By JOHN HOFHEIMER
Leader senior staff writer
Two Lonoke Democratic JPs moved out of the districts they represented and resigned in the past few months, setting up races in three Democratic districts in Tuesday’s primary.
Adam Sims and Robert DePriest are competing for the position vacated by Richard Kyzer, who moved from District 7 to District 8, where he is challenging the incumbent, Roger Dale Lynch.
In District 10, three Lonoke residents are competing for the seat vacated by Kyle Lackey.
They are Wes Clement, Ronnie Evans and Bill Ryker.
Gov. Mike Beebe appointed Virgil Turner to serve the balance of Lackey’s term and Daryl Clement to serve the balance of Kyzer’s term, but as appointees, they are not eligible to seek election.
Just as in the Republican primary, all Democrats running for Lonoke County Quorum Court say they support the one-year, one-penny countywide sales tax to pay for a new jail.
JP DISTRICT 7
While this race has no incumbent, both office seekers have served on the quorum court in the past. Sims, 39, a Union Pacific locomotive electrician, served two terms on the court, ending in 1999.
He said he ran in 1999, but “we had some family issues and my heart wasn’t in it,” he said. He lost to Daryl Clement.
While on the court, “I was the one that took on the telephone companies trying to get long-distance toll charges eliminated,” he said. While he didn’t get everything he wanted, he got the number of prefixes in the county reduced and expanded the range of local calls. “We got affordable calling plans,” he said.
“We lost a son two years ago, who had a lot of medical problems,” he said.
Things have calmed down.
“I’m getting pack to politics and think everyone should be involved,” he said. Sims wants the sheriff’s office to either build a substation in his district or else get a mobile unit that could be moved around the county, where crime rate is high.
“I want to get the park project going again. Land near Furlow and South Bend was donated by First Electric for a kids’ park,” he said.
“We need animal control to do something about stray animals,” he said.
Sims was born in Sherwood and his family moved to Lonoke County his junior year in high school. He is married to the former Laurie Felton. They have one surviving son.
He supports the one-year county sales tax to build a new jail, although he says he opposes tax increases in general. “You’ve got to have a place to put these people,” he said.
Sims has a bachelor’s degree in business administration from UALR. He’s a Persian Gulf veteran.
DePriest, 61, served the unexpired portion of his father’s term on the quorum court. He served on the Lonoke School Board for 10 years. DePriest is a farmer and managed Lonoke Fertilizer and Chemical Company, which has since closed its doors.
He taught school and coached in Batesville for five years, leaving to farm with his father and his brother, Jimmy DePriest.
“I just like politics and to do things for other people,” DePriest said. “I’m a life long Democrat, my dad and his dad were life-long Democrats,” he said. “I’ve been involved directly and indirectly for a long time.”
He said the most important thing the next quorum court will deal with is the new jail.
He said his district needed better support. There is need for first responders in the area and perhaps a countywide ambulance service. “I see a glaring need for it now,” he said.
Of the penny sales tax on the ballot, he says, “I think that’s the only way we can (get a new jail.) This is not a rich county. It’s basically agricultural.”
DePriest would like the county to find a way to utilize some of the County Library Tax surplus.
He grew up in Furlow and is a graduate of Lonoke High School and Arkansas Tech. He is married to the former Debby Tanner Maroney. They have a daughter at the University of Central Arkansas and two children by a previous marriage.
JP DISTRICT 8
Kyzer, 29, is challenging Lynch, 57, who is seeking his second term.
Lynch, who manages several units for Remington Arms, has worked there for 37 years, he said. He manages the maintenance and facility unit and also the primer-manufacturing unit. “I managed most of the units at one time or another,” he said.
He started there after a year of college and basic training.
He’s a member of the budget and personnel committees.
The budget committee works with the department heads to formulate a budget proposal, which is then submitted to the entire quorum court for review and approval.
The personnel committee has been working on both a new personnel policy and also to contract with consultants to study all county positions and set appropriate pay ranges for them that would be competitive with pay and benefits in neighboring counties and nearby private industry.
“I support the (jail) sales tax. Everyone who spends helps pay for a jail.” he said, while if the county were to level a millage, only the property owners would pay. “It’s more equitable that way,” he said, adding that the jail was “a fairly dismal situation.”
He said he wants the next quorum court to consider what to do when someone’s use of their property—for a sewage plant for instance—interferes with the ability of others to enjoy their property. Perhaps some sort of zoning he said.
Lynch has his experience in managing people and allocating scarce resources makes him valuable to the court.
Lynch is married to the former Sheila Gold, a Lonoke graduate. They have a daughter in the Fulbright Honors program at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville and a son who is a 10th grader at Lonoke.
“I’m hardworking, loyal and don’t shirk my duty,” he said. “When I say I’m going to do something, I get it done.”
Kyzer has been elected three times and served five years on the quorum court before moving out of his district recently and into Lynch’s.
He disagrees with Lynch about the JESAP program to make county pay grades competitive to similar jobs elsewhere. “I’m against telling elected officials how to run their offices,” said Kyzer. “That’s spending a lot of money just for a suggestion.
That’s money we could use to pay for the family portion of health insurance for people already employed in the county.”
Kyzer said he not only approves of the proposed penny sales tax to pay for a new jail, “I seconded the jail tax motion,” he said.
He opposed paying for the jail by millage increase.
Kyzer is a wastewater utility training specialist with the city of Little Rock, for whom he’s worked for six years.
He’s a graduate of Lonoke High School and is married with two children.
Kyzer has served on various committees and has been active in several projects including the Lonoke County Courthouse expansion. He has a good working relationship with the now existing quorum court and the county judge.
He first began community service in the South Bend Volunteer Fire Department junior firefighter program at age 13.
He is active in his church.
JP DISTRICT 10
The three-way race for the seat vacated by Lackey pits a fish farm employee, another Remington Arms manager and a local businessman against each other.
Wes Clement, 31, works at Pool’s Fish Hatchery. This is his first run for office, although his father, Daryl Clement, is a former Lonoke County justice.
“I want to help people,” Clement said. “What better way than to get on the quorum court?
“I want my district to be able to use its money for themselves and not see it go to Cabot or other districts. The southern district of Lonoke County is struggling, not getting any attention paid to them.
“I grew up in Furlow. My family’s been out there for 100 years. I went to Lonoke schools and graduated there,” he added.
Clement said he supported the new jail tax. “It’s not going to be on there forever,” he said.
Clement and his wife have one son.
Evans, 36, said this is his first run for office, but “I’ve been involved in my community. I do my part and maybe more.”
Evans manages the explosives and metallics manufacturing at Remington Arms.
He has served as state president of the Arkansas Water Fowl Association, a group that teaches youngsters hunting ethics and conservation, he said. The funds they raise go back into scouting, 4H and baseball programs as well as kids camps and duck hunts for them.
He has been an Awana leader for the Baptist Camp.
“I want to continue with what’s going on,” he said. “The jail needs to be taken care of and also an ambulance service.” He said weather-warning sirens need to be put up out in the county, perhaps at rural volunteer fire department.
Evans says he supports the new county sales tax for the jail.
“Keo would have benefited,” he said, speaking of the tornado destruction in that area. “I want to help improve the infrastructure of Lonoke County.”
“My experience is practical, hands-on,” he said.
Evans and his wife Janice have a 15-year-old son and a girl, 7.
Ryker, 65, has long been active in Lonoke City civic affairs, taking a leading role in construction of the Lonoke Memorial Flag Plaza and in working toward making the second Lonoke I-40 interchange a reality, but it’s his first run for office.
“Experience counts,” said Ryker. “I’ve had experience helping on committees and with running his business, M and M Floral, since 1985.”
Before that, he was an insurance agent.
“I’ve been in business for myself since 1975, he said.
He’s lived in the area since he married in 1966.
Ryker is chairman of the retail economic committee. He has worked with several mayors on Lonoke’s Industrial Development Committee.
“I’ve always been involved in the city, helping it grow, evolve and bring in new industry. That’s good for everybody.”
Ryker said he’s a strong supporter of education and wants to “keep our young people in the community. Better roads and industry bring jobs.
He’s a 1966 UALR graduate in business, advertising and art.
“The county judge appoints committees and I want to bring my business sense to the court,” he said.
He added because the sales tax to build a new jail sunsets at the end of one year, he supports it.
