Hometown Heroes Law Enforcement 2019 | Page 6

Local Warden Earns State Accolade By Keith Whitcomb, Jr. OUNT HOLLY — Timothy Carey knew what he wanted to do for a career the day he job-shadowed his local game warden, a day that featured traveling to Manchester, New Hampshire, to check on someone’s pet alligator. “I fi gured out then and there that’s what I wanted to do,” Carey said recently in an interview. In June, at a ceremony in Montpelier, Carey was recognized by Gov. Phil Scott as Vermont’s Warden of the Year. Since 2013, Carey has patrolled the Mount Holly area, covering the towns of Clarendon, Wallingford, Mount Holly, Ludlow, Shrewsbury, Plymouth, Mount Tabor, Weston, Andover, Peru, Londonderry, Winhall and Windham. A native of Hooksett, New Hampshire, Carey said he was happy to be assigned M that area, as his grandfather lived in Ludlow. Carey said he remembers the alligator as having been 10 feet long, living in a children’s pool inside a man’s apartment. He thinks the person had applied for a permit to keep the creature as a pet and the warden’s visit was part of that. “I don’t know if he ever got his permit or not,” said Carey. Carey was told that Unity College in Maine was where many future wardens got their education, so that’s where he went to school. While he was in college, he happened to speak with Col. Jason Batchelder, the head of Vermont’s game wardens, who told him about what being a warden was like in the Green Mountain State. Carey liked what he heard, and after working for a bit in the National Park Service, he applied to be a warden here. Being a warden requires one to graduate Thank you for all you do to serve our community! from the Vermont Police Academy and complete eight months of fi eld training. Carey said he was hired along with three others. He feels lucky he gets to cover the Mount Holly area. “If you ask me, there’s no bad place to cover, I’d do it anywhere in Vermont,” he said, noting that his beat is fairly diverse in terms of environments. Variety is what attracts many to the job, he said, adding that it’s hard to recall any one incident or call as being more memorable than any others. There was one call he does remember, however. Carey said, in 2018, in Shrewsbury, a woman contacted him saying her husband had gone ruffed grouse hunting that morning and hadn’t called her, nor returned home by nightfall. Carey said the hunter had given his wife a fairly good idea of where he’d be, so Carey went there and ran his siren. He listened, then heard Hometown Heroes are all around us, and some of the greatest are our police and law enforcement agencies. Thank you for protecting us and enforcing the law. ALEDA DUTTON, Broker dba 82 Route 30 Castleton, VT T DOGGY DAY CARE 802-468-3033 0 33 03 Premium Prem P Pr emiu em m ium i m Pe P t Fo Pet F Foo Food o od Training T Tr r raini a i ni ai ning i ng 6 • RUTLAND HERALD HOMETOWN HEROES JULY 2019 Always Vermont Real Estate a hometown agency for all seasons 1694 Rt. 4A West, Castleton, VT 05735 • [email protected] 802-236-5825 • 802-265-3504