BK OR II Member Honored At NAMOA Conference

By Gregg Willis, President OR II

Ryan McPartlin, member and safety officer of OR II and fulltime motor officer with the Corvallis, Oregon Police Department was awarded Rookie of the Year for the North American Motor Officers Association at NAMOA’s annual conference held in Victoria, BC in May 2013.

On April 6^th, four hearty souls were to meet at Hawks Prairie Inn for the run to Pacific Grove, California, Don Moore, Dick Fisher, Kent Autrand, and Gary Pierce.  Don was the first to arrive and immediately set the theme of the trip helping your fellow travelers with useful information, especially how to park your motorcycle.  He arrived in a HUGE parking lot, void of any type of vehicle and proceeded to demonstrate how to park your motorcycle upright without a center stand, with both wheels off the ground. Oh I failed to mention there were no lights in the lot and Don was headed to the drive through at a bank to get out of the rain. I arrived soon after that and Dick a few moments later and we, with great physical effort were able to rescue Don and put the bike back on the road. We were joined a few minutes later by Kent "U turn" Autrand and we headed for warm and sunny California. We were to stay in Redding with fellow Blue Knight Steve Daily but snow in the Siskiyou's  had us turning west hitting 101 near Reedsport, OR.

Joel Goodwin, Corvallis, Oregon Police Department sergeant, Law Enforcement Torch Run (LETR) Executive Council Chair, and member of BK OR II, represented Oregon at the LETR Torch Run in Greece.  He was a part of the team that relayed the Flame of Hope throughout Greece from June 7 to June 27 finishing in Athens for Opening Ceremonies of the Special Olympics World Summer Games.

Every four years, Special Olympics athletes from around the world gather for the World Summer Games. This year, the Games were held in Athens from June 25 – July 4.  Over 7,500 athletes from approximately 185 countries competed in 22 Olympic-type sports. These Games are also highlighted by grand-scale Opening and Closing Ceremonies and a vast array of cultural, social and health-related events and services for the participants, volunteers and supporters.  Special Olympics Oregon sent a delegation of six athletes and six coaches as part of Special Olympics Team USA. 

Bangor, Maine, USA

Pam and I recently had the opportunity to visit our Blue Knights International Headquarters.  During our recent two month long trip we had the opportunity to meet with a number of Blue Knights from the WCC across Canada.  It was only fitting that our first stop in the USA was to visit the Blue Knight Headquarters.  We were met by Bessie Small the Executive Director of the Blue Knights and her office helper Jana Clark.   The building has some adjacent buildings which are maintained by the Blue Knights and rented out for rental income so we did not intrude there.  We were however given a great tour of the office building with it's many pictures and Blue Knight memorabilia.   A comfortable building and the staff were very kind to take time out of their busy schedule to meet with us.  The work in progress was the renewal packages for 2011 which will have arrived before you see this article.  They were also working on the ballots for this years elections.  I was impressed that so much material flows out of that building to serve us all.