Prosecutors with the 6th Judicial Circuit prosecuting attorney's office, which covers Pulaski and Perry counties, took their oaths of office in a public New Year's Day ceremony for the first time in more than a decade Thursday.
The office hasn't had a public swearing-in ceremony -- which is common for elected officials each new term -- since Prosecuting Attorney Larry Jegley was first elected to that role in 1996 and was sworn in Jan. 1, 1997.
He's been re-elected unopposed to six more terms since then -- at first two-year terms and then four-year terms when it changed in 2003 -- with Arkansas Supreme Court Justice Tom Glaze taking Jegley's oath in private each time.
Glaze was "a mentor, good friend and role model" to Jegley, said Senior Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Melanie Martin. Glaze died in 2012.
Pulaski County Circuit Court Judge Chris Piazza took his place Thursday, swearing in Jegley and most of the 45 deputy prosecutors of the office in the rotunda of the Pulaski County Courthouse.
"We have a newer generation of deputy prosecuting attorneys who were not around 18 years ago," Jegley said prior to the ceremony, adding that just seven have been in the office that long. "In visiting with them, we knew [having a public ceremony this year] would be a nice thing to do -- to publicly affirm our commitment as prosecutors to our community and to the judicial system."
The new year marks the start of Jegley's seventh term. He has served longer than anyone else in the post. When he came to the office as the chief deputy in 1991, there wasn't a single desktop computer. Since then, starting salaries for deputies have more than doubled.
Jegley said that when he started, his predecessor told him he could expect to serve as head of the office for about six years before politics took over and he'd have to find something else to do. Yet he's lasted three times that long and he's not looking to retire anytime soon, he said.
He was prosecuting attorney during the trial of Curtis Lavelle Vance, who was convicted of killing, raping and burglarizing KATV Channel 7 news anchor Anne Pressley in 2008. The next year, another high-profile case came through the office when Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad opened fire in a drive-by shooting in front of the U.S. military recruiting office in Little Rock, killing a soldier and wounding another.
"Everyone remembers the high-profile cases, but the ones that really abide in my soul are the ones that no one knows about, that didn't have a lot of attention from the media or the community -- the folks whose lives get shattered and we put back just a tiny piece that the law allows us to put back and it means the world to them," Jegley said.
In prior years, the office's deputy prosecutors were sworn in before they went to court, usually on the first weekday after Jan. 1. But Thursday, they stood up straight, right hands raised, and smiled before taking their oaths before friends and family.
Afterward, Jegley got applause when he told them: "Let's go on another four years. Let's keep fighting the good fight, keep finding justice for our community, keep doing what we've been doing -- working together, helping each other and making this world a better place."
Elsewhere on Thursday, other elected officials took their oaths across the state.
In Little Rock, Mayor Mark Stodola and six members of the city's Board of Directors were sworn in during a morning ceremony at City Hall.
Stodola announced four resolutions for the new year: ensure city government is open and transparent; spend time with youth because "by many respects they are the most influenced by our policies [and] we as adults need to listen to them"; make the city smarter and more efficient by embracing technology; and resolve to be "kinder and gentler to each other."
Sherwood had a ceremony for Mayor Virginia Hillman Young, four aldermen, the city attorney and the city clerk-treasurer in the council chambers Thursday. North Little Rock also had a ceremony for four aldermen and the city attorney.
New Faulkner County Judge Jim Baker was sworn in at the county's new criminal justice complex Thursday. He is succeeding Allen Dodson, who was appointed to fill a vacancy and served during the Mayflower oil spill and the deadly tornadoes that swept through the region last year.
Most counties in northeast Arkansas also had swearing-in ceremonies Thursday, including Craighead County and Crittenden County.
Newly elected Pulaski County Judge Barry Hyde will be sworn in at 6 p.m. today at the county's administration building. He is replacing County Judge Buddy Villines, who is leaving the post after 24 years.
Jackson and Independence counties will hold their ceremonies today.
In Columbia County, officials followed a long-running tradition of swearing in elected officials at 12:01 a.m. Thursday in the county courthouse in Magnolia.
Information for this article was contributed by Kenneth Heard and Jake Sandlin of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
Metro on 01/02/2015