Photo courtesy of Jimmy McDonald
Resident Superior Court Judge Stephan Futrell, swears in Sheriff Mark Gulledge Saturday, while is flanked by his wife, Felicia, and their daughter Carley.
ROCKINGHAM — Sheriff Mark B. Gulledge was formally sworn in as the Sheriff of Richmond County by Resident Superior Court Judge Stephan Futrell in a private ceremony on Saturday.
Sheriff Gulledge was accompanied by his wife, Felicia, and their daughter Carley. Gulledge’s parents, Ron and Cindy Gulledge and his brother Wells Gulledge and his son Baker were also in attendance for the ceremony.
After Sheriff Gulledge was sworn in, he addressed the members of the sheriff’s office and thanked them all for their continued support and offered words of encouragement to staff.
Gulledge then announced the appointment of Lynn McKinnon as the Executive Assistant to the Sheriff and thanked her for over thirty years of service to the citizens of Richmond County and loyalty to the Office of Sheriff.
He also announced to the agency that he had chosen Major Jay Childers as his Chief Deputy. Childers was then sworn in as the Chief Deputy.
After Childers was sworn, Futrell swore in the remainder of the deputies, detention officers and civilian personnel.
“Sheriff Gulledge would like to thank the members of the community that have reached out to himself and other members of the sheriff’s office to offer words of peace and comfort, food for the staff, cards sent to help encourage and mostly the prayers during the last couple of difficult weeks after losing Sheriff Clemmons,” read a RCSO press release.
The sheriff chose to have the swearing in ceremony private and to limit it to his staff members because of the recent rise in COVID numbers. For the same reason, the reserve members of the agency will be sworn over the next couple of weeks.
“I would love to have opened it up and invited the entire county to attend, but I had to look at our staff’s health and safety and the health and safety of those who may have attended. I just don’t feel that the reward outweighed the risk,” Gulledge said in a statement. “I do apologize that it was not open to everyone, but through a lot of discussion and prayer, I just felt it was the safest way to handle it. I do once again want to personally thank the citizens of Richmond County for their support to me and the entire staff at the sheriff’s office, it has been a tough few weeks.”
“Please continue to pray for our staff daily, even through the tough times we will continue to serve the citizens of Richmond County at the most professional level possible and please continue to remember Sheriff Clemmons’s family in your prayers.”