BELLE — Concerns about law enforcement activity and courtroom K-9 presence were raised during an impromptu discussion between the Maries County Commission and 25th Circuit Court Judge Kerry G. Rowden at their March 5 meeting when the judge stepped in to ask if they had any promising candidates for appointment.

The discussion quickly turned to court activity levels in the county, with Rowden saying criminal case filings appear to have declined in recent months.

“I no longer have court on the third, the fourth or the fifth Tuesdays of the month, because there’s no cases,” he said. “I put everything on the first two Tuesdays of the month.”

According to Rowden, even those court dates have smaller dockets than in the past.

“There’s just — there’s no cases being filed,” he said.

During the discussion, Rowden also raised concerns about law enforcement activity in the county under current sheriff Mark Morgan.

Rowden said he believes reduced enforcement activity has contributed to declining jail numbers.

“Before he took office, our jail — I struggled to keep the jail numbers under 20,” Rowden said. “Now there’s eight people in there.”

He added that most of the inmates currently in the jail were arrested prior to the current year.

“There’s no 25 case numbers, no 26 case numbers,” Rowden said.

Rowden said disagreements between the sheriff and other officials have also created tension within county government. He pointed to a recent incident in which Morgan commissioned former deputy Erican Sugg without involving the circuit judges.

“I mean, he’s swearing in deputies now,” Rowden said. “He got called on the carpet for Suggs, and now I think he’s doing it routinely, and he won’t give them their background checks, which is required for every county in the circuit.”

Rowden said the dispute has widened beyond that issue.

“He’s picked a fight with the circuit judges,” Rowden said. “Now he’s picking a fight with Tony (Skouby, prosecuting attorney). I’m the only one staying out of the fray so far.”

During the same conversation, Rowden said he had declined a request from the sheriff related to the Facebook page Belle Accountability.

“He asked for me to sign a search warrant so he could find out who ran that page,” Rowden said. “There’s no basis at all… I said, ‘What’s the crime?’”

Rowden said all search warrants must be tied to an alleged crime.

“You’ve got to come up with a crime that you’re investigating before I’m going to sign a search warrant,” he said.

The judge said actions taken against individuals over social media activity could raise constitutional concerns.

“When you start investigating people for their pages when they haven’t committed a crime, that’s basically a violation of civil rights,” Rowden said.