Two candidates have already filed qualification paperwork to run for Lowndes County sheriff this year.
Neither of them is two-term incumbent Mike Arledge.
Arledge, a Republican first elected in 2011, confirmed to The Dispatch on Thursday he will not seek a third term in office.
“Originally, I was thinking about running,” Arledge said. “I think it’s just time (to retire). I didn’t want to run for it. It was a hard decision and I struggled with it. But I made that decision. It was over the holidays when I thought about it a lot and discussed it with my family.”
Prior to being elected sheriff, Arledge served two terms as a Lowndes County justice court judge after winning elections in 2003 and 2007.
So far, former county jail administrator Rick Jones and current LCSO Capt. Archie Williams are the only two candidates to qualify to run for sheriff with the circuit clerk’s office. Both are running as Republicans.
The qualifying period began Wednesday and will run through March 1. Party primary elections are set for Aug 6.
Jones has worked in law enforcement since 1981. He began working as the Lowndes County Adult Detention Center administrator in February 2014, and retired in October 2017.
Before working at the jail, Jones worked for 24 years with Columbus Police Department. He currently works part-time with CPD and with the Attala County Sheriff’s Office.
Jones announced his intention to run to The Dispatch in April 2018, saying that he felt Arledge pressured him into retiring.
On Thursday, Jones said he feels his experience in multiple facets of law enforcement, including patrol, investigation, community relations, narcotics and jail administration, makes him a strong candidate.
“My decision to run came after I went into retirement,” he said. “I spoke it over with my wife and felt with my experience and years working with the various aspects of law enforcement that I could bring all of that to the plate for the citizens.”
Williams has 20 years of law enforcement experience. He’s currently the commander of the Columbus-Lowndes County joint narcotics task force, as well as LCSO’s SWAT team and K-9 division.
“(Running for sheriff) is something that I’ve thought about for a while,” Williams said. “I made the decision after some discussion and talking with my wife and family about it, and decided to give it a turn. I look forward to hopefully a good outcome and believe I can do a good job for the citizens of the county and city.”
Arledge, who has a year left in his term, said he’s proud of the department’s accomplishments since he was first elected.
“I think we’ve come a long way,” he said. “We’ve worked on getting a lot of up-to-date equipment, whether that’s vehicles or other equipment. Right now, we’re working on accreditation. We should be done with that in the next month or two, and we’ll be one of the few sheriff’s offices in the state that are accredited.”
Qualifiers in other races
Several candidates qualified for other races in Lowndes County, including incumbents Ron Cook to seek another term as District 2 justice court judge and Greg Andrews to seek another term as tax assessor. Also, Corky Smith qualified to seek election to the county attorney office and Randy Soldier Robles qualified in the District 1 constable race.
In Oktibbeha County, Marty Haug qualified to seek another term as District 3 justice court judge and Michael Hunt qualified to seek another term as coroner.
Alex Holloway was formerly a reporter with The Dispatch.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 41 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.