Hats off to 911BC

By JAMIE KLINGER-KREBS – GM Today Staff 
January 30, 2003

Since I work in the news business, from time to time I hear stories about an organization called 911BC, a volunteer, search and recovery team based in Oconomowoc. Stories of this group always strike my attention because the stars of the search team are two Border collies adopted from Border Collie Rescue – Molly Mae and Zip. Since I’ve also adopted a Border collie from Border Collie Rescue, I’m always interested to hear how other adopted dogs have fared. Like my dog, Molly Mae and Zip seem to have found their niche and are now highly trained search dogs providing search services within Waukesha County and surrounding areas. These exemplary Border collies are trained in air scent to search and locate humans or evidence in a specific area. Recently, it was Zip who was back in the news along with his handler, A. J. Marhofke, founder of 911BC, when they were summoned to help locate Bruce A. Stafford of Beaver Dam after his wife reported him missing when he did not report for work one morning. Marhofke and Zip were contacted on behalf of the family after searches by other dogs failed to locate Stafford.

The following morning after Stafford was reported missing, a cousin found his car at a local boat landing, but he was nowhere to be found. Within a matter of hours after Zip and Marhofke were called to assist, the body of Stafford was located in an area that had previously been searched. Marhofke said the bitter cold hindered the search, but his experience helped focus the search to an area that had been overlooked the previous two days. Though this story turned out to have a sad and tragic ending for Stafford and his family, the efforts of Zip and Marhofke helped solve a mystery that could have lingered on for days.

Along with their stellar record of helping those in need, 911BC are completely nonprofit. All handlers volunteer their time and train several times each month. They pay all related expenses for feeding, travel, and purchase of needed equipment.

According to the group’s Web site, 911BC was founded shortly after the Oklahoma City bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in 1995, when it became apparent that search dogs were a valuable asset to any community. The group’s mission is to find or aid people in distress and to assist law enforcement agencies with forensic evidence searches. Molly Mae and Zip have been trained to conduct missing persons searches in both the wilderness and urban settings, assist with the location of drowning victims, locate deceased victims, locate articles of evidence at a crime scene and locate victims in rubble in the case of fire or natural disaster.

In my opinion, 911BC is a superb example of how well dogs adopted through a rescue organization can flourish when given the opportunity. It’s inspiring to see two dogs who were in a sense “rescued” themselves from an uncertain future, able to be trained, taught and loved enough to do the important work they do. I personally would like to extend gratitude to 911BC for their relentless efforts in not only helping those in need, but for also providing two stellar examples of how extraordinary rescue organization dogs can be.

For more information about 911BC visit www.911bc.org.

The Beaver Dam Daily Citizen supplied some information contained in this article.