Sean C. Morgan
Sweet Home Police Department Records Clerk Teresa Groshong was named Employee of the Year last week based on a vote by her co-workers.
Groshong has been with the department since June 23, 1987. Until Oct. 4, she was a dispatcher. She became records clerk after the retirement of Carol Ann Salsbury.
Groshong grew up in Sweet Home, graduating in 1976 from Sweet Home High School. Afterward, she spent five years at Linfield College, earning a master’s degree in education. She majored in home economics with a minor in physical education.
She taught for two years and retired. She spent her first year at Elkton High School and her next at Chenowith Middle School in The Dalles.
She left education because “you spend more time dealing with issues than teaching,” she said. She started working on becoming a firefighter with The Dalles Rural Fire Department, but she couldn’t qualify on the pull-ups. About that time, the department had an opening for a dispatcher. She filled the position, and it was a good fit for her.
“I don’t freak easily in situations,” said Groshong, who is known for her calm demeanor.
She worked there for six months then returned to Sweet Home to take care of her father and the family ranch.
Chief Gary David hired her at Sweet Home Police Department when dispatch had an opening 24 years ago.
“I like this,” she said. “It’s local. It’s fair pay for fair work. I do like the unexpected. I like coming in and not knowing what’s going to be in my calls for the day.”
She also has always enjoyed the shift rotation among the dispatchers. They all rotate through day, swing and graveyard a couple of times per year.
Different shifts have different kinds of calls, Groshong said. Those have changed quite a bit too, since she started.
Early on, the department fielded calls to break up bar brawls, she said, but that doesn’t happen very often any more.
She was the dispatcher on several major calls, among them the Pruitt shooting in 1999. She also handled the call about a pickup being driven into the lake at Shea Point. One man escaped while another drowned.
She also enjoyed doing a little detective work to help police officers locate the caller in one case.
A girl called 9-1-1 to report she had taken a bunch of medicines, but she wasn’t able to tell the dispatchers where she was. Groshong asked her to take a look around and describe what she was seeing. She was able to figure out where the girl was and dispatch officers to the correct location before Linn County was able to trace the call.
In her new position, she works days, but she still covers for dispatchers where needed on the schedule.
“She’s doing a phenomenal job of streamlining and automating some of our records processes,” said Chief Bob Burford.
The award is decided by her co-workers based on several criteria, including work ethics and the willingness to do what’s necessary to get the job done and serve the public and best matching the department’s motto, “Integrity 24/7.”
Groshong received a certificate and a Sweet Home Police Department coin. Her name has been added to a plaque kept at the department.