Clintonville police hold funeral
By Erik Buchinger
The Clintonville Police Department held its memorial ceremony at St. Martin Lutheran Church to honor K-9 Chero on Thursday, Sept. 28.
Chero was taken to the Fox Valley Animal Referral Center for evaluation on Friday, Sept. 8 and died the next morning from a medical condition in which his entire intestinal system was deprived of blood.
With several police units from around the area in attendance Clintonville Police Chief James Beggs provided some of his comments during the ceremony.
“Working alongside [K-9 handler Clintonville Police Officer Chris Wendorf] and Chero, I was never disappointed with the work quality or the command of presence,” Beggs said. “I also gained a whole new appreciation of how much dedication is required to have a successful K-9 program.”
Beggs said Chero was always wanted to be the center of attention.
“It took no time for Chero to work his way into all of our hearts,” Beggs said. “He sought our attention. He made sure when two or more were gathered in the department, he would be right in the middle.”
In nearly three years working for the department, Chero had 174 deployments, over 1,000 hours of training and contributed to 81 arrests.
“When it was time to go to work, he was all work,” Beggs said. “Play time was over.”
The police department will overcome the loss of Chero, Beggs said.
“If I had to describe Chero in just one word, that word would be ‘impressive’ in both his actions and his appearance,” Beggs said. “I miss Chero, but we as humans possess the great quality to accept new adventures and have the capacity to open our hearts and minds. He may have left large paw prints to fill, but we will move forward.”