The Garland County Quorum Court was braced for an inevitable circus with a resolution on their agenda to designate themselves a pro-life county committed to “protecting the unalienable right to life of unborn children.”
The meeting room holds 100, but a crowd of about 300 showed up, by County Judge Darryl Mahoney‘s estimation.
Thomas Anderson, the only Black man on the 13-member Quorum Court, aimed to avoid the looming spectacle altogether with his motion to table the pro-life resolution indefinitely. Esther Dixon, the only Black woman on the Quorum Court, gave a second. Supporters of bypassing this almost certainly thankless battle over a toothless but polarizing anti-abortion resolution prevailed on a close voice vote.
It didn’t matter much. Dayton Myers, the 20-year-old Republican firebrand currently awaiting his court date on charges that he used fake IDs to drink and gamble at Oaklawn, wrapped himself in the pro-life banner and went on the offensive. The sponsor of the resolution on the table, Myers said any justice of the peace who didn’t want to vote on it right then and there must be against Garland County becoming officially pro-life.
Myers demanded a roll-call vote to identify who fell where on the ideological spectrum. Dissatisfied by guidance from the county judge and attorney that a roll call vote was not required, Myers threatened to report his opponents for ethics violations and accused Mahoney of being “out of God’s order.”
While the Quorum Court narrowly voted to not consider the resolution, they still let the crowd that showed up have their say.
~ 300 people at the Garland County Quorum Court meeting tonight over a possible pro-life resolution for the county. This would not be legally binding, but would share a government body’s stance on abortion. I’ll share from protestors and the resolutions sponsor on @THV11 #arpx pic.twitter.com/uJZKSIdpgO
— Sarah Horbacewicz (@horbacewicz) February 13, 2024
That a county-level resolution on an issue governed at the state and federal levels is only for show didn’t tamp down the fervor from the line of people who signed up to speak Monday night.
Supporters of the resolution noted that other Arkansas counties have already declared themselves to be pro-life. Some cried and read Bible verses. One woman said that she wanted to avoid satanism and to see her county blessed by God instead. She wanted to know where her county level reps stood. One man said abortion hurts God’s feelings, and Garland County should be against that.
A pragmatist from the audience bypassed the emotion to focus on the strategy behind putting an abortion resolution on the agenda.
“The resolution you were asked to vote on this evening changes nothing, so why do it? We all know why we’re here. The Republican Party of Garland County county has decided to issue a litmus test.”
Indeed, six Republican incumbent Quorum Court members face primary challengers in the March 5 election.
Myers, who is running for reelection unopposed but whose future on the Quorum Court could be cut short depending on the outcome of his pending underage drinking and fake ID hearing scheduled for March 2, hogged the limelight for most of the night. Myers tried to lock horns with abortion rights advocates and anyone who pointed out the folly of a county government voting on this issue one way or the other.
After hours of testimony, Quorum Court members agreed to take a roll call vote. Quorum Court members Anderson, Dixon, Jason Braziel, Brian Peters, Ronald “Nub” Hunter and Larry Raney voted against a motion to reconsider the earlier vote that had taken the pro-life resolution out of play. Ray Owen Jr. opted not to vote, giving the nays enough sway to drop it.
Garland JPs dropped the issue once before. In February of 2023, an identical resolution to declare Garland County pro-life stalled and died in committee.
