Jan 2, 2019

Tuesday morning brought in January first of a New Year and it also marked a historic event in Miller County, Arkansas.  There has been a lot of talk about the new County Judge, Cathy Hardin-Harrison.  She will be the first female County Judge in Miller County, but there is much more going on for the county history.  The county will have a first-ever female County Judge and it will see a Courthouse with all major positions held by women for the first time in history.  The Tax Collector, Assessor, Treasurer, County Clerk, and Circuit Clerk will all have positions filled by women.  On a county level, only the Sheriff and the Coroner offices will be held by men.  As far as the day-to-day operations at the Miller County Courthouse go, women will be running each office held.

An interesting side note to the fact that the county will have the first female county judge is the fact that all major offices in the county will be held by Republican representatives.  Until January 1, the office of Assessor has been held by an appointed person since the retirement of Democrat Mary Stuart.    As of January 1, Miller County will also be served by nine Republican Justices of the Peace (JP), one Democrat JP and one Independent JP.  It is the first time so many Republicans have held major offices in the county since Reconstruction.