Oktibbeha County supervisors approved a resolution Monday that could pave the way for legislation posthumously honoring a former Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics agent with a road designation.
Supervisors unanimously agreed to support a process that, if approved by state lawmakers, will rename portion of Highway 25 after Robert Henry McLeod, who died in a single-vehicle accident on Sept. 23, 1989. Specifically, the portion of Highway 25 beginning at its intersection with McGee Road and extending to its intersection with St. Marks Drive would honor the late agent.
McLeod was 24 years old when he died. He served with the agency for 11 months.
Steven Woodruff, MBN Agents Benevolent Association acting president, said state Rep. Joey Hood, R-Ackerman, is expected to author a bill authorizing the memorial in the upcoming legislative term.
The Mississippi Department of Transportation would erect and maintain appropriate signage along and approaching the highway, a rough draft of the legislation states.
Hood has pushed numerous road designation bills in previous legislative terms. This year, he co-authored legislation honoring former Mississippi State University President Donald Zacharias, former Eupora police officer Keith Alan Crenshaw and former state Rep. David Gibbs. Hood also authored a bill calling for the creation of the Blackwood Brothers Gospel Highway in Choctaw County.
Hood, along with the entire House, co-authored a 2013 bill naming a bridge after former Rep. William E. “Billy” Bowles and also attempted to rename the U.S. Highway 55 and Miss. Highway 8 interchange near Grenada after former Grenada Police Department Capt. John Wayne Haddock, who died in 2011.
A similar honor was bestowed on legendary MSU broadcaster Jack Cristil when the Legislature renamed a portion of U.S. Highway 82 between the Miss. Highway 12 bypass and the northern campus entrance after the legendary voice of the Bulldogs.
Cristil died in September. He was 88.
Hood, a Republican, represents District 35, which spans portions of Choctaw, Grenada, Oktibbeha and Webster counties.
Carl Smith covers Starkville and Oktibbeha County for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter @StarkDispatch
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