Jimmy Adair Appointed County Judge

RISON - County Road Department foreman Jimmy Dale Adair was appointed by the Cleveland County Quorum Court to fill the unexpired term of the late County Judge Jimmy Cummings during a special meeting Monday night at the Hall-Morgan Veterans Building in Rison.Cummings was sworn in by County Clerk Brandy Herring immediately after the quorum court approved a resolution formally appointing him to the position. He will complete the remainder of Cummings' term, which ends Dec. 31, 2026.Cummings was serving in his first four-year term as county judge when he died on Aug. 28. Clerk Herring told the quorum court that Cummings had compiled a list of successors should he not be able to fulfill his duties as county judge. That list, in order of succession, included three people: Adair; deputy county clerk Rosemary Sinclair; and Cummings' administrative assistant Jamie Thompson. All three were at Monday night's meeting.Adair and Cummings were opponents in the 2022 election, with Adair running as a Democrat and Cummings as a Republican. Despite the opposition, the two were friends and Cummings promoted Adair to county road foreman during his first year in office. Justice of the Peace Donnie Herring of the Pleasant Ridge community presided over Monday night's meeting as moderator of the quorum court. He explained at the start of the meeting that no applications were received or requested for the vacancy, and that the purpose of Monday night's meeting was to formally approve a resolution declaring a vacancy and then possibly appoint someone to fill that vacancy.Justice Bruce Brown of the Pansy community told Herring and the rest of the quorum court that he was under the impression that the purpose of Monday night's meeting was to solely pass the resolution declaring the vacancy, not approve an appointee.State law requires the quorum court to fill the position within 30 days after approving the vacancy resolution. Justice Herring pointed out that...