Beerchaser Notables – An Excellent Public Servant and Three Outstanding Entrepreneurs – Part I

Posted on June 23, 2026 by Thebeerchaser

Welcome back to Thebeerchaser. This is a long post. If you are seeing this post through an e-mail, please visit the blog by clicking on the title at the top to see all of the photos and so the narrative is not clipped or shortened.

Followers of Thebeerchaser.com know that periodically, I depart from my joyful journey of expounding on the ambiance, history and staff involved with bars and breweries. I caption these side trips “Beerchasing Notables.”

They are individuals or groups, who may or may not have anything to do with bars or beers (one of them in these two posts is a great young man who isn’t even old enough to legally raise a mug…). But they have interesting stories worth sharing.

Past recipients of this “honor” – most of whom I’ve known – have included, war heroes, authors, athletes, academicians – even my graduate school professor of Public Finance (Dr. John Walker) and the crew of the USS Constitution to name just a few.

To get the entire list, hit the tab “Beerchaser Notable” in the header for some examples. (# (External photo attribution at the end of the post – #1)

Four All-Stars

So stay tuned for narratives and photos of Oddis Rollins, West Linn Chief of Police; Scott Andersson, founder and owner of Ace Computer Repair LLC in West Linn; Elliot Schwartz, a new graduate of Lakeridge High School, owner and founder of PaneCrime Window Cleaning; and Don Fuchs, lawyer and CEO of Harris Thermal Transfer Products.

Police Chief Oddis Rollins

In the title of this post, I used the term, “public servant.” Some may conclude that the description is demeaning or negative; however, I would strongly counter that assertion. (#2)

To me, it implies a person who is “dedicated, committed and essential to community wellbeing, emphasizing their role in delivering services, maintaining systems, and acting in the public good.” www.publicservants.com.

I might be biased because my wife, Janet and I, met in 1979, while both working in local government and went on to earn graduate degrees in Public Administration. Our combined service in governmental organizations was just over twenty years. (You can tell from the newspaper photos below that this was a long time ago….)

In fact, Janet served for several years as the Assistant City Manager in West Linn. We ended our careers in non-profit education administration and legal management respectively. We valued our time and greatly respected our colleagues in the public realm. (#3 – #4)

I first had contact with Captain Oddis Rollins before he was Chief, when I worked for several years trying to get a signaled crosswalk in what was a very hazardous West Linn intersection near our home – obviously not a high priority for an Assistant Chief.

He did a wonderful job keeping me informed and helping to push it through the City bureaucracy as well as promoting enforcement of speed limits and the plans for a new motorcycle traffic officer who would include that area in his patrols. I’m convinced that the end result, shown below, saved some lives.

The Police Department has a good record of community outreach with programs such as “Coffee with the Chief” and Patrol Ride-alongs.

In 2022, I had a forty-minute chat with Rollins’ predecessor, Chief Peter Mahuna in his office over coffee. Since I both enjoyed and learned lot from my coffee with Chief Mahuna, I repeated the experience with the new Chief earlier this year. (#5)

“Join us for Coffee with the Chief – a relaxed, come-as-you-are chance to connect over a cup of coffee.

Whether you’re curious about community outreach, crime trends, neighborhood concerns, or just want to chat about sports or whatever’s on your mind, the Chief is happy to talk. No agenda, no speeches – just good conversation, good coffee, and a chance to get to know each other.”

It was no surprise that Oddis Rollins, after serving as Interim Chief, was promoted after an extensive recruitment for the Police Chief position in February 2026.

He had served ten years as a police officer and detective with the Tigard Police Department, sergeant at West (WLPD) since January 2015 and WLPD captain since August 2018.

Both guys were athletes in college – Mahuna at Pacific University and Rollins at Gonzaga and as you can tell from the pictures above, both have impressive physical bearings which are matched by their personalities and command presence.

Oddis Rollins told me that he originally was a pre-med major but in an Emergency Room internship, a guy came in with a compound fracture. “I looked at the bone sticking through the skin and took a header!”

He graduated in Exercise Science, but then was not enamored with physical therapy as a profession, so six years later began his law enforcement career. (#6)

Rollins appointed as Chief

West Linn is a dynamic suburban community of 28,000 residents twelve miles south of Portland. Serving as Police Chief is a challenge as one has multiple and demanding constituencies ranging from the citizens, the City Manager, to the City Council and the Police Department personnel – often with competing priorities.

I was extremely impressed with the Chief’s philosophy and what I have seen in social and print media. For example, each week he does a video entitled “One Minute with the Chief.” They are varied and well done as you can see from the following example which I think is outstanding: https://www.facebook.com/reel/1294436402900614

I think Oddis Rollins will have a very successful tenure in position and my community is fortunate to have him. (#7 – #11)

Ace in the “Whole...”

How many times have you called a large corporation such as an airline to make a reservation or clarify an issue. Or maybe it’s just to have a simple question answered which their AI chat feature doesn’t get right.

The last time I called Alaska Airlines to check on how to use a companion fare, the cheerful automated persona (who would not make a good companion for anyone…) cheerfully stated, “Our attendants are all currently busy. Your waiting time is thee hours and seventeen minutes.”

Of course, they always give you the option to hang-up, and they’ll put you in a return-call queue. But I’ve found the probability of that happening is only slightly better than me being able to read every chapter in War and Peace during the wait-time. (#12)

Last year, I had a problem with my Windows desktop, so I accessed the Microsoft chat feature. The conversation began: “You are chatting with Ibrahim Abdulla. Your case number is 102,577,875,296 – 04/16/2025 2:26 PM.”

Shortly after I ended the chat, I realized that I forgot to ask Ibrahim one question, so I initiated another dialogue – this time the response – only five minutes later was, “You are chatting with Juliana Elizabeth. Your case number is 102,577,877,834 – 04/16/2025 2:31 PM.”

It made me wonder how many techies were handling these calls and where they were located, since in that five-minute span “they” collectively handled over 2,500 additional inquiries. For the most part, I solved my problem, but since then I decided to get smarter.

The solution was only three miles from my house. That would be Scott Andersson and his son, Sean, at Ace Computer Repair LLC!

From my several long conversations with him in his shop and a house call where he “saved my bacon” on a printer/scanner problem for which no one else seemed to have the solution, I’ve concluded that Scott is an entrepreneurial genius who eschewed the corporate route.

Since founding his shop in 1980 (the oldest computer shop in West Linn) he, along with his son, Sean, have built their shop’s reputation as one of the best technical problems solvers in Oregon – with no advertising – just referrals. “My customers work for me and hand out about 1,000 business cards per year.”

A California native, he went to Troy High School, where he played tight-end on the football team and took classes at Cal State-Fullerton before graduating and moving to Oregon in 1976.

Rather than go the traditional college route, he started taking classes at Portland Community College and transferred to the Engineering program at Portland State. This was after he got distracted by a “beautiful lady named Sally” to whom he’s now been married for forty-six years. (Sally had a successful heart transplant thirty-two months ago at Oregon Health Sciences Center.)

I’ve been amazed at the clients who drop in when I’ve visited him. They range from old guys like me who are marginally conversant with technology and have laptop or desktop issues, to young computer jocks or small businesspeople who have esoteric software or network challenges.

Scott handles everything (virus removal, hardware repair, network design, hard disc replacement, etc.) except cell phones and video games although he does do a lot of flight simulator work. And don’t forget global ham radio which is a story in itself.

The picture was snapped when he made a house call to fix my printer/scanner and I persuaded him to have a Benedictine Black Habit (check out his right hand) so I could interview him for the blog. (That was only part of his tip because his charge was so reasonable.)

About 40% of his clients are remote, so if you are in Keokuk, Iowa or Santa Fe, he can help you. Alternatively, people like me who are within about ten miles can get Support on Site (SOS), and Scott says he was the first in Oregon to offer SOS at a flat fee.

Another factor which sold me on Ace is Scott’s commitment to recycling. Not only have I taken old computer hardware there, but other things which I don’t want to end in the landfill. He works with a non-profit to repurpose these items.

Being from a Navy family, Scott has a heart for veterans (“I take care of my veterans…”) and I’ve seen a number who are not only there to get a laptop fixed, but to just share a story. And Scott is very good at that.

In Closing

My crosstown high school rival – West Linn – is a great community as evidenced by the Beerchaser Notables you’ve met in this post – Chief Oddis Rollins and Scott Anderson. Stay tuned for Part II where you will meet two additional entrepreneurs who have great stories.

External Photo Attribution

#1. Public domain – Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Blue_flag_with_white_star_in_centre_1x2.png) This logo image consists only of simple geometric shapes or text. It does not meet the threshold of originality needed for copyright protection, and is therefore in the public domain. Author: CentreLeftRight – 30 January 2020.

#2. City of West Linn Website (City of West Linn Appoints Oddis Rollins as Chief of Police | City of West Linn Oregon Official Website).

#3 – #4. The Enterprise Courier photo archives.

#5. Wikimedia Commons (File: Coffee cup and saucer.jpg – Wikimedia Commons) Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license. Author: Navaneeth Krishnan S – 31 July2023.

#6 – #11 West Linn Police Department Facebook Photos (https://www.facebook.com/WestLinnPD).

#12. Public Domain – Wikimedia Commons (File:Clock-pendulum.gif – Wikimedia Commons) I, the copyright holder of this work, release this work into the public domain. This applies worldwide. Author: ЮК 26 February 2009.

Beerchaser Notables – Author Warren Easley

Posted on August 27, 2024 by Thebeerchaser

(External Photo Attribution at the end of the post #1)

I have been remiss! Since starting this blog in late 2011, one of the features I’ve both enjoyed and on which I’ve gotten good feedback is my Beerchaser-of-the-Quarter (BOQ) posts.

Followers of Thebeerchaser will remember that these narratives feature individuals or groups which may or may not have anything to do with beer or bars but have a good story and in my humble opinion have made a contribution to society.

Past recipients of this “honor” include veterans (including a number of combat heroes), academicians, athletes, clerics, media personalities and, of course, lawyers. I’ve known the great majority personally and have interviewed many before writing.

For a fairly complete list through 2020, check out the following link: https://thebeerchaser.com/2020/12/13/beerchasers-of-the-quarter-who-what-why/

(The photos below show just a few. Clockwise from left)

Ret. Colonel Terry (Spike) McKinsey USMC, Author Brian Doyle, Fr. Chuck Wood, Duane (Thumper) Barton 1967 OSU Giant Killer Football, Environments Jack and Jan McGowan, 1798 Crew of the US Constitution (Old Ironsides). (#2)

The pandemic precluded my visits to bars and breweries temporarily and for some reason, I stopped naming new BOQs. I’ve at least done some updates, however, such as that in my last post on Little Beast Brewing, which demonstrates why Jack and Amy Faust and Jim Westwood garnered this label initially.

I’ve identified a number of worthy characters for the future, whose stories you would enjoy; however, researching, interviewing and writing once per quarter is a constraint I find a bit daunting – and perhaps interfering with the further exploration of new watering holes.

So I’m changing the title to “Beerchasing Notables.” (no specific timeline for naming them) Now meet my first – Warren C. Easley.

Two Careers

Warren Easley is a Pacific Northwest author who, before taking pen-in-hand to author compelling mystery novels starting in 2012, had a distinguished career as a research scientist and international business executive.

He graduated from UCal-Riverside in Chemistry and earned a PhD in Physical Chemistry from UCal-Berkley. (#3 – #4)

Warren now lives in Aurora, Oregon with his wife, Marge and dog, Archie, where he’s working on his tenth novel. You’ll definitely be interested in how they got to Oregon, but you’ll have to wait until my next post.

A Change of Pace in Authors

Without a hint of apology, I’m a great fan of escapist crime and adventure novels and my list (which I’ve kept on Excel for the last twenty years) is filled with fiction by Nelson DeMille, Lee Child, David Baldacci, James Crumley, etc.

I’ve also read all of the books by former Portland attorney, Phillip Margolin – one of my favorites because the settings for his New York Best-Seller crime novels are predominantly in Portland.

I was looking for a change of pace and happened upon an article in Portland newspaper, Willamette Week, by its former publisher, Richard Meeker.

As an aside, my friendship with Richard goes back to the early 1980’s, when his wife Ellen Rosenblum – now Oregon’s Attorney General – was on the Board of Governors of the Oregon State Bar and I worked there as Business Manager. (#5 – #6)

Before the quarterly Board meetings, Richard, four other attorney Board members and I used to have early-morning cut-throat ninety-minute three-on-three basketball games before the meeting commenced.

During a recent lunch, I suggested to Richard that I had a better elbow jumper, but he reminded me of the meeting in Newport, Oregon, where they had to delay my report to the Board while I was delayed in my hotel room vomiting after I overexerted myself. (He maintains it was from trying to guard him…..)

After reading Richard’s April 18, 2023 review in the paper entitled,” The Ninth Book (Fatal Flaw) in Oregon Author Warren C. Easley’s Cal Claxton Series Is a Deeply Plotted and Locally Set Delight.” (#7)

Since I trusted Richard’s judgement on fiction more than his ability to defend a pick-and-roll, I checked out Easley’s first novel at the library. Just as Warren expertly reels in trout on Oregon’s Deschutes River, he had me hooked (barbless) after two chapters.

Meeker states in his review:

“Each is populated with well-known local Portland hangouts, and each captures the flavor of our special place.

The Cal Claxton (his protagonist) mysteries are well plotted with believable, multidimensional characters. They are so good and compelling I plowed through all nine in the past three or four months, in the order in which they were written.” (#8)

And after reading part way through his first novel, Matters of Doubt, I discovered a connection. Notwithstanding his professional career in science and technology, Warren has an excellent grasp on what it’s like to practice law.

The Setting

A family tragedy results in Cal Claxton moving to Oregon where he sets up a solo-practice after being a hot-shot prosecutor in LA. Claxton’s new office and historical home are in the beautiful hills overlooking the rural community of Dundee (population 3,238).

It’s located in the heart of Oregon’s Willamette Valley wine country – about twenty-five miles from Portland. He also has a small office where he does pro-bono work in downtown Portland. (#9)

A sole practitioner’s existence is far different than that of a 150 lawyer Northwest regional law firm (Schwabe Williamson & Wyatt) with five offices, that I helped manage.

Author Easley, however, has an accurate understanding of legal ethics issues such as conflicts, billing practices, pro-bono representation and the constant pressure lawyers face balancing a consuming professional routine with a balanced life outside the office.

This perspective and his reference to many local points of interest in Portland and the Northwest made it compelling for me.

A Further Connection?

Further piquing my interest, Dundee – on Highway 18 on the way to the Oregon Coast – is also home of Lumpy’s Landing – one of my favorite bars and one of two dives at which the idea for my Beerchasing journey germinated shortly before my retirement – the other being the Stanley Rod and Gun Whitewater Saloon (in Idaho)

A Dundee Classic

Reaching Out

Warren Easley gives his e-mail address on his excellent website (Warreneasley.com) so although realizing there was a good chance that he wouldn’t respond, I still sent a missive inviting him to have a beer.

He and his wife had recently moved to Aurora – about halfway between Portland and Salem, and we agreed to meet for a brewski at the Aurora Colony Pub. I love watering holes in old historic buildings and the Pub is a perfect example:

“The building dates back to the 1930’s…originally home to a grocery store, then a barber shop, followed by a small tavern. You will find the original meat locker door in the middle of the main bar seating area which is still keeping our kegs and bottles of beer cold.

The pub is authentic with its sloping concrete floors, tin roof and old American atmosphere.”

This July, 2024 Yelp review portrayed it accurately:

“Looking for a stiff drink, the coldest beer in town, or a great meal? The colony pub has you covered.”

We didn’t order food, but looking at the menu where breakfast is served until noon, and reasonably-priced periodic specials include chicken-fried steak, taco bowls and an outstanding looking Reuben-burger with a “slow-roasted prime rib dinner” on Saturday for ($22.99) I vowed a return trip.

The tap list wasn’t robust but suited us fine as did the free popcorn – a fixture which is seen at fewer and fewer watering holes. (#10 – #12)

Warren and I had an excellent chat over beers. Since he mentions local Dundee businesses and eateries – some fictitious such as “Bake My Day”.” (Actual bakeries in London, GoldendaIe, WA and Mobile Alabama…..) – I asked him if he had ever raised a mug at Lumpy’s.

When he responded in the negative, I strongly suggested that we have a follow-up to complete my interview at this great dive – known for signs outside the entrance which state, “Our beer is a cold as your exe’s heart.”

Stay tuned for the whole story!

I was happy that Warren agreed and stay tuned for my next post in which I relate his interesting background and the details of his double career that I gleaned over beers at both the Aurora Colony Pub and Lumpy’s Landing.

Cheers

External Photo Attribution

#1. Willamette Week (The Ninth Book in Oregon Author Warren C. Easley’s Cal Claxton Series Is a Deeply Plotted and Locally Set Delight (wweek.com).

#2. Public Domain – Wikimedia Commons (File:The USS Constitution by C. Myron Clark.jpg – Wikimedia Commons) This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published (or registered with the U.S. Copyright Office) before January 1, 1929. Author: C. Myron Clark – 1876 – 1925.

#3. Public Domain – Wikimedia Commons (File:University of California, Riverside logo.svg – Wikimedia Commons) This image of simple geometry is ineligible for copyright and therefore in the public domain, because it consists entirely of information that is common property and contains no original authorship. Author: University of California, Riverside – 12 August 2015.

#4. Public Domain – Wikimedia Commons (File:Seal of University of California, Berkeley.svg – Wikimedia Commons) This work is based on a work in the public domain. It has been digitally enhanced and/or modified. This derivative work has been (or is hereby) released into the public domain by its author, Casecrer. This applies worldwide. Author: University of California, Berkeley – 2014.

#5. Willamette Week (WNN – Willamette Week – Interviews (whoneedsnewspapers.org).

#6. Oregon Department of Justice (Ellen F. Rosenblum, Attorney General – Oregon Department of Justice : Media (state.or.us).

#7. (Warren C. Easley – Author of the (warreneasley.com).

#8. (Warren C. Easley – Author of the (warreneasley.com).

#9. Wikimedia Commons (File:Willamette Valley Wine Country (25134584933).jpg – Wikimedia Commons) Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license. Author: Sheila Sund – 30 August 2015.

#10 – #12. Aurora Colony Pub Facebook Page (https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=461267196004801&set=a.461267156004805).