Cherokee County Commissioners’ Meeting – 1/23/23

I went to the Cherokee County, NC commissioners’ meeting last night after receiving a phone call that there was a meeting even though it was not on their calendar. Since most people did not know about the meeting, there were a few empty seats in the room.

As the meeting started commissioner Cal Stiles asked to add a new item to the agenda: a proposal not to fund a SWAT team for the county. This was in response to the Cherokee Indian Police Department’s SWAT team incident Firing Squad at 5 AM.

The only discussion at the meeting concerning the shooting was a short statement at the end of one of the scheduled speakers’ portion where he voiced support for a county funded SWAT team. During a recess, I left the room and found a large number of sheriff deputies in the hallway: more than half of the department.

When the subject was brought up in the meeting concerning the subject of not funding a county SWAT team, the item was quickly tabled and the commissioners moved on.

The next commissioners’ meeting will be February 6th, 2023. Let’s hope that the topic of the shooting and a county SWAT team are fully addressed by the people in the county at this meeting.

David DeGerolamo