o His wife, Lorna Atkins, helped bring an Atlanta-based nonprofit called Teach One to Lead One to Vancouver. The community mentoring program aims to help at-risk kids, especially during their freshman year. When she was an employee with the Evergreen School District, Lorna Atkins helped start the program at Mountain View High School. Today, the nonprofit serves more than 400 students in six Clark County schools.
This year marks the first time a new face has led the Clark County Sheriff’s Office in 24 years, with 60-year-old Republican Chuck Atkins stepping into the leading role. He’s been sheriff for nearly six months now, but how much do you really know about Atkins? The Columbian sat down with the Clark County sheriff and got to know him on a personal level. Here are five things we learned:
1. When he comes home from police work … he watches police work
The television show that Atkins can’t turn off when it’s on? “The First 48.” The real-crime documentary series follows detectives during the first two days following a homicide. Atkins attended the FBI Academy and worked as a detective investigating violent crimes in the early 1980s, so he knows firsthand that the likelihood of solving a crime is cut in half if you don’t at least identify a suspect during this time frame. He also enjoys news magazine shows such as “20/20” and “Dateline,” and watches “Modern Family” when he wants some mindless fun.
2. His sister’s disabilities helped shape him
His sister Kelli, four years his junior, contracted German measles, and complications from the disease led her to become deaf and blind. The Atkins family moved from San Jose, Calif., to Clark County before Chuck Atkins’ sophomore year of high school so that Kelli Atkins could attend the Washington School for the Deaf. “She wasn’t supposed to live until she was 4, let alone 40,” he said. Kelli Atkins died in 2002 at age 43. When Atkins and his siblings were younger, they developed their own language to communicate, and that experience helped him become comfortable around people with disabilities. “Early on, it made me understand that there are people out there who are different and I really got to see how being different can have a huge impact on people,” he said.