In the coming year, The Bates County Sheriff’s Posse wants to introduce each Posse member to our community. So every month we will highlight Posse members on our page and website. It will help our communities to know who we are and why we volunteer to serve! We can't wait for you to meet each of these great people! Pablo Ortiz has been with the Bates County Sheriff's Posse since its founding in 2009. His prior experience with the Henry County Posse gave him the interest, experience and skills to help start the Bates County Sheriff’s Posse, alongside Sheriff Anderson, Roger Deardorff, Allen Deardorff, Josh Rushing, Jami and Brad Page, and a few others. Pablo is the only founding member still with the Sheriff’s Posse today, and his expertise and experience is invaluable.
We sat down with Pablo recently to talk about his role with the Posse, where he sees it going and what his personal thoughts are on serving for over 15 years. His first thought expressed was, “If you do not have the interest of the Sheriff himself, it can’t work. The Posse is dependent upon the leadership and direction of the Sheriff.” He attributes Sheriff Anderson's involvement with our Posse's longevity.
Pablo shared memories of those first days which were profound in many ways. The Posse was a very young organization when the Joplin tornado disaster occurred. While the Posse itself was not deployed, many of its members did go alongside the Sheriff’s Office and local Fire Departments. Pablo himself was assigned to a school neighborhood area. He was astounded by the devastation. The roof had been completely pulled off, making the hallways of the school literal tunnels, ripping doors off hinges and whooshing everything from desks and furniture to one end of a very long hallway. He was also heartbroken at the sight of an elderly couple holding hands and looking through the rubble where their home of decades last stood. He said the “silence” of the area was deafening. No sounds of traffic, electrical humming, machinery, voices, dogs barking… just silence.
Pablo found Joplin to be a hard lesson. He saw chaos in the first few days. So many departments were there to help; so many people with multitudes of skills, but no one was fully prepared for the emotional impact of such a disaster.
We asked Pablo, what skills or training should volunteers have to serve on the Posse and support such crisis events? He said training such as CPR, First Aid, Advance Stop the Bleed, Triage of the area, Search and Rescue are all important and necessary training that the Posse provides, but in the moment of such devastation it is overwhelming even for the most experienced. But you just have to put your head down and get to work.
Pablo talked about the early days of the Bates County Sheriff’s Posse. Most of the members were horsemen, like himself, and brought horses to search and rescue events in Bates County. They raised funds in the first two or three years by putting on an Ultimate Horse Challenge. He said these were fun events and helped the Posse raise money to support their mission for training, first aid supplies and equipment.
Pablo sees that the Posse has grown in so many ways over the years, going from 9-10 volunteers to nearly 40 today. He believes the training is greatly improved, the participation is increased to more people with and without horses, and the Posse is involved more in our communities and youth, but most of all there is more volunteer member pride than ever before.
Pablo himself has volunteered in multiple ways in our communities for over 35 years. He has not only served on the Sheriff’s Posse, but has served on the Adrian Volunteer Fire Department and at his church for decades. When asked what motivates him to serve he gave a multi-faceted reply: “What is most satisfying to me is to give back to and serve my community, but also I want to show my grandkids and future generations how to help one another. That's important. It gives me purpose above myself and more self-confidence and self-worth. And I’m always learning - you never get to where you know everything.”
A big family man, Pablo has been married for 43 years, and has 5 children and 22 grandchildren! He says the entire family loves to ride and since he retired this year they all get to do a lot more riding.
Pablo said to be sure to let the entire community know, “There’s an opportunity here for everybody! Even if you don’t have a horse or maybe can’t walk, there are many ways to volunteer with the Bates County Sheriff's Posse. No special skills are needed to start; you just have to want to give back to your community and serve others."
