LE MARS, Iowa (AP) — A northwest Iowa Sheriff’s deputy is mourning the loss of his K-9 partner.  Plymouth County Sheriff’s Deputy Scott Dorhout’s partnered with his German shepherd named “Sabot” when the dog was just a puppy, in 2002. Sabot retired from the Sheriff’s Office in April 2010, about the same time Dorhout, a member of the Iowa National Guard, was called to his third overseas deployment, this time in Afghanistan. Dorhout, with C Troop, 113th Cavalry, in Le Mars, was going away for a yearlong deployment. He says the time away from his best friend and partner made the loss of Sabot, who died last month at the age 9, all the harder for him to accept.

Blinking back tears as he spoke with a reporter, Dorhout said “Every time I would come home he was always happy to see me. He always greets me and wants to be by me.” He says he and Sabot had many conversations while riding in their patrol car. The pair met in February 2002 when Sabot was received by the Plymouth County Sheriff’s Department.

Sabot was a dual-purpose canine partner: He was trained and certified by the U.S. Police Canine Association as a drug detector dog in 2003 and a patrol dog in 2004. Along with finding drugs and the bad guys, Dorhout said Sabot also enjoyed meeting children and working with them during community and school programs. Since the pup grew up with Dorhout’s own children, the deputy said he never had to be concerned when the dog met children in the public.

It was decided that Sabot would retire in 2010 because the hard work of being a detector and patrol dog had taken its toll on the animal. For Dorhout, it was odd coming back to the Sheriff’s Office after returning from Afghanistan this past summer without his retired canine partner. Dorhout said he hasn’t discussed getting a new canine partner with the sheriff, but it’s probably something he will do down the road. For now, he’s content to just remember his friend.

Home sales continue to climb in Iowa. Dale Gross of Atlantic is president of the Iowa Association of Realtors (IAR), which is reporting an increase in home sales from October to November. “This is the fourth month in a row that we’ve seen that happen,” Gross said. Home sales last month increased by 12-point-two percent (12.2%) compared to November of 2010 with 261 more sales. The IAR reported 2,395 homes sold last month. Prices in November held steady compared to the previous year.

“In November 2011, we were at $138,800 as the average sale price of a home in Iowa. That’s compared to a price that was only $900 above that last year. So, it’s not down a whole lot,” Gross said. He attributed the uptick in sales to the strong farm economy and low interest rates around four-percent (4%). Gross said home sales tend to decline during the winter months of December, January and February – making it a good time to buy.

“The sellers are anxious because they want to get the house sold. They don’t want to heat it anymore and want to make a deal,” Gross explained. “If someone is thinking of home ownership, with the low interest rates, this is the time to get off the couch and get out there and find something to buy.” The IAR report shows statewide home inventory at the end of November was 21,431, which includes 3,112 new active residential listings. The average days on the market in November was 109 days, up three days compared to November 2010.

(Pat Curtis/Radio Iowa)

Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum spoke to a crowd of over four-dozen people Sunday night, in Atlantic as part of his “Faith, Family and Freedom” tour across the Country. The former Senator from Pennsylvania said he feels “very good” about his campaign in these last few weeks before the January 3rd Iowa caucuses, and urged the party faithful to attend the caucus and vote for candidate who will “Fight for America.” Santorum says “This is the most important election in your lifetime.” He says Iowans can’t be experiencing what’s going on in America and not know how critical the upcoming election is. Santorum says Iowans should get out the vote at the caucus, even if the vote isn’t for him.

Rick Santorum at the Farmer's Kitchen in Atlantic, Sunday

National polls currently show him lagging, but Santorum, who spent 12 years as U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania and four years in the House, isn’t letting that stop him from crisscrossing the state. Sunday’s appearance in Atlantic marked the second time he’s been to the community. To date, he’s attended 350 similar town hall meetings in Iowa.
During his most recent visit, Santorum said “Iowa needs to elevate a conservative to be out there on the national stage, to be a clear contrast to Barack Obama, and make him the issue in this campaign.” Santorum promised to balance the budget within five-years by cutting 5-trillion dollars in spending over in that length of time, and tax entitlements immediately. He says the only program he will not cut, is the Defense Department. He says that’s not the area that’s causing a problem in Washington. Defense spending, he says, has been cut 40-percent over the past 50-years, and he won’t cut it’s budget, because it’s “A dangerous world out there, made more dangerous” by President Obama.

Santorum suggested changes by the government in how businesses are taxed and regulated will spur spur economic growth in the country, but the economy will only be as strong as families are. He says families will not end up poor if couples marry and wait to have children until they’re married, and their children graduate from high school. He says “Marraige is important for the economic and social stability of our country,” yet politicians will only speak about it when they are trying to redefine it. Santorum wrote a book about a half-dozen years ago called “It takes a family,” in response to Hillary Rodham Clinton’s book “It Takes a Village.” He says he wrote it because he’s passionate about families, but he’s also passionate about limited government. The two, he says, go hand-in-hand.

He says “You can’t have limited government if you don’t have strong families, and you can’t have limited government, if you don’t have people living good, decent, moral, virtuous lives.” Santorum says the goverment creates new laws aimed at regulating our lives and constaining bad behavior, because people are living their lives immorally. Santorum also spoke at a town hall meeting Sunday morning in Council Bluffs, with a similar-sized crowd in attendance.