Mount Ayr Record-News
Mount Ayr, Ringgold County, Iowa
Thursday, August 26, 2010

Two Ringgold county residents were arrested on drug charges after an incident Sunday, Aug. 9, according to the Ringgold County Sheriff's Office.

Early Sunday, Aug. 9, Ringgold county deputies responded to a report of a domestic assault at 406 E. Fourth Street in Tingley.

Ringgold County K-9 dog Murphy was assisting deputies by offering protection while in the course of their duties.

While at a door of the residence, the dog alerted to the door area, indicating the presence of the odor of narcotics. A search warrant was obtained for the residence and Ringgold county deputies an reserve officers assisted by the Tri-County narcotics officer, executed the warrant on the residence.

A large marijuana growing operation was discovered, along with other items related to the drug trade.

Douglas DOGGETT, who lives at the residence, was arrested at the scene on charges of domestic abuse assault, manufacturing a controlled substance and tax evasion.

Tammy CARRINGTON, also of the address, was arrested a few days later on drug charges related to the incident, including manufacturing of a controlled substance and tax evasion.

DOGGETT is being held in the Ringgold county jail on $41,000 bond. CARRINGTON is being held in the Taylor county jail on $40,000 bond.

Transcription by Sharon R. Becker, December of 2012

Mount Ayr Record-News
Mount Ayr, Ringgold County, Iowa
Thursday, August 26, 2010

Three heroic dogs including Ringgold County's K-9 dog Murphy were named to 2010 Animal Hall of Fame awards for their bravery, companionship and professional contributions to people and the community by the Iowa Veterinary Medical Association (IVMA) and intervet Schering-Plough Animal Health.

Thirty-nine animals from across Iowa have now been inducted into the Animal Hall of Fam since its inception 13 years ago, including dogs, cats and horses.

This year's winners include a Shih Lhasa who spent the last days of her life being a constant companion to her owner who was lying paralyzed in a hospital, a yellow Lab who attends speech and physical therapy sessions with his owner who is recovering from a car accidnet in a brain injury rehabilitation facility, and a German Shepherd canine officer for Ringgold County who has been instrumental in detecting narcotics and keeping drug dealers out of the county.

Named to the hall of fame in the professional category was Murphy, a German Shepherd, that is a canine officer for Ringgold County. Murphy's handler is Deputy Shannon ARENDS of Mount Ayr.

Muprhy is well-qualified in all areas of apprehension, search, tracking and drug detection. During his 18-month tenure, he has been very active and made some major accomplishments.

K-9 Murphy is certified through Rivera Police K-9 and the Heart of America Police K-9 Association.

Murphy has received praise from judges while in certification on his outstanding abilities as a patrol dog. One judge was quoted as saying he was one of the most outstanding narcotic dogs he had ever seen.

Deputy ARENDS believes that Murphy is a great hero and has always shown his bravery and ability to carry out his duties by risking his life to keep Ringgold County safe. He is a great partner and friend and the department is very lucky to have him as part of the team. K-9 Murphy has had over 53 narcotic related arrests attributed to his direct efforts within the last 18 to 20 months and nearly 51 felony charges related to illegal narcotics.

K-9 Murphy has been so successful in Ringgold County that narcotics officers from surrounding areas report very little intelligence of drugs coming into Ringgold County from other areas.

Drug users in Ringgold County have stated that it is very hard to get drugs into the county and because of K-9 Murphy some dealers refuse to enter Ringgold County for fear of being caught.

Personal drug use is also down and the amount of search warrants executed in the county is down this year by 75 percent. This is all a direct result of K-9 Murphy's success.

In the hero category, Princess, a Shih Lahsa, owned by Scott and Kim SHELDON of Dubuque, was named. Princess was diagnosed in the summer of 2009 with malignant cancer in her lymph nodes and was given poor prognosis for recovery.

The day after she was diagnosed with cancer, Ben SHELDON was in a car accident on his way home from a Boy Scout campout. Ben's Scoutmaster and another Boy Scout were killed. A third Scout had less severe injuries and Ben had a broken neck and was in critical care on life support for several days after the accident.

Ben spent several weeks in the hospital, had two surgeries to repair the fractures in his spine and spent weeks in traction. Princess was allowed to come to the hospital and lay in bed with him while he recovered. She was a faithful, constant companion to him as he lay immobilized in bed.

As Ben's condiction improved, Princess' condition declined. The day that Ben was released from the hospital, Mr. SHELDON brought Princess to the veterinary clinic to be humanely euthanized while Mrs. SHELDON brought Ben home from the hospital.

Ben's injury was the same as actor Christpher REEVE. He was never expected to walk again. Thanks to the medical professionals at Madison, the prayers of a community and little Princess' healing touch, Ben is now walking and back to school with his friends. The SHELDON family feels that Princess was, and is, Ben's guardian angel.

Hall of Fame Companion Animal Category winner was Cole, a 10-year-old yellow Labrador Retriever owned by Troy and Heather DeJOODE of Ankeny.

In May of 2010, Cole's family was in a tragic car accident that took the lives of five-year-old Carson and five-month-old Claire, while leaving their mom, Heather, in a coma and three-year-old Chase hospitalized.

Soon after the car accident, Cole was diagnosed with a tumor on his liver. He had surgery to remove the potentially malignant tumor and fortunately recovered well from surgery.

Cole returned home where he has been a constant, and much needed, companion to three-year-old Chase while he recovered.

Cole frequently visits Heather at the brain injury rehabilitation facilty where she is recovering from her injuries. Cole was able to get one of Heather's first smiles since waking up from her coma.

He walks alongside her wheelchair as if he was born to it. Heather initially had almost no movement in her right hand and arm. One of Heather's first significant controlled movements was to reach down with her right hand and arm to pet Cole as he stood next to her during her therapy.

Not only has Cole been instrumental in Heather's continued improvement, he has brought a liveliness out of other brain injury survivors at the facility as they respond to his presence by talking to him reaching out to pet him and talk about their own pets with the therapists.

The 2010 Hall of Fame winners will be publicly recognized in April 2011 during the Animal Rescue League of Iowa's annual Raise Your Paw auction in Des Moines.

Transcription by Sharon R. Becker, October of 2010

K-9 Murphy has now had 94 drug-related arrests credited to him as of October, 2011. Last year at this time, Murphy had approximate 40 drug-related arrests. The Ringgold County K-9 program has resulted in the discovery of at least three methamphetamine labs, two marijuana grow operations, numerous possession with intent to deliver charges and several successful tracks. Murphy has been used in several types of patrol deployments including handler protection, building search, area search, suspect apprehension, tracking and evidence recovery.

K-9 Murphy was utilized to track the suspects over one mile and locate very important evidence when Congressman Leonard BOSWELL'S residence was burglarized.

Mount Ayr Record-News
Mount Ayr, Ringgold County, Iowa
Thursday, January 24, 2013

More details concerning the high speed chase and gunfire incident last week have been released by the Iowa Department and Public Safety and the Decatur County Sheriff's Office.

Chance NEWTON, 16, of Kellerton faces two counts of attempted murder after leading law enforcement on a pursuit through Ringgold and Decatur counties and shooting a weapon at several officers. Additional charges are pending.

According to the state patrol, Ringgold county law enforcement received a report of a stolen blue Ford Focus early Monday, Jan. 14. The car reportedly belonged to NEWTON'S sister.

Then at approximately 5 a. m. Tuesday a Ringgold county sheriff's deputy located the stolen car. When attempting to stop the vehicle, the driver, now identified as NEWTON, led the deputy on a short pursuit, but the deputy soon lost sight of the stolen car.

At approximately 6:20 a. m., NEWTON and the stolen vehicle were relocated in Kellerton. Again, NEWTON evaded officers and a second pursuit began.

Law enforcement from the Ringgold and Decatur County Sheriff's Offices and the Iowa State Patrol followed NEWTON on eastbound on Highway 2 to Leon. The pursuit then continued northon Highway 69 out of Leon at speeds approaching 120 miles per hour, according to Decatur county sheriff Herbert MUIR.

The pursuit ended when NEWTON lost control and crashed along 240th Avenue, just north of 150th Street in rural Decatur county.

As officers drove upon NEWTON'S crashed vehicle, NEWTON fired his shotgun. Several rounds struck both a Decatur county deputy's car and a state trooper's car.

According to MUIR, two shots went through the windshield and driver's window of the Decatur county vehicle and another two shots hit the roof and windshield of the trooper's car. MUIR said the trooper was forced to lie down in his seat to avoid serious injury.

No officers involved in the pursuit returned fire.

The officers driving the vehicles that received fire were transported for medical treatment; their injuries were non-life threatening.

After firing at the officers, MUIR said NEWTON grabbed a rifle and fled on foot into a nearby field. A number of personnel from the Decatur and Ringgold county sheriffs' departments and state patrol officers set up a perimeter around the section in which the incident occured. Deputy Shannon ARENDS and his dog K-9 Murphy from the Ringgold County Sheriff's Office and another officer and his dog from the state patrol began to track NEWTON across farm fields.

At approximately 9 a.m. NEWTON was located roughly one and a half miles away from the crash scene hiding in a van behind a rural farm house. He was taken into custody without incident.

MUIR reported NEWTON is currently being held in a state institution.

Transcriptions by Sharon R. Becker, updated March of 2013