There’s a new sher-uff in town

And her name is ‘Sheriff Roxxy’ — a handle chosen among 15 others and that came from the minds of two Tracy kids

he newest member of the Lyon County Sheriff’s Office has a name. And a pair of Tracy youth can take credit for it.

St. Mary’s School fourth-graders Hazel Kimball and Laura Kor on Saturday — along with Tracy Area Elementary School first-grader Leo Daniels — were in Marshall for a naming ceremony for the Sheriff Office’s K9 officer. Before Saturday, the 2-year-old German Shepherd was a dog without a name. That was left up to area youth; more than 260 took part in a coloring contest to qualify for the chance to name the dog.

Kimball and Kor both agreed on the name “Roxxy.” Another suggestion given to Lyon County Sheriff Eric Wallen was “Sheriff,” so he suggested combining the two names to come up with “Sheriff Roxxy.”

“It’s pretty cool” that we won, Kor said.

“I was just standing in line for lunch and I was like, ‘OK, we’re naming it Roxxy,’” Kimball said. “I told all the girls we need to either vote for ‘Shadow’ or ‘Roxxy.’” Kimball, Kor and Daniels were three of eight area youth who earned the right to be at Saturday’s naming ceremony. Each one was asked to put a mark by one of the 15 names that was written on a large sheet of paper; “Roxxy” received three votes to win the contest.

“Sheriff Roxxy” came to Marshall direct from Slovakia and will be used as a detection dog.

“She doesn’t have the type of mentality of being a dominant dog,” said Sheriff’s Deputy Beau Swenson, who is “Sheriff Roxxy’s” handler, who has spent the last three weeks working with the dog and getting her used to her new life in Marshall. “A lot of the American-bred German Shepherds are bred for show. We’re training her for narcotics detection, article searches … and tracking, like for missing persons.”

“Roxxy” and Swenson are currently two weeks into a 12-week training program. At the end of 12 weeks, the dog will go through trials to get certified.