By By Steve Gillespie/staff writer
Feb. 5, 2002
Work could begin this spring on baseball fields and a playground at a Lauderdale County park named in honor of District 4 Supervisor Q.V. Sykes.
Supervisors plan to hire contractors for the work by the end of the month. The Lovers' Lane park has been long planned and has received a lot of work and support from Sykes.
That's why Sykes believes supervisors named it for him last month. Nevertheless, he said, the move at the Jan. 22 meeting "was a total surprise to me. I found out about five minutes before it happened."
The property for the recreation complex was purchased by the county and designated for recreation or industry.
County voters agreed in 1999 to borrow about $2.5 million for recreation projects including tennis courts at Northeast Park and improvements to the Lovers' Lane park. The tennis courts are completed.
District 2 Supervisor Jimmie Smith made the motion to name the entire Lovers' Lane complex in honor of Sykes the "Q.V. Sykes Complex."
Smith's proposal also named each of the three baseball fields after others instrumental in the project: Former Meridian Councilman and county Supervisor Hobert Kornegay and current Meridian Councilmen Jesse Palmer and George Thomas.
Smith said the Q.V. Sykes Complex has been a pet project of Sykes' and that his work with children in the community goes back a long way.
Sykes said he always liked working with young people.