PORT ANGELES — Clallam County Superior Court Judge George Wood said he was swearing in two personal friends Tuesday when he gave oaths of office to Rob Robertsen and Steve Tharinger.
With his oath, Robertsen became the county’s — and nation’s — first elected community development director. Tharinger started his second four-year term as a county commissioner from Dungeness.
“One of the more enjoyable times with this job are adoptions, and this is another,” Wood told family members, supporters and other county elected and administrative officials attending the swearing-in ceremony Tuesday morning at the county’s Old Courthouse courtroom.
Wood told the audience that he has known Tharinger as a friend since they attended Colorado College together in Colorado Springs. The judge said Robertsen’s wife, Elizabeth, was his secretary before Wood took the bench.
Prior to their oaths, Robertsen and Tharinger said they were honored to take office.
Robertsen, 68, defeated hired community development director, Bob Martin, who was honored by the commissioners a week ago for his eight years as the county’s top planner.
————–
The rest of the story appears in Wednesday’s Peninsula Daily News Clallam County edition.