Glenda Daniels has been named to replace Herman Ginger on the November ballot for a seat on the Quorum Court .
Daniels had been appointed to serve the remainder of Ginger's term, who passed away in July after contracting the coronavirus, but County Judge Gerald Robinson said that the appointment letter had not been received from Gov. Asa Hutchinson.
"The letter we received from the Democratic Committee did not appoint her as the justice of the peace," said Robinson. "What it did state is that her name will go on the ballot in November replacing Dr. Ginger's name."
A letter from Hutchinson dated Aug. 7 stated that on Aug. 4 he received a written notice that the State Committee of the Democratic Party of Arkansas had been notified that Ginger, the Democratic nominee as justice of the peace had passed away.
In accordance with Arkansas law, Hutchinson certified to the party that there was a vacancy and requested the chairman and secretary of the appropriate convention of delegates to designate their nominee to fill the vacancy.
A response on Sept. 1, from Michael Gray of the state Democratic Party, stated that on Aug. 22, the membership of the Jefferson County Democratic Party convened and nominated Daniels for the seat.
Daniels, who is unopposed, said she is excited to be able to work toward returning the county to the way she remembers it being. She spoke passionately about wanting to make a difference.
Originally from Jefferson County, Daniels is a Pine Bluff native who returned home in 2019 after 14 years away.
"My family is here and pretty much everyone here knows of my family or me," said Daniels. "I graduated from Pine Bluff High School and would visit about five to six times a year while I was away."
Daniels says growing up in Pine Bluff, as a young person, there were many activities to do and one could go out into the community and move freely.
"Pine Bluff is not the Pine Bluff it was when I was growing up," said Daniels. "I know the young people may be tired of us older people always reminiscing about the old days and how Main Street was and what we used to do, but that's our history. That was our heritage. We're missing something, and I think that our young people are missing something enjoying Pine Bluff the way that we did."
Wanting to be a part of bringing Pine Bluff back to life, Daniels said that at times, the news was disheartening as she followed the happenings of her hometown. While living in Virginia, Daniels said because of her Southern accent, people would often ask where she was from. When she would answer Pine Bluff, she said the feedback was usually negative.
"Once you say Pine Bluff , they would be like, 'oh we've heard this' or 'we've heard that' and I'm like wait a minute, have you ever visited Pine Bluff before and they would say, 'no, but we've heard this,'" said Daniels defending her hometown. "I'm like, you have to visit it. You just can't take someone's opinion and make it your own. I said yes it gets a bad rep from time to time, but it's like any other place, but home is always home."
Daniels said when she moved back things were different from the limited restaurants to the limited shopping. Even with her resettling back in during the pandemic, she still has hope for Jefferson County's liveliness and richness to bloom.
"Not saying that it's dead, don't get me wrong, but it's not what I remember, and I want to see that vibrancy again. I want to see people excited about moving around Pine Bluff, having events here, inviting people here, you know just talking about Pine Bluff and Jefferson County, Ark.," she said. "I want them to have that enthusiasm and not just have negative information when it comes to Pine Bluff."
Daniels, who would come home every year to support the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff's homecoming festivities, said she is happy to be home and ready to make a difference.
"Home is home and that's where you're going to feel the most connected to people, the environment and the community," said Daniels who said she is eager to serve her hometown. "Even though I was living in Virginia, I would keep up with everything going on in Pine Bluff, and I'll always take up for Pine Bluff."