Oglesby ready for new Marshal ‘adventure’

In a little less than three weeks Polk County Sheriff Mike Oglesby will travel with his wife to Washington D.C. to be sworn in as the U.S. Marshal for the Western District of Arkansas.

District Marshals are political appointees and serve four-year terms, with no limit on terms served.

Oglesby, 59, says he enjoyed his Polk County service and will miss that role but is excited to finish his law enforcement career as a U.S. Marshal. Oglesby has held the Polk County Sheriff job since 1989. He was a Polk County deputy sheriff from 1976-1980, and served as an officer with the Mena Police Department in 1976. Oglesby also was a member of the Army National Guard from 1969 to 1976. He was a member of the Polk County Quorum Court between 1982-89.

“I’m at the point in my life that if I’m going to do something else, if I’m going to have one more adventure, then now is that time to do it,” Oglesby said Tuesday night prior to “An Evening with the Senators” fundraiser hosted by the Sebastian County Democratic Party.

He travels to Washington on Sept. 7 and will return Sept. 10 to Fort Smith to begin his new adventure.

U.S. Marshals direct the activities of 94 districts, one for each federal judicial district, according to the U.S. Marshals website.

“More than 3,340 Deputy U.S. Marshals and Criminal Investigators form the backbone of the agency,” explains the Marshals website. “Among their many duties, they apprehend federal fugitives, protect the federal judiciary, operate the Witness Security Program, transport federal prisoners and seize property acquired by criminals through illegal activities.”

Although excited about the new job, Oglesby’s demeanor turned serious when noting that he looks forward to working with Marshals Service employees in Arkansas’ Western District.

“Some of those (Marshals), I’ve known and been around for 18 years or more. It’s an honor to now be with them,” Oglesby explained.

His excitement returns when considering the history of the Marshals in Western Arkansas — a history that helped secure the decision to build the U.S. Marshals Service Museum in Fort Smith.

“That’s exciting to be part of the history of the Marshals in this part of the country. I’ll go down in the books as a U.S. Marshal out of Fort Smith, Arkansas,” Oglesby said. “And to be part of that (museum), to maybe be around when that gets off the ground, that’s also a big honor.”

In January 2007, the U.S. Marshals Service selected Fort Smith as the site for the national museum. To fund the effort to build the museum, the project received $100,000 from the city of Fort Smith, $115,000 from Sebastian County, $200,000 from the state Legislature and $2 million from Gov. Mike Beebe. The cost to build the 50,000-square-foot museum — including exhibit work — is estimated at around $50 million. The museum board approved an iconic building design in June 2009.