A recent ruling by a circuit judge in western Arkansas regarding the existence of two county seats in Carroll County could have an effect on Mississippi County.
County Judge Steve McGuire said that Mississippi County has always had two separate county seats because Arkansas' Constitution mandates that the county seat had to be "within a day's travel" of all county residents.
Of course, before the days of automobiles, it took more than a day to get to Blytheville or Osceola for some, so two separate government districts were set. It has long been thought that Mississippi County has two distinct county seats, but a search of the Arkansas Constitution makes no mention of more than one county seat in the county.
Circuit Judge Kent Crow issued an order March 15 saying that Carroll County had never had two county seats, despite more than a century of belief otherwise.
In Crow's order, it states that Berryville is Carroll County's county seat since its designation in 1871. For 127 years,people have thought that Eureka Springs was a second county seat because a law passed in 1883 created two judicial districts, which was done for Mississippi County in 1902.
At least two other counties in northeast Arkansas have dual county seats: Craighead County, with courthouses at Lake City and Jonesboro; and Clay County, with courthouses at Piggott and Corning.
It is not known whether these counties indeed have two county seats, or were divided into separate judicial districts, as Mississippi County was.
Craighead County Judge Dale Haas said his county was the only one mentioned in the state Constitution as having two county seats. But a search of the Constitution did not verify the fact.
The only county mentioned in the Arkansas Constitution as having two county seats is Sebastian County. The Constitution does not designate where the two seats are in that county, but states "Sebastian County may have two districts and two county seats, at which county, probate and circuit court shall be held as may be provided by law, each district paying its own expenses."
Sharp County used to have two county courthouses, one in Hardy and one in Evening Shade. However, the expense of maintaining two separate facilities proved to be very expensive. So voters in that county approved a measure in 1965 that set the county seat at Ash Flat, the most centrally-located community in the county, and constructed a new courthouse.
Mississippi County's justices of the peace have discussed the same issue, citing the expense of maintaining two courthouses that were constructed in the early 1900s.
Mississippi County became a territorial county in 1833, three years before Arkansas became a state. The original county seat was set at Osceola in the 1840s by surveyors of the U.S. General Land office because Osceola was already functioning as the county seat. The first Osceola courthouse was constructed in 1882 in a location that was six to eight blocks away from the current location of the courthouse.
In 1901, as lumber companies began to establish businesses in the county, Blytheville was a booming town. A request to the Arkansas Legislature resulted in the passage of Act 81, that created two separate government districts in the county.
The first courthouse in Blytheville was constructed in 1902. The current courthouses in Osceola and Blytheville were constructed in 1915 and 1919, respectively.
The challenges of operating county government with two courthouses are formidable, Haas said.
"Duplication of services can be a problem," he said. "Without the proper management, the expenses can get out of hand quickly."
Haas said that he knows Craighead Countians are lucky because the economy there is "a bit more stable" than that of other counties.
"If you have the money to provide those services, it's not a problem," Haas said.
McGuire said that Mississippi County will continue to operate with two county seats until it is changed by a vote of the people.
"That's just how it is," he said.
State law mandates that "no county seat shall be established or changed without a majority of the qualified voters of the county to be affected by such change."
But he did agree that modern technology has made the need for dual county seats a bit old-fashioned.
"The times have changed. Technology has improved so dramatically," he said.
In keeping with those changes, McGuire and members of the Quorum Court are working to get county records scanned into a computer database so that those records can be made available online.
While having dual county seats has made county services "more physically closer" to citizens, the advances in technology are making that unnecessary.
McGuire said the cost of maintaining two courthouses that are each more than 100 years old is a financial challenge. But on the other hand, each county citizen is paying for that and enjoying the benefit of the services provided in those courthouses.
"My responsibility is to provide services to the best of my ability, with the funds available," McGuire said.
dhilton@blythevillecourier.com