Local highway supervisor now local trooper

By PHYLLIS ZORN

Staff writer

After nearly three years without a road trooper assigned to Marion County, Trooper Kenneth “Dean” Baldwin will soon be a familiar sight on the highways.

Baldwin graduated from the Kansas Highway Patrol Training Academy Dec. 7 and will spend his first 77 working days doing field training under two field training officers.

A home-grown native who graduated from Marion High School in 1988, Baldwin worked for the Kansas Department of Transportation from April 1995 to June 30. He was an equipment operator in Marion and then highway supervisor in McPherson.

He now is 47, but the rigorous training program didn’t deter him.

“I was prepared for it,” Baldwin said. “When I graduated from high school I went into the Air Force. I was prepared to do whatever I needed.”

Baldwin said becoming a trooper is something he’s wanted to do for a long time, and now that his daughter, Sydnee, has graduated high school and he no longer follows her to sports events, the time was right for him to pursue a career with the patrol.

“I’m excited to get to work,” Baldwin said.

Lt. Eric Rust, Baldwin’s Highway Patrol supervisor, said Baldwin’s assignment includes patrolling roads in McPherson, Chase, and Morris counties, but he will live in Marion County.

Rust, who also lives and sometimes patrols roads in Marion County, spends most of his own time on duty at Troop C Headquarters in Salina. Rust said it is good there will be a trooper assigned to the roads here on a regular basis.

As with all troopers, Baldwin will sometimes be called to help in a county other than his primary assignment, but he’ll spend most of his time in his assigned area.