Going fishing: Sheriff Bardsley set to retire

April 10, 1979.

"That's a date I can remember," Wahkiakum County Sheriff Dan Bardsley said this week. "That's when I was hired on full-time as a deputy sheriff."

At the end of this month, after nearly 31 years as a law enforcement officer, Bardsley's career will come to an end. He didn't run for re-election, and his last term of office is expiring.

Bardsley realized early in life that he wanted to be a law enforcement officer.

"I got into some trouble when I was a kid, hanging around with some older kids, and we took some things," he recalls. "A cop showed up at my house and wanted to know where we put the stuff, and I had to walk out in the desert--I lived east of the mountains then--and show him.

"I really liked the way he looked and acted, and I really wanted to shoot his gun.

"Ever since then, that was the thing I wanted to do. It was something I always admired."

Bardsley didn't get to shoot the officer's gun, but the experience was a life changing experience one for him. He never really got into trouble after that, and as he grew into adulthood, he kept trying to find ways to get into law enforcement.

He ended up in the Cathlamet area working on a dairy farm as a milker. A new co-worker also worked as a substitute dispatcher in the sheriff's office, and he invited Bardsley to observe. From there, he got into the department's fledgling reserve program under then Sheriff Tom Harmon.

"Being a reserve was a good way to get involved in the community," he said.

He took a class to become an emergency medical technician; the teacher was his present wife, Billie Bardsley, and some of his classmates were present Cathlamet Fire Department Assistant Chiefs Bill Faubion and Fred Johnson and Captain Wally Wright.

Cattleman Tom Varnson defeated Undersheriff Vic Alton in the 1978 sheriff's election. Barsdley applied for an open deputy position, but Varnson passed him over because he was a friend of Bardsley's employer and didn't want to be responsible for his friend losing his milker.

However, Varnson's initial hires didn't pan out, and Bardsley applied again. He had the support of the other officers in the department.

"Tom hired me on the condition that I fill in as milker until I got replaced in that job," he said.

One of his fellow officers was Gene Strong, who had joined the department not long before Bardsley. Strong became undersheriff, and when Varnson didn't seek re-election, Strong ran for the office and won the position. He named Bardsley chief deputy, a title that was changed to undersheriff several years later.

Strong retired eight years ago, and Bardsley won the election to take his place.

Some things have changed in those 30 years, and some things haven't Bardsley said.

Officers have gone from writing reports in longhand to typing them on a computer. The patrol cars haven't changed, but officers have a lot of technical equipment that they didn't have in 1979.

Laws and procedures have changed a lot over the years, Bardsley said. In the past, an officer encountering a person who was drunk often could just take the person home. "Now with liability issues, you have a hard time doing that," Bardsley said.

Another big change was law regarding domestic disputes. Formerly, an officer could separate the parties and make sure they were safe. Now, state law basically mandates that someone be arrested when an officer responds to a domestic disturbance.

The county's crime rate has stayed pretty static over the period, Bardsley said. However, drug related crime has become very common in the last 10-15 years.

Bardsley said the biggest challenge he has faced as an officer in the department is dealing with declining revenue.

"Just not having the funds we need to pay for the services we want to provide for the county," he said. "Trying to keep the same level of service without having enough revenue in the budget."

The department has seen a reduction in force in the past few years as the county first dealt with a decline in revenue from its trust timber lands and later as the Great Recession hit the nation. Through it, Bardsley has pressed his staff to respond to citizens' calls for help.

"The philosphy has always been to do the best you can with what you have," he said. "If you can help somebody, help them.

"It's not always possible, but that would be the goal."

The most rewarding aspect of the career has been the career itself, he said.

"Overall, being able to do something that I always wanted to do is rewarding," he said. "There's not a lot of thanks; we're not volunteers like the fire department; we get paid, but I feel like I've done a good job.

"I feel good about the job I've done."

Bardsley said one of his successes has been his ability to work with other people and elected officials.

Both Varnson and Strong had adversarial relationships with the county board of commissioners, he said, and he thought that was part of the job. However, he was careful to present his plans and budget needs in a logical, factual manner, and he and the board have developed a good, supportive relationship.

In the same way, he reached out to the citizen critics who had focused on Strong and was able to reach an understanding of what he wanted to accomplish.

"It's easier to make these people an ally rather than spend time fighting with them," he said. "Then you can use your energy for doing things rather than defending yourself."

Bardsley said he has no plans for a second career in his retirement.

"I hope my health stays decent," he said. "I've just told people that my plans are just to go fishing.

"Billie and I will travel a little and see what happens."