New county prosecutor takes office in Bowling Green

1/10/2003

BOWLING GREEN - Raymond C. Fischer says he was sworn in as Wood County prosecutor yesterday for “a practical reason.''

Mr. Fischer, 55, needs to be able to sign payroll and legal documents as the official prosecutor.

Another ceremony will be held in about two weeks to which the local bar, political leaders, and Wood County residents will be invited.

With his wife, Beth Ellen Mosher, holding his Bible, Mr. Fischer was sworn in by Wood County Common Pleas Judge Alan Mayberry, the former prosecutor and Mr. Fischer's former boss.

Judge Mayberry, who assumed the bench Jan. 1, noted that swearing in his former assistant was his first official proceeding in his court room.

The central committee of the county Republican Party chose Mr. Fischer, of Bowling Green, as prosecutor on its third ballot Monday from among five candidates, including Gary Bishop, Wood County chief assistant prosecutor in the criminal division, and Linda Holmes, county chief assistant prosecutor in the civil division.

“I'm going to count on their advice and support in the years ahead,'' Mr. Fischer said after the short ceremony. “Either one of them could have been up here today.''

Others vying for the post included Walter Celley, an attorney with a private practice in Perrysburg, and Matthew Reger, Bowling Green city prosecutor.

Mr. Fischer will fill the remaining two years of Mr. Mayberry's term before having to run for election in November, 2004. He taught at St. John's Jesuit High School in Toledo for 17 years and is a 1981 graduate of the University of Toledo college of law. He became a Wood County assistant prosecutor in the civil division in 1987.