LITTLE ROCK — Ijust don’t know what to make of some officials that the voters of Madison County and Huntsville have elected to effectively lead them.
The failure of the city and county leaders to hammer out an agreement on how to distribute district-court expenses is costing both sides money and practically derailing the local justice system.
Talk about slicing Lady Justice’s nose off to spite her face.
The steady flow of misdemeanor cases (and all activity) in the court run by District Judge Orville C. Clift has slowed to drips since the staff was cut from three clerks to one in June. That move came after a circuit court ordered that the manner in which court expenses were equally divided between the city and county had to be changed.
In a recent letter to the local paper, Clift appealed to the public, explaining how Madison County earlier this year began withholding what it had been paying as its share of court expenses, leaving the city with most of those costs. Meanwhile, the county receives about 80 percent of what’s still being collected from the bare bones operation while the city gets the dregs. The entire system is out of whack. Clift says the city understandably can’t afford to carry the burden without the previously shared help from the county.
The city has struggled to maintain the court on life support by reassigning two of its court clerks to other responsibilities.That leaves poor Chief Clerk Michelle Bohannan to single-handedly manage a lot of misdemeanor cases ranging from DWIs to domestic abuse.
The judge says here’s what the good folks of Huntsville and Madison County can expect if the city and county can’t settle their differences: Tickets will continue stacking up along with cases, collections that benefit both public entities will fall further behind, hours of operation will be shortened and the state will issue sanctions for failing to pay mandated fees.
“Because the . . . court generates a substantial amount of money for the general funds of the city and the county, the citizens of Madison County may have to make up any revenue shortfalls from their own pockets,” Clift wrote.
Surely these elected leaders, presumably possessing the maturity required to be public servants, can grab a booth over at Granny’s Kitchen and sit down together until they agree on the fairest way to resolve their common problem.
After all, we’re talking about what should be a steady wellspring of revenue potentially drying up for both governments, not to mention a breakdown in their criminal-justice system. Voters there could help the court by contacting representatives with a simple message: Resolve this matter now, for gosh sakes-and for all our sakes.
To the rescue
The late Norman Rockwell would love this story of Americana.
Retired long-haul trucker Kenneth “Dusty” Wells, 79, and his wife Joan, a U.S. Air Force veteran who for years traveled with him in their cab, live in their cozy duplex in Johnson on the edge of Fayetteville.
Like so many today, they exist on a fixed income, which means they keep careful track of what they can afford to spend-and when.
A code officer with Johnson paid them a visit last week as he did with others in the neighborhood. He was cordial, dropping in just to make them aware of lawn maintenance and other codes.
The couple told him they planned to have their yard mowed at the first of the month, as soon as her veterans pension check arrived. Joan hadserved a tour of duty as a jet mechanic. He thought that sounded just fine.
Two mornings later, an anxious neighbor called to ask what was wrong after a fire truck had pulled up in front of their home and three firemen had climbed off.
Dusty and Joan looked outside and saw the firemen taking a lawnmower off their gleaming red truck. Then came a knock at the door. There stood Todd Witzigman, Konrad Anderson and Richard Luhrs.
It seems the men down at the fire station had heard from the code officer about Dusty and Joan and her service to the country. So they’d decided to drop by to help out by mowing their yard as a way of expressing gratitude for her service to the nation.
“We felt overwhelmed by their kindness,” said Joan. “I tried to give them all the ice water I could. I told them it was just so wonderful to see them out in the community helping those who could use a helping hand. This is the meaning of a true community.”
They said the firemen seemed to appreciate the family photos mounted on their walls. And they particularly wanted to thank her for serving before manicuring the couple’s lawn.
Dusty smiled, adding, “What they did for us from out of the blue sure made me feel more at home.”
There you have this morning’s offering, valued readers. Two stories of public servants with clearly differing views of their roles in two different Northwest Arkansas communities.
———◊-———
Mike Masterson is opinion editor of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette’s Northwest edition.
Editorial, Pages 13 on 07/24/2012