A Small Grace In the spring of 2000, we left Union County for a farm near Goreville. We left behind friends whose company had shaped our days, and we left behind Sheriff Jim Nash—a man who understood that his work was not merely enforcement but service, a tending to the community as one might tend good land. Moving always brings uncertainty. We wondered what kind of place we were coming to, whether we would find neighbors who knew the old obligations, whether the county's servants would understand that their work was owed to actual people, not to abstractions. The answer came quickly, in the way such things do in small places. Julie had driven to town for the mail. When she came out, one tire was flat. She called, and I started for town, but I needn't have hurried. By the time I arrived, the Johnson County Sheriff, Elry Faulkner, had already pulled over, positioned his vehicle to shield her from the road, and changed the tire himself. This was not duty. This was neighborlines...
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