Canine corps to get help from biker run

July 12, 2009 at 12:00a.m.

By JEANNE STARMACK

VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER

NEW CASTLE, Pa. — A woman who wants to help the city keep its canine police unit is organizing a benefit 100-mile motorcycle run.

“The [canine unit] is experiencing severe financial hardships,” said Dorey Duncan, who added that the city could lose the unit within five years “if the community doesn’t step in.”

Duncan said the police-escorted run, set for Aug. 1, will begin at 9 a.m. at the Scottish Rite Cathedral at 110 E. Lincoln Ave. The route will take bikers through Lawrence, Mercer, Beaver and Butler counties before ending with a lunch at the old pool area in Cascade Park, she said.

Called Paws for Peace, the run will help the department with expenses for the three-member New Castle Police Canine Corps, she said.

The city is in financial distress under Pa. Act 47 and has to watch every dollar, so donations for the canine unit are appreciated, said Police Chief Tom Sansone.

Wal-Mart donates food for the dogs, and a local vet donates his services, Sansone said.

He said a big expense is the canine unit cars.

“The vehicles are older and need more maintenance than most, because they’re running constantly,” he said.

He also said the cost of a new dog and training is between $6,000 and $8,000. Though a fourth dog in the unit has just retired, the department is not planning on buying a new dog soon. The three dogs left range in age from 3 to 6, he said, and departments can expect to get seven to nine years of service out of their dogs.

The department has two drug dogs and a bomb dog.

To register for the run, go to www.newcastlepawsforpeace.bravehost.com, or call (724) 714-2776. The cost is $20 a bike and $10 more for a second rider.

Duncan said donations for the run are being accepted as well so that all the money raised can be given to the police department.

Suggested donations include silicone wrist bands, kickstand plates, and hamburgers, hot dogs and other picnic foods for the lunch.