PRESTON – There is a new sheriff in town. The Franklin County Commission chambers were packed with friends and family that came to watch the swearing in of Sheriff Cuyler Stoker and two county commissioners, Zan Bowles and Zach Stewart. It all happened Monday, Jan. 13, at 9 a.m.
Sheriff Cuyler Stoker elected sheriff of Franklin County was sworn in to office Monday Jan. 13, 2024.
Stoker, a North Ogden native, was elected during the November 2024 election. He started his law enforcement career in Phoenix, AZ. After he and his wife Katie had their first child, they decided to move closer to her family in Dayton. He applied for a job in Preston as a police officer.
Richard Owens was the police chief at the time and hired Stoker in 2005.
The Stokers have eight children, the oldest is 18 years old and the youngest is 3 years old.
He said in an earlier interview his charge is to monitor the 667 square miles of Franklin County and protect the people and their rights.
He coordinates the efforts of the Preston Police department, Fire, EMS, and Search and Rescue in a growing county when needed.
Zan Bowles was sworn into office as a county commissioner on Monday Jan. 13, 2024.
Newly sworn-in Commissioner Zan Bowles was born and raised on a dairy in Fairview. He graduated from Preston High School and attended Utah State University. He married Tamara Smith, his neighbor growing up. They have four daughters living in the county and one son living in Florida.
“A couple of months into my marriage my father called me and asked if I would be interested in buying his dairy equipment business,” Bowles said. “I quit school, came home and took it over. Forty-five years later I sold out to an employee.”
The dairy equipment business morphed into more of an electrical business.
Bowels has served for several years on the Fairview Cemetery Board and the Franklin County Fair Board.
Zach Stewart was sworn into office as a county commissioner on Monday Jan. 13, 2024.
Zach Stewart is a Retired Air Force pilot and has lived in Franklin County for six years.
Growing up he worked in the summers on the family’s Weston farm. When his dad retired in 1998 he came to Idaho to farm.
He has a small cow calf operation. Stewart has four kids, two on missions for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and two at home.
“My grandpa and grandma had a sign hanging in their house that said: “Honor, Duty, Service to God, Family and Country,” Stewart said. “They instilled in their 10 kids and I want to instill it in my kids.”