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Gilliard had always planned to attend nighttime swearing-in ceremony
Letter to the editor
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Editor, In reference to the story in last Sunday’s Courier (“Dual ceremonies stir emotions”), a source for the story said that I’d planned to be sworn in earlier along with my colleagues, Commissioners Walden and Bowen, but that’s not the case. At our regular December commission meeting, Commissioner Walden mentioned to me that he had plans to visit with his son during the holidays, and he was considering being sworn in before the planned date of Dec, 27. During a conversation before the December mid-month meeting, Walden asked whether I’d be interested in being sworn in early, and I told him no because I’d invited a host of family and friends — and the overflow crowd at the nighttime ceremony can attest to that.

For the record, the planned ceremony was the only ceremony I had any interest in attending and short of an emergency, it’s the only ceremony I will attend in the future.

— Gary Gilliard
District 5 commissioner

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