The newest member of local law enforcement is K-9 Kantor, who was purchased by South Panola School District through a school safety grant. Deputy Britton Crawford will be Kantor’s handler and both have recently completed extensive training. The dual purpose K-9 will not only be used to sniff out explosives during bomb threats, he will also for be used for search and rescue. Batesville Police officer Denver Donahue (from left), Sheriff Dennis Darby, Crawford, Deputy Mike Davis, Chief Deputy Chris Franklin and BPD officer Robert Ales met Kantor recently. Panola County’s Emergency Management office also has a dual purpose canine and the Sheriff Department has access to two K-9s used for crowd control and officer safety (bite dogs). The Panolian photo by Rupert Howell