 | | Photo By John Gervais | | Members of the Citizen's Academy. |
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By John Gervais
Having gone back to school for six weeks, over a dozen Woodburn area business leaders graduated Tuesday from the first-ever Citizen's Academy, which was put on by the Woodburn Police Department.
The individuals received instructions in a cross section of issues from preventing crime to how to interface with the department when a problem occurs.
"We are really excited about the process and the number of you that have gone through the classes and the opportunity for all of us to get to know each other," Woodburn Police Chief Scott Russell said to the group.
The chief talked about the value of partnerships in the community, congratulating the first graduation class and giving each one a certificate.
"This is a good course and there was a lot of really good material," said Mike Sumner, of Case Automotive.
"Rick (Puente) and the staff did an outstanding job," said Mel Counts, a longtime agent for Prudential Real Estate.
Deb Yager, president of the Woodburn Area Chamber of Commerce, which helped put the academy together, hopes to have more of these sessions.
"We partnered with the police department and we hope to have three sessions each year, including a Latino networking group in the near future," she said.
Items covered by the course included business fraud, identification theft, counterfeiting, drugs, classes of crimes, general theft, CPTED (Community Policing Through Environmental Design), trespassing, gangs, business safety and patrol response.
Among the local businesses and business people in attendance were: Connie Grade of Woodburn RV Park, Elizabeth Vega of American Diagnostics, Nita Marr of the Woodburn Police Department, Deb Yager of North Willamette Valley Mortgage, Mike Sumner of Case Automotive, John Baker of Dijahnelos Homes, Delisa Baker of Cuppy's Coffee, Barbara Peterson Garsatt of Hubbard's Dry Cleaning Depot, Dave Price of Woodburn Company Stores, Javier Perfecto from the City of Woodburn, Catherine Harding of Heidi's Café, Mel Counts of Prudential Real Estate, Ruby Wolfer of West Coast Bank, and Marcia Clark of Dijahnelos Homes.
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