Recent sports reports on the achievements of local high school softball and baseball stars are very encouraging and inspiring for many of the smaller children now in the youth leagues in Vicksburg.

It is unfortunate, however, that city recreation and governing officials are not more attentive to the growing needs of the young aspiring athletes who have been joining our little league baseball teams in record numbers at the “Fuzzy” Johnson facility on Mission 66.

Although the number of kids participating in our baseball league has grown from 45 to more than 225 in the past three years, we have not been able to secure the support of our public officials to increase, improve or even to give proper maintenance to our facility. By way of contrast, the baseball leagues at Halls Ferry Park and other areas of the city seem to be the only ones that merit improvement and increased funds from the city.

Our numbers are growing bigger in size and increasing in numbers with each passing year and we need to expand the size of the fields and to maintain them on a regular basis. We are badly in need of a full-time city employee with that responsibility to be on the scene on a regular basis.

At a time when there was a major proposal to allocate millions of dollars for a massive baseball facility for Vicksburg, the James “Fuzzy” Johnson Baseball League was playing in mud holes and on tightly restricted facilities wholly inadequate to needs of our players. We have enough land and space adjacent to the current facilities that would only require the go-ahead from the city recreation director and the city commission to make things right.

Despite hard times and troubles, we still would like to thank Ms. Rose Bingham, the Rev. James Bowman and the staff at We Care Community Services for making our situation somewhat better and giving us hope along the way.

It is our hope that the adults will make every effort to nurture tomorrow’s heroes of our local baseball teams by giving the proper concern and nurture to the young members of today’s little leagues — especially those of the James “Fuzzy” Johnson Baseball League.

Glen E. Palmer, president

James “Fuzzy” Johnson

Baseball League