Wednesday, May 29, 2013
The Kings Mountain Herald | www.kmherald.net
Page 3A
KM PD adds new K9 member to the force
z= DAVE BLANTON
i | dave.kmherald@gmail.com
Max, one of the Kings Mountain
Police Department’s newest re-
cruits, isn’t much of a talker.
What he lacks in verbal skills, he
makes up for in speed, a great nose
and fearless obedience to serving
the small police force since arriving
here in February from a specialized
Dutch kennel by way of an elite
Scotland Neck, N.C., police dog
training school.
“He’s going to be great for this
department. He’s highly trained and
-has the right personality,” said Ptl.
Chris Graham, the KMPD’s K9 of-
ficer and Max’s handler, as he
talked at his desk on a recent after-
noon.
Max, through his training and
breeding, is a Swiss Army knife
among dogs. The German Shepherd
mix can sniff out evidence or illegal
drugs and aid in the hunt for crimi-
nals or missing people. When push
comes to shove, of course, he can
subdue a fleeing or fighting suspect
when police officers have exhausted
other methods.
Graham, an officer with seven
years’ experience working with po-
lice dogs, says he and Max, who is
just shy of two years old, will come
Main Street Prog
Kings Mountain’s Main
Street Program has been des-
ignated as an accredited Na-
tional Main Street Program
for 2013 for meeting the per-
formance criteria set by the
national program, a sub-
sidiary of the National Trust
for Historic Preservation.
The city’s Main Street
initiative aims to drive busi-
ness and promote growth
through revitalization and
building strong public-pri-
vate partnerships.
Kings Mountain was
named a North Carolina
Main Street City in 2009.
Last year the program was
incorporated into the munic-
ipal structure of the City of
Kings Mountain as a stand-
alone department, said Jan
Harris, the city’s Main Street
Director, who heads the ini-
tiative.
The accreditation “shows
dedication to the city,” she
to share a tight bond as they work
together more and more. The de-
partment’s last service dog, Kasey,
who was on the job for seven years,
left the force in February and now
lives with Graham. Photographs of
the furry retiree dot the walls in
Graham’s office.
“Basically, I couldn’t do my job
without him and he couldn’t do his
without me,” Grahame said. “It’s a
team.”
Belonging to that team requires
lots of training. Before they’re
picked up by a law. enforcement
agency, Max and dogs like him
spend about three months in spe-
cialized training schools learning
the ins and outs of police work.
They execute scent drills — for
tracking people and locating contra-
band. They're immersed in a world
of handler commands so they can be
quickly and effectively put on, and
off, tasks. Dogs like Max also must
learn to apprehend suspects who
may be combative or resisting ar-
rest.
Police dogs are also specialists in
finding innocent people who have
gone lost or missing. They’re
trained to pick up on the faintest of
smells — from a necklace, a phone
or an article of clothing; “anything
that will hold a human odor,” Gra-
ham said, — and relentlessly track
that scent. “It’s not always a bad
guy,” he said. ;
To understand just how much
better dogs are at picking up on dif-
fering scents than humans are, we
have to look at the numbers.
Humans possess about five mil-
lion scent receptors — tiny, micro-
scopic clusters of nerves and cells.
Some dog breeds have about 225
million, according to the American
Kennel Club. Furthermore, certain
breeds can sense odors at concen-
trations nearly 100 million times
lower than humans can.
Training, for Graham or Max,
will never end.
“It’s 16 hours a month of ongo-
ing training,” which he said in
Max’s case is mostly done in con-
junction with Gaston County Sher-
iff’s Department’s police and K9
training program. “Training keeps
‘em sharp.”
Kasey logged over 500 arrest as-
sists and helped find illegal drugs
345 times during his career, accord-
ing to Police Chief Melvin Proctor.
Max is still a rookie by almost
any definition. But Graham is cer-
tain he’s got a long and busy career
ahead of him.
—
ram accredited
Mayor Rick Murphrey congratulates Main Street Director Jan Harris who received a certifi-
cate designating the city as an accredited National Main Street Program.
Pil. Chris Graham is th
said.
Local Main Street pro-
grams are evaluated annually
by state officials in the N.C.
Dept. of Commerce, who
work in partnership with the
National Main Street Center
to identify programs that
meet ten performance stan-
dards, including having
broad-based support for the
commercial district revital-
NEW OFFICERS OF DEMOCRATIC WOMEN - Pictured
ization process, exhibiting
an historic preservation
ethic, reporting statistics and
having a paid professional
program manager.
Established by the Na-
tional Trust for Historic
Preservation in 1980, the
Main Street Center has aided
more than 2,200 downtown
and urban neighborhoods by
are new
officers of Democratic Women of Cleveland County. From
left, Julie Stockton, who succeeds Betsy Wells of Grover
precinct in the post; Brenda Lipscomb of Grover, right, vice
president; Ernestine Bishop of Oak Grove precinct, second
from right, secretary; and Laura Cummings of Woodbridge.
community, not pictured. Cleveland County Clerk of Court
Mitzi M. Johnson, second from left, led the new officers in
taking their oaths of office May 20. The organization will host
the annual state convention of North Carolina Democratic
Women Sept. 20-22 at the LeGrand Center in Shelby, first
timer for the convention in Cleveland County.
MOMS TO MEET — Moms Club of Shelby, a chapter of
an international club for stay at home moms and moms who
work part time and their children, will meet June 6 at 11:30
a.m. Mothers and their children 0-4 are invited to meet and
greet at Jammin J’s Pizza in Shelby. The club also meets at
the same place on June 18 at4 p.m. for mothers and children’
helping leverage $55.7 bil-
lion in new public and pri-
vate investment, according
to Harris.
Participating communi-
ties have created more than
470,000 new jobs and nearly
110,000 new businesses, as
well as rehabilitating more
* than 230,000 buildings, she
said.
Mayor Rick Murphrey
said he was pleased with the
news. “It shows we’re doing
the right thing and meeting
all criteria,” he said.
North Carolina is home to
61 Main Street cities, with
27 earning accreditation in
2013, including nearby
Shelby, Lincolnton, Hickory
and Monroe.
CORRECTION
The racer reported by the Herald as the winner of the May
18 Over the Mountain Triathlon was assessed a two-minute
penalty for a drafting foul in the cycling segment, making his
official finish 3rd. The official winner of the race was James
Haycraft, 28, of Charlotte, with a time of 2:09:21. The Her-
ald regrets the error.
Bloodmobile to
visit Cleveland
County in June
The Red Cross Bloodmo-
bile will be in two locations
in the county in June.
Hospice of Cleveland
County, 951 Wendover
Heights, Shelby, will host
the bloodmobile on June 12.
Donors will be processed
front 1-5 p.m.
Kings Mountain Elite
will host the June 17 blood-
mobile at the Family Life
Center. of Bynum Chapel
AME Zion Church. Donors
will be processed from 4:30-
7:30 p.m,
“We invite everyone to
“come out for these blood
’
e handler of the KMPD’s newest recruit, Max. The
shepherd mix joined the force in February as a K9 officer.
photot by DAVE BLANTON
Wells elected District
10 Democratic Chair
Betsy Wells of Kings
Mountain was elected the
new District Chair of Dis-
trict 10 Democrats as a call
| to action toward victory in
2014 general elections
brought an enthusiastic re-
sponse from delegates to the
10th Congressional District
Democratic Convention in
Shelby recently.
That rousing message
was brought by Randy
Voller, chair of the North
Carolina Democratic Party
and keynote speaker at the
10th’s first annual conven-
tion since redistricting.
The district now com-
prises all of Polk, Ruther-
ford, Cleveland, Gaston, and
Lincoln counties, most of
Catawba County, and the
Asheville area of Buncombe.
Each county was well repre-
sented by delegations elected
at county conventions held
in April. After morning
workshops including a ses-
sion on proposed changes to
N. C. voting laws, delegates
in convention session also
elected district officers and
approved resolutions to be
sent forward to the state
party: The convention was
held in the auditorium of the
Cleveland County Office
Building. ;
Other district leaders
elected to, new two-year
terms ate Aixa I. Wilson of
Buncombe County, first vice
chair; Christopher L.
10th District Democratic
Chair Betsy Wells
Thomason of Gaston, second
vice chair; Pete L. Santos of
Polk, third vice chair; Laura
N. Parnell of Catawba, sec-
retary; and Donna Luckey of
Lincoln, treasurer.
They’ll guide the Dis-
trict’s Executive Committee,
which also comprises the °
Democratic chair and vice
chair from each of the local
_county parties and some oth-
ers by virtue of position such
ag, Democratic elected offi-
cials.
Wells commended the
county parties for smoothly
coming together after redis-
tricting “without missing a
beat,” building on earlier
working relationships and
forging new ones. “With the
unity, focus, and optimism I
see building among us, we’ll
make a big difference in
2014,” she said.
4 and over. drives,” says Vickie Adams.
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