Tuesday night Mount Airy Mayor Deborah Cochran administered the oath of office to the city school’s new superintendent, Dr. Greg Little.

He is not the only new official taking office recently.

In Mount Airy, Scott Graham and Shirley Brinkley recently took the oath of office for the first time, joining Dean Brown in taking the oath for his second time on the city’s board of commissioners.

In Pilot Mountain, Gary Bell and Linda Needham recently took that oath to serve on the town board, along with re-elected mayor Earl Sheppard.

While no seats were open for election in November on the Surry County Board of Commissioners, the leadership there changed with the board electing of R.F. “Buck” Golding as chair and Garry Scearce as vice chairman.

We welcome each of these people to their new positions of leadership in their respective communities. Mount Airy, its school system, Surry County, Pilot Mountain, as well as Dobson and Elkin all have great challenges ahead. But they also have great opportunities and wonderful resources, especially the people of the communities, to meet those challenges.

The people newly elected or appointed to those positions, along with the members of those leadership teams already in place, have a chance to lead Surry County, Mount Airy and the other entities here forward. We wish each well as they become accustomed to their new positions.