FARMINGTON – Experienced with goats, sheep and cows, the Franklin County 4-H Club hosted a somewhat different four-footed guest Wednesday evening: Franklin County Sheriff’s Office’s seven-year-old German Shepherd Justice.
Accompanied by Lt. David Rackliffe, Justice demonstrated his training by excitedly barking one moment, and then immediately focusing as soon as Rackliffe gave him the prompt.
“He likes to work,” Rackliffe told the 4-Hers, tossing Justice a heavy-duty chew toy. “And that’s his paycheck.”
Rackliffe discussed the FCSO’s K-9 training program, which has been offering training for Franklin, Oxford and Somerset County officers since 2015 by Rackliffe and Sgt. Nathan Bean. The program, which consists of 480 hours of training for patrol work and another 320 hours of training for narcotic detection, is currently working with five dogs, Rackliffe said. A year from now, he anticipates it could be as many as 11.
The 4-H Club, which consists of members from throughout the greater Franklin County area and beyond, has been undertaking community service projects at their once a month meetings. They’ve made cards for the Operation Quiet Comfort program, which sends them to members of the military, and are planning to complete a quilt for Wounded Warriors. They’ve worked with the Franklin County Animal Shelter and the Western Maine Homeless Outreach center.
As part of their latest project, the 4-Hers assembled bags of treats for the FCSO. Bags of candy for the officers and homemade dog treats for the canines.
“We wanted to appreciate the sheriff’s office,” Caleb Mulcahy of New Sharon said.
Way to go 4-Her’s!
This was not just one 4-H club that did this event it had county wide participation, where each 4-H club in Franklin County and independent 4-H members donated candy for this cause. There was more then one 4-H club represented while presenting these bags. Each club county wide, does participate in at least one community service project throughout the 4-H year. Glad these kids got to be apart of this community service. Just wish the information was given out correctly!
4-h parent as a 4-l leader for 14 yrs every time there is a news article about 4-h or in any club the story is always missing half of the project. I think that most people realize by now that there is always more to the story that is always missing part of it