All I know is that when I reach this age I want to have that same awesome swagger.
A man who left his native Laos to attend MTSU in 1972 and became an American citizen in 1984, Sourinho has helped many others who left his former country as refugees become adjusted to life here. He now hopes to help them and many others as the commissioner serving the 21st District.Get more swagger.
"I plan to work for all the people and listen to all the people with all the issues," Sourinho said during an interview on a bench outside the Historic County Courthouse, the same place where he'll be attending meetings to represent his constituents.
Sourinho is probably the county's first Laotian or Asian American to be elected to a county government office, said Nell Blankenship, secretary of the Rutherford County Historical Society. "I don't know of anybody else," said Blankenship, who's also a researcher for the society. "To my knowledge, he's the first one who has sought it and won it."
