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Retired police chief: A lifetime protecting – and teaching people

Robert Hetner recently retired as South Williamsport police chief, ending a law enforcement odyssey that began at the age of 19 as a South Williamsport School District police officer.

In the middle of that odyssey he spent 20 years as a social studies teacher in the East Lycoming School District and seven years as that district’s police officer.

He took over as South Williamsport police chief in 2012.

So, for about half a century, Hetner has been watching over people in our schools and communities, either guiding them, protecting them or enforcing some necessary discipline over them.

There are not a lot of people who can put on their life’s resume a half century teaching-policing portfolio.

It seems there are fewer and fewer people who maintain the same career path for a lifetime. The ones who do public service for a lifetime deserve the satisfaction of knowing they have, over the years, helped to guide people to the correct living path. Maybe they were the difference between a mistake that would cost someone a productive life and a better choice that put them on the road to success.

And that’s really what police and teachers are meant to do – albeit in different ways – keep people on the correct path.

Chief Hetner started policing before there was 911 in our area. That’s how long he’s been protecting people.

We wish him satisfaction and peace in his retirement.

And we wish the same for all the people in our region who teach and protect. They are on the short list of the most noble professions.

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