BY TRACY LEE TATE
Times Staff Writer
One thing about Union County that almost everyone seems able to agree on is the community wide support of the counties young people and their education and activities. Everyone is supportive and proud of the schools. Businesses, individuals and local governments all support the schools and the students who attend them. Donations flow into the boy, cub and girl scouting programs, to the FFA and 4-H programs in the county and, in support of youth recreation in the county.
“My law enforcement experience has taught me that if you keep the kids busy they are more likely to stay out of trouble,” said Mack Johns, a long-time supporter of recreation and who has served on the county recreation board, and in a variety of coaching positions for about 30 years. He is now a county commissioner and is still strong in supporting recreation for county youth. “Kids are sitting at home in air conditioning too much. They need to get outdoors and exercise more than their thumbs. For their future well- being they need to develop a lifelong appreciation and enjoyment of exercise.”
Johns, as well as the other members of the commission have shown their dedication to the goal of creating recreational opportunities for the countys youth. Much of this effort has been made through the ball fields located at R. J. Phillips Park and the activities made available there. The recreation department receives annual funding through the commission’s budget, as well as special funding requests for specific needs or programs. In addition, County Coordinator Jimmy Williams assists the department in locating and securing grant funds for new projects and programs.
R.J. Phillips Park has existed for a long time. It takes its name from a long-time DOC prison official and was named for him in around 1982. Now it is known, officially, as the R.J. Phillips Recreation Complex. It offers table, seats and playground equipment in the front area off of SR-121 for the little ones. But that is just the beginning of the complex. Although it shares space in the RMS West Gate area with the county road, solid waste and animal control departments, as well as the Union County Agricultural Education Center/UF Extension Office across the road, the park of the acreage devoted to recreation is the largest use of land at the site, with about 80 acres still waiting to be used.
Currently on site are four fields suitable for baseball, softball and T-ball, forming a quad around the building housing concessions and restrooms. A new field is under construction and future plans are to build three more and a central building in a second quad configuration. The pride and joy of the complex is the new field for soccer and football. The recreation department has already held a soccer camp (over 100 youth attended) and teams have been formed. Pop Warner Football has been in the county for a number of years, but now the teams will have their own practice and playing field, for the first time, and not have to use the field at Union County High School. The school district and the recreation department have an excellent working relationship, with the Lake Butler Middle School Girls’ Softball team calling one of the fields home. LBMS also uses one of the ballfields for its home baseball games. The newest field will be exclusively for baseball, as the fence is too far back for softball. It is a full 300 ft. field surfaced in clay.
It is in the construction and outfitting of these fields that local businesses step up and get things done. L.C. Simmons Land Specialists has helped out a great deal with the labor involved in creating the fields, bringing their own equipment and providing the fuel. They also graded the football/soccer field. Andrews Site Prep has graded many of the fields at no cost to the Rec Department, as well as paying for the soccer goals ($15,000), a scoreboard ($5,000) and, recently presenting the department with a check for $10,000. Johns said that Bart Andrews/Andrews Site Prep has been very generous to the recreation programs, being the biggest contributor in the past few years and has been the main contributor to the soccer program. Johns also cited the number of volunteers who donate their time to work, coach and provide other services to the department. When Florida Gateway College donated the goal posts for the new football field it was volunteers who took them apart (they were too big to haul in one piece), assisted in transport and helped get reassembled and in position.
The recreation department and county commission have future plans for further expanding the facilities and programs at the park. Lighting for the fields is a big item, with the new football/soccer field in possession of the poles but still awaiting the lights. The commission recently pledged $25,000 to light this field. The new baseball field will also require lighting, as will one of the T-ball fields. A new PA system is on hand for the existing quad, but the newly planned second quad will need one as well and it may well need to be combined with the first quads to create a system that has the capability to make announcements throughout the complex, such is the case of parents missing their children or vice versa. Other needs include finishing the new baseball and the second quad, installing bleachers for the football/soccer field and, possibly, a second soccer field. Johns said the complex does not offer basketball, but he would like to have a gymnasium on site one day to allow basketball and girls volleyball. Also, in the near future, the department hopes to dedicate the football/soccer field to the late Sheriff Jerry Whitehead.
The park has grown and has always been taken care of by the road department (mowing and other grounds work) but this has recently changed with the first time hiring of a dedicated county rec employee. Tommy Mobley has been hired for the position. He cares for the O.J. Phillips Recreation Complex, as well as the county’s other parks. According to Johns, Mobley is “going great and regularly works above and beyond his job requirements.”
The rec department serves youth ages 4-16 with programs for both boys and girls. T-ball is for ages 4-7 and is mainly co-ed, as is soccer for ages, softball is solely for the girls, while baseball is mainly for the boys, although girls can play while they are in the younger age groups.
“We are looking at writing a new Florida Recreation Development Assistance Program (FRDAP) grant next year to get some of the funding we need to make all these things, and more, happen,” Johns said. “We have come a long way, but we can still go so much farther. We are blessed to be in a community where people see the value in what happens here and are willing to donate their time as coaches and assistants and for hard labor as well. We have so many sponsors, both businesses and individuals that are so willing to give. We truly live in a wonderful community.”
