Sheriff’s headaches mount as rural county goes broke

CAIRO, Ill. – As sheriff in one of the state’s poorest counties, David Barkett often has his hands full keeping drug and property crimes in check. But now, things have gone from bad to worse to desperate in Alexander County, where 27 percent of residents live in poverty and the general fund has dwindled to $30,000.

Barkett this month laid off three-fourths of his staff, leaving four deputies to help cover the county that spans more than 250 square miles in far southern Illinois. Just days later, he surrendered five patrol cars to the local bank for nonpayment, leaving his department one county-owned vehicle.

And by midweek, Barkett’s prisoners might be turned away from the regional jail because the county hasn’t kept up paying for the upkeep of its inmates there.

“We will be a lawless society,” worries Angela Greenwell, a county board member, fearing the latest trouble “basically has neutered the sheriff’s department.”

Barkett said losing the cars and deputies “hogties us,” but he was doing what he could to keep residents safe.

Troopers from an Illinois State Police post about 20 miles away are helping to patrol rural stretches in the county. Two weeks ago, Barkett drove to Springfield to talk to state and federal officials about surplus vehicles; by day’s end he was driving back to Cairo in a 2004 Ford SUV, a government hand-me-down with 73,000 miles on the odometer.

“Right now, beggars can’t be choosy,” he said. Besides, the SUV is “like brand new” compared to his department’s county-owned car that’s rolled up close to 200,000 miles. And with more donated vehicles perhaps headed his way, Barkett is taking baby steps to fill the void.

“I firmly believe that the good will prevail, the good Lord willing,” he said. “I’m not a quitter, and I wasn’t elected to let these people down. And I have no intention to do that.”

But Barkett’s headaches are just the latest in Alexander County, which Greenwell said had “been in a downward spiral” for decades.