KOSCIUSKO K-9 OFFICER FIRED

The city's canine police officer was fired during executive session of the
Kosciusko Mayor and Board of Aldermen on Tuesday night.

Louis Gowan, who was selected to team up with a drug dog and underwent
special training in April, was fired for "conduct unbecoming of a police
officer," on Police Chief R.J. Adams' recommendation.

Adams and Cockroft declined to elaborate.

"It wasn't an easy decision," was all Cockroft would say.

Adams said that Fate, the drug-sniffing border collie that had lived at
Gowan's house since April, is back at the department and he will begin
searching for another officer to fill that role.

Gowan, a 30-year-old McAdams native, had been with the department for 18
months. The cost of the dog, Gowan's training, the modification of a patrol
car and a holding pen for the station was about $8,000.

It was all paid for with money and property recovered in drug raids.

At the time, Adams said Gowan was selected because his profile was right:
"He's young, single, energetic and highly motivated."

In other action, the board approved the sale of weapons confiscated over a
period of years by the police department or seized and never reclaimed and
accepted a $6,100 bid from Buford's Pawn Shop for those weapons then, in a
separate action, authorized the use of that money to finish equipping the
city's patrol cars with cameras.

A matching grant was accepted to purchase bulletproof vests for the police
department. Funds for the match are budgeted, City Clerk Janet Baird told
the board.

The aldermen tabled action on approval of summer uniform shirts for police
officers and on a fireworks ordinance change and will review those items at
their next meeting.

The expenditure of $5,000 to subscribe for a three-year period for software
for the city's mainframe computer and the installation of the software was
approved.

Baird told the aldermen IBM no longer supports the mainframe's operating
system and without the upgrade there would be a danger of losing financial
data.

A $23,273 payment to Video Industrial Services for sewer line inspection
and repair was approved as was the hiring of three new city employees and
raises for two others on completion of E911 training.

A $1,348,000 bond issue was approved to guarantee the city's Rural
Development loan for construction of the new fire station.

The board also discussed the upcoming fiscal year's budget.

Cockroft said he and the board will meet again on Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. for
another budget workshop.