Commissioners being sworn in – District Judge Lillie Jones Osborne administers the oath of office to (L-R) Commissioners Tennyson D. Smith, Allen Turner and Elzora Fluker. Circuit Judge Eddie Hardaway administers oath of office to Commissioners Nick Underwood and Marvin Childs.

The William M. Branch Courthouse was packed with supporters when Greene County Commissioners Tennyson Smith, Allan Turner, Jr., Elzora Fluker, William Underwood and Marvin Childs took their oath of office.
Pastor Thomas Gilmore, Greene County’s first Black sheriff and now pastor of First Baptist Church, Ensley, AL, brought greetings.
The evening began with the posting of the Colors by the Greene County Post 2007 of the American Legion.
Pastor Lynn Finch gave the invocation, followed by Pastor Keith Owens with the scripture and the District 4 Youth Choir singing America (My Country Tis of Thee.)
Pastor Thomas Gilmore gave the greetings, speaking of Greene County’s participation in the Civil Rights Movement and asked the audience to never forget the role Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. played in Greene County.
He quoted a portion of the speech that King made while accepting the Nobel Peace Prize in Norway, “I have the audacity to believe that peoples everywhere can have three meals a day for their bodies, education and culture for their minds and dignity, equality and freedom for their spirits.”
He also reminded those present of all they owe the men and women who came before them.
“You have the responsibility to remember the past,” he said. “While you are too lazy to register to vote,we had to fight for the right to vote.
“We had to go to court in 1969. We had to fight to get our names on the ballot.”
He spoke of the early political pioneers in the county such as Peter J. Kirksey and Judge William Branch.
Gilmore warned those present that today we were in a world where “we are being pushed back. It’s time to remember what another young man said only a few years ago – ‘Yes we can!’”
Following Gilmore’s speech District Judge Lillie Jones Osborne administered the oath of office to Commissioners Tennyson D. Smith, Allen Turner and Marvin Childs.
Circuit Judge Eddie Hardaway followed, administering the oath to Commissioners William “Nick” Underwood and Marvin Childs.
After recognition of other elected and appointed officials, each commissioner spoke briefly, promising to do their best to serve the county.