Arkansas town's mayor, police chief called to Iraq

BRADFORD, Ark. -- The mayor, police chief and school librarian are all leaving for military duty Monday that is expected to take them to Iraq, and the residents left behind in this tiny town of 800 are scrambling to fill their roles.

At the local cafe and in school hallways, the callup and what to do about the loss of city leaders is the talk of the town. At city hall, meanwhile, officials have been rushing to prepare paperwork necessary to transfer the mayor's power to a 78-year-old retired school teacher.

The soon-to-be acting police chief says Bradford is just one example of how the war in Iraq has affected small town America.

"One way or another we're going to handle it," said Michael Ray, who will become the new police chief, along with his job as a school resources officer. "It's going to be OK. I'm going to run it the same way as if the chief was here."

In addition to Mayor Paul Bunn, police chief Josh Chambliss and librarian Nolan Brown, five other citizens of this farm town have received orders to report to Fort Hood, Texas. There, they will prepare for a tour of duty that is expected to put them in Iraq by Christmas.

Grebe Edens, the town's recorder-treasurer, will take over for the 35-year-old mayor. Previously, she spent 24 years as Bradford's fourth-grade teacher.

"Most of the people on the city council now, she's paddled them before," Bunn said.

Edens said she plans to carry on with Bunn's ideas.

"As the mayor says, we're a family here," she said.

Close to retirement

At the elementary school, Brown was organizing the library ahead of his deployment. He served in Vietnam and has been in the National Guard for 31 years. Now 57, he was hoping to leave the guard at age 60.

"I've got stuff scattered from here to there getting ready," he said. "I want to leave it as if I'm not coming back."

"The children here, they ask me, 'Are you going? When are you going?"' he said. "They know there's some turmoil somewhere. I tell them they may not take me because of my age ... but it would be unwise not to prepare them."

The school had a going-away party for Brown in the cafeteria, presenting him with a cake that read, "Our prayers are with you." The school will shuffle around teachers to make up for Brown's absence.

After nine years at the school, all the students know him. As he leaves, he shouts a goodbye to his cousin's son in the hallway.

"Tell your Mom, since things have escalated, that I may not get to see her," he said to the boy. "Tell her I'll miss her and love her."

Brown says he's edgy about his departure, as are his wife and the three children they care for. But he's adamant that he has to give back to a country that gave him an education.

"The U.S. has been very good to me," he said, adding he believes citizens need "to be willing to do whatever it take to make sure kids in the future have the same opportunities that we have."

Unlike Brown, who works in a headquarters group, the police chief and the mayor are infantry soldiers responsible for more dangerous security duty.

"I'll make a deal with the president," said Bunn, who has fought in Panama and in the Gulf War.

"I'll go over there, but I'm not willing to die. Maybe it's because I've got kids now."

Bunn could be gone for up to two years. Even if he stays that long, he'll still have over a year left of his term as mayor when he returns.

Chambliss, 28, has been the town's police chief since 2001. He's not worried about Bradford, which is about 70 miles northeast of Little Rock. He said he expects the town's other four officers to continue to man the school crossings and attend all the ball games.

"I'm curious to see what the next 18 months hold, not for me but for Bradford," Chambliss said. "I want to come back into town and see the progress."

Chambliss said that he's upset to leave his wife. They were planning to start a family soon.

He is spending the rest of his time in Bradford saying goodbye to friends and family. He had lunch at his regular spot, the Front St. Cafe, just down the road from the police station.

The cafe's owner and waitress, Marcia Pressler, said she gave him that day's $4.95 plate special of roast beef, potatoes and carrots on the house.

"It's like a part of your family going off," she said. "I felt like I'm feeding him his last supper."