Marianna Cuts Ribbon On Multi-Purpose Building

By Clint Cox

Marianna High School, in conjunction with the Marianna Quarterback Club, hosted a ribbon cutting ceremony on Monday afternoon to showcase the new multi-purpose sports building recently completed. The new facility sits on the south end of the practice field located on the eastern portion of the Marianna High School campus. The new building has approximately 7,000 square feet and includes two seperate locker rooms with restrooms and showers. Several offices are also located in the new building. The most impressive aspect of the new facility however has to be the state of the art weight room.

Marianna High School Principal Mary Sue Neves welcomed those attending the ceremonies and brief comments were heard from Lee Miller, Superintendent of Schools and Steve DeWitt, Athletic Director and Head Football Coach. Stuart Wiggins, Jackson County School’s facilities administrator and Rex Torbett of the Quarterback Club also spoke briefly to the crowd. After the brief speeches, the ribbon was cut and visitors were provided a tour of the facility.

Miller spoke of the efforts of former Superintendent of Schools Danny Sims in securing the funding for the multi-purpose building several years ago. And Torbett spoke of the foresight of the football booster’s club more than 10 years ago that helped bring about a long awaited state of the art weight room. Several of those key boosters from years ago were on hand to see their hard work come to fruition. Folks like Larry Cloud, Buddy Lord and Cindy James and others began setting aside some of the booster club’s fund raising money for the purpose of purchasing the latest in weight lifting equipment. That practice has continued through the years with the recent and current boosters. While the multi-purpose building was funded through the county and state, the weight equipment was not part of the project’s funding. With the recently completed facility and weight room, those funds were put into action. The Quarterback Club purchased $35,000 in state of the art weight equipment to adorn the new weight room.

DeWitt also noted that while some of the weight equipment from the previous weight room in school was moved over to the new weight room, the remaining weights have been transferred to Marianna Middle School to assist their athletic programs.