HARDIN CO.—After a tough year of floods, controversies and political upheaval, one of Illinois’ smallest counties in downstate has received another blow: Hardin County has lost its sheriff, Lloyd “Smokey” Cullison.
Sheriff Lloyd "Smokey" Cullison
Cullison, a deputy at the time under former sheriff Tom Seiner, ran as an independent against Democrat Roger Little (also the coroner) and Republican Jerry Thomas (JT) Fricker in the November 2010 election and won in a landslide. Cullison told us that he opted into the race after the Primary because Seiner lost in the Primary, and Cullison believed things had been running well under that administration and he “wanted to keep things running” like his friend Sheriff Seiner had.
Things were rather peaceful in the Cullison administration, but best of all, Smokey was there if we needed him to answer questions; just like Seiner before him had, Cullison provided us with a cell phone number to reach him right away if there were any issues that arose.
Almost immediately, there was: the Flood of 2011 came in late April and continued through early May, with an incredible amount of recrimination on the part of others in the county (particularly in Elizabethtown, which problem is now resolved in part). Smokey was very forthcoming about what was going on, and kept us informed every other day or so about not only the flood, but the horrors that were being created by the Conkles and Sandy Conkle’s keeping bottled water away from those who needed it; this came even after the water was brought to E-town from Equality via direct efforts on Smokey’s part.
Smokey went through Tim York’s brouhahas as well, including Hog Rock, some damn Rave Fest, and of course, The Gathering of the Juggalos. However, by that time, he was becoming unreachable by phone, as we were told by those at the sheriff’s office that he was taking time off since he was so sick.
We haven’t found out what kind of cancer it was that Smokey had. We do know that he was receiving treatment, and in recent weeks we were being told repeatedly that the treatment wasn’t going as well as they’d hoped.
Our Hardin sources tell us Smokey passed away this morning at about 4 a.m. Smokey Cullison was a very well-liked man among law enforcement, and was loved by his constituents, family and friends. He will be greatly missed. Currently, coroner Roger Little is in charge in Hardin until a sheriff’s successor can be named; Little is seeking reelection as coroner but is being challenged in the Primary. There is, however, a Primary candidate controversy brewing…and we’ll have more on that in the print version, which will be on stands in a week. Check with us frequently, as we’ll be updating; and will be announcing on our Facebook page where deliveries have been made so you can get your copy, or, of course, get us your subscription and we’ll shoot a copy to you in the mail.