SEPTEMBER 2007: AROUND THE STATE
Google loosens lips (a little)
THE DALLES When
last we tried to speak with a real live human at the Google
server plant in The Dalles, the closest we could get was an
e-mail exchange with a corporate type in the Mountain View,
Calif., HQ. But the hyper-secrecy surrounding the
much-ballyhooed plant has receded a bit, and if Ken Patchett
has anything to do with it, the frost will thaw even more.
“Corporate knew they didn’t do the best job they
could have done here,” says Patchett, Google’s
plant manager. “We learned that to protect your
intellectual asset doesn’t mean you need to be a ghost in
the community.”
The Dalles leaders and local and national media (us included)
poked quite a bit of fun at Google for the secrecy they
required. It backfired some, says Patchett. “We realized
that we have a responsibility to be a part of the
community.”
So Patchett, 38, is on a tear of community love, including
getting the company to join the local chamber of commerce, man
a booth at the cherry festival, find computers for a senior
center, wire up a local park stage for summer entertainment and
encourage employees to volunteer on company time. Just for
starters. He’s also proud that of the almost 200 people
employed by the plant, 70% of them come from within a four-hour
drive, including “lots of OSU grads.”
Patchett left a Microsoft job in Washington to join Google in
December. He’s talkative, friendly, loves the Gorge and
has two dogs, four boys and a wife who’s hoping for a
fifth. We don’t sense the indigenous paranoia
common to Silicon Valley types.
“When I got to Google,” says Patchett, “it
was way too much cloak and dagger for
me.”
ROBIN DOUSSARD
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