SOMERSET American humorist Josh Billings once wrote: “A dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more than he loves himself.” Thanks to the efforts of Jeffrey Schoonover, Superintendent of Somerset Public Schools and Somerset Berkley Regional High School and School Resource Officer Brendan Hague, the students at Somerset schools will soon understand just what Billings meant.
Hague first learned of the benefits of comfort dogs through a news article he encountered back in 2019, which highlighted the emergence of this resource throughout Massachusetts and New Hampshire.
Boonefield Labradors, located in New Hampshire, has donated 11 dogs to police departments throughout New England, according to its website. It is this breeder that will donate a young Labrador retriever to Hague and the Somerset Police Department.
BERKLEY Russell Horgan, 65, may have retired in March as deputy chief of the Berkley Fire Department after 28 eventful years. But that doesn t mean he s totally a retiree.
He s now deputy director of the town s Emergency Management Agency. As such, he manages the 15 volunteer members of the town s Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) that has outfitted an emergency shelter trailer with 50 cots and bedding and medical supplies and even a coffee pot for when firefighters need a break during lengthy emergency incidents.
The team also has its own ambulance and a trailer with on-scene lighting to illuminate fire and other emergency scenes at night.