LITTLE ROCK — YOU'VE HAD it happen. You meet somebody for the first time, and he makes such a strong impression in such a short time that you're left thinking: That guy is going places. Better remember his name.
It happened to us a few years back in Helena when we met Brian Miller. That was long before he'd been nominated fora federal judgeship. Actually, he was one of several impressive folks on hand that day, but there was something special about Mr. Miller. Maybe it was the way he carried himself, so comfortable in his skin. Or maybe it was the way he made a stranger in town feel welcome. Or his candorabout all the problems facing his home town of Helena and the Delta in general, none of which dampened his confidence that one day the Delta would overcome.
Brian Miller loved the place. And it showed. He didn't run away. Not even after he got his law degree from Vanderbilt and had the world to conquer/save. Even when he worked as a lawyer for a big firm in Memphis, young Miller commuted back and forth. It's only about an hour away, he said with a shrug.
We were in town to meet with various business and community leaders who'd developed a plan to maybe-this-timefor-sure bring back Phillips County. Mr.
Miller joined us for a tour of Helena's neighborhoods, pointing out historic old homes and abandoned houses once owned by family friends but now, sadly, used for who knows what. He seemed to know everybody in town. Not only who's who but who was who.
Brian Miller may even have come up with the day's best suggestion: Getting fried catfish for lunch at a local landmark
restaurant. At the end of the day, as we
worried about needing some more histori
cal information about the city, Mr. Miller
took us to his house, ran in, and then came
out with all sorts of books and old photos.
Only later did we find out he was the
mayor's son. Only later did we find out
he'd been a city attorney, a city judge, a
deputy prosecuting attorney, and had
served in the Navy. All that
and he seemed so young-
supposedly in his late 30s, but
he didn't look a day past col
lege commencement.
So when the news broke
about one Brian Miller, judge
on the Arkansas Court of Ap
peals, having been nominated
to fill the late George How
ard's seat on the U.S. District Court for
the Eastern District of Arkansas . . . well,
we remembered that day in Helena. And
the impressive young man who showed
us around.
Modesty should forbid, but we had him
tagged right. Brian Miller was going places.
But anybody who's met the man could tell
you that. Come to think, Mr. Miller was go
ing places that day in Helena, too, just by
having such a stake in his community and
an abiding interest in its future.
When Judge Howard passed, we won
dered how anybody could measure up
to his judicial comportment-that calm
fearlessness, that merciless fairness, the
way his very presence assured those in
his courtroom that, here, there would be
no monkey business. Only justice. If there
were a single word to describe Judge
Howard, it would be dignity. His was a
very American court of law, that is, a kind
of secular holy place.
Brian Miller isn't George Howard. Not
yet. But he does seem to have that some
thing special. Remember the name.
Editorial, Pages 14 on 10/23/2007