Can the sample ballots be right? Is it true that Buddy Villines isn't on the ballot this fall? This is going to take some getting used to. The man has been county judge of Pulaski County for 24 years--twenty-four years. There are some who will cast ballots this election who weren't even born when Buddy Villines was first elected.
Pulaski County's voters now have a decision to make. And they've got a leader waiting and primed to take over. That is, if a Republican can be elected county judge of Pulaski County.
Phil Wyrick has made it clear: He's not interested in using the office as a stepping stone. To anywhere. He's 65 years old, and has been in public service for much of his life. He would just like to be county judge and put all he's learned about government to good use. Which is Pulaski County's good fortune.
Oh, the stories Phil Wyrick could--and does--tell. Just ask him about the time he was acting as finance officer for his National Guard unit back in the days when troops got their pay--in cold cash--every drill. If there's anything scarier than holding the cash pay for a herd of 20-something-year-old males, it's holding that payroll for a herd of armed 20-something-year-old males.
Mr. Wyrick's story brought to mind our own scariest day in the military. Happily, we never heard a shot fired in anger during our tour, but one day our turn came to act as finance officer of the battalion, complete with a driver for our jeep, a .45 for our holster, and $16,525 in pre-counted packets to hand out to every trooper in the battalion. Talk about nervous. Somehow we got through the experience but we still sweat thinking about all that cash in our care.
Phil Wyrick has done other things besides serve in the Guard. Like serving three terms in the state House of Representatives and one as a state senator. The man knows the political ropes. Which is just as well, because it's going to take somebody who knows politics--and people--to be successful at the job of county judge. Especially now.
Why? For one thing, the county jail is closed to non-violent offenders all too often. There's just not enough room to hold all those who needed to be in there, so the sheriff can't hold all those accused of "only" petty/property crimes. (Ever had your house ransacked by an uninvited intruder? There's nothing "petty" about that experience.)
The county's various cities still differ about how much each should pay for a new agreement that funds the jail. And one of those cities still holding up a new agreement is the biggest one in the county: Little Rock. Talk about a challenge that requires a gift for negotiation, mediation and determination in general. But if anybody can bring it off, it's Phil Wyrick.
And something's got to be done about the county jail, its overcrowding, and its being closed to new admissions on an all too regular a basis. It's a wonder anybody wants to tackle a job with a king-sized problem like that attached to it.
Happily, all three men running for county judge seem to understand the problem--and challenge. They all see the jail as The Issue in this race. But by our lights Phil Wyrick could be the man to get the county past this impasse--and all the impasses to come.
Mr. Wyrick says he would ask the quorum court to release emergency funds to open up more beds at the jail for the next six months or so. Which would take some pressure off the beleaguered sheriff, and keep the jail open until a more permanent solution could be worked out. There's an idea.
"It is amazing to me that we have accepted and become almost callous to the fact that the Pulaski County jail is closed to non-violent offenders," he said in a debate last week. "This sends out a negative message to industry." And not just industry. It also sends a message to the people you don't want to encourage--the bad guys.
If by industry Mr. Wyrick's talking about investors who might be thinking of moving their operation to Central Arkansas, he's right. But the criminal industry is getting another message: Come and get it. The cops can't hold you if you just break into a house. As long as you don't knife anybody or wave a gun around, you'll be on the street in about, oh, an hour.
Mr. Wyrick, like the rest of us, is tired of all of this. Or as he told us, "The No. 1 thing we have to do is make people feel comfortable in their homes."
Amen, selah and hallelujah.
Here's hoping the voters in Pulaski County give Phil Wyrick a try as county judge. Let's open up that jail space. Let's get thugs off the streets. And let 'em know their get-out-of-jail-free cards have expired. Let's enforce the law--at last. And let's elect Phil Wyrick county judge of Pulaski County.
Editorial on 10/18/2014