In a message dated 1/2/2005 5:01:58 AM Eastern Standard Time, RIPROVID-D-request@rootsweb.com writes: > Do you know how I might get in touch with the family? Do you think that > Billy McComb is still the Police Chief of Block Island? > Priscilla > For anybody interested in the McComb family, I found the following article from the Block Island Times June 12, 2004 edition. Chief McCombe to retire July 5 By Pippa Jack Chief William McCombe Police Chief William McCombe, who has worked for the New Shoreham Police Department since he was 19, has resigned. McCombe is leaving the force to take a job as security officer with Interstate Navigation. His resignation is effective July 5. "I’ve loved working for the town, and I want to retire with the same enthusiasm with which I started work," McCombe said. "I feel lucky to have found such a good job in my field that doesn’t force me to relocate." McCombe, 44, has been police chief here since May 1992. He first started work on the force under Paul Riker, when the two of them were the only full-time officers on the island. The town had to get special dispensation to make him an officer at 19, he said; the normal age requirement was 25. Since then, McCombe has steered the town through many crises, moving his way up the ranks and attending the FBI Academy, as well as serving as chief of the New England Police Chiefs Association and garnering other honors, not the least a handshake with then-President Bill Clinton during his visit to the island. McCombe said that he’d been planning on waiting to retire until his son, Trevor, graduates from college in another few years, although he’s already eligible for a full pension. But after consulting with Interstate Navigation earlier this year, as the company works to bring itself into compliance with new Homeland Security regulations, McCombe got an offer that was too good to refuse. "I’ve known the Linda family for a long time," McCombe said of the owners of Interstate, "and I’m looking forward to working with them." McCombe’s position with Interstate will be full-time, he said. It starts in early July, as per Homeland Security requirements; the town has agreed to let him out of his contract in time to start the job. "It’s going to give me a chance to remain on the island, which is my home, where I met my wife and raised my family," McCombe said. "I didn’t want to pass this up because I didn’t know if another opportunity would come up for which I wouldn’t have to relocate." McCombe said Block Island has been a great place to work. "The community has been very good to me," he said. "I feel truly lucky that the town invested so much in me. And the town councils I’ve worked with have been very supportive." The thing McCombe’s enjoyed most? "Working with the kids," he said. From outreach programs up at the school to dealing with delinquency, McCombe said he’s enjoyed treating the kids how he himself would like to have been treated, fairly and without compromise. Brenda Bova President, Golden Gate Services, Inc. Webmaster, GenealogyForum.com (http://www.genealogyforum.com) Co. Coordinator, Providence Co., RIGenWeb and Bristol Co., RIGenWeb Listowner - RIProvid-L, RIBristo-L, FISKE-L, DANFORTH-L See my ancestors at http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~bova/index.html