Many Pulaski County candidates came to the courthouse Tuesday evening to get the results firsthand and others sent friends or relatives to call in election results.
One exception was Sheriff J.B. King, who was sleeping in bed when the results came in confirming that he had defeated retired conservation agent Terry Robeson for the Republican nomination.
King, who had been campaigning at the polls and suffered from heat, didn’t learn until Wednesday morning that he’d be facing his old opponent, former Sheriff J.T. Roberts, who narrowly squeaked out a victory over Lt. Bill Anderson, a reserve deputy in the department.
Interviewed Wednesday morning, King said he hadn’t had the chance yet to review the election results in detail since he’d only a few hours earlier gotten out of his sickbed.
Age is an issue for both Roberts and King, both of whom are in their sixties. Roberts continues to work out and exercise and said Tuesday evening that he may be more physically fit than most of the currently serving deputies.
King said his heatsickness on Tuesday shouldn’t be viewed as indicating a serious problem.
“I wouldn’t be running if I couldn’t handle the job for another four years,” King said. “I am physically fit to be able to handle the job, mentally fit to be able to handle the job. I have a clear idea of the future I’d like to accomplish.”
That future, King said, includes an aggressive effort to pass a law enforcement sales tax to get a stable funding base for the sheriff’s department, King said. It’s also important to build a jail now before added inmate loads at the Miller and Phelps County jails prevent Pulaski County from using those facilities for overloads.
“I do feel with the growth of the county, there are more and more crimes being committed,” King said. “We’re trying to make do wih the same number of personnel we had years ago, but crime keeps going up.”