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Monmouth's leader to track aircraft over Iraq
Statesman Journal
June 25, 2001

Mayor will head to Kuwait

Paul Evans says the city can run smoothly in the summer, even without him.

BY KARI JENSEN
Statesman Journal

MONMOUTH - Once a month, Mayor Paul Evans swaps his sport coat for a field jacket and serves in the Oregon Air National Guard at Camp Rilea in Warrenton.

Starting Tuesday, he'll wear his military uniform for about 70 days. He's heading to Kuwait, where he will track aircraft patrolling the "no-fly zone" over Iraq.

For Evans, 31, it's no big leap from leading a town of 7,400 to detecting and identifying up to 70 aircraft at a time, then relaying that information to his superiors.

Going to Kuwait is another opportunity to serve others - as he does in Monmouth, where he was the city's youngest city councilor when he was elected at 18. He's also the city's youngest mayor.

"If you're going to stand up and ask people to follow you ? I think it's important that you don't ask people to do something you wouldn't do yourself," he said.

In this case, that means serving in a foreign country.

Back home in Monmouth, that may mean planting trees, which helped the city gain Tree City USA status this year. Or it may mean volunteering for the local fire department, then responding to a call on Christmas morning, which Evans did in 1999 when arsonists torched Boise Cascade on Highway 99W.

While in Kuwait, Capt. Evans will relay information between ground control and airplanes and direct the airplanes toward targets.

He will be among soldiers, sailors and airmen enforcing United Nations-imposed sanctions against Iraq.

Although he won't be in grave danger, he will be working 12-hour shifts in an environment where the average high temperature will be about 119 degrees.

Evans is the only Salem-area person among the 14 Oregon National Guard soldiers heading to Kuwait. They'll be stationed in camouflaged bunkers in the desert about 30 miles from the nearest metropolitan area.

Back home, Monmouth Council President Joe Presler will fill in for the mayor at official and unofficial functions. Evans is slated to return the first week of September.

Since the council already has approved the budget, set goals, appointed committee members and applied for grants, most key decisions have been made for the summer, Evans said.

"Most of the time in Monmouth, the summer's pretty quiet," said Evans, who is serving his second term. If necessary, city staff and councilors can contact him via e-mail.

While he is away, the city will open its new sewer and effluent reuse system, and a business owner will open a new athletic facility downtown.

Residents have gotten used to meeting with Evans on Wednesday mornings at Rick's Place on Main Street. The coffee shop has served as Evans' office once a week, since Monmouth doesn't provide an office for its unpaid, volunteer mayor.

Evans communicates with others for a living now that he has earned his master's degree and teaches communications at Western Oregon University.

"He's very outgoing, very personable," said Master Sgt. Bob Birman, who serves with Evans in the 116th squadron. "His best attribute is that he's pretty much a natural born leader."

To this "homegrown mayor" - Evans' term for himself - serving and leading others comes naturally.

His father, Butch, tells the story of Evans writing to then-President Jimmy Carter when he was 6.

"It was basically about the budget process. We needed more funds for the people and for the military," Paul Evans explained, adding that Carter sent an autographed photo and a form letter in return. "I've always known my purpose was to serve."

Serving runs in his family. The elder Evans serves on the board of Polk County Fire District No. 1 and has been a volunteer firefighter. His mother Chloe, who died of breast cancer in 1990, helped first-generation Hispanics through what was then called the Valley Migrant League.

The younger Evans joined the Air Force after earning his bachelor's degree at Western Oregon State College (now Western Oregon University) in 1992. Between November 1992 and April 1997, Evans served in six contingency operations including counter-drug efforts in Central and South America, flight safety management for peacekeeping forces in Bosnia protection of the no-fly zone in the Persian Gulf.

Evans was honorably discharged in April 1997. Five months later, he re-enlisted as a first lieutenant with the Oregon Air National Guard. Now he serves one weekend a month and two weeks in the summer.

But this year, Evans will serve his time in Kuwait.

"It really is different from teaching in the classroom or being mayor," he said. "The stakes are so much more clear. You make a bad decision in Kuwait and people die. You make a bad decision in Monmouth and maybe a tree doesn't get planted."

Kari Jensen can be reached at (503) 399-6751 or kjensen@Statesman Journal.com