It takes Marion County deputies more than an hour to get to some of the northernmost reaches of the county.
That's because a few slivers of Marion County are cut off from the rest of the county by Bull Shoals Lake, forcing deputies to drive around the lake and several miles into Missouri to get to those areas, which are dotted with lake houses and fishing resorts.
"From the standpoint of police, fire and ambulance, it makes it a logistical nightmare sometimes," said Sgt. Joe Batterton with the Marion County sheriff's office.
Batterton said the sheriff's office usually has two deputies on patrol, so if there's a call for a deputy in the southern part of the county and another in the northern part, "it spreads us pretty thin," he said.
"It's kind of a geographical anomaly, I guess you would call it," Batterton said. "Back when it was a river, I guess, it wasn't that big of a problem."
Bull Shoals Lake was created when a dam was built on the White River. Work began on the dam in 1947, and it was dedicated by President Harry Truman in 1952.
Marion County Sheriff Joan Vickers has been trying to figure out how best to patrol one of those northern sections of the county that borders both Missouri and Baxter County.
For years, a deputy lived in or near Oakland, an unincorporated community 34 miles north of Yellville, the Marion County seat. Getting from Yellville to Oakland requires driving through Baxter County.
Having a deputy around much of the time helped put the people of Oakland at ease. But since the death of Deputy Dale McCracken in 2013, the Oakland area hasn't had a resident lawman.
Vickers brought the issue up at an Aug. 23 meeting of the Marion County Quorum Court, but it took no action.
Justice of the Peace Mike Scrima said the Quorum Court would have to approve the position, and the sheriff's office has the money to fund it from a new 0.25 percent sales tax increase that voters approved in March. The tax revenue is for jail operations and maintenance, and it would bring in about $250,000 a year for that purpose, Scrima said. But that tax revenue frees up money elsewhere in the budget, and some of it could be used to hire a deputy for Oakland, he said.
A proposed 0.5 percent sales tax increase will be on the Nov. 8 ballot in Marion County to fund construction of a new jail. Voters rejected a 0.75 percent sales tax in March to pay for the building.
Scrima lives in Oakland and owns Black Oak Resort, which was once a compound owned by the rock band Black Oak Arkansas.
Scrima said area residents like the idea of a resident deputy, but there are drawbacks.
"The problem up here is, if you're a deputy and you arrest a neighbor, you see that neighbor every day," Scrima said.
Scrima said about 750 people live in the Oakland area, but that includes people who have vacation homes there and spend most of their time somewhere else. His population estimate includes what is known as the Promised Land peninsula.
Scrima said other peninsulas of hard-to-reach land in the northern part of Marion County include Lazy Acres, population about 250; south of Dugginsville, Mo., which has about 65 people on the Arkansas side of the state line; and Price Place, which has about 20 people.
The remote northern sections of Marion County aren't known for having a lot of crime, Scrima said, but it hasn't always been that way. He noted that a militia organization -- The Covenant, the Sword and the Arm of the Lord -- had a compound and guerrilla training camp just north of Oakland in the late 1970s and early '80s. It was shut down in 1985 by the FBI and other law enforcement agents, who seized weapons and explosives.
Bob Martin, who owns Oakland Gun & Tackle, said it's important to have a deputy living nearby.
"Local people know local issues," said Martin. "They know people over here."
Jim Jensen was the resident deputy in Oakland for 14 years before he retired in 2002.
"When we had the original man who patrolled over here, he knew all the bad guys," said Martin, referring to Jensen.
"It was pretty well cared for," said Jensen, who now sells real estate for a company in Mountain Home.
Batterton said sheriff's offices in the Missouri counties of Ozark and Taney have been good about providing emergency service to the bordering lands of Marion County.
And Baxter County does the same for the Oakland area, said John Montgomery, the Baxter County sheriff.
"If any county needs help, I don't care who it is, the next county is going to help," Montgomery said.
Oakland is only 20 miles from Mountain Home, the Baxter County seat.
Montgomery said it takes 55 minutes to get a deputy from Mountain Home to Big Flat, a town in southern Baxter County, and that's with lights flashing and siren blaring. Deputies in Searcy and Stone counties often help with calls in the area of Big Flat.
To get to Buck Creek Marina or Lakewoods Resort in Marion County, the straightest drive is north on Arkansas 125, which requires crossing the Peel Ferry, the state's last operating ferry boat.
Batterton said if the ferry is on the other side of the lake, it can take a while. And the ferry only operates from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily.
Scrima said he has a ready answer for people who complain about the lake, which he views as an asset rather than an obstruction: "You didn't make the lake, and I didn't make the lake, but we're stuck with it."
Metro on 09/12/2016