Sublette Centennial Elected Officials Swearing-In
by Dawn Ballou, Pinedale Online!
January 2, 2023
On Monday, January 2, 2023, the elected officials for Sublette County were sworn-in for their elected offices. The event was the final official ceremony for the Sublette Centennial celebration. Sublette County officially became a county on January 2, 1923 as the first elected officers were sworn in on that day. One hundred years later a new group of elected officers take the county forward into the next century. The Swearing-In Ceremony was held in the District Courtroom upstairs in the Sublette County Courthouse.
9th District Judge Marvin Tyler did the official reading of the oaths for each elected officer. This was his last official duty as a Judge before he retires. Mary Lankford, representing the Sublette Centennial Committee, read a brief history of the forming of Sublette County.
Newly sworn in officers were:
Doug Vickrey, Commissioner
Mack Bradley, Commissioner
Curt Covill, Coroner
Clayton Melinkovich, District Attorney
Carrie Long, County Clerk
Emily Paravicini, Treasurer
Laila Illoway , Assessor
Janet Montgomery, Clerk of District Court
Sheriff KC Lehr will be sworn in at a later date.
Monday's ceremony also marked the retirements of Judge Tyler and Sublette County Commissioner Joel Bousman. Tyler's replacement is Judge Kate McKay. Bousman continued his tradition of presenting each newly sworn-in county leader with a copy of the United States and Wyoming Constitutions.
The Sublette Centennial Committee has been working for the past two years to plan events, do historical research, and encourage local organizations to turn their events into centennial events during 2021, 2022, and 2023. Forming the county was a two-year process from start to finish as the county had to hold an election for the first officials and vote on which town would be the new county seat. More events throughout this year will be called "Centennial events" to continue through the final year of the celebration.
Here are the 4 key dates in the formation of Sublette County:
1921, February 15: Governor Robert Carey signs bill HR-17 forming the Unorganized County of Sublette and appoints Oscar Beck of Big Piney, William Enos of Daniel, and Louis Hennick of Pinedale as Commissioners.
1921, June 28: Election by residents approving new County (1139 Yes, 50 No, out of 1201 votes) and select Pinedale as County seat (488 Pinedale, 482 Big Piney, 230 Daniel, out of 1201 votes).
1922, November 7: First election of officers: County Commissioners, John Allen of Boulder, Frank D. Ball of Big Piney, Vigo Miller of Daniel.
1923, January 2: First elected officers are sworn in and county becomes officially organized.
Sublette Centennial Committee members are Mary Lankford, Janet Montgomery, Debbee Woyciesjes, Betty Fear, Tim Thompson. Todd Brown and Clint Gilchrist, Mindi Crabb was hired to help with the PR and administrative aspects for projects. The Sublette County Commissioners generously allocated funds two years ago to go towards Sublette Centennial promotions and projects.
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