Thone AAC
F A M I L Y & F R I E N D S » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » Continued From Page 39 <<<
road paving projects. Yell County has a lot of gravel roads and Forest Service roads.
Maintenance is costly, and the county’s also having to deal with a lot of flood damage. State aid projects are helping with the overlay, Tone said. “If it wasn’t for that [state aid] we wouldn’t have much of a pav-
ing project,” he said. Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) has also helped with cleaning up from the major flood and two torna- does, Tone said. Running a farm where he had to do annual budgeting and prep- arations — and operate heavy equipment — helped ready Tone for some aspects of the county judge position, but he said he’s still learned a lot on the job. “Somebody described it as trying to take a drink out of a fire
hose when you first start,” he said. “When I first hear that I kind of laughed. Two or three months later I said ‘Yeah, you were telling the truth.’” Still, Tone said, it’s been interesting to learn how everything
works — the different sources of revenue, the various issues that come up, the activities of the numerous boards he’s been put on since he took office. “I’m on every type of board in the county,” he said. “Hospital, community action, solid waste, the planning district board —
meeting after meeting. Tat was a little different for me.” State Senator Michael Lamoureux also appointed Tone to the
Arkansas Blue Ribbon Committee on Local 911 Systems, estab- lished by Act 1171 of the 2013 legislative session. Te committee is charged with doing a comprehensive and detailed study of 911 systems across the state, looking at funding issues, training require- ments, technology and other issues “As technology changes, 911 needs to change too,” Tone said.
He’s the only county judge on the committee. And while getting out and meeting new people has been one of the highlights of the job for Tone, he said the worst part is deal- ing with legal issues. “You don’t really know if you’re doing the right thing, and you
don’t want to do the wrong thing,” he said. “We’ve got good people working there to help, like our prosecuting attorney. He wonders if I’m ever going to quit asking questions.”
Te county judge job has become a full-time gig, but Tone still
farms row crops on more than 600 acres. He also finds time to do the color commentary on the radio for the Dardanelle football and basketball games, a gig he’s held for about a decade. “We have a lot of fun,” he said. “Sometimes I don’t think I have time to go, but I do it anyway. It makes me feel good when I hear grandparents say they can’t go to games but they like to hear them on the radio.”
Endorsed 40 COUNTY LINES, WINTER 2014
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