Saline County Sheriff Bruce Pennington no longer wants to retire in October as he announced last week but instead wishes to retire at the end of his term in 2015, according to a letter he delivered to a county official Monday.
Pennington hand-delivered the letter that said he is amending his retirement date to Jan. 1, 2015, to Saline County Attorney Jonathan Greer at Greer’s home about 2 p.m. Monday, according to an email Greer sent to Quorum Court secretary Rhonda Richards.
Richards announced that in response to Pennington’s change of heart, there will be a special Quorum Court meeting at 8 p.m. tonight to discuss a resolution asking for Pennington’s resignation. The meeting will be in courtroom 1 at the Saline County Courthouse.
The Quorum Court originally considered the resolution last week after Pennington pleaded guilty to misdemeanor alcohol charges Aug. 26. The sheriff was arrested June 29 at Denton’s Trotline after patrons phoned police to report an intoxicated man getting into his vehicle.
Since the arrest, supplemental police reports and police video have been released showing that Pennington acted belligerently toward officers, attempted to hit one with a closed fist and refused to cooperate when being arrested. He has apologized and said he admitted himself into a treatment facility at the beginning of August.
On Friday the Quorum Court set up a private meeting with Pennington to present him the resolution signed by 12 of the 13 members asking for his resignation, but he surprised them by submitting his retirement notice a few hours prior to the meeting.
He said he would retire Oct. 1 and told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette later that day that his arrest and conviction had nothing to do with his decision to step down.
“I’m 62,” he said, adding that he’s spent 40 years in law enforcement. “It’s just something my wife and I decided.”
A voice message to Pennington’s cellphone Monday night wasn’t returned.
As written, the resolution to be discussed at tonight’s meeting, which now lists all 13 members as sponsors, doesn’t designate a time frame for when Pennington should resign. It notes that he was fined $3,000 for his public intoxication and resisting arrest charges and sentenced to one year of unsupervised probation.
“Sheriff Pennington has publicly admitted that he engaged in ‘inexcusable conduct,’has ‘failed our community,’ and has ‘tarnished’ the office of Saline County Sheriff,” the resolution reads.
When contacted Monday night, Saline County Judge Lanny Fite said he hadn’t yet seen the resolution and that he called the special meeting because he was asked to. The“whole thing is bizarre,” he said, adding that he didn’t want to speculate on the outcome of tonight’s meeting.
Arkansas, Pages 7 on 09/03/2013