Crossroads Treatment Center’s lawsuit against Pearl River County has officially been dismissed without prejudice, Board of Supervisors President Sandy Kane Smith said at Monday’s Board meeting.

According to previous coverage, Crossroads Treatment Centers is a company that uses brick and motor locations to provide medication to treat those addicted to opioids. Developer Robert Thigpen was in the process of remodeling an old indoor swimming center off Sycamore Road to rent it to the company for use as a treatment center. The establishment of the facility raised concerns among community members due to the suspected use of methadone in the treatments, previous coverage states.

To prevent the company from establishing that location outside of Picayune, the Board of Supervisors used an ordinance from 1999 to prevent the construction or establishment of any rehabilitation center within the county, previous coverage states. As a result, the lawsuit was filed against the county.

At Monday’s Board of Supervisors meeting, Rev. Allen Hickman came before the Board with a box of more than 4,000 signatures that had been gathered in opposition of the treatment center.

“I would like to present [the signatures] to you guys. A lot of effort went into this. I’m just hoping this will go away. I’m believing and praying that it will,” Hickman said.

After receiving the signatures, Smith provided an update about the situation. He said he received a notice from the District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi Southern Division stating Crossroads Treatment Center’s lawsuit against the county had been dismissed.

County Administrator Adrian Lumpkin said since the case was dismissed without prejudice it can be brought up at a later date. For now, however, Crossroads is pulling the lawsuit, he said.

“This was nothing but the Lord and prayers helping us. I’m glad it happened this way. Everyone can hopefully move on with their lives,” Smith said.

Smith said that at this point, Crossroads is not fighting the ordinance, but the company could reopen the case in the future. If the company tried to finish construction on its own, the county ordinance would still prevent it from opening its doors, he said.