Oregon State Sheriffs' Association

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The Counties of the State of Oregon

Executive Director
Raul Ramirez

PO Box 7468
Salem, OR 97303

503-364-4204
1-800-624-4405

Contact the Morrow County Sheriff's Office
&
Sheriff Kenneth Matlack

Office Phone:	(541) 676-5317
FAX Phone:	(541) 676-5577
Address:	P.O. Box 159 Heppner, OR 97838

OREGON SHERIFF Magazine News

Sheriff Matlack grew up in the Irrigon and Umatilla area and graduated from Umatilla High School in 1967. He graduated from Eastern Oregon State College in 1971 with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Education. He was a public school teacher and coach at Powder Valley High School in North Powder Oregon until the Oregon State Police recruited him in 1974.

Ken met his wife Donna in the first grade in Irrigon and they were married shortly after high school. They have been married for 37 years and raised two daughters.

Ken was assigned and promoted to a variety of different positions in the Oregon State Police including Trooper, Detective, Detective Sergeant, and Patrol Sergeant. In 1988 he was promoted to Assistant Station Command in The Dalles and in 1993 he was assigned as Outpost Commander in Arlington and supervised State Police field operations in Gilliam, Wheeler and a small portion of Morrow County. He retired from the Oregon State Police in March 1999.

Upon retiring from the Oregon State Police, Ken received his private investigator license and worked as a private investigator in Oregon and Washington. He also worked for several years as a contract investigator with the Oregon Department of Corrections and worked at Two Rivers Correctional Institution in Umatilla and Eastern Oregon Correctional Institution in Pendleton where he conducted background investigations on Correctional Officer and management positions.

Winter, 2007 -- The Morrow County Sheriff's Office participated in a cooperative undercover sting operation in The Dalles. Two scrap buying businesses were rumored to be buying scrap metal without maintaining appropriate records. Wire and metal theft have increased dramatically in recent years as drug users steal and sell metal for money to support their drug habits. The operation found one business in compliance and the other not.

Morrow County

Sheriff Kenneth Matlack