A New Deputy In Town

DAYTON - The newest member of the Columbia County Sheriff's Office is eager to learn and determined to do right in Dayton.

The 26-year-old Tri-Cities man, Matt Weins, will fill one of the two recently vacated positions in the office and he said he is ready to learn everything he can to do a job he has been interested in for a while.

Weins graduated from Kennewick High School and joined the U.S. Marine Corps where he started his higher education, Weins said. After the Marines, Weins said he attended the Washington State University satellite branch in the Tri-Cities for one year, then one year at Columbia Basin College studying auto mechan- ics. Weins spent two more quarters at Columbia Basin studying criminal justice before he started working for the Klickitat County Jail in January 2012, he said.

Since he started with the office on Aug. 20, Weins has been riding with other members of the office to learn the area and the job he will have.

"It's been a lot of fun," Weins said. "It's also been really eye-opening."

Sheriff Walt Hessler said Weins applied for a full-time position with the office last fall, but after Weins performed well on the oral boards, interviewed and completed some ridealongs with other deputies, the office decided not to fill the full-time position.

After two deputies left the office earlier this sum- mer, Hessler said Weins was an obvious choice to bring to the department.

"I really liked that he had little law enforcement experience so we could train him appropriately for our county," Hessler said. "Often with lateral hires you are just inheriting somebody else's problem."

Before Weins attends Ba- sic Law Enforcement Acad- emy in November, he will be taking to the streets with other deputies working in Columbia County, Hessler said.

Undersheriff Lee Brown, who also served in the Ma- rine Corps, said he has developed a kinship with Weins over their service experi- ences. Brown said he thinks Weins will be a good addi- tion to the Columbia County Sheriff's Office.

"Deputy Weins has the potential to be a good law enforcement officer," Brown said. "He's got the smarts and the common sense that it takes."

Weins said he has en- joyed his few weeks with the department so far and in Dayton.

"I get to do something I've wanted to do," Weins said.

And once he's on his own, if he pulls someone over he intends to stick to the letter of the law, even if it means is- suing a ticket to a teary-eyed driver.

"If a ticket is warranted, I will issue it," Weins said. "I'm just trying to do the job I'm assigned to."

While he does not have family in Dayton, he enjoys the hunting and camping the area lends itself to. He added that once deer season opens, he hopes to make a whole weekend of camping out and hunting deer - depending on his work schedule, of course.

Weins said along with hunting and camping, he enjoys boating, driving ATV's, 4-wheeling and snowboard- ing.

He said he is looking for- ward to spending more time in Dayton and hopes to stay in the area for a while.