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Plans being finalized for citywide Marion Barry tribute | Plans being finalized for citywide Marion Barry tribute |
(about 4 hours later) | |
The death of D.C.’s most famous politician sent District officials scrambling Sunday to organize memorials to Marion Barry Jr. | |
D.C. flags were lowered to half-staff Sunday morning, as officials in Mayor Vincent C. Gray’s office said they were finalizing paperwork to request that U.S. flags in the District also be lowered to half-staff. | |
Gray pledged “public efforts to mark the life of this iconic figure” in an afternoon interview. He said that pre-arranged plans for Barry’s death were scant and that much would depend on Barry’s wishes as expressed through his family and friends. | |
“You probably would look at it and say you should [have made plans], but who in the hell wants to plan for that?” Gray said. “There’s nothing exciting about trying to accept the inevitability of what we know is inevitable.” | |
An administration official who spoke on condition of anonymity because plans were not yet complete said it appeared clear that a citywide memorial service would be held. | |
Gray said the Thanksgiving holiday could mean it could be a week or more before any such event is held. | |
“It would not surprise me if it was not the week after; that would make more sense to me,” he said. “We want everybody who wants to participate to have an opportunity be able to do that.” | |
Multiple people close to Barry on Sunday morning were discussing the possibility of using the Verizon Center as a venue for that memorial service. An official familiar with the planning said the Walter E. Washington Convention Center also is a possibility; the city chose that space for a public service for musician Chuck Brown in 2012. | |
Gray said he expected Barry’s body to lie in state at the John A. Wilson Building on Pennsylvania Avenue NW, saying “thousands” would visit. | |
Dates and times for those events were not yet immediately clear. | Dates and times for those events were not yet immediately clear. |