Newberry man plans splash park: project in lieu of attempted cocaine possession sentence

NEWBERRY — Rodney Hyden, a local concrete contractor, is building a splash park for the City of Newberry in lieu of a 10-year prison sentence.

City of Newberry Mayor Bill Conrad said Hyden was facing a 10-year mandatory minimum sentence after a jury convicted him of attempted possession of cocaine with intent to distribute it.

The court accepted Hyden's proposal that he be allowed to perform community service and sentenced him to a drastically reduced punishment. At his trial, Hyden, 56, said he'd been entrapped into committing the crime, but the jury rejected that defense.

Conrad said he met with Hyden, who proposed his idea for the Splash Park. Then Conrad wrote a letter to the judge indicating his interest.

“He would build it, design it, oversee construction and do fundraising through his subcontractors to provide us with a splash park in the City of Newberry for little or no cost,” Conrad said.

Hyden’s sentence is 60 days in jail followed by five years of supervised release, during which time he will be required to perform community service including construction of the splash park, said his Jacksonville-based lawyer, Mark Rosenblum.

In addition to the splash park, Hyden is volunteering his time and expertise in construction to Alachua Habitat for Humanity, Rosenblum said.

The park is in its planning phase, and there is no start or completion date yet. Conrad said they have tentatively decided on Triangle Park for the location.

“We like that location,” Conrad said, “but we have a lot of research to do before we’re sure that’s going to work.”

Hyden will not be involved in the project when he starts his jail sentence in early June, but Rosenblum said Hyden will start the project when he is released.

“This is an example of a forward thinking court engaging in creative sentencing of a non-violent person,” Rosenblum said, “allowing for a gain for the community rather than the warehousing of a productive person.”

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