The new redistricting maps detailing areas of representation for the local Justice of the Peace districts, and the state government positions of House of Representatives and Senate are available on the Benton County official website (www.co.benton.ar.us/).
They are also available in printed form from the County Clerk’s office (Tina O’Brien is the county clerk) in the County Administration Building in Bentonville.
The county’s website provides for printing but most of us don’t have printers that will print on paper large enough to be really useful.
Due to the county’s growth in population, we will now have 15 Justice of the Peace districts, an increase of two over the current 13, after the 2012elections are completed.
The county’s population was recorded by the census exceeding 221,330 and the average Justice of the Peace district will represent 14,756 citizens, plus or minus 5 percent. This information should be of interest to most of the voters in the area served by The Times of Northeast Benton County. After the 2000 census, Pea Ridge was combined with the eastern portion of Bella Vista and its population was much greater than the Pea Ridge and rural areas combined.
Because of the boundariesof the district, anyone from Bella Vista was sure to be elected and few people in our area even know who our JP is by name. That situation has now shifted with the addition of the two extra districts. The east side of Bella Vista (east of U.S.
Highway 71 to the new Bella Vista city limits) is a district in itself (District No. 7). Pea Ridge, Little Flock and the north end of Rogers, north of Arkansas Highway 102 (Hudson Road) make up District No. 6 under the new alignment. The east boundary, which is also the west boundary of District No. 1, comes from the Missouri line down London Road to Arkansas Highway 72, to the intersection of U.S. Highway 62 and then down U.S. 62 into Rogers at the intersection with Hudson Roadat North 2nd Street. The west boundary is basically the east city limits of Bella Vista.
According to information obtained from the County Clerk’s office, District 6 represents a population of 14,473 citizens. According to the new census, Pea Ridge’s population is now 4,794.
Those are not all registered voters, but they represent almost one-third of the total and that is just the city. The rural area around Pea Ridge is not accounted for in the census figures for the city and those citizens would likely support a candidate from the Pea Ridge area.
Little Flock’s population is approximately 2,600 and the number of people in the Rogers area is not known but a candidate from Pea Ridge would have a highlikelihood of getting elected.
District No. 1, the northeast area of the county, remains much the same as currently drawn until you get to the Rogers eastern city limits. It appears on the map that the east side of Rogers out to Prairie Creek has been removed from District No. 1 on the new alignment. The district does however run down to the Washington County line.
The area is larger because of the lake and since the JP will be responsible to citizens on both north and south sides of the lake, he or she will have to cover a split area.
The population centers in the northeast area of District No. 1 remain the cities of Garfield, Gateway and most of Avoca along withthe village of Lost Bridge.
There is still a substantial “unincorporated county” area.
District No. 6 will have no “incumbent” JP, so the opportunity for new individuals interested in serving politically will be there. County government has changed considerably since I served on the Quorum Court, but it needs to be viewed as a full-time responsibility not a part-time job.
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Editor’s note: Leo Lynch, a native of Benton County has deep roots in northwest Arkansas. He is a retired industrial engineer and former Justice of the Peace. He can be contacted at prtnews@ nwaonline.com.
Opinion, Pages 4 on 12/07/2011