After serving a four-year term as county attorney, Democrat John T. Soyars will retire at the end of the year and plans to back Lincoln Foster, an assistant county attorney in his office, in the 2022 election.
Foster has practiced law in Hopkinsville since graduating from the Mississippi College of Law in 2012. He is the son of former Christian County Attorney Mike Foster.
Lincoln Foster had not yet formally announced for the office when Soyars emailed a press release Thursday about his plan to retire.
The county attorney prosecutes criminal cases at the district court level and advises elected county officials on legal matters.
Soyars, who has worked in the Christian County Attorney’s Office for almost 32 years, said he is proud that the office never closed during the pandemic.
“I have also worked hard to provide the best legal services to the various county officers and agencies represented by the County Attorney’s Office,” he said in the release. “Whether advising the County Judge/Executive, the Sheriff, the County Clerk, the Jailer, a Magistrate, the Coroner, a Constable or any other officer, I have tried to give each of them the best advice I could, all in the interest of serving Christian County.”
He said his decision to retire was made less difficult by Lincoln Foster’s decision to run for the office.
“I have complete confidence in Lincoln and know Christian County will be well-served by him,” he said.
Jennifer P. Brown is co-founder, publisher and editor of Hoptown Chronicle. You can reach her at editor@hoptownchronicle.org. She spent 30 years as a reporter and editor at the Kentucky New Era. She is a co-chair of the national advisory board to the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, governing board president for the Kentucky Historical Society, and co-founder of the Kentucky Open Government Coalition.
