BENTON - Bruce Pennington used to be a fat man. At 315 pounds, he was turned away from the state police.
That was more than three decades go.
Now Pennington, who was elected Saline County sheriff last week, brags that after he slimmed down and landed his trooper job in 1977 he has never had to loosen his gun belt.
And come January, he says he plans to tighten the belt - so to speak - at the sheriff's office and jail, which combined employ 81 people and have an operating budget of $5.4 million.
"I'm a taxpayer also, and I want to make sure we get the bang for the buck," the 57-yearold said.
Pennington, who retired from the Arkansas State Police in 1997 and has been a patrol sergeant in Saline County since 2001, defeated local business owner James Ward, a Republican, in the Nov. 4 election.
Some of his immediate plans are to:
Cut down on meal costs at the jail by limiting the menu and trying to bargain shop for food instead of relying on one vendor. He hopes to get items such as rice and beans at a discount, even from food banks.
Use volunteer services of doctors and nurses, who he says have already agreed to care for inmates.
Allow nonviolent misdemeanor offenders to earn time off their sentences by working. He envisions inmates cleaning roads and ditches under the watch of a guard, who would be pulled from the jail to oversee the work.
Ward championed similar ideas on the campaign trail, arguing that jail expenses needed to be examined. He said he was skeptical that Pennington would work to that end since he is part of the current administration under outgoing Sheriff Phil Mask.
"It does concern me that he was part of that administration that just wasn't working," Ward said, adding that he is hopeful for the county that Pennington proves him wrong.
Mask, a Republican, did not seek re-election to a fifth term.
Quorum Court members and county officials have criticized Mask for lack of communication and for management decisions, but several said they preferred only to focus on the positive changes they expect from the incoming sheriff.
Justice of the Peace Owen Bullock said the Quorum Court "lit up" during a finance meeting in which Pennington offered input after the election. Pennington said it might be good to buy the cheaper of two proposed radio systems, and that he would research it.
"I saw members of the Quo-rum Court thrilled," Bullock said. "We knew at that moment that we had a man that is going to be there for the people of Saline County. I heard people from the Quorum Court say how refreshing it was."
Saline County Judge Lanny Fite, cousin to Mask, praised Pennington's qualifications and said: "I've always said if either [Ward or Pennington] were elected, the county would be served better in the future."
Mask was skeptical that Pennington would be able to maintain a good relationship with the other elected officials for long.
"He'll be on a honeymoon," Mask said in a recent interview. "He needs to strike while the iron's hot."
Pennington acknowledged he already has plans to ask the Quorum Court for raises for staff but not for himself. The sheriff's salary is $77,505.
He also plans to ask for four more deputies.
On any given night there areas few as two or three deputies in the county that's grown to around 100,000 people, with about half of them living in unincorporated areas.
Fite said it was unclear if such requests would be feasible as they are early in the budget process.
Pennington ran on a campaign touting his experience as a lawman, which has almost exclusively been on the roads of central and western Arkansas.
He garnered several accolades with the state police, including a commendation for performing the Heimlich maneuver on a woman who choked while they were both eating at the same diner.
But he also had allegations of misconduct before he retired in 1997.
A deputy under his supervision wrote a lengthy letter claiming Pennington was stalking his then-wife, had arrived at a fatal accident intoxicated, and borrowed large sums of money from colleagues and others.
The allegations of drinking on the job and stalking were never substantiated, records show,and Pennington fiercely denied the claim. But he acknowledged borrowing - and paying back - money from several people while going through a divorce. He was to be demoted a rank and transferred to criminal investigations, but he appealed his punishment and eventually prevailed in keeping the rank of sergeant and staying on patrol.
Records from the sheriff 's office indicate no disciplinary problems, and several lawmen praised his work and character.
With a big grin and a few jokes, Pennington explained the kind of sheriff he planned to be.
"If you ever see me with an ego, take a baseball bat and hit me," he said.
Arkansas, Pages 7, 11 on 11/10/2008