Rec Project On Despite Human Remains, Power Lines

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Potentially dangerous power lines run overhead. What might be an ancient Indian burial ground lies below. In between will be Alabama's newest recreation complex.

Leaders in the town of Oxford avoided construction delays on the city's long-planned recreation complex by accepting liability to build beneath electrical power lines, The Anniston Star reports.

On Tuesday the Oxford City Council entered a licensing agreement with Alabama Power, accepting any liability should any construction workers be injured while building the complex beneath the company's power lines. Failure to accept the agreement could have stopped the project.

Power lines are not the complex's first potential problem. That came back in 2010 when construction was delayed after ancient human remains, possibly American Indian, were discovered at the site. Those remains were reburied in an undisclosed location nearby. The $26.6 million planned rec complex accrued about $7 million in construction delay fees after the discovery, according to The Anniston Star.

When finished, the complex will feature a regulation track facility for Oxford High School, along with two stadiums that will serve as the home fields for the school's varsity baseball and softball teams. The complex will have nine other baseball and softball fields, four soccer fields, picnic facilities, concession stands, three playgrounds and a 30-acre lake with three miles of walking track and lake pavilions.

Construction crews broke ground on the project last week. It is expected to be completed by December of 2015. 

Hopefully the construction teams stay safe from the power lines and any utterance of, "they're here," is when facility patrons are referring to the arrival of their friends, and not ghosts from Poltergeist.

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