Newly-Elected County Officers Sworn In
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The clock said 9:45am.
Two citizens already sat, waiting, chatting with each other, in vintage oak chairs at a vintage oak table in the otherwise quiet Main Lobby of the Shoshone County courthouse in Wallace, Idaho. It was January 10th, and the day had dawned clear and cold. As always at this time of year in Wallace, the sun was playing hide-and-seek with the city streets.
East to west, across the center of the lobby three flags had been arranged. Old Glory, the Idaho State flag and the Shoshone County flag. They were there, not as a back-drop to the proceedings, but as witnesses and participants to an event that has taken place with regularity since the establishment of Shoshone County on another, distant, January day, that one in 1861. The scheduled event for the morning was the swearing-in ceremony of recently elected County officials.
As the minutes passed the first two citizens were steadily joined by more and more people. Before the string of arrivals stopped, and the swearing-in began, those who had gathered to also witness the moment numbered perhaps as many as 60. They were family, friends, neighbors, and well-wishers of the newly elected. They were joined by many occupants of nearby offices.
The incoming officials, either new or reelected, seven in all, had the oath of office individually administered by Commissioner Vince Rinaldi. The wording was the same for each:
I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution and laws of this State; that I will faithfully discharge all the duties of the office of OFFICE NAME HERE, in and for the County of Shoshone, State of Idaho, according to the best of my ability, so help me God.
When each in turn had taken his or her oath, and after hugs and handshakes with friends and family, those newly elected county officials quietly dispersed to their place of work within the courthouse. The business of the county continued on. An old ritual had taken place once again, and the responsibility for government was passed forward one more time.
May it ever be so!