Colorado Fugitive Captured In Roland

It was announced Sunday by the U S Marshal's office that they arrested Harry Mapps, who is sus- pected in the slayings of three people in Colorado.  Mapps, 59, was captured at a hotel near Inter- state 40 in Roland.  He was wanted on charges of first degree murder in the shooting deaths of three people, plus arson.

The shootings took place on November 27 at a residence outside the small town of Rye in Pueblo County located in southern Colorado.  It is believed by officials that the house where the three bodies were discovered was set on fire to try and cover up the shootings.

Mapps signed the extradition waiver Monday morning at the Sequoyah County Courthouse.  Accord- ing to Sequoyah County Sheriff Ron Lockhart, it will now take four to five days for Colorado law en- forcement to transport him back to Colorado, where he will be tried.

Mapps, a former handyman, was one of the country's most sought-after fugitives.

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No Arrest In Central High Area Shooting

 There are no plans to arrest the 95 year old man who shot and killed a Van Buren man over the weekend, according to Sequoyah County Sheriff Ron Lockhart.  The District Attorney's office, who now has the case, will make the decision of whether or not charges will be filed.

The 95 year old suspected shooter has been identified as Douglas Vaden who resides in the Central High area near Sallisaw.  The man killed was Clinton McCormick, 29 of Van Buren.  For the past three years McCormick's mother, Teresa McCormick, has worked for Vaden as a live-in caretaker.

On the day of the shooting McCormick's girlfriend, Erica Holder, accompanied him to Vaden's resi- dence to speak with his mother.  Upon arrival Holder stayed in the vehicle while McCormick went to talk to his mother who came outside.  She then saw Vaden come out of the house at which time the mother spoke to the elderly man, who then went back in only to return with something in his hand.  Holder at that time rolled the window down and heard McCormick's mother say "If you want to shoot somebody then shoot me".  Holder got out of the car and saw the mother being pushed out of the way by McCormick before Vaden shot him.

The investigation is ongoing and the decision on how to go forth with the case will be made by the D. A.'s office Lockhart said.

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Franklin Will Not Seek Further Counsel

Sallisaw Chief of Police candidate, Terry Franklin confirmed last week that he will not seek further legal counsel in his appeal against his opponent in the race, Sandra Girdner.  A hearing was held Thursday at the Sequoyah County Courthouse to present evidence for an appeal filed by Franklin against the Sequoyah County Election Board and Sallisaw Police Detective Sandra Girdner.

District Judge Mike Norman decided he would review the evidence presented, then make his decision Friday morning.  Judge Norman contacted both Franklin and Girdner's attorneys, Chip Sexton and Fourth Scofous, respectively, with his decision to allow Girdner to continue to run.

Two weeks prior, the Sequoyah County Election Board ruled on an appeal filed by Franklin that Sandra Girdner would remain eligible to run and her name be left on the ballot.  This was a decision made based off the Sallisaw City Charter.

Back on December 5, Franklin filed a protest against his opponent in the race for Chief of Police, Sandra Girdner, due to "residency requirements to run for Chief of Police".  Franklin stated "Ms. Girdner has resided at her residence off McCoy Ford Road for the last eight years".  Article 2 Section 3 in the Sallisaw City Charter which addresses specifically the Chief of Police, states "No person shall be eligible to the office of Chief of Police of the City of Sallisaw unless he has been a resident of the City for at least one year prior to his election".

In the appeal filed by Terry Franklin, the word PRIOR is what was in question.  Mr. Franklin said "While I respectfully disagree with the court's ruling, I am going to continue my campaign for Chief and will let our voters decide on February 11, 2014".

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Heavener Soldier Killed

An announcement was made Thursday by the Department of Defense that a soldier from Heavener has been killed.  Chief Warrant Officer Randy L. Billings, 34, was among six killed in a helicopter crash.  The crash happened December 17 in Now Bahar Afghanistan.

It has been confirmed by the Army that the soldiers died Tuesday when the Black Hawk UH- 60 they were in went down in Zabul during a mission.

Military officials said that they don't know if it was a mechanical failure occurred or if the helicopter was shot down.  The crash is under investigation.

Billings was assigned to the 3rd Assault Helicopter Battalion, 1st Aviation Regiment, 1st Combat Aviation Brigade, 1st Infantry Division Fort Riley, KS.

In August, some 2,000 soldiers were sent to Afghanistan for a nine month deployment by the 1st Division Combat Aviation Brigade.  They were replacing 3rd Infantry Division's Combat Aviation Brigade.

The soldiers were killed while supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.

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Willie Nelson Concert Rescheduled

The Willie Nelson Fayetteville concert has been tentatively rescheduled for Tuesday March 4 at the Walton Arts Center.  The performance, originally set for November 26, was postponed due to an accident involving Nelson's tour bus.  Although Nelson was not on the bus at the time of the crash, three of his band members were injured.  One suffered an ankle injury, another sustained injury to his hip and the third member had rib injuries.

In 2012 Nelson cancelled a show scheduled to be held at the Ft. Smith Convention Center due to lack of ticket sales.

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4 Dead In Shooting Near Alma

A domestic disturbance resulted in a deadly shooting Tuesday afternoon in Crawford County.  The incident happened at a home at 2127 Old Rudy Road north of Alma just before 3 p.m.  According to Sheriff Ron Brown there were four people reported dead, one of which is identified as Tim Adams, the shooter.

The incident started when Adams' daughter pulled into the driveway with her boyfriend, a four month old boy and a four year old girl.  Adams then shot and killed the boyfriend deputies said.  According to Brown, they believe he then shot the four month old who was in a carseat.  At that time the woman grabbed the infant and ran to the house while Adams was shooting at her, missing her.  After that, de- puties said, he shot and killed the four year old girl who was in the front yard.

A little while after that, Adams was in the backyard talking to deputies on the phone.  Brown said the shooter had his back to the deputy.  He then put the phone down and turned around.  He was holding a shotgun at which time he shot himself.

There was another child at the home during the incident who was unharmed, along with Adams' dau- ghter.

According to county property records the home belongs to Tim and Regina Adams.  Public director- ies show that same address as that of Adams Roofing.

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Area Christmas Parades

Below are the locations, dates and times for area Christmas Parades:

Gore - Saturday, December 14th at 11:30 am

Muldrow - Saturday, December 14th at 5:30 pm
Roland - Saturday, December 14th at 12 pm
Sallisaw - Saturday, December 14th at 6 pm
Tahlequah - Saturday, December 7th at 6 pm

Vian - MONDAY - December 16TH at 6 pm
Webbers Falls - Saturday, December 14th at 10 am

Muldrow Girl Sells Design To GAP

GAP, a popular clothing retailer has ordered 15,000 units of a T-shirt design from Danielle Kling of Muldrow.  Kling is a graphic design student at University of Ark -Ft. Smith.  She made the design as part of a project in her Digital Illustration class.  Students submitted designs into a weekly contest.  They would submit them on Threadless, an online clothing retailer, which sells designs that are creat- ed by online users.  GAP partnered with Threadless to sell the website's clothing merchandise at se- lect GAP locations.

Even though Kling's design did not win the contest, she received an email from GAP showing interest in buying her design.  It took several months after she signed the contract to hear anything back from them, but approximately seven months after receiving the first email, she received a royalty check in the mail.

Kling got the idea for her design while at her house working on sketches for her project.  She notice a spider outside her window that had been there for almost a week.  Kling began to think about the spi- der building a web.  Thus came her design, a blue print diagramming a spider web titled "Web Con- struction".

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