King, Smith throw hats in ring

BENTONVILLE -- A race for Benton County judge developed Monday in the first hour of filing for candidates for the May preferential primaries.

Dale King of Garfield, a former justice of the peace, filed as a Republican candidate for county judge. Bob Clinard of Rogers, the incumbent, also filed as a candidate for the Republican Party nomination in the May 20 primary. Ronnie L. Smith of Garfield also filed as a candidate for county judge.

"I've been thinking about this for the last four or five months," King said while filing Monday. "I thought I ought to go ahead and run."

King said he has lived in Benton County since 1958 and he plans to campaign on a platform of bringing trust to county government. King served a single term on the Quorum Court from 2010 to 2012.

"I want people to be able to recognize their county officials and have trust in them," he said. "I want the people to think we're working on their behalf. Everybody I talk to doesn't trust the government and that's bad."

King said he wants the county to find a solution to the problem of providing rural ambulance service and to get work done on county bridges and roads in a timely manner.

Clinard, seeking a third term as county judge, said he thinks the next two years will see a greater focus on the county's courts system and the need for a new courts building. He said the county will continue to work on roads and bridges and on the rural ambulance issue, but ambulance service will likely continue to be a subject of debate.

"This next term is going to be highly involved in determining the future of our county court facility and the long-term planning there," Clinard said. "We've got another nine years of the half-cent sales tax for county roads and it's important that we allocate that toward where it's needed. Rural ambulance is not resolved yet and I think there's going to be an ongoing, year-by-year discussion of ambulance service."

Smith ran as an independent candidate for judge in 2012. He said the requirements for filing as an independent have become too burdensome with just under 2,000 signatures needed to file by petition.

Smith said he's concerned about the county's fiscal well-being and questioned Clinard's knowledge or control of day-to-day operations.

"We have to curtail spending somewhere," Smith said. "I question this $1 million building the county has bought in Rogers versus the $1-a-year rent on the city-owned building we were in. I'm more frugal than that. We should also not be taking money from our savings for raises and bonuses like they did last year."

Filing for the May 20 primaries continues through this week and ends at noon on March 3.