As of Monday, the Warren County Board of Supervisors had not received a commitment letter from the Mississippi Department of Public Safety about relocating the Mississippi Highway Patrol driver’s license bureau in Vicksburg to the proposed location on the corner of Belmont and Drummond streets.

Parents, as well as Youth Court Judge John Price, have voiced their concerns and opposition to the proposed location — the vacant Lauderdale State Farm insurance building — because of two established daycare centers in the vicinity. An online petition, as well as a large contingent who appeared before the supervisors at their regular meeting last week, believe there is a risk and danger of registered sex offenders, who are required by law to report every 90 days to the MHP facility to maintain their registered status.

As a result, board president Richard George informed his fellow members during their work session Monday he has been contacted about a half dozen other potential locations.

One is the former justice court building the county donated to the Vicksburg Heritage Guild on Adams Street that was sold to a developer. However, George said that location is about 300 feet north from the current MHP office on Grove Street, which is approximately 350 feet from a daycare center.

“Obviously that’s not going to work,” George said.

George said the Heritage Guild also offered another site on Monroe Street, the former Thomas Furniture and Appliance store behind the Aeolian Apartments. He said about 275 feet from there is another daycare center.

George said a building on Mission 66 that once housed a dentist office is for sale and has adequate parking, but “if you walk down the hill out of the back of the parking lot you walk into the endzone of the St. Aloysius football field. And I believe there are youth who play on that field.”

George said the old Pizza Hut on Clay Street is also for sale, but there’s a daycare center in that vicinity.

George said Charles Toney, who recently located his restaurant, has offered his former location on Mission 66 for sale.

“It has about 40 parking spots,” George said. “The building is about 150,000-square feet and 1.26 acres. We can go look at it if there’s any interest there.”

He also said the office building in front of Thorne Collision Center on Pemberton Square Boulevard is available for lease or purchase.

“The owners would even consider selling the setting, which would include the body shop,” George said. “I don’t know of any immediate daycares around it. I think that’s a pretty safe zone.”

District 2 Supervisor William Banks brought up the idea of creating a location at the Warren County Sheriff’s Office just for sex offenders to register with the MHP.

George said it may be beneficial to look into and ask MHP officials if there are “any other setups different from what we understand currently that they have used.”

George believes it will be difficult to find a suitable location that meets the MHP requirements.

“We have a stigma now with this facility,” George said. “There’s plenty of places you can find. The problem is cost of them or convenience of them. That stigma is a real problem.”