Sean C. Morgan
Of The New Era
Linda Wooton, of Brownsville, is a new dispatcher for the Sweet Home Police Department.
She started training with the department on July 7.
She moved to the area from Southern California in July 2004 to be near family, ? and I just wanted out of there,? Wooton said.
Her son, John Wooton, was attending grade school in Southern California, but she didn?t want him to attend junior high or high school there, Wooton said. He will attend junior high beginning next school year.
Wooton said she saw the opening for dispatcher at SHPD, and she always wanted to work in law enforcement so she applied.
?It was a lot of hard work to get in here,? Wooton said. ?It was tough.?
Her previous experience was in retail management, Wooton said. Before moving to Brownsville, she worked for Big Five Sporting Goods.
That work is a little different from dispatching, Wooton said, but she said it?s ?funny how similar it really is.?
Both jobs require employees to deal with people in conflict, multitasking and the ability ?to keep your cool,? Wooton said. ?I?d say this work?s a little more important on the priority scale.?
As a dispatcher, she will be helping the community,? Wooton said. Helping people is part of the reason she wanted to be a dispatcher.
Wooton enjoys living in Brownsville, she said. At even the smallest events, everybody turns out, and she looks forward to getting more involved in small-town activities.
Small-town living is just her speed, she said. Where she lived before, it was nothing to travel through four other cities to go to the grocery store.