In 1986 Patty Melson was promised two years of work in dispatch at the Lebanon Police Department.
Three decades later, she is looking forward to retirement.
“My father saw (the job listing) in the paper and told me about it,” Melson said. “I was a single mother with two kids looking for work.”
The shifts in those first years were difficult. Her work week consisted of a mix of graveyard, day and swing shifts.
“Between…