April 22, 2016 | Cannon Beach Gazette | cannonbeachgazette.com • 3A
New Cannon Beach police officer
set on serving the community
Astoria native brings
military and academic
experience to department
TIFFANY BOOTHE/SEASIDE AQUARIUM
A northern right whale dolphin, a spe-
cies normally found in warmer waters,
beached in Seaview, Washington.
By Lyra Fontaine
Stranded
dolphin a species
rarely seen on
North Coast
Cannon Beach Gazette
Astoria native Matthew Nunnally, 27, recent-
ly returned to the Oregon Coast after about 10
years of serving in the U.S. Marine Corps and
attending college in California.
He is now about four weeks into his job as
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“I’m very grateful for this opportunity and
humbled to be here,” he said. “I love this com-
munity, always have. I’m just excited to make
my career here and my family’s really excited.”
Nunnally served in the U.S. Marine Corps for
four active years and eight years total, conduct-
ing military operations in eight countries, includ-
ing Afghanistan. During his time as a Marine, he
also went to countries like Singapore, Germany,
Ireland, Bahrain, Kuwait and Djibouti.
Growing up, the Astoria High School gradu-
ate had the goal of joining the military, then be-
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Astoria Fire Department.
“I’ve always stood for justice and standing up
for others,” he said. “I grew up wanting to serve
the country and then the community.”
At his new job, he is learning “a whole new set
of skills,” including various legal aspects, viola-
tions and policies, and a different radio alphabet,
since the codes used on the police department’s
radio differs from those he used in the military.
“Out of everything I’ve done, police training
is the most pressure I’ve felt to do it right and
succeed,” he said.
While military training was separate from
operations and more extensive, with an empha-
sis on “mind over matter,” Nunnally said law
enforcement training must be picked up quickly
and on the job.
“There’s a lot more pressure to make sure
you’re actually doing it right a lot sooner than you
were in the military, because of the immediacy and
reality of the situation,” Nunnally said. “You’re ba-
sically on deployment every time you go to work,
versus in the military you do a bunch of training
and then you go deploy and do the real thing.”
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portant aspect of his training. “You don’t want
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can have that for what they need.”
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threats but also evaluate code violations and or-
dinances, he said.
“There’s so much multitasking. I love it. It’s a
really neat experience.”
By Natalie St. John
EO Media Group
R.J. MARX PHOTO/CANNON BEACH GAZETTE
Police Officer Matthew Nunnally and his wife Lisa, with Chief Jason Schermerhorn sworn it
at the Cannon Beach City Council meeting April 5.
Nunnally is no stranger to multitasking.
While going to college in California, he ran a
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ployees, contracting through various bail bonds-
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with civilian law enforcement,” he said.
He received an associate’s degree from Sad-
dleback College and a bachelor’s degree in psy-
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juggling academics and a small business, he
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“All of my previous experiences are abso-
lutely helping me,” he said, “everything from
education to my real-world experience.”
In California, Nunnally felt a pull to move
back to his hometown.
“I missed the coast so much,” he said. “I was
grateful and excited to move back home.”
Nunnally now lives in Astoria again, with his
wife, Lisa, 7-year-old daughter, Macie, and 2-year-
old son, Talon. He said his family is “amazing.”
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all day. I call him ‘my little Viking,’” he said.
“My daughter is a sweetheart. She’s into mer-
maids and unicorns right now. It’s a lot of fun.
We do everything from hiking and going up in
the woods to going to the arcade and the beach.”
After coming back to Clatsop County after
ten years of living elsewhere, Nunnally noticed
an increase in drug problems, one issue he wants
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members businesses being open later and hav-
ing “more access to things to do” when he was
a teenager.
“I absolutely want to get drugs off the street
and enforce that because that’s something that is
very impactful on the community and families,”
he said.
The problem is personal for him.
“It seems like a lot of people I went to school
with are really struggling (with drugs) and that is
really unfortunate. I’ve noticed that it’s impacted
a lot of really good families.”
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dog Gunner, is involved in drug enforcement.
“It’s been awesome getting to work with him
and Gunner,” Nunnally said.
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will go to the police academy in May for 16
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merhorn),” he said of the department’s po-
lice chief. “He’s really done a lot of amaz-
ing things not just for the department here but
the whole community and is very involved.”
Though he hopes to further his education to even-
tually obtain a master’s degree in marriage and
family therapy, Nunnally said he is committed to
having “a long career” at the department. “I want
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Nunnally was chosen out of 30 applicants.
“This is the department I thought I was go-
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10 years, get experience and then make a lateral
move over here,” he said. “Now I get to actually
start where I wanted to end up.”
SEAVIEW, Wash. — A type of dolphin
rarely seen in this area died on the beach
south of Seaview Sunday, April 10.
Police received a report of a stranded
dolphin that was injured, but still alive,
around 8 p.m., Sgt. Tony Leonetti of the
Washington Department of Fish and Wild-
life said in an email.
The male northern right whale dolphin
“appeared to have a large laceration on its
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sponders attempted to put it back into surf,
but the “dolphin appeared to be exhausted
and was unable to swim.”
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mal experts at the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration and the Sea-
side Aquarium, but no one was immedi-
ately available to respond to the animal,
and experts believed it was already too
late to save him.
“There wasn’t anything we could do
for him,” Tiffany Boothe of the Seaside
Aquarium said. Boothe said responders
don’t know yet if the cut caused the dol-
phin’s death.
“Most likely it was sick. When a ce-
tacean is on the beach, there’s usually a
reason. Most of the time they’re sick,” she
said.
Boothe is part of the Oregon Marine
Mammal Stranding Network, a coalition
of scientists and volunteers who help
with rescue and recovery of stranded
ocean mammals and research the caus-
es of strandings. She and her aquarium
colleague Keith Chandler coordinate re-
sponses to beached whales, dolphins, sea
lions, seals and other marine mammals on
the northern Oregon and southern Wash-
ington coasts.
FRESH FOODS CANNON BEACH
We are looking for about a total of 30 employees!
Full and part time positions to come
on board between now and June 1st:
• 3 full time produce clerks
• 3 barista positions
• 3 deli clerk/baristas
• Numerous grocery clerks
and cashiers
WORK IN A
BRAND NEW
BUILDING!
COMPENSATION PACKAGE:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
$12-$20 hr
AFLAC Accident Policy (full paid)
Paid vacation
Paid sick time
Matching 401k
Flexible spending account program
Employee discount
Medical insurance (full time)
Bonus program (certain positions)
Cannon Beach and Manzanita locations