Newton County home to Arkansas' oldest sheriff
This article was published January 13, 2008 at 3:27 p.m.
JASPER — Nobody ever pushed Guy Bennett around. A self-described "six-foot-three-inches of gristle," Bennett was an intimidating figure as Newton County Sheriff in the early 1960s.
Bennett had gone to the home of a troubled, alcoholic World War II vet, a man almost as big as the sheriff himself.
"Here he was, sitting in a platform rocker like this," Bennett said as he leaned back in his own rocker, recalling the incident. "I go in and I tell him 'I've got papers to take you to Ft. Roots (a psychiatric hospital in North Little Rock). You need help."'
The old vet replied that he wasn't going and then punctuated his defiance.
"Well, he kicked me with both feet and knocked me eight feet back," Bennett said, laughing.
Still active at 88, and more than willing to share stories of the wild and woolly days in Newton County, Bennett was recently honored by Arkansas Sheriff and Deputy magazine as the oldest living sheriff in Arkansas.
Bennett was relaxing in his home along Highway 7, a few miles south of Jasper. He's lived there since 1942, having shared it with his late wife Delora. On this day, his grandson, Brent "Bear" Souheaver, had driven over from Fayetteville to visit "Grand Dad."
On the walls of Bennett's home hung souvenirs of a lifetime of honors and memories. There was the photograph of him with his mules, Red and Brownie, taken about 1940, a few years after Bennett had come to Newton County from Amarillo, Texas. There were pictures of a young Guy and Delora. There were pictures of the couple with Bill Clinton (like seemingly everyone mentioned by Bennett, Clinton was a "dear friend"). There was the citation from the Arkansas Senate, recognizing Bennett's oldest sheriff status. It was signed by another dear friend, State Sen. Randy Laverty.
Bennett served as sheriff from January 1960, to December 1966. The remoteness and isolation of the county lent itself to a thriving moonshine business, and later, the introduction of the marijuana industry. Moonshine-fueled brawls were not unheard of at picnics and even church revival meetings. According to Bennett, both Democrats and Republicans used the brew to buy votes.
Such was the strength of Newton County wildcat whiskey that Bennett said he used to clean his fingerprint machine with it.
As sheriff, Bennett had the services of two deputies, including chief deputy Leo Roberson. A lifelong timber man, Roberson had been highly recommended to Bennett and, in time, Bennett came to be very glad that he acted upon that recommendation.
"I could depend on him," Bennett said. "If he had to go after someone, he got him. You couldn't say that about everybody."
Roberson and his wife, Ruby, lived at the Newton County Jail. Ruby provided home-cooked meals for the prisoners. Bennett also developed a friendly working relationship with the sheriffs of neighboring counties, as well as Fred Bell, the state game warden for Newton County. Should there be an emergency, such as a manhunt, in any of the counties, he said, that sheriff could count on the assistance of his neighbors. Men like Marion County's Jack Pace, Searcy County's Dwain Treat and Boone County's Doyle Hickman became friends. Bennett and Hickman, father of current Boone County Sheriff Danny Hickman, began their sheriff careers in the same year.
There were tragic moments during Bennett's tenure as sheriff. He dealt with three homicides and a number of shootings, some accidental. He remembered two kids, left alone in a house near Nail, who got a shotgun down from over the door. Unfortunately, the gun was loaded, and one child was killed.
Toward the end of Bennett's tenure, a new problem began to surface. Drawn by the remote hills and valleys and the cover they provided, outsiders moved into the county and grew marijuana.
"Newton County used to grow the best marijuana," Bennett said, holding his hand high to indicate the size of the plants.
Bennett also served as county collector. As such, he participated in an archaic and discontinued procedure, collecting a poll tax from Newton County voters. Usually, when people came in to pay their real estate taxes, Bennett said, they also paid the $1 poll tax that enabled them to vote in elections. The 24th Amendment to the Constitution outlawed all poll taxes, but Bennett still has in his possession poll tax receipts from 1962 and 1963.
As sheriff, Bennett did not receive a salary, he said. Rather, he worked on a fee, getting $10 for each arrest, plus mileage. His combined sheriff and collector earnings were less than $4,000 a year.
Tired of working 16-18 hours a day and with his wife worried that he was going to be killed, Bennett hung up his badge after six years.
For more information see Monday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
