By Emmanuel T. Erediano
Variety News Staff

THE owner of a cleaning firm and a few of his workers rolled up their sleeves yesterday to work for free at the Department of Cultural and Community Affairs office on Capital Hill in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day which will be observed here and elsewhere in the nation on Jan. 15.
It was last year when the CNMI finally enacted a law that made MLK Day a local holiday, said Willie Brundidge, owner of Mozell’s Boys Ground Maintenance and Trash Cleanup.
Brundidge and his crew started doing their cleanup at 1 p.m. by providing tree trimming service around DCCA’s Division of Youth Services.
The trees, Brundidge said, pose a danger to drivers as well as pedestrians visiting the office, as rotting branches can fall anytime.
DCCA also plans to use the area for parking space, “so they really need to have the surroundings cleaned up,” he said.
Brundidge said the department told him that it has no funds to pay for cleanup service.
He said it is not right for a helpful, community-oriented government agency to operate under such dangerous conditions, so he decided to donate his company’s services for free.
The kind of job that they performed yesterday runs for three hours and would cost a regular customer $150, Brundidge said.
“I would also like to take this opportunity to call attention to the upcoming MLK holiday,” said Brundidge who had been doing business in the CNMI for 14 years.
“I’m an African American business owner and I want to show my gratitude to the spirit of brotherhood that was extended to me,” he said.
He said what he’s doing is the “type of thing Martin Luther King Jr. had in his dream for us — something to exemplify the spirit of unity, brotherhood, making a difference and doing something positive in the interests of others’ welfare.”