A Brief History Lesson: If you participated in youth baseball in Lawrence County, you practiced and played at Mac Dale Memorial Park in Monticello, MS. The shared memories we all have of The Mac are priceless. Attempting to assign a dollar value to the park and what it has meant to so many is a fool's errand.

Certainly, the generations before us know, operations of The Mac were made possible by lots of hard work, sacrificed time, and donations by citizens, parents, and volunteers from all over Lawrence County and, particularly, by three very special people, Jimmie Davis, Zelda Davis, and Roger Boyd, then-owners of the property upon which the park sits.

Mr. Jimmie Davis passed away in 2008 and was survived by Mrs. Zelda and his children, including Mr. Craig "Coach Bowie" Davis.

In 2009, Roger Boyd and the Davis family generously donated the Park to the Town of Monticello. Mr. Kevin Garret, a member of the Monticello Board of Alderman at the time, spoke at the ceremony that year when the Town acquired the facility. Below are some of his remarks:

"... Recently, Roger Boyd and the family of Jimmie Davis have given all that you see here to the Town of Monticello-not one penny changed hands...

"...This park was begun by the Junior Chamber of Commerce, commonly known as the Jaycees. In 1969, the Jaycees no longer had the financial ability to operate the park, and youth baseball in Lawrence County was in jeopardy. Somebody had to do something.

"This coming holiday season, when you watch the rerun of It’s a Wonderful Life, notice the part where the character George Bailey (the Jimmy Stewart character) has to make a life-changing commitment to keep the Building and Loan open. A commitment that is inconvenient to him, but he makes because he knows of its importance to the people of his community.

"Jimmie Davis and Roger Boyd made a similar commitment. Can you imagine, two young men, both having just started their own business, each with a wife and two young boys, signing a note to purchase and operate a baseball park? Pause a minute and picture yourself going to the bank and signing a note to obligate you to pay for what you see here today. I don’t know what the debt was, but it had to be a very sizable amount in relation to their net worth and income in 1969. It would have been much easier for them to transport their children to another town to play baseball. Well, that might have served their children, but they were concerned with all of the children of this county.

"Certainly, we owe a lot to these two men and their families. Anyone could have done it, but Jimmie and Roger did it. While one might debate if buying the ballpark required extraordinary ability, Roger and Jimmie obviously possessed extraordinary commitment..."

Integrity and Use of the Park Thrown into Contention by Mayor Watts from 2017-2022: Since 2017, the current mayor has questioned the value and utility of the park, citing their personal concerns over funding and insurance. This led to defunding measures and the abandonment of the park by the Town in 2019. A priceless piece of history and our childhood was killed that year. Any use of the park since 2019 has been done by private citizens and volunteers without Town assistance. 

This year, the Town and Mayor Martha Watts put the property up for sale instead of offering it back to the family of Jimmie Davis, in spite of having the option to return it to them, for free, per provisions in the MS Code that allow for the waiver of the competitive bidding process.

Coach Bowie Davis, son of Jimmie Davis, was forced to purchase from the Town the park that his family donated to the community for all to use for $8,100.00.

Although many would consider the price "a steal," it is the Town and the Mayor doing the stealing.  If they did not want the park or see its value, The Mac should have reverted back to the Davis family, free of charge, considering their past generosity, original ownership, and a whole lifetime of commitment to the Lawrence County community through the park.

OUR ASK: Although he has not requested us to, as former students of Coach Bowie and former youth baseball players, parents, park workers, and park volunteers, we are asking, on his behalf, that the Town and the Mayor find an appropriate legal remedy to return the $8,100.00 they charged him for the park that his father, Jimmie Davis, gave to all of us, whether it be returned in labor and supplies, or through the return of the actual funds in the amount of $8,100.00.

Although the sale has already taken place, it is not too late to make it right. The Town Attorney is a brilliant legal mind, smart and capable of assisting the Mayor in finding creative and appropriate legal means to correct her error and return the money that was grifted from Coach Bowie.