Sean C. Morgan
Of The New Era
Brian Hawes is Sweet Home Police Department’s newest dispatcher.
He started working for the department last month and will attend training at the Police Academy in Salem in May.
The Sodaville resident was born in Michigan and then lived in Illinois and Ohio before moving to Oregon in 1972. He lived in the Portland-Newberg area through college in the mid 1980s and then moved to Maupin.
Hawes, 45, lived there until moving to Sodaville in 2000.
He has a wide occupational background, including restaurant management, teaching high school music and pastoring Sodaville Evangelical Church.
His oldest son, David, 19, is a freshman in college. His youngest, Daniel, 16, is a junior in high school. His wife, Kim, teaches at Cascades Elementary School in Lebanon.
He said he noticed that the department was hiring while perusing the state’s Employment Division Web page.
“It sounded interesting, like something I would enjoy,” he said. “I think it’s a challenge, but I like it.”
The job will involve a steep learning curve, but “I’m kind of inquisitive,” Hawes said, adding that he always likes to be learning.
He gives “props” to Teresa Groshong, who is training him, he said. She’s a good teacher.
He has family in Sweet Home and is getting to know the community better, he said.
“I like the community,” Hawes said. “You seem to have some very nice people here.”
Hawes is filling a full-time dispatcher position. The department has one half-time position open.