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Washington County welcomes new faces

By Barbara S. Miller, Staff writer bmiller@observer-reporter.co

This article has been read 1241 times.

About a month before the November election, a voter talking to the nonincumbent Democrat running for Washington County commissioner called him Harlan Shuber.

"Shober," the candidate gently corrected him, the smile never leaving his face, saying, "Rhymes with sober."

After the election, a soon-to-be constituent, during the public comment segment of the commissioners' meeting, congratulated "Howard Shober" on his recent victory.

Those mispronunciations behind him, the newest Washington County commissioner spoke the words, "I, Harlan Shober," Tuesday at the Washington County Courthouse, the same spot where he announced his candidacy nearly five years ago.

Shober, a Chartiers Township resident, came up short in the 2007 Democratic primary, but he was standing tall and beaming Tuesday as his wife, Jackie, held the Bible of Almaretta Shober, the new commissioner's late mother.

As his last act as Washington County commissioner, Bracken Burns acted as master of ceremonies for the swearing-in of newly elected officials.

Once Shober took the oath as commissioner, his predecessor quipped, "I guess that makes me officially retired."

Washington County Judge Gary Gilman of Canonsburg was the first to take the oath Tuesday morning. Administering the oath was Gilman's wife, Judge Katherine Emery. Gilman's mother, Marilyn, held the Bible, and Gilman's son, George, placed the black robe of office on his father's shoulders.

Gary Gilman had helped his wife into the robe when she was first sworn in as judge, so the couple gave their son a similar role.

Marilyn Gilman, an attorney, called her son's election to the county bench "a mother's dream come true."

And the county's newest judge choked up twice as he thanked the many people who helped him in his 15-month-long campaign, including his brother, Neil, who traveled from San Antonio, Texas, to work at a polling place in Peters Township, while another brother, Steve, got to meet Steelers Hall of Fame cornerback Mel Blount at a western Washington County precinct.

U.S. Rep. Tim Murphy, R-18th District, attended the ceremony, in which Washington County Commissioner Larry Maggi, a Democrat who was sworn in to his third four-year term, said it's a possibility that he'll be running against Murphy.

Asked about a possible challenge, Murphy shrugged twice and then said, "Somebody will."

Murphy said he has attended several similar ceremonies at the courthouse dating back to when he was a state senator.

Marking Commissioner Diana Irey Vaughan's oath of office for a fifth four-year term was her husband, U.S. Army Lt. Col. Robert Vaughan, who is on leave from Afghanistan, her daughter, Victoria, who held the family Bible, and daughter Alexandra, who has legally changed her name to Irey Vaughan to match that of her mother.

After the ceremony, Irey Vaughan said President Judge Debbie O'Dell Seneca, a Nottingham Township neighbor who administered the oath of office, "has bcome a second mother to my girls, especially being on the campaign trail together."

As snow swirled outside Courtroom No. 1, also taking an oath of office for the first time was Republican District Attorney Eugene Vittone of Bentleyville, who won a close contest against Democrat David DiCarlo after former DA Steven Toprani declined to seek a second term.

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Source: http://www.observer-reporter.com/OR/Story/01-04-2012-swearings-in

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