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NEWPORT – Kajin Tobeck, 22, of Deer Park was sworn in as Newport’s new police officer at the Newport City Council meeting June 17.
Tobeck went to school in Deer Park and Spokane Falls, playing baseball and basketball.
He also served as an infantryman for three and a half years being deployed in Kuwait for refugee duty during the Kabul withdrawal.
“The timing lined up perfectly,” Tobeck said of his new role in law enforcement.
“I was trained as a handler with an explosive K9 and about set to go into the private sector. Since I was from a small town and didn’t like big cities like Seattle, I stayed local,” he said.
Tobeck has a wife and one son with another on the way.
He will be sent for training at the Washington Police Academy in August.
In other city news, the city council heard from Jack Stapleton of Lime about reintroducing e-scooters by making suggestions.
Stapleton said the company would giveaway helmets during riding safety events, have foot patrols daily for gathering abandoned scooters, and appoint a company representative for better communication between the city and the company.
“We like to see a more proactive approach,” Councilman Nathan Longly said.
The city council banned the use of Lime e-scooters during their previous meeting on June 3 after not hearing from the company. The city council requested Lime to send a contract with the city by a deadline of May 22.
Mayor Keith Campbell was perturbed that the deadline passed without word from Lime.
“We would have considered otherwise,” he said, meaning if they had received a contract they would have likely not immediately banned the scooters.
Campbell said to keep the lines of communication open in the future.
The city council approved a request from Pastor R. Shannon Chasteen for space near the Newport elementary school for an open air gospel meeting July 22-24.
The city hired three temporary workers for wastewater and road projects.
The Newport Rodeo Association was approved the $1,000 hotel and motel tax for the Newport Rodeo and increased the time of the noise ordinance from 10 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. during the rodeo.
