2A • February 9, 2018 | Cannon Beach Gazette | cannonbeachgazette.com
FROM SURFING TO SERVING
Surf instructor becomes Cannon Beach
Police Department’s newest officer
By Brenna Visser
Cannon Beach Gazette
efore becoming Cannon
Beach’s newest police of-
ficer, Cody Dietel could
be found at the Cannon
Beach Surf Shop teaching
surf lessons.
Summer after summer, Di-
etel remembers coming to Can-
non Beach with his family to
surf. Each time he would get his
rentals from the surf shop, until
about five years ago when asked
the shop’s owner, Mark Meke-
nas, about a job.
“I met him when we he was a
kid, known him most of his life,”
Mekenas said. “We’re going to
B
miss him around the shop, but
we encouraged him to go. We’re
proud of him.”
What brought Dietel to Can-
non Beach was his love for the
water and the sport. But as his
fondness for the community
grew, so did his desire to serve
it. His opportunity to do so came
when the police officer position
came open last year.
“It may not be the most de-
sired profession right now. But
it’s a job where you have to be
willing to put others before your-
self,” Dietel said. “That’s some-
thing everywhere needs and de-
serves.”
Dietel was sworn in at Tues-
day’s City Council meeting. He
will be sent to a policy acade-
my in March before starting
his training period with the de-
partment. He is replacing Josh
Gregory, who left the position
last spring to become a sergeant
with Seaside Police Depart-
ment.
“He’s down to earth, he has a
good head on his shoulders and
understands the community,”
said Cannon Beach Police Chief
Jason Schermerhorn.
Dietel grew up in Hawkin-
son, Washington. His initial
interest in first responder work
started in high school when a
friend’s father encouraged him
to apply for the firefighter ca-
det program. He took interest,
and briefly studied fire science
at Lower Columbia College and
general studies at Washington
State University. He currently
Cody
Dietel
lives in Seaside, and
when he’s not work-
ing, can be found on
his surfboard or in
his garage doing some
woodworking.
With this being his first
job in policing, he said he
expects there to be challenges.
He expects to be facing difficult
situations he has yet to encounter
so far in his 30-year-old life.
“It’ll be different. But they are
similar in that they are both com-
munity-oriented,” Dietel said.
Overall, he said he’s excited
for this new chapter in the rela-
tionship between himself and
Cannon Beach.
“I’ve been coming to Cannon
Beach for more than 25 years.
Getting to work with the com-
munity like this means a great
deal to me,” Dietel said.
‘IT MAY NOT BE
THE MOST DESIRED
PROFESSION RIGHT
NOW. BUT IT’S A JOB
WHERE YOU HAVE
TO BE WILLING TO
PUT OTHERS BEFORE
YOURSELF.’
—Cody Dietel
Volunteer firefighter stays close to home in Cannon Beach
Avila is also a
student
‘We grew up
with emergency
planning…. I
feel like I should
be scared. But
growing up we did
all the drills. You
can’t live in fear
of what happens
next.’
By Brenna Visser
Cannon Beach Gazette
Firefighters have always
had a steady presence in Sil-
via Avila’s life.
Born and raised in Cannon
Beach, she would get to know
them as they would stop in
for coffee at her job at Cheri’s
Cafe & Cannon Beach Cook-
ie. She even remembers put-
ting on firefighting gear her-
self as a kindergartner during
a school field trip to the fire
station.
But perhaps where she
was most intimately familiar
was at her aunt’s house, when
firefighters and paramedics
responded when her cousin’s
seizures would get out of hand.
“I felt very helpless. I want-
ed to change that feeling, be-
cause I wanted to be able to
help,” Avila, 19, said. “That’s
—Silvia Avila
BRENNA VISSER/CANNON BEACH GAZETTE
Silvia Avila at the Cannon Beach fire station.
where my passion progressed
from.”
Moments like these in-
spired her senior Pacifica proj-
ect at Seaside High School,
where she chose to volunteer
at the fire station and enroll in
Community Emergency Re-
sponse Team training.
Even as her project came
to a close, her passion for
medicine and the desire to
help led to her eventually be-
coming a Cannon Beach vol-
unteer firefighter herself the
spring of 2016.
“I guess they just couldn’t
get rid of me,” she laughed.
A year later, Avila now
splits her time between vol-
unteer firefighting and study-
ing EMT and paramedic
studies at Lane Community
College in Eugene with her
brother, who also is a volun-
teer firefighter.
Avila said one of her fa-
vorite aspects of the work is
the camaraderie. She craves
learning new skills like pre-
paring IV fluids and injury
prevention techniques.
But working in a commu-
nity where she has such close
ties has also presented per-
sonal challenges.
“My biggest challenge
was definitely going on scene
to my cousin’s car accident.
That was a traumatic mo-
ment,” Avila said.
Avila remembers being
asked to do traffic control —
a task she had done multiple
times before since she is not
yet qualified to conduct some
of the emergency tactics nec-
essary in a major car accident.
“At the end of the call
we’re debriefing, another
member of the team was de-
scribing her, and it immedi-
ately started to click. I asked
if anyone recognized her
name, and it was her,” she
said. “She was in the hospital
for about three months. It was
all very hard to process.”
If anything, the accident
only emboldened her desire
to protect the community she
grew up loving, she said.
“Growing up in Cannon
Beach felt very safe. It was
kind of surreal. My cousins
and I would play on the beach,
pretend we’re tourists out on
the town, going back to our
hotel,” she said. “Cannon
Beach is special. I can’t think
of any other place I’d rather
be.”
If there’s one thing she
doesn’t love about Cannon
Beach, she said it would be
“the impending tsunami, I
guess.” As a child in a beach
town, the value of emergency
preparedness was taught ear-
ly in her family, and some-
thing that has guided her life.
“We grew up with emer-
gency planning. We have
gone through many warn-
ings,” she said. “Whenever
we’d hear about a warning
we’d stay up, drinking coffee
and watching the news with
our go-bags ready to go. It
was almost like a family ac-
tivity.
“I feel like I should be
scared,” she continued. “But
growing up we did all the
drills. You can’t live in fear of
what happens next.”
100’
Wide Lot!
PREMIER CANNON BEACH OCEANFRONT
$2,950,000
CANNON BEACH CUSTOM OCEAN FRONT
$1,895,000
SALE
PENDING
NEW
PRICE
CLASSIC OCEAN FRONT BEACH HOUSE
$1,749,000
CANNON BEACH OCEANFRONT
$1,695,000
LAKE FRONT ESTATE/CULLABY LAKE
$1,350,000
SALE
PENDING
OCEANFRONT HOME with Guest Cottage
$1,149,000
SALE
PENDING
75’ WIDE
LOT
ARCH CAPE OCEANFRONT
$1,099,000
CANNON BEACH ESCAPE
$529,000
CHARMING CANNON BEACH COTTAGE
$495,000
CANNON BEACH OCEANVIEW LOT
$485,000
CANNON BEACH LOT VERY CLOSE TO BEACH & DOWNTOWN
$305,000
SEASIDE COMMERCIAL/RESIDENTIAL BUILDING
$279,000
AFFORDABLE (FURNISHED) CONDOMINIUM
$279,000
BEACH CONDO W/INDOOR COMMUNITY POOL
$274,900
TIME TO BUILD! CANNON BEACH LOT
$199,000
CANNON BEACH LOT, CLOSE TO TOWN!
$169,000
AFFORDABLE OVERSIZED CANNON BEACH LOT
$148,000
LODGES AT CANNON BEACH 2 SHARES
$92,000 EACH!
296 N. Spruce St. • Cannon Beach • (503) 436-0451
www.duanejohnson.com
All brokers listed with firm are licensed in the state of Oregon
Active Members of
READY TO BUILD ARCH CAPE LOT!
$89,000
&
What is RMLS? As the Northwest’s largest REALTOR®-owned
Multiple Listing Service(MLS), RMLS serves approximately 10,000
Real Estate Professionals in over 2,200 offices licensed in Oregon
and Washington.
COMING SOON - BREAKERS POINT
OCEANFRONT CONDO