SEBASTIAN COUNTY (KFSM) – Former state legislator Denny Altes of Fort Smith resigned from his position on Monday (June 1) as a Sebastian County justice of the peace, officials say.
Altes was appointed by Gov. Asa Hutchinson in May to be Arkansas drug director.
In his resignation letter to Sebastian County Judge David Hudson, Altes described the Arkansas drug director position as a “very demanding task” that will require much more of his time than he originally thought.
“I think it best for me to resign my position as Justice of the Peace District 13 on the Quorum Court of Sebastian County effective June 1,” he said.
The Arkansas drug director coordinates alcohol- and drug-abuse prevention and treatment initiatives in the state and oversees the Arkansas State Drug Abuse and Prevention Coordinating Council, the release states.
Altes was a state House member from 1999 to 2003, and then from 2011 to 2015. He also served in the state Senate from 2003 to 2011.
