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Yant speeding toward retirement

Lucky for Marshall, a helpful father reminded a young Rob Yant that math wasn’t his strong suit in school.

His father’s guidance led Yant down a path that eventually led to a law enforcement career instead of pursuing his desire to go fast and become a pilot.

“As a little kid I wanted to be a pilot,” Yant told me while sitting under a tent set UP at Independence Park for Tuesday’s National Night Out event. The Marshall city administrator had just released a press release announcing Yant’s retirement plans after 43 years of public service. More than 20 of those years were served in Marshall as public safety director.

Reporter Deb Gau was tied up with another story, so I raced to Independence park to get some quotes. And like a suspect facing a lot of time in the big house, he was ready to sing.

“I thought it would be awesome (on being a pilot). I always liked to go fast,” he said. “I had always done well (in school), but my poorest grade was always math. My dad broke the cruel news that to be a pilot, you have to be good in math. I couldn’t understand that, but he said you just do.”

So the young Yant pursued his other dream — law enforcement. And he has never looked back.

“No two days are the same. You get to drive a nice car and the city gets to pay for the gas. You get to shoot a gun and they (city) pay for the ammunition. And you get to help people.”

And helping people, it turns out, was Yant’s strong suit. That ability to help others benefitted his career and eventually the people of Marshall. During his tenure, he has guided not only the police department, but the fire department.

He was influential in the development of the Chemical Assessment Team and the Minnesota Emergency Response and Industrial Training center.

Under his watch, violent crime is virtually non-existent in this community of nearly 14,000 people. There are no controversial police shootings. There were some close calls though.

“We had an event where there were some young guys out with some BB guns,” he recalled. “They were thinking they were just BB guns, but they looked like real guns and scared people.”

Yant said incidents like this can have tragic endings. People get hurt or killed. It has happened in other communities throughout the nation. But not here.

“I think our people had the right judgment and didn’t let that happen,” he said. “It was BB guns and they (young men) identified them as BB guns. They are going to be charged with disorderly conduct and it’s a city violation. They were firing them up in the air. So it’s going over to the city attorney for consideration and they were released. It was over by one of our private schools and their staff and students were scared by it. The officers had a little conversation with those guys. They were young adults and they were reminded they needed to be little more responsible.

“The point is, everybody went home. That’s the good thing. We have good officers, good training,” he said.

But Yant emphasized his police officers face the many of the same dangers as in other cities that involve mental illness and substance abuse issues.

“Our officers earn their money. I really can’t stress what a good job the officers from Marshall do. The good thing is, the public doesn’t get to see that. And that’s because we have had no bad outcomes. We haven’t had shootings. We haven’t had robberies. Things like that. The only major crime right now is bike thefts. That is why we encourage registering your bike and locking it and things like that,”

Yant said Marshall hasn’t avoided tragedy during his tenure. He will never forget “Baby Marshall” 15 years ago.

“A baby was born and it ended up going into the toilet and dying there,” he said. “That was a tough thing that it happened in public. It showed Marshall as a community had a really good response. The community came together, embraced the baby and named it ‘Baby Marshall.’ Funds were raised to pay for a funeral for it. Ultimately, the mother was identified and charged, but she didn’t go to prison.”

During our conversation, a young man came up to Yant to say hi. Yant said that exchange reminded him of what he likes most about his job.

“That’s part of the enjoyment. Marshall is a city where we engage with the public,” he said. “We go out to lunch and people come up and thank you for your service and we appreciate what you do. If I was dealing with the rigors of some of these other environments, I don’t think I could have lasted 21 years.

He did last that long. But after each story he shared with me, he reminded me that he is ready to merge into the slow lane and retire.

“I’m getting old enough. I got some health issues. You don’t always know how long you got. Much as I enjoy working, I want to have the chance to enjoy the next stage of my life, past having a career. I have done this over 43 years, I want to be able to enjoy retirement,” he said.

And, there is still that need to speed feeling inside him. When he gets that feeling, he will jump on his Yamaha cruiser.

“It’s a big bike,” he said. “I’ve only gotten one speeding ticket. That was many years ago. I try to be discreet, but if I go (fast) it will probably be on my bike. You get more of the sensation for speed on a motorcycle.”

And don’t worry, Yant vows to wear his safety gear and follow the laws of the road. Public safety will always be part of him.

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