One Monticello Life – Cheri Adcock Norris, Candidate for Collector
May 20th, 2012 by Mandy Moss
“I really thought I was done that day, and even though this person was very irate and taking it out on me, I still managed to get my job done correctly and it didn’t sway me from getting things done in the office.”
Cheri Norris grew up the oldest of three siblings, and said she had a great time doing family activities like roller skating, having picnics, and playing at the lake. At the age of five she moved from Southeast Arkansas up to Michigan with her mom, Betty Maloney.
“I came to Dumas at almost 17. Then I moved back and forth to Michigan a few times before I landed back in southeast Arkansas in 1988. I’ve been here ever since.”
Mrs. Norris entered the workforce at 16 years old when she took a position as a cashier at Hardees.
“You got to know people when they came in a lot. You could almost have their order ready for them before they said what they wanted.” “I was a stickler for how they showed you to do the change and run the register. “ “We counted money back to people which is a lost skill now.”
“Not long after that I moved down here, I mainly was a stay at home mom for years after.” “I did work at Burlington for a while and I tried selling cars but I wasn’t very comfortable with that job.” “In June of ’93 I started in the assessor’s office part time. Several girls were out and they needed help for a week, and at that time they even had to feed the prisoners in the jail, because it was upstairs then. I told the boss I’d man the front for her, but I wasn’t sure about feeding the prisoners. I wasn’t sure I’d like that job, but I really did, and I never had to feed anyone.” “It got to where I really looked forward to September coming because I knew they were going to be very busy and they would need more help.”
Cheri said that the way things had to be done then was much more time consuming than in today’s time with the ample amount of technology available to make the job simpler.
“There were no computers then so everything was hand written, all of the book keeping was by hand. Both delinquent and current accounts… you had to do them daily to keep up. There were days you just stood in one spot and flipped through books.”
This method of everything being handwritten also came with the major issue of stamping the important paperwork. Mrs. Norris said that it was routine for people to accidentally cause major stress in the office by casually picking up the stamper and playing with it as they chatted.
“We had one hand stamper to stamp receipts, and sometimes people would come in just to chat and they would play with the stamper. We’d catch them stamping and think “Oh my goodness how many times did they just stamp that?!” We had to account for every number, and we would have no idea where we left off and where they started stamping.”
Cheri married Ross Norris on June 20, 2009 after a few short months of dating.
“We met here in Monticello; he was friends with Beth Davis. She is the assessor right now but we’ve been friends for over 20 years. He called and asked her for my number and she called to see if she could give it out. I had seen him a time or two but I didn’t actually know who he was. “
“On our first date we were supposed to go to The Cowpen in Lake Village, but it had burned, so we wound up at the Lake Shore Café. We found out that we had a lot common that evening. The next day he called and said he had a good time and asked if I wanted to go out again and I said yes.”
“We only dated for about 3 months before he proposed at Christmas, and I was shocked. It totally took me by surprise. It took me about 3 or 4 minutes to give him an answer because I was so surprised and everyone was looking at me.”
Cheri has one son, Ashley Adcock who is married to Jada Qualls Adcock. She has 3 grandchildren, Hannah (11), Race (6), and Bristol (2). She also has two stepchildren; Stephen married to JoAnn Norris, and Chance, married to Tabitha Norris. Stephen and JoAnn have two children, Anna (15), and Graci (6). Chance and Tabitha have one child, Caleb (2).
Mrs. Norris said that being a grandparent is amazing, and much different than raising your own children.
“You always hear people tell you how special their grandkids are and you think, “how is that different than your own child?”, but it is totally different. You can just spoil them and send them home. You don’t have to ever be the bad guy. You can’t appreciate how great that is until you’re a grandparent.”
When asked why she decided to run for Collector, Cheri said that it had to do with her past experience in the office, and the changes being made currently.
“My experience within the office is what qualifies me for this. I know how to manage monthly reports and the end of the year reports. The hands on experience that I’ve had with it has prepared me for this.”
She described a time when she had to put her feelings on hold in order to do her job properly.
“I’m pretty short and the counters in the office are tall, this irate tax payer, that towered over me, came in being very loud with me. The Sheriff at the time was working across the hall and he heard everything that was going on. I was thinking the Sheriff was going to send me home or fire me because I started raising my voice after about 5 minutes of being chewed out. He did come in, and he told me that I didn’t have to take that kind of treatment, and that anyone that angry could come in and see him. I really thought I was done that day, and even though this person was very irate and taking it out on me, I still managed to get my job done correctly and it didn’t sway me from getting things done in the office.”
“I worked in the office for so many different years and I always felt the office needed to be on its own. I’ve worked under 3 different Sheriffs, and I never thought they had time to devote to that office. When I heard it was going to be separated, I thought it was what I always thought needed to be done, and several people said I should run for it. So, I’m throwing my hat in the ring.”
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