A portion of state Route 31/Madison Highway will be dedicated June 12 as the Deputy John Hall Rowe Jr. Memorial Highway in honor of the Lowndes County lawman killed in 1986.

The dedication ceremony will begin at 10 a.m. on the lot at the corner of Madison Highway and Prison Farm Road, the entrance to the G. Robert Carter Law Enforcement Center. If it rains, the ceremony will be held in the briefing room of the sheriff's office at 120 Prison Farm Road. The public is invited to attend.

SR 31/Madison Highway from the intersection of Interstate 75 to the intersection of US 41/SR 7 will be dedicated to Rowe. Signs will be placed at four locations: on SR 31, near the northbound I-75 off ramp and south of the intersection of Inner Perimeter Road; and on Madison Highway, north of the intersection of Inner Perimeter Road and south of the South Patterson Street intersection.

Rowe graduated Valdosta High School in 1972. He was working at Pantry Pride when he joined the Lowndes County Sheriff's Office as a reserve deputy in 1975. He became a fulltime sheriff's deputy in February 1986 and was killed two months later.

North Florida officers started chasing a tractor-trailer the morning of April 17, 1986 when the driver failed to stop at a weigh station. Rowe and other area law enforcement staged on I-75 as the pursuit headed north. The truck crossed into Georgia around 6 a.m. and the driver veered into the median, striking Rowe and his patrol car. The truck driver swerved back onto the road and the truck overturned in a ditch.

David Ferrell, who worked with Rowe and is now an investigator with the Southern Judicial Circuit District Attorney's Office, approached State Transportation Board member Tim Golden and state Rep. Amy Carter about dedicating a road in Rowe's honor. State Sen. Ellis Black introduced the resolution. The dedication is hosted by Ferrell, the Lowndes County Sheriff's Office and the Georgia Department of Transportation.