Profile January 16, 2002
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Will Cybulski, our northern correspondentby David Brison
"An ex-cop who loves to write"Will Cybulski has been our northern correspondent ever since he lost his bid to become a member of the North Frontenac council on November 13, 2000.An incident during Wills campaign for council gave him an opportunity to show readers of The Frontenac News that he was not only a promising aspiring politician (his 601 votes came within 48 votes of defeating incumbent Dick Hook), but also a writer of some merit.
The incident -- on a late night stint getting the paper out, Id realized that we had pictures of all the candidates for council except Will. I wrote that I couldnt show what he looked like, but could describe him, He looks like a Polish Wyatt Erp.
In a letter to the editor (November 7, 2000), after pointing out that I had misspelled Earp, Will explained what he thought I meant by that comment, that we were both tall ex-lawmen with droopy moustaches. In a journalistic sleight of hand, Will went on to show that although he shared some bad traits with Earp, he had during 30 years with the OPP managed to either repress them or turn them to his advantage in an honourable way. He then of course graciously allowed the comparison to Earps good traits like absolute confidence in himself, his strength, proficiency, and courage to stand without further comment on his part.
The letter, which can be found on the News Web at www.newsweb.ca is funny and brilliantly crafted. Of course, Will came to writing long before he wrote that letter to the editor.
He is farm boy from near Wilno, an early Polish settlement in the Round Lake area, where his grandparents had emigrated in the late 1800s to escape religious persecution. He joined the OPP cadet program in 1968. His first assignment was in Prescott, where he became a constable in 1970 and stayed until 1982. He got to know a reporter from the Prescott Journal and often stopped in at the paper late at night and helped with the paste-.
He eventually became the Public Information Officer for the Prescott OPP (before it was common to have OPP press officers) and wrote a weekly column for the Journal. In his columns, he gave policing a human slant, commented on safety issues, and reviewed new legislation.
Will had found a home in Prescott; he was a member of the Lions Club and coached baseball, but he left of his own accord because he wanted to work in the north. His next assignment was at Pickel Lake -- an isolated northern community 420 miles northwest of Thunder Bay. He stayed there for six and a half years, becoming detachment commander in his last two years.
The OPP headquarters burned to the ground while he was commander. Will set up the office in a trailer and made a controversial decision to use an OPP van for overnight lockups. Although that decision was criticized, everyone soon realized that he had no alternative, and the decision was supported.
The next stop for Will was Elk Lake in northeastern Ontario, where he was detachment commander (1989-94). He left there to become the Kaladar detachment commander for two years (1994- 96), and then ended his career with the OPP in Napanee as a court officer. He retired to the shores of Marble Lake in 1998 with wife Kathy Gerrie, a member of the Sharbot Lake OPP, who hed met in Pickel Lake (she was a geologist) and their two children Kalyn, 16, and Shayla, 14.
In reflecting on his OPP career, Will says, I was a problem child for the OPP I was branded a radical because I had long hair and a moustache, which we were constantly fighting over, and I was one of the first constables to wear an ear stud. I had to put tape over the ear stud on duty. But I did good work, and that was respected.
Since retiring, Will has been employed as volunteer coordinator for the Land O Lakes Community Association, and in that capacity applied for and received a grant for an Alzheimers initiative in conjunction with the Pine Meadows nursing home.
Will loves to write and can churn out stories on a wide variety of topics (see his Food and Friends column in this weeks issue). He feels that his writing has been influenced by a habit of obsessive reading he is a self-confessed print freak. I try to write like I read, he says. He also paints and draws, and thinks that art has an influence on the way he composes his articles.
Will has recently agreed to edit the Progressive Conservative newsletter in his area. One senses in talking with him that he still has political aspirations.
