Neighbors. Love them or hate them, everyone talks about their neighbors- especially in our small town. Odds are you know more “of” your neighbors, than actually about them. The age-old “borrow a cup of sugar from your neighbor” is an understood concept to everyone, but how often is it put into practice? I have lived in Coronado for seven years now and in five different homes. Not until my last move did I finally find an actual real-life next door neighbor that I could see myself asking to borrow a cup of sugar. I am beyond grateful that I did. Borrowing the much needed cup of sugar is only one step to having a relationship with your neighbor. You know they are kind enough to lend you baking supplies, but what else do you really know about them? I think it is time we all find out.
Paul and Ginger Dodson are my wonderful neighbors. Paul moved to Coronado in September 1954 with his navy family, but unlike most navy families we have in town, he was able to stick around. Graduating from CHS in 1958, Paul spent his post CHS days in the Navy at first before succumbing to what he always thought would be his career path – law enforcement. At an early age, Paul was interested in law enforcement; he recalls being in elementary school and part of safety patrol, then in his formative high school years, he was a part of the Coronado Jr. Police, a program he says has “went away like a lot of things.”
As part of the police force in town, Paul spent time doing various jobs; patrols, investigations, traffic, and even three years as a motorcycle police officer. He describes his most humorous point of his career in a story about the early days of implementing 9-1-1 services. He recalls a man who was arrested on a Friday afternoon, cuffed behind the back, and taken down to the old station. When he was unattended briefly, this man was able to maneuver the cuffs out in front of him, push a screen window out a foot above him and escape. That weekend, the entire law enforcement crew was on the lookout for this man, but no one could locate him. On that Monday morning, the man called and said he would only like to speak with Paul since they had what Paul describes as a “fair” relationship in the past. Paul talked with the man and told him that he should call the direct line to Paul instead of the police line, and tells him the number to call is 9-1-1. When the man called the number, the machine at the station went off and gave the location of the call, a house in Coronado. When officers arrived at the scene, they found the man had cut the cuffs into two bracelets which were still dangling from his wrists. What a surprise that must have been for him!
Paul has many stories he shared with me. The story of meeting his wonderful wife Ginger and marrying her a year later in Vegas, then returning 20 years later to Vegas and being able to call themselves a Vegas success story. Of his home in Coronado, he likes to say “an older fisherman lives here with the catch of his life”. Both of Paul’s sons graduated from Coronado High, as well as his grandson. Paul holds this town very dear to his heart, as I’m sure we all do.
So take the time, get to know your neighbor as opposed to merely knowing “of” them. At the very least, you both share a joy of living in Coronado, together.
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Alyssa Ballard
Staff Writer
eCoronado.com
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