A large crowd of family members were on hand Friday, Jan. 1 at the Wood County district courtroom for the official swearing-in of elected officials. The ceremony is normally open to the public, but due to COVID-19 protocol, the crowd was limited to family members.

Assistant District Attorney Brandon Baade was the emcee. Former Judge Timothy Boswell swore in new 402nd District Court Judge Brad McCampbell after an opening invocation by Demetrius Boyd, the pastor of St. Paul Missionary Baptist Church in Mineola.

McCampbell said, “I want to thank all of my supporters. If it weren’t for you, I would not be here today. I think I am ready for this step. I have so much respect for the legal system. I appreciate my wife who has supported me since the first day of law school. I am excited to serve the citizens of Wood County, and I am excited about the opportunity to work with the state bar. One thing attorneys and judges have in common is they all strive for justice. I will do my very best to remain cognizant of the qualities it takes to be a good judge and I will do my best to adhere to those qualities. I look forward to serving in this position and am honored to be in this position.”

 Criminal District Attorney Angela Albers was sworn in next.

“First, I want to thank the Lord, without him I would be a mess,” she said. “All glory goes to him today. Today, Jan. 1, 2021, is about hope. This reason for my hope and my family’s hope is in the Lord. Where is your hope? Our hope for Wood County is in these newly-elected and sworn-in officials. I was honored to be appointed by Gov. Abbott in February of 2019 to serve as the Wood County criminal district attorney. I was subsequently elected this last March and I thank my supporters for allowing me to continue to serve in this office.”

New Sheriff Kelly Cole was sworn in for the second time. He had been sworn in earlier at 12:01 a.m. by Precinct 1 Justice of the Peace Tony Gilbreath at the Wood County Justice Center.

“We do this for Wood County,” Cole said. “We thank Wood County for the opportunity given to us to serve them and to help them, not to just enforce the laws but to actually go out there and help folks. It doesn’t matter what office we hold, we have asked to represent Wood County and that is what we do in everything we are trying to do now. We are all in this together and we all need to work together to make Wood County a better, safer place to live.”

After the Cole swearing in, other officials were next in line. Also sworn in were Precinct 1 Commissioner Virgil Junior Holland; Precinct 3 Commissioner Mike Simmons; County Tax Assessor Carol Taylor; Constables Steve Bowser (Precinct 1); John McQueen (Precinct 3); and Chase Glover (Precinct 4) along with county auditor Terri Sellars. Precinct 2 Constable Kelly Smith was elected to a second term but was not in attendance.