Baxter County Sheriff’s office forms foundation from bequest
The Baxter County Sheriff’s office has formed a nonprofit foundation with a $33,000 bequest, which will be used to enhance the services of the sheriff’s office, officials announced Thursday.
The Baxter County Sheriff’s Foundation was formed after Robert Griffith, 85, of Midway left money in his will to local organizations, including the sheriff’s office. Griffith died in January.
“He wanted to do something to help others,” said Baxter County Sheriff John Montgomery, who announced the foundation’s inception at the sheriff’s office open house Thursday evening.
Montgomery, who did not know Griffith, said the sheriff’s office had taken him to his dialysis appointments during bad weather on occasion.
“That’s something we do,” Montgomery said, adding that Griffith’s gift will impact many lives.
The nonprofit foundation is governed by seven directors and funds will be used for items “over and beyond” the sheriff’s office operating budget, such as specialized equipment and training or school scholarships for sheriff’s office employees or their children, Montgomery said.
The foundation also will enable people to bequeath money or give tax-deductible donations to the fund.
Montgomery said to his knowledge, this is the first foundation in the state created for a sheriff’s office.
Griffith’s close friends, who attended the open house, said Griffith wanted his donations to stay in the community and would be happy knowing his money was used to start a foundation.
“He’d be very proud,” said Ed Druml of Midway.
His friends said Griffith also donated money to The Salvation Army and the American Legion.
The Baxter County Sheriff’s Foundation board of directors are Mary James, Stephen Luelf, Bob Cooke, Randall Drake, Kathy Leuck, Karen Montgomery and T.C. Carter. John Montgomery and his designee, Capt. Jeff Lewis, also sit on the board.
Montgomery also announced the sherriff’s office received a $23,000 U.S. Department of Justice grant to upgrade video surveillance at the Baxter County Court Complex and install surveillance at the sheriff’s office administrative building.
The surveillance can be monitored from remote locations, Lewis said.
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Dealership Offers “Clunkers” As K-9 Training Ground
The “cash for clunkers” trade-in program left Arch Abraham Nissan, 5013 Detroit Road, Sheffield, with lots of old cars sitting around.
So executive manager Mike Abraham figured out something to do with them — he allowed Lorain County Sheriff’s deputies to unleash six K-9 officers for an intense training session.
The dogs were ready for the challenge — finding drugs the deputies had hidden inside the vehicles.
Their sensitive noses helped the dogs ferret out the drugs wrapped in baggies, placed into canvas bags and put into metal boxes, all of which were concealed in the scrapped cars.
“They’re unbelievable,” Abraham said of the pack of four-legged crime fighters.
One by one, the dogs took turns finding heroin, marijuana, crack cocaine, powdered cocaine, Ecstasy, methamphetamine and opiate-based drugs such as OxyContin. The drugs used in the training exercise were real, but are locked up when not being used, deputies said.
“What we call it is setting them up for success — the dog needs to be successful,” said Deputy Bryan Barnes.
The powerful canine noses can detect the scent of drugs inside a vehicle — even if those drugs were only carried briefly on a passenger and are no longer in the car, the deputies said.
Heroin has an odor that reminds some people of vinegar, while marijuana has a pungent and distinctive herbal odor.
Cocaine — powdered and crack — also gives off strong scents as do other drugs such as Ecstasy, which smells strongly of chemicals.
It’s a fallacy that the dogs are given heroin and other addictive drugs, and that’s why they want to find them, said Deputy Mike Mettler.
Instead, Mettler’s German Shepherd Kasper wants to find the drugs for another reason.
“He knows we’re going to play with his toy,” Mettler said.
Lorain County Sheriff’s Deputy Bob Perkins with his K-9 partner Drago. Drago may be forced to retire soon, but indicates he will not go quietly. (Photo by Bruce Bishop, The Chronicle-Telegram.)
Some dogs like commercially made toys, while others — such as Barnes’ dog Ozzy — have more refined tastes. Ozzy’s preference is to play with a piece of rolled-up fire hose wrapped in duct tap
Barnes said the dogs are used on a regular basis during traffic stops, usually when a person being stopped gives off certain clues that something is amiss.
“Normal people stopped for traffic offenses don’t have a shaky voice and don’t avoid eye contact with you,” Barnes said.
When a dog “alerts” on the presence of drugs, that is grounds for a search, the officers said.
Barnes said he hopes the work of the K-9 officers helps stop some drug users — and dealers — from slipping further into criminal activity.
For example, he said his dog alerted on 100 OxyContin pills while assisting the State Highway Patrol on a traffic stop about six months ago.
“I saw that guy today at the Dairy Mart,” Barnes said. “He engaged in some conversation with me and asked, ‘How are you doing?’ — he was a really nice guy, but he made a very bad decision.”
While the drug searches were impressive, perhaps the clearest example of the intelligence of the dogs can be seen while practicing apprehension — the takedown of fleeing suspects.
With just one command, Deputy Mettler’s K-9 Kasper quickly stopped what was to have been a full-fledged apprehension.
Instead, the dog circled harmlessly around master trainer Mike Watkins, who was wearing an arm mitt.
On the next command — when the dog got the go-ahead to attack — Kasper grabbed onto the arm mitt worn by Watkins and held tight.
Five of the six K-9 officers are male dogs, while Deputy Dan Thrasher has a female German shepherd named Valle.
Thrasher said Valle is all business on an assignment, while the male dogs might take time to mark their territory or smell other K-9s.
“Valle goes right to work,” Thrasher said.
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Discrimination never stopped New York’s top female State Trooper
The highest ranking woman in the New York State Police was in the Capital Region Wednesday, inspiring her colleagues in law enforcement.
It was part of a three-day leadership training conference in Saratoga Springs.
Colonel Deborah Campbell’s message to the women was that’s it’s possible to have a great career in law enforcement, and still take care of a family at home.
And though there weren’t as many female Troopers when she started out 26 years ago, Campbell says discrimination never stopped her.
“Once they knew that they could count on you, that you were there doing the same job as them, not wanting any special favors or treatment, i really found myself very readily accepted into the state police,” added Campbell.
More than 150 women from 41 agencies across the state joined in Wednesday’s training.
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Lindsay policemen to cross train skills
To hasten response times and enlarge the department, Lindsay police officers will begin cross training how to respond to calls regarding fires, animal control and medical aid starting Oct. 1.
Chief Rich Wilkinson made the announcement at Tuesday’s regular city council meeting at City Hall.
“It won’t be uncommon for an officer to show up to a medical emergence call and perform the first treatments,” he said.
Training should be complete by Jan. 1, he added.
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Injured St. Paul K-9 Receives Medal Of Valor
A K-9 who was injured in the line of duty is now retiring from the force, but first he is receiving a very special honor.
Boomer was awarded the medal of valor by the St. Paul Police Department.
Boomer was shot on April 6 while going after a man on the eastside of St. Paul. The dog was hit in the face and the jaw by police officers’ bullets. But Boomer still held the man down until back-up arrived.
On Tuesday, Boomer and five other officers were rewarded for their heroic efforts.
He’s the smallest K-9 on the St. Paul force, weighing in at 75 pounds. But he’s a very big presence.
Officer Patrick Murphy
“Personally, I don’t think I deserve it but my partner does and the back up officers they really deserve it. All I really did was drive him to the scene,” said Officer Patrick Murphy, Boomer’s partner.
Murphy and Boomer have been a team for four years. They got especially close when Patrick was chasing a bad guy down an alley.
“I actually saw him get shot,” said Murphy. “I saw parts of his jaw flying off and I remember him still hanging on for a few seconds after that.”
Boomer lost 40 percent of his blood. Murphy had to quickly drive him to the U of M Veterinary clinic.
“He was struck in the bullet just below his left eye and the path of the bullet when through his nasal passages and removed some of the teeth on the left side of his head and along with some of his upper jaw bone,” said Murphy.
Boomer has healed but he’s still dealing with some issues. His eyes and nasal passages run constantly, making it difficult to smell. He was taken off the streets because it’s hard for him to fight crime. Tuesday was officially his last day. 
“For him, when I get ready for work obviously he knows that I’m going to work and he believes that he should be coming with me so he becomes very excited. When I leave without him I can hear him barking as I drive down the street,” said Murphy.
Boomer will now be Murphy’s pet. Meanwhile, another German shepherd is being trained to replace Boomer.
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Troopers show students dangers of texting while driving
N.C. State Highway Patrol troopers met with juniors and seniors from Sheets Memorial Christian School Tuesday to discuss and demonstrate the dangers of texting while driving.
N.C. State Trooper S. Pace reacts as Jenny Doss, 17, a senior at Sheets Memorial Christian School, hits a traffic cone while driving through an obstacle course during a texting while driving demonstration at the school on Tuesday.
Students drove golf carts through an obstacle course of road cones set up in the school parking lot, once without attempting to text, then a second time while trying to read and send a text message.
Most of the students breezed through the course the first time with no mistakes, however, as expected, when they tried to text and drive, stop signs were negated, road cones were hit and the reality of how difficult the task of texting while driving is began to register.
Morgan Hargrave, a 17-year-old senior, was one of the students who had some difficulty navigating the course while texting.
“This showed me that texting can be very dangerous on the road, and that you don’t realize how close you can get to people (while texting), or how much it can make you not concentrate on where you’re looking,” said Hargrave, who jokingly added, “I can hardly text anyway.”
What many people don’t realize is just how much a driver can stray out of their lane or lose control of their car while texting in such a short period of time.
“A car traveling 55 miles per hour will travel approximately 88 feet per second. So when you look down at the phone for one second, that’s 88 feet you can’t account for while driving,” said Master Trooper K. Hennelly.
After the road course, students were shown a public service announcement video produced in Britain that graphically depicts a traffic accident caused from a driver who was texting.
While the road course showed students in a controlled environment how difficult it is to text while driving, the video offered a grim dose of reality on just how serious the outcome can be.
Jumale McNeair, an 18-year-old senior, said he doesn’t regularly text while he drives, but that he has in the past. But after going through the road course and watching the video he had a totally different perspective.
“I think it’s stupid to text. It (wreck) can happen in a split second,” said McNeair, adding he was shocked at the difficulty of the road course test.
“I thought it was going to be easy,” said McNeair. “I’ve texted while driving a straight drive, but it was hard. I probably hit about four cones.”
The program put on by the state troopers is only a week old but has already been a hit among schools in the surrounding counties.
“We’ve been to four high schools and worked with over 700 students,” Hennelly said. “We’ve done all the high schools in Stokes County, we’re lined up in Winston(-Salem) to do West Forsyth. We’ve done four high schools and two churches so far. We just started this last week and we’re booked to go to East Surry tomorrow and Friday we’re going down to Catawba County. We want to reduce teen deaths on our roadways. We have to get out here and do something to reduce them.”
It is currently illegal for drivers under the age of 18 to use a mobile phone or any technology associated with a mobile phone while the vehicle is in motion, however, a phone call can be placed to 911 or the driver’s parents if an emergency situation arises.
In addition to the teen law, a new law affecting all drivers in the state of North Carolina will go into effect Dec. 1 that will make it unlawful for any driver to use a mobile telephone for e-mail or text messaging while operating a vehicle on a public street, highway or public vehicular area.
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K9 Units Train at Pipestem State Park
he West Virginia Division of Forestry hosts a training camp for K9 officers and their dogs.
Blood hounds with units from several states including Texas, Alabama and Georgia are being put to the test this week.
Training challenged the dogs at Pipestem State Park Monday.
The work includes fire investigations, tracking and identifying suspects.
Starting a state fire program is expensive, but something organizers say is cost effective.
“It’s very costly to run a fire program in states. One of the best ways to really control your cost a little bit is to have less fires. To have less fires, you investigate the fires and determine who’s causing them and you will see your numbers go down,” said Don Kelley, WV Division of Forestry.
Training with the blood hounds continues through Wednesday.
Tuesday, the officers will be in Raleigh County.
Fall fire season starts October first.
Outdoor burning is prohibited between 7 in the morning and 4 in the afternoon.
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Golf event to help injured Cape Coral policeman
A golf event to benefit Cape Coral police officer Damien Garcia, who continues his recovery from a serious accident, will be Oct. 24 at Royal Tee Golf Club.
The Charity Golf Playday event starts at noon and is a four-person scramble.
Cost is $100 per player and includes golf, cart, lunch from Stevie Tomato’s, beer, soda, goodie bags, practice range balls, door prizes, hole contests, steak dinner at Coconuts restaurant, silent auction, 50/50 raffle and a chance to win $5,000 for a hole-in-one.
Money raised goes toward Garcia’s medical costs. He remains in a coma at a hospital in Miami.
For more information or to sign up a team, sponsor a $100 hole for your business, or donate a door prize, contact Steve Shortino at 839-3303.
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Female police officers begin international conference with full-dress parade
When Robin Ashley played cops and robbers with her sisters, she always had to be the cop.
Now an officer with the Everett Police Department, Ashley on Sunday morning joined about 500 other women from all over the world for a parade to mark the beginning of this week’s training conference for women in law enforcement.
“It’s a great chance for women to get together and share their goals with each other and embrace each other,” she said.
Dressed in their best uniforms, the women marched from the Westin Hotel in downtown Seattle to the Town Hall building, where the opening ceremony took place.
The annual conference was organized by the International Association of Women Police, Ashley said. Seattle last hosted the event more than 30 years ago.
“We get to show off how great the Northwest is, and we get to show off the strides that women have made in law enforcement,” Ashley said.
Officers traveled from countries including China, Germany, Afghanistan and Uganda, said Kristina Kolerich, a spokeswoman for the organization. Some of them are among the first female officers commissioned in their home countries.
Before the opening ceremony, Seattle’s Town Hall filled with an array of colors as officers took their seats. Police Constable Sperkle Paul joined more than a dozen women in her delegation from the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. Paul’s dress uniform included a crisp white jacket with a thin black-and-white belt. On her head she wore a black bowler hat with a black-and-white ribbon.
Paul is a 13-year veteran of the police force. It was her first time participating in the conference.
“I’m excited about meeting all the different people,” she said.
Robin Ashley of Everett (right) and Elizabeth Bigger of Seattle wait to walk in the parade. Ashley, an Everett police officer, helped organize this year's conference.
Ashley said she wants to pay tribute to those female officers who came before her, and those overcoming great odds to serve in their home countries.
“I met a lot of women who have really paid their way,” she said. “To be able to see them and thank them means a lot.”
Ashley helped put together the training agenda for the conference. Topics include forensics, terrorism and human trafficking — a portion of the training that Ashley said she is especially interested in.
The issue is relevant in Washington and in her hometown of Everett, Ashley said. “It’s a very important topic right now, especially concerning runaway teens,” she said.
Ashley said she is looking forward to learning about the issues that affect her fellow officers in other countries. It’s how cops become better at what they do, Ashley said.
Ashley has been an officer in Everett, where she lives, for about five years now. She spent five years before that as a corrections officer.
“I feel I was born to do it and that there is nothing I can do better for my community,” she said. “I want everyone to enjoy their community and to feel safe.”
Ashley is in the department’s Honor Guard. She said she is glad to have another chance this week to honor her friend, Skagit County Sheriff’s deputy Anne Jackson, who was fatally shot last year while responding to a call near Alger.
Ashley knew Jackson from the police academy. The two grew close — a typical occurrence in a class with only a handful of women, Ashley said.
Jackson’s family, along with the family of fallen U.S. Forest Service officer Kris Fairbanks, are scheduled Wednesday to receive Medals of Valor. Fairbanks was killed in the line of duty near Sequim last year.
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