Nightmares happen and many times without warning.
Such was the case at Ballard Park in Tupelo on Saturday, when a tree limb fell on a 10-year-old Byhalia boy while he was running to a vehicle to get out of the rain. The boy later died at North Mississippi Medical Center.
Though no parks director ever envisions having to deal with such a tragedy, cities and parks systems all over Mississippi shell out thousands each year in liability insurance premiums to cover claims and protect them from lawsuits.
Will Cooper, attorney for the Columbus-Lowndes Recreation Authority which oversees the city and county parks, said incidents like the one in Tupelo typically are not covered under a liability policy because they are often considered “acts of God.”
However, parks systems in those types of cases could face liability, he said, if the tree was rotted or they knew it was a danger and did nothing about it.
Cooper refused to comment, upon request, on how much CLRA paid in liability insurance premiums each year or on any information regarding claims on that insurance.
“We just don’t want that information out there,” Cooper said.
The Dispatch will submit an open records request to CLRA for that information today.
CLRA director Greg Lewis refused to comment for the article altogether, referring The Dispatch to Cooper.
In Starkville, the city pays almost $9,500 per year for liability insurance at its parks through the Mississippi Municipal League, according to City Clerk Lesa Hardin.
Starkville’s parks director Herman Peters said the parks system also pays for injury/liability policies to Nationwide for each of its sports.
He said Parks hasn’t fielded a claim against any of its liability policies in the four years he’s been employed, and he wasn’t aware of any before that.
Still, he said his crew worked diligently to keep sports fields, park equipment and park facilities from becoming dangerous. That includes, he said, trimming low hanging limbs and cleaning up loose branches quickly following a storm.
“We do a lot of routine maintenance to try to prevent bad things from happening,” Peters said.
Starkville’s parks system manages six facilities, including the Sportsplex on Lynn Lane, and also maintains a pool, splash pad, baseball, softball and soccer fields.
Zack Plair is the managing editor for The Dispatch.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 31 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 31 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
