Marion County Sheriff Kevin Cripps has announced he has withdrawn from the ballot to run for re-election for sheriff in the November election and will instead retire at the end of his current term on December first. Cripps says instead he will follow a dream of the past few years to own a restaurant and now he’s in a position to save Penny’s Cafe in Iuka.
“We agreed on a price, and it just seemed like everything kind of fell in place where this was what I needed to do to try to save the cafe for the Iuka community I grew up in,” Cripps said. “My family and I are united in trying to do this, and so we’re excited about it.”
Cripps says serving the citizens of Marion County has been one of the greatest honors of his life. He adds he has been blessed to work alongside extraordinary men and women within the sheriff’s office.
“The staff that I’ve been able to maintain, you know, the sheriff’s office while I’ve been sheriff has been pretty much fully staffed for the majority of the time. Not many police departments can say that. As far as the staff, I couldn’t be more proud of the group of people we have here on this team. When my wife was sick, my staff covered me while I was away with her for several weeks. When I came back, it was like I was never gone.”
Cripps says he’s also proud of improvements made to the jail and courthouse over the last four years.
“Doing our dispatch center is probably one of the highlights,” Cripps said. “There’s plenty of room for growth in there. The payroll clerk, my administrative assistant Carrie Smith, now she has her own office. She needed that very badly. I rearranged the offices up front to make it more user friendly for the office and so forth. Also, doing away with the visitation room up in the jail and making it a temporary juvenile holding facility, and also remodeling the housing control for my correctional officers upstairs, was a big task.”
Cripps says at the courthouse the projects included all new outside windows to replace those that were leaking badly. He feels he’s leaving the buildings without need of major improvements.
Cripps is endorsing his chief deputy and 27-year department veteran Anthony Decker to replace him on the ballot noting he has held every job in the department from dispatcher, deputy, to chief deputy and investigator.
“As far as the constitutional issues, he’s a solid choice. As far as being supportive of the staff and stuff here, and also protecting our citizens throughout the county and doing the right thing, I think he’s pretty solid with that. There’s no one else in this county that’s got that. Whenever you can take the helm and really not skip a beat, then you’re on the right path. I’m honored to give Anthony my support.”
The Marion County Republicans will have to hold a caucus of precinct committeemen by August 28th to put a new candidate on the ballot.
In closing his announcement, Cripps thanks everyone for their friendship, support, trust and prayers throughout the years.
