Ogle County sheriff, family attend Trump inauguration

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Ogle County Sheriff Brian VanVickle and his family greeted the chilly January morning surrounded by thousands waiting to see the nation’s 45th chief executive come into power Friday.

“It was neat to see the peaceful transition from one president to another and see that part of history that still works more than 200 years later,” VanVickle said shortly after President Donald Trump’s inauguration ceremony.

VanVickle, his wife, Marla, and daughter, Ali, traveled to the capital Wednesday during the calm before the inauguration storm, walking down an oddly hushed Pennsylvania Avenue not far from where Trump will call his home for the next 4 years.

“It was surprising; it was really quiet, and there was no traffic,” he said. “Then, it all changed, and there were people everywhere.”

The family set out at 6:30 a.m. prior to the sun rising on hundreds of thousands of people finding a spot in the National Mall, a mixed crowd of supporters, protesters and citizens who just wanted a front-row seat to the historic event.

It was the rift between the American people that stood out to VanVickle the most.

“One thing I really noticed is how divided everyone still is,” he said.

VanVickle said he was there as a conservative experiencing history, not as someone on the far ends of the for-or-against Trump spectrum.

Although the crowd was divided on the heels of the contentious election, Trump addressed the country as a whole, advocating that citizens will “never be ignored again.”

“I was pretty impressed with his speech; I thought it was pretty bold and thought-out.”