Buffalo County Sheriff's Office, (Brian Neben, Central Nebraska Today)
KEARNEY — The Buffalo County Commissioners approved the purchase of a K9 unit that will specialize in narcotics detecting and tracking during their meeting on Tuesday, July 22.
Sheriff Neil Miller appeared with Deputy Nathan Howe regarding K9 service for the county. Miller said currently, the co-located sheriff’s office and Kearney Police Department share K9 services.
Miller said the sheriff’s office was approached by a private citizen about the office having access to their own K9 unit. Miller said the sheriff’s office was interested in having a single purpose dog as opposed to a patrol and narcotics dog.
Miller explained that a K9 trained for patrol is trained to track down and potentially hold fleeing suspects by biting. For general safety, the patrol dogs are not used often around the general public.
A K9 trained in only narcotics detection and tracking is considered safer to be used in a public setting, such as visiting schools, Howe said.
The tracking dogs are generally utilized to track suspects who have fled a scene or to find missing people. Howe noted that the dogs trained in tracking only and not patrol tend to be better trackers.
Howe said the K9 unit they would acquire would be a Shorthaired Pointer as opposed to a German Shepard Dog or a Belgian Malinois, which are commonly employed as patrol K9s.
The K9 would be acquired from BlueStreak K9, of Jonesboro, Ark., and the cost of the K9 and its equipment would be covered entirely by private donations made to the sheriff’s office, Miller said.
Howe said he and the K9 would train for five weeks at the Nebraska Law Enforcement Training Center in Grand Island. After the training, a recertification would be required every year.
Miller said that acquiring this K9 unit for the sheriff’s office would allow for more coverage of a deputy on patrol with a K9.
Commissioner Ron Loeffelholz said having a tracking dog would be useful for the county and noted several incidents in the past when having this dedicated type of K9 unit would have been useful.
Commissioner Bill Maendele said that the sharing of K9 units between the Buffalo County Sheriff’s Office and Kearney Police Department shows the continued benefits of co-location between the two entities.
The commissioners voted unanimously to approve the purchase of the K9 unit.
Another agenda item involved destroyed real property that was discussed when the board sat as the board of equalization.
Roy Meusch, Assessor, said that in the first case a home owned by Beverly Thomas-Richards was destroyed by a fire in December and the value was changed reflect the change on the property.
The other case was also destroyed real property, Meusch said that Craig and Heidi Wietjes lost their home and an outbuilding amid a 600 acre wildfire that occurred north of Riverdale on March 22, 2025.
“We would like to send our deepest condolences to everyone impacted by this devastating fire, especially the Wietjes family who lost their home,” the Kearney Volunteer Fire Department noted in a press release about the event.
Craig Wietjes was present at the meeting and spoke in favor of the valuation change, he also thanked for everyone who worked to contain the fire amid challenging conditions.
There were several employees who were recognized for years of service, they included: Bradley Gancos – one year, Jose Rodriquez – one year, Ashley Bear, five years, Terri Gonzales, five years, Sylvie Sazama, 37 years, Linda Johnson, 38 years and Deb Shubert, 46 years.
