|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||
|
Cowlitz County was formed in the Washington Territory in 1854 with the county seat being Kalama. James Huntington was appointed the first sheriff. In the early 1900's, the city of Kelso wanted to be the county seat, but Kalama had more votes. When the day dawned in 1923 that Kelso had more residents, an election was set and Kelso carried the vote. Most sheriffs have served only one term, four years. A few have served two, non-consecutive terms. And two have served twelve years (three terms) as sheriff; Les Nelson (1975-1986) and Brian Pedersen (1987-1998). Our longest serving sheriff was Merle Bevins who served from 1955 to 1971. In 1973, a man later known as "D. B. Cooper" bailed out of a high-jacked plane while carrying several thousand dollars. He was said to have probably landed in southern Cowlitz County, but was never located. On May 18, 1980 at 8.32 a.m., Mt. St. Helens erupted. While the mountain itself is predominately in neighboring Skamania County to the east, most of the foothills and occupied areas lie within Cowlitz County. Cowlitz County Sheriff Les Nelson was able to join with the sheriffs of Skamania and Lewis counties to form a unique, three county sheriffs' team called the Red Zone Patrol, which lasted three years. Commissioned in all three counties, these 21 deputies patrolled the Red Zone to keep people from unlawfully entering this prohibited area at the mountain In 1988, Cowlitz and Wahkiakum counties joined with the cities of Longview and Kelso to form a multi-agency Narcotics Task Force, funded by a federal grant and local jurisdiction contributions. In 1991, county commissioners decided to break up the sheriff's office and created separate departments of Law Enforcement Records, Communications, Emergency Management, and Corrections. The sheriff is now left with general law enforcement, court security, and civil process. In 1996, Sheriff Brian Pedersen secured a federal grant and installed a county wide Mobile Data Computer system in all law enforcement agency vehicles within the county. Sheriff Bill Mahoney, who took office in 1999, started his law enforcement career in Cowlitz County in 1977. He is credited with obtaining a new county-wide interoperable radio system through Homeland Security, as well as a law enforcement records management system that connects the Sheriff’s Office and all six police departments. Our current sheriff, Mark Nelson, was appointed to the position after the early retirement of Sheriff Mahoney. Sheriff Nelson is a 32 year veteran of Cowlitz County law enforcement; including 7 years as a reserve deputy, 7 years as a Longview, WA police officer and the last 19 years as a deputy, sergeant, detective sergeant and Captain. Sheriff Nelson is also the son of retired Sheriff Les Nelson and is proudly serving in the same office that his father served in. For more about law enforcement's boisterous beginnings here in Cowlitz County, please visit the blog! |
|||||||||||||||||
