Chris Taylor, the leader of Oktibbeha County’s NAACP chapter, says he again will push for Unity Park’s unveiling in early 2014 after county supervisors failed for a second straight year to formalize plans for an opening ceremony.
The park, a public green space created located between Mugshots and the Oktibbeha County Sheriff’s Department, contains seven plaques meant to honor key national figures who championed race relations and education. Five of those plaques are engraved with the likeness of civil rights pioneers, but they have remained covered since the county education building opened in 2011. Unity Park was part of the $2 million project that led to the education building’s construction.
Taylor said he will ask supervisors to officially dedicate the park during the annual civil rights march and other events surrounding the Jan. 20 Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The march’s traditional route brings participants down North Washington Street, next to the park’s location.
Attempts to open Unity Park in 2013 fell victim to numerous delays and a lack of clarity from the board of supervisors. Supervisors, who commissioned District 5 Supervisor Joe Williams to seek public input on the monument’s future in January, said repeatedly this year they wanted to open the park but at the same time keep their hands off a process to name local honorees on two blank plaques.
After numerous informal meetings with county constituents, Williams brought a number of public recommendations back to the board: unveil the completed monuments; honor two local civil rights pioneers, former county NAACP President A.D. Johnson and physician Douglas Connor, with the blank slates; and erect a new plaque to memorialize 1963’s “Game of Change,” a basketball contest between Mississippi State University and Chicago’s Loyola University.
The board declined action on the recommendations in July due to funding questions — engraving alone could cost up to $800 per plaque, and the intricacies surrounding which locals to include — to honor with the remaining monuments.
However, the board, in principle, agreed to formally open Unity Park this year.
First, supervisors eyed an unveiling date in August. The month came and went without a formal plan to open the park. Then, the board tentatively planned to hold a ceremony during a weekend without a MSU home football game in October. District 1 Supervisor John Montgomery took it upon himself to help rid the grassy area of the park of weeds in preparation for the upcoming unveiling. Again, the month passed with no formal ceremony.
When asked for clarity, supervisors directed questions to District 3 representative Marvell Howard, who they say is handling the Unity Park situation. In numerous 2013 board meetings, Howard backed opening the park once a keynote speaker was secured — former Miss. Gov. William Winter was slated to speak in the fall, but scheduling conflicts prevented his address — but the former board president remained wary of the board rubber stamping locals for future recognition.
Howard was unavailable for comment Monday.
“I really like the idea Chris Taylor has, and I think we can pull it off for the MLK holiday, but Marvell is the one with the trump card. It’s all up to him,” said board President Orlando Trainer. “To me, it won’t take a lot of preparation to do it. I think we need to go ahead and open the park as soon as we can. There’s no need to keep prolonging the situation. Whatever we can do to get it going, I’m in favor. We don’t need a long, drawn-out discussion.”
To solve lingering questions about future monuments and their funding, Montgomery said a formal committee of citizens could be created to help secure financing and honor local residents. The group from January’s talks does not function as an official sub-board of the Oktibbeha County Board of Supervisors.
“I don’t have a problem with that; let the committee decide (who is honored in the future). It’s not up to us to decide who is worthy of this honor, and the board just doesn’t want to be in the middle,” Montgomery said. “We do, however, need to get this park open soon. (If Taylor’s plan finds no support), it would be great to go ahead after a (county) meeting and just do a little ceremony to open it. Then we could get the ground floor established to form a committee for fundraising. Before you know it, money is made and names are etched.”
Carl Smith covers Starkville and Oktibbeha County for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter @StarkDispatch
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