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HAZE Temp: 48 °F Wind: CLM at 0 mph Thursday, November 21, 2002 SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map EXTRA HomeLife Magazine W3 Magazine Jobs @ Mail Tribune Tempo A & E Oregon CarZone Wellness Connection Real Estate Newspaper in Education Prime Times Outdoor Journal Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People CLASSIFIEDS Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Find Everything E SOUTHERN OREGON Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar ABOUT US FAQ What's New Advertise Home Delivery Classified Ad Contact Us Media Kit Email Story to a Friend October 13, 2002 Mayer: Career is ‘far more than a job’ By SARAH LEMON Mail Tribune The past year has been a 400-level course in time management for Ed Mayer. No one said that campaigning for Jackson County sheriff while serving as the department’s captain and parenting a house full of teenage boys would be easy. But Mayer isn’t alone. He’s turned the campaign effort into a family affair. Related stories: � There'll be a new sheriff in town � Winters: Aims to give 'good service' � Some call Winters' endorsement list misleading "(The campaign) has actually given us an opportunity to do a lot of activities as a family," Ed Mayer said. "On the flip side, it’s forced us to prioritize the campaign over family activities." Mayer’s wife, Nancy, 44, quit her job with the county’s office of Court Appointed Special Advocates a year ago to run her husband’s campaign full time. She and Mayer, 51, married and blended their households two years ago. Mayer and his first wife, Virginia, divorced after 10 years of marriage. Nancy also was previously divorced. But because Virginia lives only a few blocks away, sharing custody of their three sons is an ideal arrangement, Mayer said. The Mayers’ four-bedroom east Medford home is now campaign headquarters. With the Mayer-mobile — a white Mercury minivan with a trailer for campaign signs — parked out front, the house is easily picked out from others in the small cul-de-sac. The kids gave up their claim to the family’s recreation room to make way for the campaign office. Outside on the back deck, the Mayers assemble lawn signs. And Ed’s son, Alex, a sophomore at South Medford High, wears a navy blue "Mayer for Sheriff" T-shirt to school nearly every day. "The kids have lobbied their teachers and parents of friends and passed out bumper stickers," Ed Mayer said. The Mayer boys — Drew, 17, Alex, 15, Gary, 12 — and Ed’s stepdaughter, 19-year-old Meghan Jones, and stepson, 15-year-old Garrett, walked in parades promoting the campaign. The kids also plan on going door-to-door with their parents to introduce voters to their favorite candidate. "To people that take law enforcement seriously, the career is far more than a job; it’s a lifestyle," Ed Mayer said. It’s a lifestyle to which Mayer has been committed for the past 27 years. Mayer moved at the age of 5 to Medford from Emmett, Idaho. His biological father died when Mayer was 3 years old. When his mother, Helen, remarried two years later, his stepfather, Reece, adopted him. Helen Mayer died two years ago, but 84-year-old Reece Mayer still lives in town. A former sales manager in the poultry industry, Reece Mayer started his own turkey ranches in Applegate and Silverton, where the family raised breeder birds and Thanksgiving centerpieces for Norbest. The youngest in his family, Ed helped his sister, Michele, and brother, Gary, gather and package eggs, de-beak the birds and clip their wings. "That’s where I got my work ethic — cutting thistles, picking up rocks and cleaning up turkey poop," Ed Mayer said. Mayer played basketball for Medford Senior High School and was exempted from the Vietnam draft because of his bad ankles — blamed on playing hoops. Mayer’s college career began in 1970 at Oregon State University, where he majored in forestry, only to discover that he didn’t enjoy the math and science involved. He transferred to Southern Oregon State College, finding his niche in criminology. After he graduated in the summer of 1975, he was hired at the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department. Mayer’s personnel file, which he released to the Mail Tribune with the permission of Sheriff Bob Kennedy, reveals a record free of any reprimand or breach in policy. In Mayer’s first employee review as a deputy at the Lost Creek substation, then-Lt. James Arlin wrote, "When deputy Mayer is a fully experienced police officer, he will be an asset to the department." Promoted to sergeant precisely five years from his hire date — the first day he was eligible — Mayer was proving his worth to the department. But reduced timber sales, which largely funded the sheriff’s department, flushed 42 deputies from patrol in 1981. Mayer was demoted to patrol deputy. Taking a position as a corrections deputy in the jail just to keep a job meant another demotion. But after a year in the jail, Mayer was back on the road patrolling rural areas for the forest service. The job gave him the opportunity to blend his forestry and law enforcement experience, he said. Nearly 20 years later, Mayer still thinks he’s in the best career around. "I’m literally running for my career," he said. "It has been extremely fun, exciting and gives me an opportunity to help people in Jackson County. Where else could you find a job that you can do all of those things?" Reach reporter Sarah Lemon at 776-4487, or e-mail [email protected] . Printer Friendly Version Email Story to a Friend Subscribe Archive: Click to Search Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright 1997-2002 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. 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