CHP Spokesperson Tom Wills Ready For Retirement

After 28 years of working for the California Highway Patrol, Officer Tom Wills is about to call it a career.

Wills was Thursday’s KVML "Newsmaker of the Day".

Wills was transferred to the Motherlode twelve years ago and was designated as the Tuolumne County CHP Spokesperson shortly after.

"My greatest satisfaction as spokesperson, has been working with the youth of Tuolumne County," Wills said. "Talking one-on-one with High School students and putting on programs such as "Every 15 Minutes" and "Sober Grad" allowed me to interact with kids who have ended up thanking me years later."

Raised in Sacramento, Wills spent six years in the Air Force. Afterwards Wills attended the CHP Academy. Wills was first assigned to Blythe, an isolated community in the southern California desert on the Arizona border.

After two years, Wills was transferred to Tracy, where he worked for thirteen years. It was in Tracy, that Wills experienced one of the scariest moments of his life. He was shot at during a drive by shooting incident on Interstate 5. Wills could hear the bullets flying directly next to him. The suspect or suspects were never caught.

Wills said that the rewarding times have outweighed the scary and tragic times and he doesn’t regret an entire career with the Highway Patrol.

Wills is married and said that his home is and will continue to be Sonora. Wills has no plans of leaving the area in his retired years.

The "Newsmaker of the Day" is heard each weekday morning on AM 1450 KVML at 6:47, 7:47 and 8:47am.

Written by mark@mlode.com