succeeded children birth_place party office preceded birth_date term_start residence spouse article_title term_end name occupation alma_mater
billy joe purdom kimberly ragland marshall , searcy county , arkansas , usa republican arkansas state representative from searcy and baxter counties claude m. wade 15 september 1943 1975 marshall , arkansas divorced from beverly smithson jim l. smithson
 1984 jimmy lee smithson pharmacist marshall high school
jim l. smithson

jimmy lee smithson , known as jim l. smithson -lrb- born september 15 , 1943 -rrb- , is a conservative republican former member of the arkansas house of representatives who is remembered for cosponsoring legislation in his state to allow generic substitution of prescription medications .
a registered pharmacist from marshall , the seat of searcy county in northwestern arkansas , smithson served in the house from january 1 , 1975 , to december 31 , 1984 .
he represented then district 43 , created in 1970 , which included his own searcy , marion , and a part of baxter counties .
later the district was numbered 40 and then 39 .
smithson also cosponsored the bill to allow optometrists to use diagnostic drugs to dilate the pupils of patients ' eyes .
ophthalmologists strongly objected , but the measure passed .
smithson was born in marshall to jack smithson -lrb- 1908 -- 1973 -rrb- and the former ola francis -lrb- 1912 -- 2003 -rrb- .
in 1960 , he graduated from marshall high school .
in 1971 , he obtained his pharmacy degree from the university of louisiana at monroe -lrb- then northeastern louisiana university -rrb- .
for a time in the early 1970s he had a pharmacy in marshall .
from 1981-2006 , smithson was a pharmacist at jefferson regional hospital in pine bluff .
divorced from beverly smithson -lrb- born 1949 -rrb- .
he has two daughters , kimberly ragland of marshall and kristie ragland of conway , and four grandchildren .
never a runaway winner in his house district , smithson in his first election in 1974 only narrowly unseated the democratic incumbent claude m. wade -lrb- january 7 , 1918 -- december 13 , 2001 -rrb- of yellville , the seat of marion county .
his closest contest was in 1982 , when he defeated -- by forty-three votes -- billy joe purdom -lrb- born ca. 1948 -rrb- , a democrat also from yellville , who would ultimately succeed him in the seat .
purdom was strongly supported by future u.s. president bill clinton , who staged a gubernatorial comeback that year .
smithson did not seek a sixth term in the legislature in 1984 ; instead he ran unsuccessfully for county judge of searcy county .
purdom was subsequently term-limited , and the seat went to the republican roy ragland of marshall .
smithson once made an issue of the legitimacy of the federal reserve board , established by the united states congress in 1913 .
at the request of several conservative organizations in his district , smithson called a committee hearing to allow opponents of the federal reserve to air their objections .
however , he lacked the votes to take the matter to the house floor .
smithson also tried to prevent law enforcement officers from establishing `` speed traps '' during the era of the 55-mile-per-hour speed limit .
he introduced a bill , borrowing from the example of nevada , to allow citations beyond 55 m.p.h. to be given for `` wasting energy '' , rather than for actual `` speeding '' .
the distinction would have kept speeding violations off insurance records .
arkansas newspapers editorialized against smithson 's bill by claiming that it would cause motorists not to take speed limits seriously .
smithson 's gop colleagues included carolyn pollan of fort smith , c. w. melson of johnson county , richard l. barclay of rogers , jerry king of greenwood , jerry e. hinshaw of springdale , and judy petty wolf of little rock .
after retiring from jefferson regional medical center , smithson returned to marshall full-time and once again became involved in politics .
he was elected mayor of marshall in november 2010 and worked alongside of his former wife , beverly , the city recorder/treasurer until her retirement in 2012 because of health reasons .
