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Lathrop Council applaud power turnover in D.C.
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LATHROP — Mayor Kristy Sayles, a Republican, started the ball rolling before the start of the City Council meeting Tuesday night.

“Today, there was history made,” she began to a wave of murmured affirmation from the packed council chambers.

The event she referred to was the history-making inauguration of the country’s first African-American president of the United States, Barack H. Obama, who took the oath of office before more than a million people in Washington, D.C., and millions more throughout the world that morning.

The mayor called on everybody “to pray for our leaders,” the new slate of elected and appointed officials that will wield the control in Washington, D.C.

The significance of the momentous occasion, and the manner it was done, was not lost on the other council members who were also eager to share their thoughts.

“Nobody got shot, no bombs,” it was an orderly transfer of power,  noted Council member Robert Oliver.

“It’s a legacy of America and it’s still a rarity in the world,” he said.

Later, he quickly added his own confession, “As a member of the loyal opposition, I didn’t vote for him. But he’s my president and I desperately want him to succeed. I will do all I can to help him succeed.”

Sonny Dhaliwal, who came to this country from India where he earned his bachelor’s degree in political science, said about the peaceful transition of political power from the Republican to the Democratic Party, “We showed the world today this is how it’s done. There’s no need for tanks and bombs and missiles. This is democracy in action.”

Council member Christopher Mateo, who is also an immigrant and came to America by first signing up with the U.S. Navy in the Philippines, had only one short sentence to add to his colleagues’ comments: “Thank God I’m an American!” he said with sincerity as those in the room applauded.