Kalama, WA cop in deep doo-doo to rescue dog from sewer tank

[TXCharlie]

The Daily News Online > Area News > Kalama cop digs deep to rescue dog from sewer tank

Thursday, January 29, 2009 11:00 AM PST
By Amy M.E. Fischer

A Kalama police officer soiled his uniform rescuing a stray dog from drowning in tank of sewage at the city’s sewage treatment plant Tuesday when the water-loving pup dove in for a swim.

No one was hurt, but both parties required extensive bathing afterward, said Kalama Police Chief Bruce Hall.

“The officer did his duty in someone else’s doody,” Hall cracked Tuesday evening.



Kalama police officer Jeff Skeie on Wednesday looks over the wall into a sewage treatment pond from
which he rescued a stray dog Tuesday. Next to him is Sadie, a Labrador Retriever who had the sense
not to follow the other dog into the 145,000-gallon tank of bio-solids.
Bill Wagner / The Daily News

Tuesday afternoon, Officer Jeff Skeie (pronounced “Shay-ah”) was on kennel-cleaning duty at the city’s small animal shelter. Skeie, a former Castle Rock city councilman who has been with the Kalama police force three years, allowed two dogs out of their pens into the fenced yard to exercise and play together.

One of the dogs was a young, energetic chocolate Labrador retriever police had picked up as a stray about two weeks earlier. The Lab was scheduled to be adopted out that afternoon.

Skeie, strolling the fenced area with that dog and another Lab named Sadie, noticed that the sewage level in the treatment plant’s sewage digester seemed higher than usual.

He walked over to investigate.

The digester is a large, rectangular tank of about 12- to 15-feet deep in which city residents’ solid waste is collected and treated. In the digester, bio-solids are given time for micro-organisms to eat any “food” (waste) before further treatment. Tuesday, the digester was at full capacity, according to the city’s waste waster treatment plant operator.

Standing on her hind legs, Sadie put her paws on the 4-foot-high concrete wall and peered over at the pool of sewage 2 feet below, the 45-year-old police officer recounted Wednesday.

The chocolate Lab bounded up the steps leading to the digester. Skeie hollered at him to stop, but the dog flung himself joyfully into the brown soup “just like any dog jumping into a swimming pool,” the officer said.

The dog started paddling, but because the tank is pumped with air bubbles, he wasn’t buoyant. Only his head and front paws were visible as he struggled to swim in the foamy liquid.

Skeie leaned over the wall on his stomach and managed to grab the sinking dog’s ear. He pulled the dog to the wall and hauled him out by the scruff of the neck, smearing “bio-solids” all over the sleeves of his uniform.

Then the wet dog shook himself vigorously, spraying Skeie head to toe in liquid sewage.

“It doesn’t taste that good, either,” said the good-natured Skeie, who, fortunately, is up-to-date on his hepatitis vaccines.

The not-so-sweet smelling officer gave himself and the dog a quick rinse at the outdoor faucet before going home for a long shower. About an hour later, the stray dog’s new adoptive owner, Gretchen Procop, arrived to take the chocolate Lab home.

She named him “Hershey.”

[Car 4]

Oh man....that guy has a medal coming. One of my motor cops jumped into a farm poop pool used to fertilize the silage they grow each year for the dairy cows. The pool is about 150 feet square and about 8 feet deep. A visitor to the farm got on the wrong road and crashed into the pool. The motor officer shed his gunbelt and jumped in to rescue the mom and a small child. He got the Medal of Valor for that one and he had it coming.

Car 4

[Captain America]

As Ofc. Skeie has demonstrated, sometimes it's just not easy being the poolice. Good job, sir.

[Odd]

Nice save!

Yeah, I got nothing pun wise.

[IndianaFuzz]

Skeie is hoping to get a pay raise out of this. That way he can afford to get rid of his extra shit job.

[TXCharlie]

I like this part:

Then the wet dog shook himself vigorously, spraying Skeie head to toe in liquid sewage.

“It doesn’t taste that good, either,” said the good-natured Skeie, who, fortunately, is up-to-date on his hepatitis vaccines.

The not-so-sweet smelling officer gave himself and the dog a quick rinse at the outdoor faucet before going home for a long shower.

[2 Blue 4 U]

Yuck, One Sinking, stinking dog of job, Well Done!

[Wolven]

Great job! Hate off to you sir!

[Wolven]

Oh man....that guy has a medal coming. One of my motor cops jumped into a farm poop pool used to fertilize the silage they grow each year for the dairy cows. The pool is about 150 feet square and about 8 feet deep. A visitor to the farm got on the wrong road and crashed into the pool. The motor officer shed his gunbelt and jumped in to rescue the mom and a small child. He got the Medal of Valor for that one and he had it coming.

Car 4

You guys in Washington sure know how to "hide" your sewage. When I visted my sister the first time we drive by what looked to me like a beautiful "lake" on the side of the highway coming back from Seatac. I said to my sister and brother in law...wow..that is just gorgeous. My brother in law stated laughing like crazy and told me the "lakes" were actually sewage treatment areas or some such nonsense. So now everytime I visit they ask me if it is pretty on the way home from the airport. lol You guys sure do have a gorgeous state though. Lovely.