Candidate Debate for Coos County Sheriff ~ Gabe Fabrizio vs. Mike Kinnaird 3:08PM April 11, 2022, on KWRO
County Sheriff
This contest will not appear on the May 17, 2022 Primary Election Ballot. Coos County Sheriff will only appear on the November 8, 2022 General Election Ballot per ORS 249.091
M A Kinnaird
Gabe Fabrizio
Mike’s Bio:
I was born in Missouri in the mid 60’s. My Pa was a preacher which meant we did a lot of moving. I’ve lived in Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Texas, Oregon, Florida, South Carolina, and Maryland. Some states I’ve lived in more than once such as Missouri, Illinois and Oregon.
I originally moved to Oregon in the Fall of 77. Pa had gotten a job at the Bandon Church of Christ. I graduated from Bandon High School in 82.
I went back to Illinois in March of 83 for Navy boot camp. Unfortunately, I was talked into joining the Navy Nuclear Power Program. Upon graduating from Machinist Mate C school, I was transferred to the Navy Nuclear Power school in Orlando, Florida. I was unable to complete the school due to academic failure. This was a very intense school which demanded a minimum of 40 hours of study after classroom instruction. I would find out later that they placed so much pressure on the students to prepare them for extremely long hours due to the demands of the fleet later on. I believe they have a dropout rate of around 75%. I found that students who had succeeded in completing the program were putting in 12-16 hour days 7 days a week. It was definitely a blessing not succeeding at this.
Upon this failure I was sent to serve the remainder of my time in the fleet on the USS Holland AS-32 in Goose Creek, South Carolina. During this time, I would work on operating and maintaining the ship’s cranes, AC & reefer systems, high pressure air compressors, O2N2 plant, hydraulic steering system and many more miscellaneous associated equipment. I was honorably discharged in November of 88 from active duty.
Prior to my discharge I had obtained employment at a small loans company in North Charleston, South Carolina. This position involved all aspects of collections and small loans. I was eventually transferred to Moncks Corner, South Carolina where I was living at the time. Unfortunately, I found myself in a position where I felt at times, we were taking advantage of those who could least afford the extremely high interest rates. I did get to learn how to track people down which I’ve found I enjoy doing. I left this position as a result of the disillusionment of the exploitation of those who least deserved it.
I then moved to Maryland to work for a friend in home remodeling and restoration. Unfortunately, he was not the best business manager and I found myself a position for a company testing underground fuel storage tanks for leakage. As a result of this I was able to do work for all the major fuel companies, the Pentagon, Treasury Department, Air Force One hangar, and so many more. I was also able to travel all the way down south to Florida and as for north as Pennsylvania.
I met my first wife and was married in November of 90. We were blessed with twins in July of 93, Marshall and Taylor. We were again blessed with Megan in December of 95. Unfortunately, my wife became dissatisfied with our marriage and left me in 97. In December of 97 I brought our children back to Oregon to start over again.
Coming back to Oregon with basically only the clothes on our back and a few suitcases was pretty difficult. I was blessed to be given an old 80 Cadillac which had been my Mom’s, by my parents. In Coos county it seemed my resume of experience seemed to mean nothing. Everyone wanted to start me out at $6 per hour which was minimum wage at that time. I was able to get a job at the new Bayshore
Chevron in April of 98. I had already joined the Oregon Army National Guard in Coos Bay as a Combat Engineer in February. I would later get work at South Coast Office Supply doing deliveries.
Upon my arrival I had met my future Wife, Terri, at Church at the North Bend Church of Christ. She was married at the time but later had the unfortunate luck of also having her spouse leave her for someone else. We started dating shortly afterwards and were married in May of 99 by my Pa at our church. This also brought Kenny and Elana along with foster children to our family. Terri had a heart for children and began doing daycare in our home. We eventually got out of the foster care as I advanced my career with the Guard and South Coast Office Supply.
In March of 2001 I began working for the Guard doing projects throughout the state for the Innovative Readiness Training project. The Guard volunteered us for projects for schools and nonprofit organizations while they supplied materials and projects to complete. We worked on projects in North Bend (for the school district), Klamath Falls (for the Klamath Falls Sports Complex), Madras (for a city park), Lagrande (for a city skate park), Pendelton (for the Blue Mountain Community College) and other miscellaneous places in between. I was able to get experience with earth movers, backhoes, graders, dozers, dump trucks, and other associated heavy equipment. It was also awesome to see how other parts of the state did business and completed projects. I ended my time when I went to complete PLDC at Fort Lewis at the last half of August. I was set to begin college at SWOCC full time in September to train up to be an accountant.
Previous to this, I had applied to be a Reserve Officer with Coos Bay Police. It took them over a year to complete my background package. I was sworn in the week of September 11th. Although I was signed up for 20 credits with SWOCC, I also took on 6 more credits with the Reserve Officer Training Academy (ROTA). I was working at the recruiting office for the VA work study program at the mall in North Bend also. During this time Terri began taking college courses again. She seemed interested in becoming a teacher. I also did some work for South Coast Office Supply when needed. By 2003 I was very burnt out on college and began working fulltime for South Coast Office Supply. I had decided to try and help Terri go fulltime to college to get her teaching degree. I thought if I could get a position with full benefits that this could help immensely. My friend who worked at the Jail and had been trying to get me to come work for the Sheriff’s Office in Corrections. I was able to start in this position on February 1, 2004. Fortunately, Terri was able to get her teaching degree in June of 2006 with honors. She was able to get a teaching job at Faith Lutheran school. In 2007 she got a position at Blossom Gulch Elementary teaching 2nd grade.
For me, one of my greatest accomplishments was assisting Terri in getting her teaching degree. She was an awesome teacher teaching so many kids in her 10.5 years of teaching.
I was able to complete the Corrections Academy at DPSST and the field training period and receive my basic certification in corrections. During my time with the Sheriff’s Office, I’ve been able to obtain my intermediate and advanced corrections certifications. I’ve worked all Deputy positions including Watch Commander, Field Training Officer, and Control Room Operator. I’ve also been the Inmate Work Coordinator.
In November of 2010, I was discharged from the Oregon Army National Guard due to an issue with my back. This was their decision. I believe it was a direct result of the leadership of President Obama. It seemed like to me that he purged the services of older more experienced personnel to further his agenda. I had planned on staying till I turned 60. I had been blessed to be able to serve as long as I did though. I was able to do IRT Projects, the response to Katrina, the Biscuit Fire and many other smaller responses through my 12.5 years of service with the Guard. I was the Detachment supervisor during the 2009-2010 deployment for those in the Detachment left behind.
In September 2013, I was arrested in Douglas County near the border with Lane County on highway 101. The Deputy who was performing the traffic stop had my Daughter pulled over in a ditch. Her passenger in my old 80 Cadillac could literally not get out of the vehicle on the passenger side because of where the vehicle was. He pulled her over for speeding which was weird because she was following me and I wasn’t speeding. When I asked to approach him and speak to him, he refused. I literally begged to come speak to him a number of times but he refused and arrested me for Interfering with a Peace Officer and Disorderly Conduct in the 2nd degree. He claimed my vehicle was blocking traffic even though it was farther over than his vehicle. To go any farther I would have been in the ditch too. This was the justification for the DOC II charge. At no time did I ever yell at him or cuss him out. I simply asked too many times to talk to him and refused to leave since my Daughter was in a ditch. He booked and released me in Reedsport with a citation. The charges were later dismissed.
Sheriff Zanni punished me for this incident by giving me two days without pay and no longer allowing me to be a Watch Commander. He found me guilty of five policy violations. I have not been allowed to work as a Watch Commander since his punishment. I was told at one point by the Jail Commander that anytime you are arrested, you violate Sheriff’s Office policy. So much for innocent till proven guilty.
I was very bitter about this result to my career at the time but I have found in retrospect that it was a blessing in disguise. It gave me a very good sense of how much I mattered to the agency and the fact that nobody really is worth standing up for no matter how many years you’ve given them and things you’ve accomplished for them. It helped cement the fact that somebody needed to completely change this culture in the Sheriff’s Office. It’s the driving factor in me running in 2018 and again in 2022. As long as the employees of the Sheriff’s Office service have no value to the agency, we will never be able to serve the Citizens of Coos County to the best of our abilities. As long as this culture continues you, the Citizens, are not going to be protected from crime in the way you should be. If I’m privileged to be your next Sheriff, I intend to change this.
I had decided I would be running for Sheriff in 2018 prior to December of 2017. I had even discussed it with my family who were all supportive. Unfortunately, on December 12, 2017 I lost Terri as a result of a day surgery at McKenzie Willamette hospital. The hospital insisted she had died of a heart attack because of her large size. They would not do an autopsy so it was up to me to find and pay for someone to do it myself. His findings were that she was bleeding in the area of the surgery internally. Because of this the pooling of blood cut off her carotid artery, killing her. She had no signs of heart issues or clogged arteries. I was unable to find an attorney who was willing to take on a case of malpractice because of her size even after an extended multi-year search.
I was devastated at the loss of Terri and was not planning on running for Sheriff. I would not be half the man I was if not for her. She had worked so hard all of her life and was just at the finish line for retirement. She had just turned 60.
Because of this I reevaluated my life and decided to try and not put off things I could do today. I had planned on focusing on this when the results of the Sargent’s testing had come out. The individual who promoted was a young 20 something with barely any life experience compared to the other candidates. This was pivotable in me deciding to run. I’m sure I could have done a much better job of running if I had a much better grasp of my personal life, but I did it anyway. I wanted to give the County an alternative to the status quo. I’ve never regretted running. I think we’ve all won because we were finally able to get 12 hour shifts for the Jail. This has been a game changer due to the fact that we’ve been able to save the County somewhere between $100,000 to $200,000 a year in overtime.
During the past four years I have focused on getting my personal life on a much better position. I married my current wife on April 20, 2019. LaDawna has been a God send to me. She brought three more children to the family with Billy, Sebastian, and Jacob. At one point we had three adult children living in the home but have managed to assist them in the last year to get places of their own.
I’ve also worked at establishing relationships with the community during this time also. In the beginning I was working a bit with the Local Alcohol and Drug Policy Committee. Unfortunately, I was unable to continue working with them due to work conflicts. I’ve also been a part of the Coos County Republican Central Committee being elected as a Precinct Committee Person in the last election a couple of years ago. As Sheriff I look forward to establishing relationships with a lot more organizations in the future.
I’m looking forward to some long-needed change with this election hopefully bringing Coos County Law Enforcement into the 21st century. I would love to see us as a crime fighting organization and not a crime management one as we are now.
Gabe’s Bio:
Gabe Fabrizio grew up in Northern California, but joined the military immediately after High School. Gabe spent 20 years in the Regular Army as a Psychological Operations Specialist (Airborne). Gabe had many deployments while serving, many in peacetime and four combat deployments. In 2013, Gabe retired as a First Sergeant of 4th group (A), PSYOP.
Gabe was hired part-time in the jail, where he worked for a few months before being hired as a patrol Deputy and entering the Police Academy. After graduation, Gabe was assigned to the Patrol Division of the Coos County Sheriff’s Office, and stepped up to take on other tasks, such as re-writing policy for the Emergency Response Team and attending training as a sniper and through the FBI’s Hostage Negotiations school.
Gabe has taken on many other tasks and learned many skills through his various assignments, to include Marine Deputy, Emergency Manager, Search and Rescue manager, Emergency Response Team leader, FBI Hostage Negotiations school, riot control and firearms instructor, Oregon State Sheriff’s Association Command College, Sheriff’s Institute, and many in-depth leadership courses.
Gabe has served as the Administrative Captain for last three years. Gabe is in charge of Dispatch, fleet management, Civil, records, concealed handgun licenses, and the Emergency Services Management office, which includes oversight and support of emergency volunteer capabilities; Community Emergency Response Team, Ares Emergency Radio Communications, and neighborhood watch. His duties have included assisting with all budgeting facets of the Office, and handling of the Administrative budget for the last four years.
Some of Gabe’s projects while in the Sheriff’s Office include Dispatch earthquake retrofitting, implementing a Body Worn Camera program for the Sheriff's patrol Deputies, accreditation with the National Administration of State Boating Law Administrators, upgrading handheld and in-car radio equipment for the Sheriff's Office, and trying to create an interoperability and redundancy for Dispatch with city agencies and the Coos Forest Protection Association. He has also been a large part of the efforts to engineer, plan and install the Emergency Communications system upgrade for all of Coos County.
Gabe is also a volunteer member of the Coquille Fire Department, where he is learning skills as a firefighter, and has recently passed practicals as a state EMT-B.
Gabe is a member of the VFW and of Mensa.
Gabe’s hobbies include spending time with his wife and daughter, kayaking, martial arts, and reading