The best laid plans of mice and men... you know the rest of the line.
On Thursday night of last week, my plans included attending the forum of county judge and sheriff candidates at NWACC. It was cold, late for older folks like me, and a major disappointment for late arrivers. The meeting was held in an auditorium at the Shewmaker Center and was too small to handle the entire crowd of interested parties. The crowd overflowed into the hallway, so many, including me, left because there was no way to hear the participants. If you read the account of the meeting in Friday's Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette, you know as much as I know.
The Quorum Court will be facing two major issues in the very near future and the guidance given by the county judge can (in my opinion) be a major factor in the outcome of those issues as well as others that may affect us, the voters, in the outcome. The two issues that I hoped would be discussed were the location and funding of the proposed judicial complex and the future of county ambulance service in rural areas.
The court complex, or judicial complex, as it might be appropriate to call it, has two parts that should concern every voter in the county, whether you ever expect to be called to jury duty, or expect to be a participant in a case presented there. The major issue to me is the question of location. The only reason I have heard for keeping the courts in downtown Bentonville has to do with the city's economic situation. The fear of loss of revenue for the downtown area may be a factor for the merchants, but the inconvenience of downtown congestion seems to be overlooked.
The location by the existing jail complex provides much more opportunity for future growth and ample parking space. The safety factor seems to be much greater if the transportation of prisoners is reduced and it would appear to me to be much more economical in personnel costs and transportation cost. I am no expert on this issue of location closer to the jail, but the cost associated with transporting prisoners was certainly a factor in the sheriff's budget during the years I was on the Quorum Court. It just doesn't seem to be a reasonable decision to keep everything downtown just to satisfy the downtown merchants if it creates extra problems for jurors, family members attending trials, and overlooks the safety of our judges. If it comes down to a vote on paying for the new judicial complex and it is downtown, I'm going to have a hard time supporting it.
The second issue I would like to hear the county judge candidates discuss is their ideas on paying for rural ambulance service. This is an area of concern for rural citizens from a standpoint of service and the manner in which they pay for it. I'm sure there are considerations that must include the existing service provided by the cities and the amount of money they have invested in equipment and training of personnel. The future growth of rural areas and the freedom cities have to annex property provide ample confusion for dealing with this existing problem. However, the amount of money being paid to the cities by the Quorum Court for the service now will continue to grow as the expenses increase for the affected municipalities.
The report of the forum included more information on the sheriff's candidate issues than the comments of the county judge candidates. Either way my trip to the forum proved to be a failure, so I came home and watched the Republican presidential candidates embarrass themselves.
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Editor's note: Leo Lynch is an award-winning columnist. He is a native of Benton County has deep roots in northwest Arkansas. A retired industrial engineer, he is a former Justice of the Peace and can be contacted at [email protected].
Editorial on 01/20/2016