County officials are denying claims they want to keep the Columbus Recreation Authority leagues from using the Lowndes County Soccer Complex downtown.
In a letter to the editor, which is printed in The Dispatch today, Columbus Mayor Robert Smith and city recreation authority director Greg Lewis say county supervisors are planning to take up an agenda item Monday seeking to stop city soccer teams from using the county-owned Soccer Complex located downtown.
Once the county bans city players from the Soccer Complex, the letter claims, it will then start its own soccer program to directly compete with the city’s.
“This is disturbing since city residents are also county residents and pay county taxes,” the letter reads.
Lowndes County Board of Supervisors President Harry Sanders, when contacted by The Dispatch, outright denied the letter’s claims that the county would ban city soccer players from its facilities.
“That is not true,” Sanders said. “That is speculation on their part. That’s rumor on their part. It has been explicitly expressed to the city and Greg Lewis that folks who are city people and play in the city leagues are absolutely welcome to play on our fields.”
County parks director Roger Short said he does plan to recommend the county move forward Monday with creating its own soccer program. However, he has no desire for that program to hamper the city’s use of the Soccer Complex.
“This is not to keep any kids from playing down there,” Short said. “All you’ve got to do is reach out to us and send a request and say we want to do our leagues down there at whatever time and it’s gonna happen.
“There’s no reason why, after we’ve played our games on Monday and Tuesday, the city couldn’t play on Thursday, or if they wanted to play on Monday and Tuesday, we could play on Thursday or whatever,” Short later added. “There’s no reason those logistics can’t be worked out. For them to say we’re kicking out city kids — that’s not true at all.”
‘Politics have become a contact sport’
The county took on full ownership and maintenance for the complex and its 22 fields on Oct. 1, 2017, when it officially split from the joint Columbus-Lowndes Recreation Authority and formed its own parks department.
That left the city maintaining a total of 12 soccer fields at Joe Cook Elementary and Propst Park.
In Smith’s and Lewis’ letter, they claim three supervisors routinely vote on matters in a way that is detrimental to the city. While the letter doesn’t name the supervisors, the vote to dissolve the CLRA passed by a 3-2 margin — with Sanders, Bill Brigham and John Holliman favoring a split, and Jeff Smith and Leroy Brooks opposing.
“Politics have become a contact sport in our area with Lowndes County leaders voting 3-2 as often as they can to hurt the city of Columbus and its residents,” the letter reads. “Monday’s vote (to exclude city players from the Soccer Complex) is more of the same from the same three ‘leaders’ of our county.”
The Dispatch could not reach Mayor Smith for further comment by press time.
Field conditions
The letter also takes aim at field conditions at the Soccer Complex for this weekend’s Admiral Cup — the second largest soccer tournament in Mississippi that is making use of both the city’s and county’s fields.
It specifically criticizes a statement Short made for a Friday report in The Dispatch related to the poor condition of three fields on the Soccer Complex’s west side.
“If this was a baseball or softball tournament, we’d already have canceled it,” Short said in Friday’s story “… But soccer? Hell, they’ll play in anything.”
Lewis and Smith called the comment “sad and discouraging” and said it “shows a lack of care, preparation and respect” for the county-owned soccer fields.
Sanders, however, fingered blame at Lewis — who oversaw the complex for the now-defunct CLRA — for the county fields’ condition, adding that agricultural experts from Mississippi State University who examined the fields said they had been neglected for about three years.
“To sit there now and tell us under the signature of the mayor that the Soccer Complex is not suitable to have a tournament is nothing but a reflection on Greg Lewis and the city’s past maintenance,” Sanders said.
Lewis, however, said he cared for the Soccer Complex’s fields properly, and its fields wouldn’t be in poor condition if he still oversaw it.
“We have been taking care of the grass properly,” Lewis said. “We have the receipts from the people who did the grass. At the (Joe Cook) complex, we have the grass looking good.
“I have guys who have worked on this field,” he added. “I have guys who have pictures of the field when were maintaining it and they do not show neglect. If I had had (the county) complex since June, there certainly would be some grass on it now.”
Short also referenced MSU’s findings, and said the Soccer Complex’s irrigation was in a severe state of disrepair when the county took it over, and now the county is working to repair it.
He noted the differences in the Joe Cook fields and the Soccer Complex can be attributed to different types of grass. Joe Cook, he said, has rye grass, which is normally “pretty and green” this time of year. He said the Bermuda grass at the Soccer Complex has not yet received the heat it needs.
The Soccer Complex field is used more heavily, too, and the grass has been “beat to death.”
Still, once the Admiral Cup is over, Short said, Lowndes County Parks will seed the muddy fields.
“I’ve told everybody that we’re going to have to reseed those three fields completely, and will have to reseed some others,” Short said. “We’re going to get this facility back to where it needs to be, but it’s not going to be overnight.”
Alex Holloway was formerly a reporter with The Dispatch.
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