The plaque stated, "Thank you James Earl Ray for keeping the dream alive."

But the name should have been "James Earl Jones," the Tony Award-winning actor and voice of Star Wars' Darth Vader, The Lion King's Mufasa and CNN.

The plaque was intended as a gift from the city of Lauderhill to Jones, who will be the featured speaker at the city's annual Martin Luther King celebration Saturday. James Earl Ray shot and killed King in 1968.

Members of the city's Martin Luther King task force had asked the Lauderhill-based Adpro to produce the plaque but later agreed with the company that Jones deserved something unique. Adpro found the answer in a plaque with collectible African-American stamps available from Merit Industries of Georgetown, Texas.

The companies struck a deal. All Adpro had to do was choose from a list of stamps and fax the name and script needed on the plaque to the Texas company.

Then the package arrived.

"It had an immediate chill. It was eerie," said Adpro owner Gerald Wilcox, 43, as he showed the plaque that, he said, "deeply hurt."

Wilcox, who 10 years ago founded Adpro to produce advertising and promotional items, is having a hard time understanding the mix-up. He still asks himself how someone could confuse Jones, the celebrated actor and pitchman known for his one-of-a kind voice, with Ray, the man who shot and killed King at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis.

Ray pleaded guilty to the crime in 1969, but debate over conspiracy theories and possible government involvement lives on. Ray later recanted his story; he was serving a 99-year prison sentence when he died in 1998. King would have been 73 this month.

The case of the terribly wrong name is also fueling conspiracy theories. Gerald Wilcox said he knew the error didn't come from his company, but he sent a company secretary scurrying through order forms -- just to be sure.

"In all my communications with the vendor, I never used [James Earl Ray]. I almost fell off my chair when I saw it," said Norbert Williams, 68, a former middle school principal who is an Adpro account executive. The evidence pointed to Georgetown, Texas.

Merit Industries' creation, intended for Jones and for which the city is spending about $200, features a 15-cent stamp of King and stamps of six other famous African-Americans. The six include Harriet Tubman, W.E.B. DuBois and Paul Laurence Dunbar. Merit had faxed Adpro a list of 15 African-American stamps to choose from, and a rough sketch of what the finished product would look like.

The plaque arrived Monday and, even without seeing it, Lauderhill officials were incensed.

"It's a real outrage," said Commissioner Margaret Bates, who also chairs the city's Martin Luther King task force. "To confuse James Earl Jones with James Earl Ray just think of the significance."

Even with his doubts, Wilcox said he was willing to call it an error but wanted Merit executives to tell him what happened. He said the first phone conversation broke down when a Merit employee became uncooperative and cut the call short. On a second try, Gerald Wilcox talked to the owner, Herbert Miller.

"I explained to him why this was so important. He said I was making a mountain out of a mole hill," Wilcox said. "They had no sense of history. First I was stunned, then the anger kicked in."

On Tuesday, Merit's Miller called the mistake not a "slur" but a "copy error."

"We have a lot of people who don't speak English. Accidentally, one of the girls who doesn't know James Earl Jones from a man on the moon accidentally typed James Earl Ray," said Miller, who offered to correct the plaque.

Wilcox accused the Texas company of being "culturally insensitive" and is having the damage repaired locally so it will be ready for Saturday.

Some Lauderhill officials say it's best to move forward because they may never know the truth behind the name switch. Jones will speak to youngsters at the Boys & Girls Club at 1 p.m. Saturday before attending a 7 p.m. reception at Inverrary Country Club.

"I'd like to think it was a mistake," said Irvin Kiffin, the city's parks director. "But if it wasn't, Dr. King taught us how to be strong."

Dwayne Campbell can be reached at dcampbell@sun-sentinel.com or 954-572-2004.