Pike County voters are returning to the polls Tuesday for one last time this year to elect judges in two runoff elections.
David Lee Brewer and Amelia S. Carter are running for the county judge seat that’s being vacated by the retiring John Price.
They were the top two finishers over Jason Tate and Nelson Estess in the Nov. 8 general election, with Brewer coming in first with 37% of the vote, then Carter with 23%, Tate with 22% and Estess with 17%.
Brewer, 51, is the current county prosecutor, and part of that job requires him to argue cases in youth court, which is part of county court. Carter, 42, is an attorney with the Mississippi Center for Legal Services in McComb and a former Magnolia city judge.
Both said they are hoping for a turnout Tuesday that’s higher than the 38% of registered voters who showed up for the general election, although generally the opposite is true for runoff elections. And they’re courting voters who previously supported Tate and Estess.
County court hears eminent domain proceedings and civil matters in cases with damages up to $200,000. The court also may handle non-capital felony cases that are transferred from circuit court.
But youth court is perhaps its most important component, with a rise in violent crime — including among youths and young adults — spurring a debate of what to do with juvenile offenders in the absence of a detention center for them.
Besides the county court race, about a third of Pike County voters will be participating in the runoff for Central District justice court judge between Loretta Thompson Conerly and Sheilar Conerly Pickens.
They’re running to replace Melvin Hollins, who retired earlier this year.
Conerly finished with 48% of the vote in the Nov. 8 general election, while Pickens finished second with 30%.
Conerly, 55, is a longtime justice court employee who served as Hollins’ court administrator before county supervisors appointed her to the bench in the interim at Hollins’ recommendation.
Pickens is the administrator of the Boys & Girls Club of Southwest Mississippi and is involved in other activities, including the Summit Street Unity Festival, Gertrude’s Garden and her church, Pleasant Grove East McComb Baptist. This is her third run for the office.
Precincts participating in the justice court runoff are New Hope Baptist Church on Locust St. in McComb, Summit United Methodist Church, the Martin Luther King Center, Lifepointe Church of the Nazarene on Presley Boulevard, St. Mary Free Will Baptist Church on C.C. Bryant Drive, the Holmesville Community Center and St. James M.B. Church and Navilla Baptist Church, both on Old Highway 24.
