Early Saturday morning, runners gathered at Jones High School to support the Jones Police Department in the Back the Blue 5K. This was the first year the department held the event, but they are hopeful to make this an annual race through town. The shotgun fired at 8 am, with runners routed through downtown Jones. The streets were lined with red and blue lights from local fire department and police department and local town supporters showed up to cheer on the runners.
The money raised from this event will go toward the Jones Police Department K-9 unit. In November 2018, the department acquired a new K-9 officer, four-year old Belgian Malinois Vader. When Officer Robbie Blackford received his new partner, Vader was malnourished and weighed only 23 pounds. Officer Blackford’s first goal was to get him up to a healthy weight, and now the four-legged officer is over 76 pounds.
Last winter, Vader participated in a 3-week training in Tulsa at Torch Light K-9. Because of Vader’s early malnutrition, he broke several teeth during his bite work training, and will need several of his teeth replaced with titanium implants. This is a common occurrence for K-9 officers, because of the nature of their work and training. K-9 officers in Edmond and Logan County recently had their teeth upgraded to titanium.
Kelli Vinyard and her 5-year old son Nolan participated in the event this morning. Nolan loves the Jones Police Department, and has been officially declared an official Junior Officer.
“Officer Blackford has been a wonderful example for our little boy with his commitment to his community as an Officer and his exceptional kindness. We support him and the awesome job he is doing with Vader!”
Kelli Vinyard
The Jones Journal 