Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Discrimination Charges Levied

Allegations of racism entered Monday night's meeting of the Clark County Quorum Court.

According to Clark County Judge Grady Runyan, the allegations were brought forth at a committee meeting instead of before the entire body of the court. This, he said, was not the proper place to discuss such allegations.

The allegations state racism has been going on in Clark County government for the past 10 years.

Runyan informed the justices of the peace Col. John Bailey, commander of the Arkansas State Police, has been called and a full, formal investigation into the matter requested.

"I asked for a full investigation of every office in the courthouse," he said, "on harassment and discrimination. I will not tolerate this kind of behavior in county government as long as I'm county judge."

In Runyan's letter to Bailey, the judge wrote stating allegations of racial discrimination, harassment and intimidation of a black employee have been brought to his attention.

The person in question is a county employee, and the allegations of racism were brought forth by a member of the quorum court.

In other business, Runyan swore in a new member to the court, replacing John Kelly, who died recently.

The person filling the remainder of his term will be his wife, Ann. Her term in office will end on Dec. 31, 1998. Because she has been appointed to the office, she cannot seek election for the position.

The court also passed an ordinance to codify all county ordinances.

Under the terms of the ordinance, all other ordinances passed by the Clark County Quorum Court over the years will be compiled in an orderly manner, thereby making them easier to find.

The ordinances will now be placed in a bound volume with a table of contents.

The first "chapter" will be ordinances of general provisions.

This will be followed by administrative ordinances, including those involving the court, county officials, county boards, taxation and finance, personnel, courts, emergency services and county policies.

Next on the list will be public works utilities and solid waste.

Then comes traffic codes, and general regulations. Under general regulations will be housing, fire prevention and roads and rights of way.

There will also be a section for business regulations, general offenses and land usage, specifically flood damage prevention.

A table of special ordinances will be in the back of the volume. This section will deal with ordinances concerning appropriations, easements, franchises, interlocal cooperation agreements and real estate transactions.

The court also did a bit of housework to clean up items of the budget.

When the budget was discussed, the salary for the new chief deputy, Wes Sauceman, was brought up. His salary was increased to match the new office, as he was moved from the criminal investigator's slot to chief deputy to fill an opening.

In other business, the court agreed to extend its lease agreement for the DHS building where it currently meets.

For the past year, the county has been paying $3,072 per month in rent for the facility, but this will drop to $2,688 for the next six months.

The rental agreement was originally based on $8 per square foot for the first year, and $7 per square foot for the next six months.

Runyan said he has asked the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for more money to help defray the cost of the rent. However, he said, there is no guarantee the county will get any more FEMA funds.