By Jessie Burchette
jburchette@salisburypost
Bobbie Earnhardt got a bit of surprise endorsement this week as she prepares to step down as Rowan County register of deeds.
Earnhardt, a Democrat, drew high praise from Arnold Chamberlain, the Republican chairman of the Rowan County Board of Commissioners.
“You’ve done an excellent job,” Chamberlain told Earnhardt, going on to admit he has always supported her ó and gotten into a bit of trouble with his party. “I don’t apologize for it. … Rowan County is better off because of you.”
He referred to an aborted attempt in 2006 to kick him off the Republican Executive Committee because of Earnhardt’s signs displayed at the family business, Chamberlain Exterminators.
Earnhardt thanked Chamberlain, adding she was sorry she got him in trouble.
“It was good trouble,” Chamberlain responded as they shook hands.
Earnhardt, who has served as register of deeds since Jan. 22, 1992, officially retires Dec. 1. Her last day on the job is Wednesday.
Chamberlain, who has served two terms on the board, opted not to seek re-election and leaves the board on Dec. 1.
During the session Monday night, Chamberlain and Earnhardt found common ground on another issue.
“I hope the day comes that the Register of Deeds office is nonpartisan,” said Chamberlain, adding Earnhardt ran it like a nonpartisan office. He stressed the importance of preserving the integrity of public records. “Most people will never know how important it is.”
Earnhardt agreed, saying the Register of Deeds Office doesn’t need to be political, and candidates should run nonpartisan like judges.
Earnhardt got a standing ovation from commissioners and the audience as her successor, John Brindle, took photos.
She expressed confidence in Brindle. “I’m proud the way I’m leaving the office,” she said.
Chamberlain chatted with Earnhardt and her husband, Oron, about children and grandchildren. Chamberlain also mentioned his “granddogs,” with Bobbie quickly adding that they have “two granddogs and one grandcat.”
Earnhardt spent 23 years in the Register of Deeds office. Jean Ramsey, the first woman to hold the office in Rowan County, hired her. Democrats later picked Earnhardt to fill Ramsey’s unexpired term in 1992.
She started work as the office was beginning the computerization of birth and death records.
A few years later, in 1987-88, staff members would start computerizing land records instead of storing them in books. “If we had hard copy books, they would fill the first floor and the second floor,” Earnhardt said during an interview last week.
Computerization has made it possible to handle thousands of more documents without major increases in staff.
The Register’s office added a 10th employee in 1985 and the 11th in 2004 ó 19 years later.
When deeds and other land records went online, some objected, citing the bank numbers and other personal information on records.
At the time, state law prevented staff from removing or redacting the information. A new law allows a person to seek redaction of vital information. The information and form is on the Register of Deeds Web site.
Looking back over her career, Earnhardt said she has enjoyed the job but never cared for the politics.
But she did well, easily defeating Republican challengers.
One of her biggest supporters was her father, Bob Menius, a former deputy for Sheriff Arthur Shuping. He liked the politics and helped out ó sometimes to the consternation of his wife, Hazel.
“Dad would hand out my cards at funerals. Mom would just about have a stroke. She’d say, ‘Bob, you stop that!’ ”
Her mother, now 81, has continued “to be a nervous wreck” every four years.
But she’s still proud of her daughter, a trailblazer for women on the county political scene.
She credits her success to her hands-on approach. She worked alongside her staff, doing the same work and meeting thousands of people who come to the office.
She also credits her success to support from Democrats and Republicans across the county.
When she succeeded Ramsey, county commissioners whacked the position’s salary by $12,000. Even years later, the salary never grew to the level other registers of deeds receive in similar size counties.
“I never got the same salary level … For a little country girl, I’m doing all right.”
She will be spending more time on the farm on Old Cress Road in China Grove. Her home is next to her mother’s. Her brother, Alan Menius, has taken the farm organic with everything from vegetables to meat.
Her husband, Oron, will soon retire from teaching and coaching at South Rowan High School.
She’s expecting to accompany him on more elk hunting trips to the Midwest. They’ve already been on two elk hunts, one to Idaho and one to New Mexico.
And she reports Oron is making progress: On an October trip to New Mexico, he actually saw an elk.