AAC County Lines


County Lines [(ISSN 2576-1137 (print) and ISSN 2576-1145 (online)] is the official publica- tion of the Association of Arkansas Counties. It is published quarterly. For advertising inquiries, subscriptions or other information, please con- tact Christy L. Smith at 501.372.7550.


Executive Director/Publisher Chris Villines


Communications Director/ Managing Editor Christy L. Smith


Communications Coordinator/ Editor


Holland Doran AAC Executive Board:


Debbie Wise – President Brandon Ellison – Vice President Jimmy Hart – Secretary-Treasurer


Tommy Young Debra Buckner Kevin Cleghorn Debbie Cross Ellen Foote


Gerone Hobbs


John Montgomery David Thompson


Terri Harrison Sandra Cawyer Terry McNatt


Brenda DeShields Doug Curtis Marty Boyd


Heather Stevens


National Association of Counties (NACo) Board Affiliations


Debbie Wise: NACo board member. She is the Randolph County Circuit Clerk and presi- dent of the AAC Board of Directors.


Brandon Ellison: NACo board member. He is the Polk County Judge and vice-president of the AAC Board of Directors.


Ted Harden: Finance & Intergovernmental Af- fairs Steering Committee. He serves on the Jefferson County Quorum Court.


David Hudson: Chair of NACo’s Justice and Public Safety Steering Committee. He is the Sebastian County Judge and member of the Rural Action Caucus Steering Committee and the IT Standing Committee.


Kevin Smith: IT Standing Committee. He is the Sebastian County Director of Information Technology Services.


Barry Hyde: Justice and Public Safety Steering Committee. He is the Pulaski County Judge.


Gerone Hobbs: Membership Committee. He is the Pulaski County Coroner.


Kade Holliday: Arts and Culture Committee and International Economic Development Task Force. He is the Craighead County Clerk.


Paul Ellliot: Justice and Public Safety Steering Committee,


vice-chair of law enforcement


subcommittee. He serves on the Pulaski County Quorum Court.


Ellen Foote: Community, Economic & Work- force Development Steering Committee. She is the Crittenden County Tax Collector.


Tawanna Brown: Telecommunications & Technol- ogy Steering Committe. She is the Crittenden County Chief Computer Operator.


COUNTY LINES, SPRING 2020


further complicated by social unrest and divisive politics and media. As the coroners can attest, this has driven up drug use, and unfortunately suicides as well. I highly recommend you read Becky Comet’s column later in this issue of County Lines as she helps to navigate what effects you and your loved ones may be seeing. At the AAC, we continue to churn away at one of the aggressors that figures so prev- alently in these times, an opioid industry that has historically turned its face to profits and a deaf ear to society. Sometimes there are sobering reminders that this industry hits painfully close to all of us, and a few weeks ago on a Saturday I’ll never forget hearing the excruciating pain in my good friend Mark Hayes’ voice as he relayed to me that the industry had taken another life … that of one of his children, Wells. As the Executive Director at the Arkansas Municipal League, he and I have been counterparts, colleagues and more than this, friends in our roles together. We locked arms several years ago to fight against the opioid industry in Arkansas, not knowing at the time where it would take his family. I am sad but honored to have permission to reprint his article in a recent City & Town magazine edition — and I reprint this to share his story … and to remind you why we are in this fight together with our cities in Arkansas:


I


few years. People will continue to social distance although perhaps not as strictly as we’re doing now. We’ll work at home more. We’ll use disinfectant wipes and sprays more than we ever have. Anybody coughing or sneezing will no doubt make us anxious for many years to come. We won’t think of headaches as we have in the past nor the loss of taste or smell. Shortness of breath may yield a 911 call rather than a brief respite. I suspect many of us will have groceries and other staples de- livered to our homes. If we go to a store of any kind, we’ll pick off hours in hopes there won’t be very many people. Telemedicine will likely become the new normal for routine doctor visits. I wonder about movie theaters and small restaurants. Will they survive or change somehow? And what about traditional handshakes? What do we do, the Vulcan salute?2


B Peace signs?3 And hugs, what about hugs?! And yes,


we’ll certainly wash our hands more. It may take months or even years for our society to fully deal with the coronavirus, but we will. A vaccine will be invented and, like so many other killer viruses, COVID-19 will wither on the vine and die. Unfortunately, our journey to health as Arkansans will not end with a CO- VID-19 vaccine. No, there’s another killer on the loose and it hasn’t yet been


>>> 7


y the time you read this I’m hopeful our state will have begun its rebirth from COVID-19. Not too fast mind you, but rather a logical and rational approach just as our governor has led us from the start but in reverse.1


I think many things will change for us over the next


Pandemic relief, epidemic crisis


n so many ways, the COVID-19 pandemic has been a departure from reality. Many things we held to be paradigms in our life have shifted. Truth has become fiction, and vice-versa. Tese are unsettling times,


Chris Villines AAC


Executive Director


DIRECTOR’S DESK


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