PORT ANGELES — Clallam County Sheriff’s Deputy Paul Federline has been awarded the Sheriff’s Office Employee of the Year award, while community policing volunteer Carole March has been named the office’s 2015 Volunteer of the Year.
The Clallam County Sheriff’s Office held its 2015 awards recognition dinner March 5.
Volunteer Kelly Thomas was named the 2015 Search and Rescue Volunteer of the Year.
Sheriff Bill Benedict presented support services volunteer Karen Clatanoff with the President’s Lifetime Achievement Award.
Clatanoff earned the award for donating more than 4,000 hours to the sheriff’s office since 1994.
She has been volunteering with the sheriff’s office for more 22 years and is the second Clallam County Sheriff’s Office volunteer to earn the President’s Lifetime Achievement Award.
Meritorious service awards are given to a member or non-member of the department for meritorious service in a duty of great responsibility, with the recipient distinguishing themselves and the sheriff’s office in going above and beyond the person’s normal duty.
This year’s award winners included Sgt. John Hollis, Deputy Josh Ley, Detective Jim McLaughlin and jail physician Dr. Peter Erickson.
The sheriff’s office also honored 104 volunteers who gave a total of 10,063 hours of service to the office and the community in 2015.
These hours have a dollar value of $268,788, according to the sheriff’s office.
Volunteers serve in the areas of search and rescue, community policing, amateur radio emergency services, emergency management, chaplain team, cold case investigations, reserve deputies and code enforcement.
In 2015, 37 volunteers earned a President’s Volunteer Service Award. To earn an award, each person volunteered at least 100 hours.
Gold level (500 or more hours) members include Bill Carter and Bruce and Kathleen Reiter, helping with emergency management.
Silver level (250 or more hours) members included Clatanoff, Michael Becker, David Hannon, David Hepner, Mark Newbold, Parker Stoops and Kelly Thomas.
Bronze level (100 or more hours) volunteers included Karl Barnum, Steve Belcher, Rosalie Camin, Martin Dawson, Thomas Doane, Ed Evans, Jim Faddis, Richard Golding, Alan Hawley, Paul Honore, David Hull, Carole and George March, Bob McGonigel, Ricki McLaughlin, William Miano, Bob Mills, Nancy Moore, Ellen Morrison, Ron Peregrin, Joseph Price, Andrew Pursley, John Richmond, Alexander Risk, Rik Scairpon, Allan Tyson and Diane Wheeler.
Commendation Awards are given to individuals, members or non-members of organizations for excellence in the performance of duty or excellence in a specific assigned duty, or for improving conditions within the agency or community.
This year’s recipients included Deputy Amy Bundy, control room technician Anne Chastain, Deputy Don Kitchen, Detective Shaun Minks, Detective Jeff Pickrell, Corrections Deputy Mark Raemer, Corrections Deputy Sandra Waterhouse and volunteers Clatanoff, Wheeler and Bruce and Kathleen Reiter.
Federline, the 2015 Employee of the Year, excelled in all aspects of his duty, department officials said.
Last year, Federline led the department in arrests with 109 cases cleared by arrest and 61 warrants served.
He responded to 1,098 calls for service, the most by any one deputy, and ended the year clearing by arrest 56 percent of his criminal investigations.
“Paul’s exemplary and selfless service to the citizens of Clallam County, his remarkable productivity, professionalism and positive attitude brings the greatest of credit upon himself and the Clallam County Sheriff’s Office,” Benedict said.
“Deputy Federline is a dedicated and loyal member of the patrol team who is most deserving of CCSO Employee of the Year.”
The sheriff’s office awarded a number of Life Saving Awards for responses to emergency situations.
The office honored Deputy Matt Murphy for his actions Sept. 2, 2015.
On that date, a Port Angeles resident was returning home when he noticed a house on South Brook Street was on fire with flames coming out of the upper story windows.
The resident called 9-1-1 to report the fire.
Murphy was in the area and found the house completely engulfed in fire, with flames threatening adjacent structures.
Murphy determined a nearby, single-wide mobile home was beginning to show smoke and was in fact catching fire.
He forcibly entered the mobile home, woke its 51-year-old occupant and evacuated him and his pets from the then-burning structure.
The sheriff’s office also honored a trio of employees for saving a jail inmate’s life in July 2015.
On July 4, Corrections Deputies Virginia Arand and Brian Martin were alerted by jail nurse Candace Priest that an inmate in the medical isolation cell was unresponsive after trying to strangle himself.
The deputies immediately assisted Priest in resuscitating the inmate.
The inmate resumed breathing and was taken to Olympic Medical Center for further treatment.
Deputy Michael Leiter was honored for his actions in helping save a suicidal woman from injuring or killing herself.
On Sept. 26, Leiter responded to an armed suicidal subject in her backyard inside a locked fence enclosure.
He scaled a 7-foot fence and while she was distracted by a neighbor, disarmed the suicidal woman.
Once at the hospital and under care, the woman thanked Leiter for saving her from harming herself.
Deputy Mark Millet also received a Life Saving Award from the sheriff’s office.
On July 11, 2014, Millet responded to an unresponsive male at the old Oyster House boat ramp in the Cline Spit area north of Sequim.
Darrell Brewer, a fisherman, apparently had collapsed while helping a friend launch a boat.
Millet found other fishermen and family attempting CPR and he took over CPR duties. At one point, Brewer revived and then lapsed; Millet continued CPR until medics arrived.
Brewer eventually recovered at the hospital in stable condition. Brewer had a heart monitor and had been scheduled for triple bypass and stent surgery.