Right up front it bears saying that the developers of Brunswick Forest have donated the office space for use by the Sheriff's office. Developer Jeff Arp was on the scene but as usual stayed in the far background. Many companies and people donated services, supplies and equipment, including BB&T Bank, Walmart, Brunswick Electric Membership Corp., and Holmes Security who donated the security system (and as Sheriff Ingram also joked, "I sure hope someone doesn't try to break in to our office.")
The turnout was unexpectedly huge. My quick count/estimate was 150-200 people including so many photographers that we even got bored taking photos of each other! There was a color guard with a presentation of the colors to formally open the office and even a tent to keep the rain and sun off spectators.
One of the coolest parts of the whole deal from my perspective was they used crimescene tape instead of the usual big red ribbon for the cutting.
(You'll notice there are no donuts on these tables. There were some, but they went fast.)
Blog note: You may notice I didn't do my usual name-every-person-I-identify thing with this blog post. Some are named in the Facebook album for the Brunswick County Sheriff's Office Grand Opening and please feel free to tag more people's names in that. I let the photos do most of the talking in the blog post. - Bruce Brown
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