Big Red answers the call
By Anne Williamson Staff Writer

Clarke County is a prime hunting area with lots of woods and plenty of timber companies. During the day time its not so hard to maneuver around in the "wilderness" but let darkness fall and even the most seasoned person can get turned around and not be able to find his way out.

With this in mind about two years ago and with the chance that not only hunters but that children could also get lost, Paul Newton of Fulton realized he had an opportunity to help if this type of thing happened.

"I borrowed the money from Winters Craft to buy a redbone hound," Paul said. "People don't know when their kids are going to get lost or when they're going to get kidnapped or something," Paul said.

Although he's not officially "certified" Big Red has had plenty of training to follow a trail.

"J.T. Purefoy and his brother Ike worked with us to train the dog," Paul said. "They'd run and hide, climb trees, run through fields and bushes. They were real good help. We had a ball with those two boys running and hiding."

Even the mayor of Fulton, Mike Norris, helped out.

"Mike run off and ended up in a tree house and Red went straight to him," Paul said.

Paul may be the owner of Big Red, but Ronnie Nelson of Thomasville is his handler and on occasion Fulton Police Chief Larry Hicks runs him.

About six months after getting Big Red, Paul got his first call for help in locating somebody, however, it wasn't quite what he had in mind. The Clarke County Sheriff's Department was after a man who was wanted for burglarizing two camp houses. One of the deputies had spotted Lewis Edward Hill walking down Old Line Road and knew they had several warrants on him. After a struggle with the officers and several attempts to subdue him, the officer called for aid - including Newton, Nelson and Big Red.

Big Red was given Hill's shirt and started tracking him and eventually found him crawling through the brush behind Salem Hill Church.

Hill told officers, "You wouldn't have never caught me if you hadn't had that bid old dog."

Since that first successful track, Big Red has been called by numerous law enforcement agencies to help locate other criminals.

"We went on that first call," said Newton, "and they have been calling us ever since."

"We went to a robbery in Pine Hill," Newton said, "but Red lost the trail where the man got in a car. We also went to a robbery in Thomasville, were called to help find an Alzheimer's patient in Whatley, a robbery in Sycrene and two back-to-back armed robberies in Marengo County."

Around 6 p.m., on Thursday, Oct. 25, an Alabama State Trooper had stopped a motorist on Highway 43 in Greenwood between Grove Hill and Thomasville. The driver ran and Big Red was again called out. He tracked the man up one side of Highway 43 and down the other eventually losing him well after midnight. He was eventually arrested in Enterprise.

Big Red's most recent rescue came on Nov. 30 when a hunter in Whatley let dark fall before he came out of the woods. Joe Richard Calhoun's family called the sheriff's office about 10 p.m. after they had exhausted all their efforts to find them himself. When Red arrived on the scene, he tracked Calhoun down in about 15 minutes.

*****

Paul, Ronnie and Big Red could all be considered heroes. They give of their time and their resources and have never charged anything for the services.

Newton said feeding Big Red, transporting him to a scene and providing medical care doesn't come cheap.

The 150-pound hound will eat about 20 to 25 pounds of dog food a week.

"I usually get Ole Roy or the Original Jim Dandy," Newton said. "He seems to like them."

One of Newton's neighbors, L.C. Raybon Jr. said, "We save all our meat and meat scraps for him. The other day I gave him some deer bones."

Raybon added, "Some people may ask, 'is he certified?' but that doesn't make any difference. If one of my grandchildren was to get lost I KNOW Big Red will find him. We need a tracking dog like this in Clarke County. Why call a rescue squad out and get 40 people out searching when one dog could find him in a few minutes."

Mayor Mike Norris said, "They found a few criminals and rescued a lost person. That was one desire Paul had - to do something and he finally got that chance to find somebody a couple of weeks ago. He was bubbling when he called me that Saturday morning. It's been an exciting trip for Paul and Ronnie and it's got the whole town of Fulton excited."

"You know with Paul's limits this has been an adventure for him. It doesn't matter what time of the day or night it is. He definitely deserves a pat on the back," Norris added.

If anyone would like to purchase dog food, help with medical services or provide an occasional pre-paid gas card contact Newton at 334-830- 2360.

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