Dinner Will Honor Sheriff’s Dispatchers

Most days, they are merely the voices on the other end of the telephone line, handling hundreds of thousands of telephone calls a year.

Tonight, Ventura County’s dispatchers are being honored for their long hours under the headsets.

The Ventura County Sheriff’s Department is holding its 16th annual Dispatcher of the Year dinner at the Veterans of Foreign Wars Hall, 3801 Market St., in Ventura.

“These are the best of the bunch,” said Senior Deputy Chuck Buttell of the Sheriff’s Department. “They’re chosen by their peers.”

Dispatchers from every county public service agency--police, fire, ambulance and emergency--will be there, along with family, friends and colleagues. At 6 p.m. there will be no-host cocktails, followed by a chicken or tri-tip dinner at 7 p.m.

Tickets are $10 at the door, and the public is invited.

The county Sheriff’s Department winner has been Dispatcher of the Year twice, Buttell said. Claudia Tolmie has been a dispatcher for the county for nine years, he said, handling emergency 911 and other calls. “And we get close to 1 million phone calls coming through this agency. It’s a very, very difficult job.”