Friends of the Library donate to K-9 program

Posted 1/15/21

During their meeting on Jan. 12, the Friends of the Library non-profit group presented a check to Deputies Brian Cross and Ashley Waskiewicz...

You must be a member to read this story.

Join our family of readers for as little as $5 per month and support local, unbiased journalism.


Already have an account? Log in to continue. Otherwise, follow the link below to join.

Please log in to continue

Log in
I am anchor

Friends of the Library donate to K-9 program

Posted

OKEECHOBEE — During their meeting on Jan. 12, the Friends of the Library non-profit group presented a check to Deputies Brian Cross and Ashley Waskiewicz of the Okeechobee County Sheriff’s Office for the K-9 program. The money was raised through donations of patrons coming into the library and through an in-house fundraiser. Library employees are permitted to wear jeans to work if they put a $1 donation in the little bank each time they choose to wear them. They do not call the OCSO to present the donation until they have $500. The donation on the 12th was their third presentation, and they have saved up almost half of what they need to make the fourth.

Both deputies expressed gratitude for the donation and said the department supports them but of course cannot pay for every thing they need for the dogs. The donations help with a lot of things. They have even used donations from the community in the past to purchase new dogs.

Cross brought his K-9 partner Magnum and Waskiewicz brought her partner Storm, and the two dogs were the hits of the meeting. The dogs are trained in obedience and demonstrated some of their training to a rapt group.

Library Director Kresta King said the reason the library began saving money and donating it was because when the OCSO got Magnum, he was much smaller than most dogs, and the vests did not fit him. They wanted to get him a vest of his own.

Waskiewicz said she got Storm about a year and half ago. She went to school for several months and finished up last January. Storm is about 2 years old and is a Dutch Shepherd. He tracks and finds narcotics. He is a little calmer than some of the other dogs, she said. He is not trained on marijuana. This way if someone in a vehicle has a marijuana card, they can call for him. Deputy Cross used a stew illustration to explain the way the dogs are able to distinguish smells. When most humans smell a pot of stew, they just smell stew and think it smells good. When a dog smells a pot of stew, he smells meat and carrots and onions and celery. He smells each individual ingredient. The same is true when he sniffs the air for narcotics.

There are six officers in the K-9 program with the OCSO. They have four patrol dogs and three single purpose dogs. OCSO does not have any bomb detection dogs. One of the school resource officers, Donnie Holmes, has a narcotics dog out at the high school and is training another. His second dog is actually a sibling to Okeechobee City Police Officer Jessica Francis’ dog Luna and is picking up the skills very quickly.

Cross’ dog Magnum is about eight years old and is not ready to retire yet. For a little while, Cross said Magnum had some trouble with his hip, and he thought maybe he would have to retire him, but then he got over it, and now, he is perfectly fine.

When a deputy takes on a dog, he or she takes the dog on for life. The dog lives in the deputy’s home and in Waskiewicz case at least, sleep right beside them. When they retire, they live out the rest of their lives with the deputy.

King said they hope to save up enough to donate another $500 very soon.

Friends of the library, OCSO, sheriff's office, FO

Comments

x