RISON - Rickey Spencer of Kingsland, one of four candidates seeking the Republican nomination for Cleveland County Judge, said he sees a dwindling population as the most significant issue facing the county right now.Spencer was the guest on the Free Range Conversation’s latest podcast featuring the candidates running for Cleveland County judge and sheriff. Spencer is facing Jim Houston to the Rye community, Stephen McClellan of New Edinburg, and Rosemary Sinclair of the Staves community in the Republican primary for county judge. The winner will be unopposed in the November general election since there are no other candidates.“One of the main issues I see is we’ve been losing population,” Spencer responded when asked about what he thought were the main issues facing the county. “In the 2010 census, we had 8,677 people here. At the 2020 (census), we had 7,480. So basically we lost over a thousand people in 10 year’s time… When you’re talking about 8,600 people, a thousand is a lot.”With fewer people living in the county, he said that means less tax dollars flowing into the county’s coffers, which has a direct impact on what county government can do. Spencer said good schools are one way to attract new residents, and he said he believes the Cleveland County School District and the Woodlawn School District are doing a good job of investing in their facilities to make them attractive for families looking to relocate.While Cleveland County may not have any major industries moving in, he said there are some moving into the region like the new Weyerhauser plant near Monticello. He said those type of businesses will bring new people to the area, and the county needs to recruit them to live here. He mentioned that when he was recently out campaigning on a Saturday, he was surprised to see the number of cars parked outside Center Missionary Baptist Church at Rowell as well as the Rison School gym...
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