Committee raising funds for new dog

For these reasons, a committee of individuals and law enforcement officers is starting a fund drive to purchase, train and maintain a new canine officer. Red Willow County has been without a K-9 officer for two years.

The committee needs to raise $6,000 for the purchase of the dog and $15,865 for life-long training and certification, veterinary care and food.

The new dog would live with Red Willow County Sheriff's deputy Sgt. Joe Koetter.

This new dog would be Red Willow County's second law enforcement dog, filling the vacancy left when "Stryker" died on March 23, 2007.

Stryker, nicknamed "the long paw of the law," lived with Red Willow County sheriff's deputies Donny Sailors for one year and Alan Kotschwar for nine years. Stryker's career started in 1997, and ended 10 years later when McCook veterinarian Dr. Wayne Watkins diagnosed a fast-growing cancerous growth on his back. Kotschwar's oldest son, Nathan, who was a veterinary medicine student at Kansas State University at the time, helped his dad take Stryker to Dr. Watkins' Red Willow Animal Clinic, and administered the shot that eased him to sleep.

Stryker had been retired for a year, diagnosed with hip dysplasia, an ailment common in German shepherds.

Kotschwar family members said at the time of Stryker's death that he had been "a serious deputy and a beloved pet." Alan Kotschwar said, "When Stryker was not working, he was our family pet. He was just one of the family."

Stryker had been involved mainly in drug detection and tracking, as the new dog will be, said Red Willow County Sheriff Gene Mahon. "The need for a K-9 officer continued after Stryker's death," Mahon said. The closest K-9 officers are in North Platte and Holdrege.

Crime rates and drug activities are on the rise, he said, and the sheriff's department has been called upon numerous times to track offenders who walk away from the Work Ethic Camp operated in McCook by the Nebraska Department of Corrections.

The dog will be purchased from Kasseburg Kennels of New Market, Ala. K-9 operations expert and trainer Pamela Jo Rogers has provided dogs bred in Holland and Germany for American law enforcement agencies for 27 years. Her dogs work with the Nebraska State Patrol, police departments in Omaha, Lincoln and Kearney, and for sheriff's departments in Otoe, Saline and Lancaster counties. In Kansas, her dogs are used by the Goddard Police Department and the Sedgwick and Jackson county sheriff's departments.

The new dog and Koetter will be trained and certified at the Nebraska Law Enforcement Training Center in Grand Island. Lt. Mark Stokey is the commander of the Patrol's Police Service Dog Division. Stokey was formerly stationed in North Platte, and worked with the K-9 officer, Falco, who, with Caesar, were the State Patrol's first two canine officers in 1988.

The new dog will be owned by Red Willow County, and will be made available to the Nebraska State Patrol, the McCook Police Department and the Nebraska Game and Parks for investigations inside Red Willow County, and for emergencies throughout Southwest Nebraska. "We will go where we need to go," Sheriff Mahon said. "In an emergency, we'll take the dog and go."

A committee is spear-heading the fund-raising effort to purchase and maintain the new dog. Committee members are Sheriff Mahon, Sgt. Koetter and Chief Deputy Alan Kotschwar of the sheriff's department, McCook Police Chief Ike Brown, Nancy Willers and Gene Morris of the McCook Area Crime Stoppers, Dee Friehe of McCook Public Schools and citizens Gene O. Morris and Cal Siegfried.

The purchase of the dog is estimated at $6,000. Other costs will be: The trip to Alabama to pick up the dog, $1,000; outside kennel and cement slab, $500; training, room-and-board and kennel fees for five-six weeks, $1,440; training equipment, $500; vehicle and equipment costs, $10,000; veterinary bills (annually), $1,000; food, (annually), $600; liability insurance (annually), $125; and recertification for handler and dog (annually), $700.

Tax-deductible donations can be made out to the "Nebraska Community Foundation," the non-profit 501(c)(3) charitable organization that provides Nebraskans and former Nebraskans a way to donate to the state and its communities.

The note on a check must indicate that the donation is for the "Red Willow County Canine Unit," Sheriff Mahon said. Donations are to be mailed to the sheriff's office, at 502 Norris Ave., McCook, Ne 69001, where they will be kept secure until enough funds have been collected to pay for the dog and for the trip to Alabama. Mahon said they hope to have the dog by October or November.

Sheriff Mahon said it is important that no checks be made out to the sheriff's department for this project. He said that Red Willow County Attorney Paul Wood is working to create a Red Willow County foundation, at which time donations to the canine project can be made out to and sent to the county's foundation location.

Activities to raise funds for the K-9 project are in the works, and details will be announced as they become finalized.