John goes, um comes

Created: 01/22/2022, 19:00

By: Friedbert Holz

Walter John © private

A longtime local councilor and fire brigade commander is moving away: Walter John has already said goodbye to the Bockhorn local council.

His successor has now been sworn in.

Bockhorn - he lived in Grünbach for 28 years, for eight years he was a municipal councilor for the Grünbacher Liste and a councilor for the Erding-Ost water association.

Walter John has now officially resigned from both mandates due to his departure for personal reasons.

His party colleague Klaus Oehm was sworn in as his successor in both offices by Mayor Lorenz Angermaier at the Bockhorn municipal council meeting on Thursday evening.

Sworn in: Klaus Oehm (left) with Mayor Lorenz Angermaier.

© Chamois

John's involvement extended beyond the local council. He comes from Regensburg, where he was born in 1961. In 1994 he came to Grünbach, where he worked as a freelance metal worker. The father of three adult children is divorced, has been with the local volunteer fire brigade since 1999 and has been its commander for almost twelve years. This position will now be taken over by acting deputy Reiner Stein, and a new election of the commanders is being considered at the next general assembly. In addition, John was involved in the function of Grünbach's local spokesman for more than 20 years. He was there early on when Bockhorn entered into a partnership with the western French municipality of Magnac-sur-Touvre.

"I have had very positive experiences in the community, I felt comfortable here," says John in an interview with our newspaper. Above all, the local development of Grünbach was important to him, the conversion of the old Adlerhorst area into the new kindergarten and the efforts to build a new fire station. He was also a member of the warrior club and fishing club in Altenerding, where he had previously lived, the Bockhorn fire brigade, the Erding art club and the local beautification club.

Its chairman, Klaus Oehm, is now John's successor. The 59-year-old test engineer and motor vehicle expert was born in Munich, but has lived in Grünbach for 30 years and has been a member of the Grünbacher List since 2014. Oehm is married, has two adult children and "would like to make a difference in the next four years of the current term of office".

So he wants to campaign for a further close connection of all Bockhorn districts, he is also thinking of additional cycle paths and wishes "hopefully joint festivals again soon". As John's successor on the building committee, he can bring in new ideas, for example for the old fire station next to the church: "This could be a meeting point for the local citizenry, where people could get together in a relaxed manner. Another children's playground is also missing, possibly with creative water play options. And we should urgently strive for local food supply in all parts of the community.”

The municipal council, from which John had already said goodbye at the end of 2021, has now formally accepted his request to resign.

Angermaier thanked him for his cooperation and welcomed Oehm as a new member of the committee.

The Grünbacher list is also represented there by Peter Feller.