Bruce Castor Honored at Retirement Dinner

Tonight, people turned out in droves to honor former Montgomery County District Attorney, Bruce L. Castor, Jr.

Our gracious host for the evening, (current D.A.) Risa Vetri Ferman introduced a few guests, showed a fantastic "through the years" video of Bruce, then turned the microphone over to former KYW Radio suburban bureau chief, Jay Lloyd, who did a superb job as emcee.

There were a host of speakers who lauded Castor on his work ethic, his fairness and his drive to "do what's right". A few pokes were made at Bruce's expense concerning his role as County Commissioner. Lloyd quipped that Bruce was only in charge of "supplying toilet paper to the geriatric center", to which Castor answered later "they won't even let me do that". He also half-joked that this was the "real Chairman's Club dinner", obviously taking the opportunity to poke at Ken Davis' numbered days!

The event wound down with Castor giving a history of his time with the D.A's office, from his internship during college to his subsequent hiring-moving on to his rise through the ranks to become one of the most popular government officials in Montgomery County history. Bruce honored Risa Ferman by saying that time will "show her to be the greatest D.A that Montgomery County ever had." What a gracious gesture, on a night that was set aside to honor him...Castor was, is and will remain a class act.

At the end of the program, County Chief of Detectives, Oscar P. Vance, Jr. and D.A. Risa Vetri Ferman presented an engraved Henry Golden Boy lever action rifle, in .45/.70 caliber, to their former boss. They made Bruce promise, if he hangs it in his office, to leave the ammunition home.

The food was great, the atmosphere better and the night was a success for all who endeavored to celebrate Castor's 21 years in the District Attorney's office.

A testament to his immense popularity and integrity, there were over 440 people from all over the county and state assembled to honor Bruce. This contrasts greatly with the MCRC Chairman's Club dinner, which failed to net more than 60 guests ( and I have it on good authority that some of the tickets were last minute "freebies").

Word is that at the chairman's table were only Davis, Matthews, Bob Asher and Tom Ellis. The room was set up to accommodate 80 and report has it that the tables were sparsely occupied. The speeches were short (under 5 minutes). Once again, as a testament to Castor, some of the people who attended the "CC" dinner were able to get to the Castor event in plenty of time to hear the speeches.

I'm going to try to obtain the video montage that was presented during the program and hopefully, will post it at a later date.

B.(eautiful night, beautiful sentiments)