endure. So, in 1986 Ron Sims and the county council passed a resolution setting forth the historical basis for the "renaming" of King County in honor of Reverend Dr. King instead.

In May 2005, Washington State Governor Christine Gregoire signed legislation formalizing the prior resolution and officially designating King County's name to be in honor of Reverend Dr. King.

The day before Dr. King was assassinated, in April of 1968, he gave this darkly prescient speech: "Well, I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn't matter with me now. Because I've been to the mountaintop. And I don't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land. And I'm happy, tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord."

By way of finalizing the idea of honoring Reverend Dr. King fully, a proposed ordinance was recently written to replace the imperial crown that graces official signage around the county with a likeness of the slain civil rights leader as the new symbol of King County.

The proposal was voted on last Monday and as of press time, I couldn't know for sure but I am fairly certain it passed. However, in an unusual twist, King County officials appear to have renamed the county at the risk of offending another minority: William Rufus Devane King was widely presumed to have been gay.

Though the theory is controversial and a source of debate among King historians, W.R.D. King had a long-term intimate relationship with lifelong confirmed bachelor (and later POTUS) James Buchanan.

Also there was the purported practice among the vice president's detractors in the Senate to refer to him as "Miss Nancy." If it wasn't for the unfortunate racial aspect of William King's legacy, "Miss Nancy County" doesn't sound that bad.