2 The Oregon Surveyor | Vol. 47, No. 1 From the PLSO Chair MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIR Scott Freshwaters, PLS Chair of the Board Back in September I witnessed the start of my 69th orbit around the sun. As I look back upon all those years, I am grateful to those who encouraged me and helped me become a Professional Land Surveyor. I didn’t have any family who were land surveyors. My dad was a civil engineer who had also studied mining engineering at the University of Arizona School of Mining. His dad was an electrical engineer who reportedly knew Thomas A. Edison. My granddad also had a cousin who was a mechanical engineer. An event that may have been a portent of my land surveying career happened while we lived on the grounds of the Veterans Administration Hospital in Boise, Idaho. It was during “show and tell” when I must have been in the third or fourth grade. My dad had either suggested I take the transit that he used or I had asked if I could take it. It was in a wooden box with a leather strap handle, and as I recall I said something like “This is called a transit and my dad uses it for engineering.” Also while in Boise, I developed an interest in electricity and electronics and had a small crystal AM radio in the shape of John Glenn’s space capsule that had a screw to tune it while you listened through an earpiece. I would listen to Wolfman Jack and other AM stations at night. To leave room in this article for the Strategic Plan, I’ll spare you the details of my personal history between Boise and Bend and go right to Central Oregon Community College where I graduated with an AS degree in electronics technology in June 1976. Dee Anna and I were married in January 1976, and soon after my graduation we moved to Sunnyvale, California, where I worked in the microwave communications industry. We lived in a large apartment complex to the south of Moffett Field Naval Air Station. After living there for nine months, we decided this wasn’t the place for us so we moved back to Bend. While looking for a career I was able to get a temporary job with the Deschutes National Forest working with maps and aerial photographs and really enjoyed it. While perusing the Bend Bulletin newspaper one day, a help wanted ad caught my attention—they were advertising an Engineering Assistant I position with Deschutes County Road Department. I applied, and a few days after the interview with Charlie Plummer, I learned that I was hired. I started on Monday, March 13, 1978, with $677 per month wages. The county was very good about sending employees to seminars, classes, etc. Bill Kauffman even took Roy Easter and myself to an OACES conference at the Inn of the Seventh Mountain. Oh, I almost forgot one very important item—the reason I joined PLSO. Dave Hoerning, who was both a PE and PLS and This plan, entitled Strategic Planning Meeting Report, is available on the PLSO website in the Members area listed under Strategic Planning Meeting. I encourage all of you to read it. Let’s talk about some of the accomplishments made during the last five years since the report was adopted.
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