ALBANY -- On Martin Luther King Day, the Capitol Report focused on how DR. King’s words inspired one man’s career in public service.   

For New Yorkers of a certain age, Martin Luther King is more than an icon.

Two of Dr. King’s speeches inspired US District Court Judge Randolph Treece of Lansingburgh NY to pursue a career in justice.  The first was the 1968 speech in Memphis.  But to Judge Treece, then a teenager and of draft age, a lesser known speech, given at Riverside about the Vietnam War resonated with him much more powerfully.
 
Randolph Treece is the first African American to serve as US Magistrate Judge for the Northern District of NY since the district was created in 1789 by George Washington.