Working together in Southwest Mississippi is paying off, figuratively and literally.
Joseph Parker, executive director of the Scenic Rivers Development Alliance, said officials of the member governments — Amite, Franklin, Pike, Walthall and Wilkinson counties and the city of McComb — meet regularly to talk about cooperating on projects and just to get to know each other better.
“They’re all sharing the same sandbox,” Parker told the McComb Lions Club last Tuesday. “They could fight over who’s getting $5 versus who’s getting $2, but we haven’t had that yet.”
Working together to share ideas, labor and projects not only makes sense, it makes for good appearances and impressions. Parker said those are necessary as well.
“Once, when we went to Washington to seek funding for projects, they would ask if everybody had some skin in the game,” Parker said. “Now, we can say yes, and we’re getting dollars on an annual basis.”
In fact, he said the organization had received $500,000 that day from a state bond bill passed in 2020, and had been approved for a $750,000 allocation in a bond bill the Legislature passed this year.
Parker said Scenic Rivers is putting $500,000 into upgrading the infrastructure at the Bogue Chitto Water Park, where the Southwest Mississippi Community College well-drilling program drilled new wells for the park water system, Neel-Schaffer is drawing up plans for improvements and Parker has had to use his experience growing up in his father Amos’s plumbing supply store to fix problems himself now and then.
The organization has also made significant improvements at Quail Hollow Golf Course at Percy Quin State Park.
“It’s not Augusta National, but it’s doing well,” Parker said. “The crowds from Louisiana are coming back.”
Elsewhere, Scenic Rivers has assisted Walthall County in upgrading the pavilion at Walker’s Bridge Water Park and in developing a shooting range used by law enforcement agencies and 4-H youth.
Now, the organization is helping Walthall County apply for a grant to develop a walking trail around Lake Walthall.
Scenic Rivers is also working in Wilkinson County to improve the trails and parking lot at Clark Creek Natural Area.
“We’re working to make it more attractive,” Parker said. “The parking area is small, so people are parking in yards.”
The largest project Scenic Rivers is working to develop is a conference center and resort at Lake Okhissa in Franklin County. It will cost an estimated $80 million to $90 million to develop the project.
“This is a regional project, even though it’s in Franklin County,” Parker said. “The effects of this project will reach every county. People who go there will go out to the surrounding areas to eat and play golf.”
