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East Oregonian
HAMBY: Connected kids with support services
Continued from 1A
in the hallways or his ofice
at the high school, and some
knew of the chocolate he kept
in his bottom desk drawer. He
collected leads in investigations
and drove chronically absent
students to school.
“Kids aren’t going to get
educated if you can’t get them
here,” he said. “Sometimes
they just need a gentle nudge.”
This was a second career
for Hamby. Before starting
as a police oficer 20 years
ago, he worked 18 years
for Tum-A-Lum Lumber
Company, while also volun-
teering six years as a reserve
oficer for the Pendleton Police
Department. When the SRO
job came open, he applied for
it. The reason?
“I love kids,” he said.
Maybe the reason he felt
so comfortable with youth of
all ages was because he was
the middle child in a family
of seven siblings. Hamby,
a Pendleton native, tells of
regularly waking up at 4 a.m.
just so he could use the family’s
lone bathroom. The early rising
habit endures to this day.
Whatever the reason, Hamby
is a kid magnet. On Tuesday,
he strolled along a Pendleton
High School corridor, trading
good-natured jibes and smart-
aleck remarks with students.
Sophomore Krysta Gaede laid
her hand on Hamby’s large
shoulder and said goodbye.
“Don’t get into any trouble,”
she
admonished.
“Bye,
Hamby.”
Gaede said she irst came
into Hamby’s orb as a ifth-
grader who wasn’t so sure about
this guy in the blue uniform
wearing a badge and a gun.
“I was really scared of
cops,” she said.
She said Hamby quickly put
her at ease with his goofy humor
and his simple and straight-
forward language. Instead of
scary, she now describes him
fondly as “a big old brat — the
grandpa of the school.”
“Most kids are good at
heart,” Hamby said. “The bad
kids are few and far between.”
He does get irked about
bullying, though. “I believe in
the underdog,” he said. “If you
want to get under my skin, pick
on other kids.”
Administrators
describe
Hamby as kid-centric.
“Everyone in education
talks about being kid-irst,”
said PHS Athletic Director
Troy Jerome. “Oficer Hamby
is truly a person who comes to
school every day with kids irst
on his mind.”
“He’s approachable,” said
McKay Creek Elementary
School Principal Ronda Smith.
“Every kid loves him.”
It’s obvious from the hugs
he gets while walking around
town or showing up at the Little
League ield, she said — “He’s
a celebrity.”
“He’s able to positively
connect with kids,” said
Sunridge Middle School Prin-
cipal Dave Williams. “They
know him. They trust him.”
In 2012, Hamby and other
oficers decided to grow their
hair for Locks of Love, an
organization that fashions
hairpieces for children with
conditions such as cancer and
alopecia. After 20 months,
Hamby sat on the Sunridge
stage and let students cut away
his long, curly mop. The entire
student body surrounded the
oficer and cheered him as the
hair fell.
Pendleton Police Chief
Stuart Roberts said Hamby was
the third school resource oficer
in the department’s history. The
main reason to fund such an
oficer, Roberts said, wasn’t to
collect information for criminal
investigations, but rather to
prevent crime.
“A school district is a
community within a commu-
nity,” he said. “Glenn was able
to avert a lot of activities that
would likely have evolved into
criminal behavior.”
But, it’s not all about law
enforcement either, Roberts
said. Hamby worked with coun-
selors to make sure students had
shoes and coats and connected
kids with support services. He
gave them a positive connec-
tion with a police oficer.
Hamby’s replacement is
Community Service Oficer
Lance Zaugg. While Zaugg
gets settled into his new job,
Hamby said he will search for
other ways to serve. Oh, and
he’ll spend a fair amount of
time on his Harley. He’ll wait
for his wife, Deb Sue, to retire
from her loan analyst job at Old
West Federal Credit Union to
really go wild on retirement.
As Hamby walked the
hallway on his last day and
bantered back and forth with
the students, the bittersweetness
of this day settled on him.
Sweeping his arm across the
hallway full of teens, Hamby
said, “This is what I’m gonna
miss.”
———
Contact Kathy Aney at
kaney@eastoregonian.com or
call 541-966-0810.
Wednesday, June 8, 2016
EARTHQUAKE: One exercise involves a
telephone call with governors in other states
Continued from 1A
rescue and recovery operations, such
as mass casualty treatment, roof top
extraction and collapsed space rescue
operation. Some of the other exercises
will test strategic communications and
telecommunications.
Participants in the exercises include
about 20,000 people from agencies at
state, local and federal levels in Oregon,
Washington and Idaho, said Laurie
Holien, deputy director of Oregon Ofice
of Emergency Management.
One of the exercises involves a tele-
phone call with governors in other states.
Instead of Brown participating in the
call, the secretary of state’s chief of staff
will participate, simulating a situation in
which the governor and secretary of state
might be killed or unavailable during a
catastrophic earthquake.
In 2012, voters approved a consti-
tutional amendment that provided a
mechanism for government to continue
after a catastrophic event. The amend-
ment allows the governor or someone in
the line of succession to declare a cata-
strophic disaster and call the Legislature
into session anywhere in the state with
as little as one member of the House and
one member of the Senate.
Courtney has repeatedly said that
the capitol would collapse in a high
magnitude earthquake and has pushed for
seismic upgrades to the building. During
legislative sessions, the governor, others
in the line of succession and lawmakers
are often inside the capitol at once. The
line of succession is the secretary of
state, state treasurer, Senate president and
House speaker.
PENDLETON: Cambier appointed to council
Continued from 1A
worried about the trafic problems 100
more apartment units could create on
Tutuilla Road, although Community
Development Director Tim Simons
assured them that it shouldn’t be an issue.
Jivanjee reminded the council that he
was the “lone ranger” when it came to
housing development in Pendleton and
the beneits of adding more dwellings
would outweigh the drawbacks.
Jivanjee was able win over enough
skeptics, the council voting 5-1 to
contribute the infrastructure funding,
with Brown voting against it and Coun-
cilors John Brenne and Becky Marks
absent.
Brown said he needed more concrete
plans about how Jivanjee would mitigate
the council’s concerns before he could
support the contribution.
Voting in the majority was Jake
Cambier, who was appointed to the
council earlier in the meeting.
During his interview with the council
before the meeting, Cambier said he was
looking to get back into public service
after he served on the Pendleton School
Board from 1999 to 2009.
Cambier was chosen over retired
salesman Paul Rabitaille, who unsuc-
cessfully sought appointment to the
other at-large seat in February and lost in
the council elections in May.
Brown said Rabitaille improved on
his last interview with the council and
encouraged him to apply for a committee
appointment.
Cambier replace former at-large
councilor Al Plute, who resigned and
moved to Springield.
The council also adopted a $58.6
million budget, which features a $15.8
million general fund.
———
Contact Antonio Sierra at asierra@
eastoregonian.com or 541-966-0836.
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