By Adam Studzinski

BLOOMINGTON – A man, who spent nearly four decades as a dispatcher in McLean County, is calling it a career.

Andy Stubblefield, who started dispatching when he was just 19, retired Thursday after 38 years. Two of those years were spent dispatching for LeRoy and 36 with the McLean County Sheriff’s Department and MetCom.

Stubblefield said a lot has changed during his career. As an example, when he first started everything was done with paper and pencil.

“Now, today, we have a computer dispatch system where you put the address in, and the call, and it decides who sends it for you,” said Stubblefield. “So, it’s changed dramatically. We went from paper, to pen, to (a) punch card system, to computer system now.”

Stubblefield said all the change has led to a much different mindset for dispatchers.

“Back then, for, like, ambulances, we just called a 7-digit number for a town (and) said we need an ambulance to go to such-and-such a place,” said Stubblefield. “Now-a-days we give pre-medical information before an ambulance gets to the calls. We do CPR on the phone and things like that.”

Stubblefield reflected on one of his more memorable calls, which came not long after his career began in 1979.

“We had a hostage situation that happened one night out in Colfax where the police chief, and the mayor, and her husband were taken hostage. We had a disgruntled person over a garbage contract,” said Stubblefield. “That went on for about four hours. It came pretty close twice that we thought he was going to kill all the hostages.”

Stubblefield explained it will take awhile for the fact he’s retired to settle in, but he’s looking forward to no longer having to wake up at 6 a.m. His plan is to continue volunteer work at the Bloomington Township Fire Department, Mutual Aid Box and Arm System (MABAS), and McLean County Disaster Council.

Adam Studzinski can be reached at [email protected].