Marble – Tears flowed Friday evening as local police laid to rest one of their own.
“He was like a son to me; I spent more time with him than anybody,” Cherokee County sheriff’s Detective J.J. Wooten said, trying to hold back emotions. “I’ll really miss him.”
Deputy K-9 Ajax, a 7-year-old black Labrador retriever, died Thursday from an inoperable tumor on his heart. Law enforcement held a funeral procession Friday from the sheriff’s office on Regal Street in Murphy to the training center on U.S. 19 in Marble, where they placed Ajax’s remains – along with his favorite chew toy – in a custom-made coffin and buried them behind a flagpole on the property.
“The Bible tells us in Proverbs 12:10 that a righteous man regards the life of his animal,” Sheriff Derrick Palmer told a somber crowd at the ceremony. “That has been displayed here in many ways.”
That care was also displayed Sept. 11, when law enforcement throughout North Carolina and Tennessee escorted Ajax to an emergency veterinarian hospital by navigating around vehicle accidents on the interstate and opening lanes for express travel.
An anonymous donor displayed that regard as well by providing the custom-made coffin at no cost to the sheriff’s office. The coffin, which appears to be made of white pine, has Ajax’s name engraved on the top.
The sheriff’s office took custody of Ajax shortly after his birth in 2012, and the K-9 was certified to work law enforcement cases in 2015. Police say he was instrumental in locating narcotics in Cherokee County.
“He and his handlers have helped in the fight to rid the scourge of drugs and contraband from our society,” Palmer said.
“Ajax has been responsible for sizable seizures of cocaine, heroin, marijuana, methamphetamines, prescription narcotics, money and weapons.”
Law enforcement officials described Ajax as a “rambunctious” K-9, who would “bounce with excitement” at times, making it difficult to calm him for work.
“His trainers early on said that he was a pup and would grow out of it, but he never did,” Palmer said. “When Ajax was being himself, he looked at no one like he looked at J.J. You could see the true bonding between the two, as they depended on each other for partnership at work and friendship at home.”
Before lowering Ajax’s remains into the ground, the Honor Guard presented the burial flag to Wooten. Law enforcement saluted as a bugler Glen Gale played “Taps.”
“When Ajax looked up at me before he took his last breaths, I knew he was letting me know he was feeling better and everything was going to be OK,” Wooten wrote on Facebook after the ceremony later Friday evening. “He was letting me know he was about to get that toy he loved so much from the big man upstairs.”
The following law enforcement agencies assisted in the emergency escort and/or funeral: Murphy Police Department, Waynesville Police Department, Clay County Sheriff’s Office, U.S. Forest Service, Tennessee Highway Patrol and N.C. Highway Patrol. Charlie Hibbs of Bellview played bagpipes at the ceremony.