PORT ANGELES — New Clallam County Sheriff’s Office Corrections Deputies Craig Blank and Patrick Woolman will be sworn in Friday.
The ceremony will be at 10 a.m. in the Emergency Operations Center in the basement of the Clallam County Courthouse, 223 E. Fourth St.
Both are lifelong residents of Clallam County and graduates of Port Angeles High School. Blank graduated in 2008 and Woolman in 2000.
Both deputies will enter the Criminal Justice Training Commission Corrections Officers Academy within the next six months.
They are currently in a monthlong field training program that allows them to start working in the jail immediately alongside seasoned corrections deputies.
As two new deputies join the staff, two others are retiring.
Deputy Todd Yarnes retired at the end of May.
Deputy Mel Kempf will retire Thursday, June 30.
Kempf joined the Sheriff’s Office in June 1990 and in 2003 received a Medal of Valor when he and his partner responded to a disturbance and were met by a man with a shotgun.
Yarnes joined in May of 1999 and has received at least nine formal commendation awards and the Sunrise Rotary Excellence in Public Safety Award in 2010.
Sheriff Bill Benedict has honored both deputies with a Sheriff’s Star, one of the highest awards that can be given by the Sheriff’s Office.
The Clallam County commissioners will recognize Yarnes’ service June 14 and Kempf’s service June 28.
