BENTONVILLE -- Candidates for Benton County judge and sheriff fielded questions Monday night on a range of issues facing the county and its voters.
Shawn Holloway, Republican Party candidate for sheriff and his opponent, Glenn Latham, running as an independent, answered questions at a candidates forum sponsored by the Benton County Farm Bureau. Barry Moehring, Republican party candidate for county judge and Ronnie L. Smith, running on the Libertarian party ticket, also had a question-and-answer session at the forum at the Shewmaker Center for Global Business Development on the Northwest Arkansas Community College main campus. Jeff Broadston, a write-in candidate for county judge, did not attend the forum.
What’s next
Early voting for the Nov. 8 general election is set to begin on Oct. 24. The deadline to register to vote is Oct. 10.
Source: Benton County Clerk’s Office
The election is Nov. 8.
Holloway and Latham opened the forum answering a question about restoring respect for the Benton County Sheriff's Office. Holloway defeated three candidates, including then-Sheriff Kelley Cradduck, to win the Republican primary. Cradduck resigned from office while facing allegations of misconduct and Sheriff Meyer Gilbert was appointed to serve the remainder of Cradduck's term, which ends Dec. 31.
Holloway said there has been a great change in the sheriff's office in the months since Gilbert took over and he wants to continue working to improve employee morale, increase cooperation with other area law enforcement agencies and develop better community relations.
"It's all about relationships and building trust factors with the community," Holloway said.
Latham said the problems within the Sheriff's Office extended back into the past, before Cradduck's term in office, and he linked Holloway to those problems.
"We need a lot more than new uniforms and new patrol cars," Latham said of some of the changes made recently. "We need deputies out in the county."
The two candidates found common ground when asked about the role of the sheriff's office in responding to a terrorist attack or mass shooting incident. Both men said Benton County is "a soft target" for such attacks but they are more likely to be aimed at targets in the larger cities. The Sheriff's Office, they agreed, needs to coordinate planning and training with other agencies and be prepared to offer any support needed.
Moehring and Smith both pointed to the county's proposed new courts building as the biggest issue facing the county judge's office.
"We do have an old, dilapidated courts building and we need to solve that problem without raising taxes," Moehring said. "We need to utilize our existing facilities and expand modestly."
Smith said he's undecided on the question of keeping the courts in downtown Bentonville and he thinks the county needs to be sure that's the right solution.
"I'm not opposed to a downtown courts building," he said "But we need to build or add on and I'm not sure we can do that in downtown."
Smith said the people he has talked to would vote down any proposed tax to finance a new courts building.
"I don't think raising taxes would be a plan," he said. "There would have to be a vote and I don't think that would pass."
The county's Road Department was also discussed at Monday night's forum, with Moehring saying the county needs to work with cities, schools, emergency service providers and other interests as part of a regional transportation plan. He said the county's recent road programs have set up a goal of paving 50 miles in a year, which he questions.
"There's been this urge to go pave as many miles as we can," he said. "I'm not sure we're paving the right roads."
Smith said he lives on a dirt road in rural Benton County. He said he and his neighbors live there by choice and want their choices respected. He said the county should focus more on road maintenance and less on paving.
"We need to fix what we have," he said.
NW News on 10/04/2016