• By Todd Luck
• Posted Friday, November 30, 2018

Outgoing Commissioner Witherspoon and Sheriff Schatzman honored by commissioners

Outgoing elected officials Commissioner Everette Witherspoon and Sheriff Bill Schatzman were honored during the Forsyth County commissioners briefing on Thursday.

County Commissioner Vice Chair Don Martin presented them both with plaques and resolutions. Witherspoon, a Winston-Salem native, was first elected in 2010 and reelected in 2014. Witherspoon is Chief Executive Officer of Chris’s Rehabilitative Services LLC in Greensboro.

Witherspoon served in appointments on the Centerpoint Human Services board, Commission on Ending Homelessness and Home and Community Care Block Grant Advisory Council. He’s also served on the Transportation Advisory Committee and Downtown Winston-Salem Partnership Board of Directors.

The resolution recognized Witherspoon as a “tireless advocate for human services and education in Forsyth County.” It acknowledged his support of Nurse Family Partnership, which helps first time mothers, and other programs that promote healthy children and families.

Witherspoon thanked his fellow commissioners, county staff and Forsyth County residents.

“I’d like to thank all the citizens of Forsyth County, particularly the citizens of District A, for allowing me to represent you for these past eight years. It’s been one of the most wonderful privileges of my life,” He said.

Schatzman was first elected as sheriff in 2002 and was re-elected three times. Prior to that, he worked 24 years at the Federal Bureau of Investigations as special agent, senior agent and North Carolina police training coordinator. He then founded Schatzman and Associates, which helped corporate clients manage risk by ensuring product and personnel security and provided investigative support to attorneys. He also served in the Marine Corps from 1963-1966.

As sheriff, he acted as the North Carolina Sheriffs’ Association representative on the NC State Emergency Response Committee and the FBI Criminal Justice Information Services Advisory Board.

Schatzman said being sheriff and serving the county has been a “high honor and great privilege.”

“I’ve done a few things in my background, but this has been the best,” Schatzman told the commissioners. “We have a great team, you all are part of that team, a team that’s been very successful over 16 years through all our bumps and grinds and ups and downs, it’s been a labor of love for everyone.”

The successors for both Witherspoon and Schatzman will be sworn in on Monday. Tonya McDaniel will be sworn in as county commissioner at 2 p.m. at the Forsyth County Government Center. Bobby Kimbrough Jr. will be sworn in as sheriff at the Hall of Justice at 3 p.m.