BY TED POTTS
TPOTTS@TRIBDEM.COM
Ron Pavic has retired as police chief in East Conemaugh Borough, a position he held since 1999.
His retirement, which was effective Jan. 1, ends a career as an East Conemaugh law officer that began in 1969. He was a captain when he was named police chief.
He was employed part-time until being named chief. He also served as a Conemaugh Township (Cambria County) policeman on a part-time basis for about five years in the 1980s, he said.
He became a member of the East Conemaugh force at the request of former Chief George Fesko, now deceased, who asked him to join the department to fill a vacancy.
He accepted the offer and eventually, he said, being a police officer “caught on” with him.
He enjoyed police work, he said Thursday.
He said he liked helping people and “straightening out” young people who were getting away from the straight and narrow.
During his career, he has dealt with shootings, burglaries, brawls and the like.
He was successful in helping the borough obtain various grants for the police department.
“It’s important to keep updating the equipment,” he said.
He put a special value on the opportunities he had to interact with his neighbors – both young and old.
In recent years, he said some residents were becoming less cooperative with the police.
He mentioned efforts police are making to limit narcotics use in the borough.
“It’s difficult. People don’t want to get involved,” he said.
He believes that some in the community could be more helpful to the police.
Sometimes, he said, it seems people are more interested in keeping an eye on the police rather than the criminals.
Pavic and the former Kathleen Stiffler of Lower Yoder Township were married in 1966. They have three sons – Richard, Vincent and Brian.
There is one grandson, 6-year-old Justin, who is an elementary student in the Ferndale Area School District.
Kathleen Pavic is a ward secretary at Windber Medical Center.
Pavic served in the Marines from 1964 through 1968.
He is not completely retired. Pavic is continuing to work as a security guard for EMF Corp. in Franklin Borough.
His retirement as a police officer will provide more opportunities to travel for him and his wife, he said.
It will give him more time to ride his Harley-Davidson motorcycle, take his speedboat on waterways and fish. He will have more time to spend with Bandit, his 6-year-old poodle.
Pavic has been a disc jockey since the 1970s, he said, going by the moniker DJ Rat Patrol. He plays mainly at parties and weddings, he said.
