Gans Man Killed in Crash Sunday

The Oklahoma Highway Patrol (OHP) reported a Gans man was killed Sunday in a two-vehicle crash on U.S. Highway 64 between Roland and Fort Smith.

Kenneth Gee, 74, was pronounced dead at the scene from injuries sustained in the collision, the OHP reported.

The investigating OHP trooper reported Gee was driving a 1987 Ford pickup truck north on a county road, and attempted to turn west on U.S. Highway 64 when he pulled into the path of a 2007 Chevrolet driven by Charles Reed, 32, of Muldrow. Reed was not injured. 

The collision caused Gee’s pickup truck to roll two times, coming to rest in the center median on its wheels. Gee was ejected from the truck in the collision, the trooper reported.

A passenger in Reed’s vehicle, Faith Ward, 36, of Muldrow, was not injured. 

The cause of the collision is under investigation, the OHP reported.

Sally Maxwell, Senior News Director

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Powerful Earthquake Felt in Oklahoma and Arkansas

Many residents of Sequoyah County, along with most of Oklahoma and parts of Arkansas, were shaken awake early this Saturday morning. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) is reporting that a 5.6 magnitude earthquake occurred just after 7 a.m. 

The USGS reported the epicenter was 7 miles northwest of Pawnee, Oklahoma and more than 4 miles deep. The earthquake was felt as far north as Omaha, Nebraska, as far west as Lawton, Oklahoma, as far east as Russellville, Arkansas and as far south as Dallas.

Today's quake reportedly ties the record for Oklahoma's strongest which occurred in 2011 near Prague. 

Latest reports indicate some damage did occur in the Pawnee area. 

According to the USGS additional aftershocks are expected with an earthquake this size.

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Sequoyah's Cabin Historic Site to Remain Open Through Partnership

The Sequoyah's Cabin Historic Site, owned and maintained by the Oklahoma Historical Society (OHS) since the 1930s, will remain open through a partnership with the Cherokee Nation, the OHS announced Friday.

“Over the past eight years, the state appropriation to the Oklahoma Historical Society has been cut by 40 percent,” said Dr. Bob Blackburn, executive director of the OHS. “Fortunately for us and the legacy of Sequoyah, the Cherokee Nation is willing to assume ownership and keep the site open.”

The transfer of ownership was authorized by legislation approved this past session and action taken by the Oklahoma Historical Society Board of Directors in July. The Cherokee Nation will have an employee at the site at opening time on Tuesday, September 6, 2016.

“On behalf of the Cherokee people, I am pleased we can help preserve the historic cabin that Sequoyah built with his own two hands,” said Cherokee Principal Chief Bill John Baker. “This partnership with the Oklahoma Historical Society is a major step forward in our efforts to preserve our language, our historic resources and our sense of community.”

Sequoyah is known around the world for creating the only original syllabary or alphabet in the Western Hemisphere. Through his syllabary, the Cherokees have had their own written language since the 1820s.

The Sequoyah Cabin Historic Site includes the original cabin, a cover building built by the Works Progress Administration during the 1930s, exhibits, a new parking lot funded by the Cherokee Nation and more than 100 acres of land that serves as a buffer against development.

Senator Mark Allen, who represents the Sallisaw area, sees the transfer as a positive development.

“I am pleased that the Cherokee Nation will carry on the good work that the state has done since the 1930s to preserve a site associated with Sequoyah,” said Senator Allen. “I am also pleased that the Oklahoma Historical Society has found a way to find a long-term solution to what we hope is a short-term problem.”

Dr. Blackburn sees another advantage in the transfer.

“Since 1902 and federal enforcement of allotment, the Cherokee people have suffered a gradual loss of their homeland,” he said. “In one small way, the Oklahoma Historical Society is returning an important part of that land patrimony to the Cherokee people. I want to thank Chief Baker and his staff for working with us in such a cooperative manner, state to nation.”

For more information about the history of the site or the transfer, please call Kathy Dickson, OHS director of museums and sites, at 405-522-5321.

The mission of the Oklahoma Historical Society is to collect, preserve and share the history and culture of the state of Oklahoma. Founded in 1893 by members of the Territorial Press Association, the OHS maintains museums, historic sites and affiliates across the state. Through its research archives, exhibits, educational programs and publications the OHS chronicles the rich history of Oklahoma. 

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City Completes Lagoon at Landfill

The City of Sallisaw recently completed construction of a new six-acre leachate collection system at the city landfill.

The new collection system and lagoon will collect water, mostly rainwater, that drains down through the landfill system. The water is collected in collection lines at the bottom of the landfill and then pumped to the holding lagoon. From there the water is circulated and evaporated. The lagoon will hold over two million gallons of water.

Sally Maxwell, Senior News Director

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iPad App Leads Police to Alleged Thief

A stolen iPad led its owner and police to its recovery last week in Muldrow, and to the arrest of four persons.

Muldrow police reported a Muldrow woman merchant realized her iPad was missing on Aug. 24. She used an application, or app, designed to find iPads, with no results until the next morning. At 5 a.m. on Aug. 25 she received a message the iPad had been located.

The woman contacted Muldrow police who also used the app. It led them to a home on Oak Street in Muldrow. The woman also identified a man and woman on video who had been in her store the previous day. The man was identified as Burton Jack Lewis, 26, who lives at the address where the woman and the police had been directed by the app.

According to the police report filed with the charges against Lewis, a search warrant was then served at the home. The investigating officer found the iPad in Lewis’ dresser in his bedroom. The search also uncovered spoons with a residue that field-tested positive as methamphetamines, and numerous used needles. Police confiscated as evidence a soda pop can altered to smoke from and having the odor of marijuana.

Lewis and three others in the house were arrested and booked into the Sequoyah County Jail. Also arrested were Bo Dowty, Sarah McDonald, and Braeden "Bebo” Lewis. Formal charges were not on file for Dowty, McDonald or Braeden Lewis as of Thursday.

Lewis was charged in Sequoyah County District Court on Aug. 31 with possession of a controlled dangerous substance, knowingly concealing stolen property, maintaining a place for keeping/selling controlled substances and a misdemeanor count of unlawful possession of drug paraphernalia.

Lewis was released Aug. 26 on a $10,000 bond.

His next court appearance is set for Oct. 5 on Associate District Judge Kyle Waters felony disposition docket.

Sally Maxwell, Senior News Director

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Sallisaw Shelter Officially Open

The City of Sallisaw announced this week that the new Sallisaw Animal Control facility is officially open.

The new building was constructed on the site of the old shelter in the Sallisaw Industrial Park off South Opdyke Street.

City officials said the new building is a “dramatic improvement over the past building.” The new 4,000-square-foot facility houses 13 animal runs with 13 outside pens, with room for future expansion.

Large animal enclosures have been added to the new facility.

Smaller animals have access to a large play and exercise area. The inside also has a quarantine area where sick animals can be isolated from the others.

The new building also has accommodations for cats and is climate controlled.

The city began considering a new animal shelter after it was found that the old shelter had deteriorated to the point where it was unusable. But the site chosen for a new shelter, on Eppler Street, was not popular with residents of the area, and the city received a $500,000 bid estimate for the shelter on Eppler, city officials began the search for alternate plans.

They decided upon a pole building at the site of the old shelter, at a modest cost of a little over $60,000.

To help hold down costs, city employees helped finish the new shelter after the building was erected. The new shelter has been housing animals for about two months, while the interior finishing was completed.

To contact the shelter call 918-775-6241, ext. 210.

Sally Maxwell, Senior News Director

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Cherokee Councilor Hopes Cabin Will Re-open Soon

“Sooner than later.” That is when Bryan Warner, Cherokee Nation District 6 Tribal Council member, hopes the Cherokee Nation will take control of the Sequoyah’s Cabin historical site.

Sequoyah’s Cabin, owned by the Oklahoma Historical Society, was closed on Thursday. Society officials have been wrestling with state budget cuts, and because of the loss of funding, Sequoyah County’s premier historical site was closed on Sept. 1. Site Manager Jerry Dobbs voluntarily retired, and a maintenance worker was let go.

Society officials said they are working with a “partner” to keep the site open, but declined to name the partner.

The purchasing partner is the Cherokee Nation, Warner confirmed. An appraiser was at the site on Thursday in preparation for the sale.

Warner said he isn’t sure when the sale will be complete and the tribe will take over.

“I don’t know an exact time line,” Warner said Thursday morning. “We’re waiting on them for some paperwork. I hate to put a date on it. I’m hopeful it will be really soon.”

Warner is also hopeful that Dobbs, who was been at Sequoyah’s Cabin for 27 years, can continue as site manager.

Dobbs was at the site on Thursday to assist the appraiser, even though his last official day was Aug. 31.

“I’m not working, but I’m working,” Dobbs quipped.

Dobbs said he did as instructed by the historical society and locked the gates and hung up the closed sign, but had to reopen for the appraiser. The site will also be open on Sunday for the Blair family reunion, Warner confirmed.

Dobbs said he did not think the historical society, if it keeps the site, will keep it closed.

“Over the past four years they have put $400,000 of improvements into the site,” he said. “They improved and enlarged the parking lot and built the sidewalks.”

Kathy Dickson, the society’s historical programs administrator, said last week, “We will not walk away from it.”

Warner said the site includes between 180 and 200 acres, and said he couldn’t even guess at its appraised value.

But he questioned, “I don’t know why they didn’t just give it to us 20 years ago.”

Warner said, “We are not going to let it go. I think we could plan to do some things out there to make it even better.”

The site’s web site informs visitors that Sequoyah built the one-room log cabin in 1829 shortly after moving to Oklahoma. The cabin became the property of the Oklahoma Historical Society in 1936, and the cabin was enclosed in a stone cover building as a project of the Works Progress Administration. In 1965 the Secretary of the Interior designated the site as a National Historical Landmark.

Sally Maxwell, Senior News Director

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