BIRTHDAY PARTY: Although Jan. 18 is the...

BIRTHDAY PARTY: Although Jan. 18 is the federal holiday honoring Martin Luther King Jr., Friday would have been the slain civil rights leader’s 64th birthday. Orange County church choirs will perform that day at a commemoration sponsored by the Baptist Ministers Conference in Santa Ana’s Valley High School auditorium. . . . The group’s president, Van Roberson, believes that in an area where African-Americans make up only 2% of the population, such events shouldn’t be limited to one week a year: “Because our numbers are so scarce here, programs that educate our youth about their proud heritage are all the more important.”