Students Prepare to ‘March for Our Lives’

James Limbaugh

James Limbaugh and Jamie Pool, both seniors at Sallisaw High School, and students from other Sequoyah County schools will join with students from across the nation to “March for Our Lives” on March 24.

The march is in response to the shooting on Feb.14 that killed 17 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. The alleged 19-year-old shooter was armed with an AR 15 rifle.

The Sallisaw High School students are also planning a 17-minute silent vigil at 7:30 a.m. on March 16 to remember those killed in Parkland.

Limbaugh said students and others joining the March 24 march in Oklahoma City will meet at 11 a.m. at the Oklahoma County Election Board and the march will begin at noon. The march will go to the Capitol, where several speakers are to be heard.

Others will be marching on the capitols in their own states and even on the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C.

Limbaugh, age 18, said his mother, Dr. Paula Haraway, is planning to join in. He is the son of Dr. Haraway, a Sallisaw veterinarian, and Jim Limbaugh.

And it is OK if parents and others join in the march, he said, “even moms.”

The march, Limbaugh said, is for common sense gun reform. He said the students don’t intend to ask for bans on guns, but want legislation calling for mental health checks for those buying guns, school safety, raising the age to purchase AR 15s from 18 to 21, for better background checks, and to ban the bump stocks which make an automatic rifle.

Limbaugh believes Sallisaw Schools, with School Resource Officers stationed at each school, may be as safe as possible, but he acknowledges that such a shooting may happen anywhere, in any school. And he may have plans to do even more for student safety in the future.

Limbaugh said he wants to major in political science in college and eventually attend law school. Asked if he had plans to run for a political office, Limbaugh just grinned and said, “Things develop in the future.”

 Limbaugh was at the Sequoyah County and Democrat Women’s meeting Thursday night to announce the march and invite anyone to join in for “common sense gun control” and student safety.

Anyone wishing for more information about the march may visit the March for Our Lives OKC Facebook page to contact Limbaugh or Pool.

Sally Maxwell, Senior News Director

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Pocola Man, Arrested in Sallisaw, Sentenced in U.S. Court

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Muskogee announced Thursday that Duane Ray Bryant, 31, of Pocola was sentenced to 30 months imprisonment, consecutive to state time he is currently serving, and three years supervised release for possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine.

The charge arose from an investigation by the Sallisaw Police Department and the Drug Enforcement Administration.

The Indictment alleged that on Jan. 29, 2017, Bryant possessed with the intent to distribute a mixture or substance containing a detectable amount of methamphetamine, a Schedule II controlled substance.

Bryant and two others were arrested Jan. 29, 2017, in Sallisaw in an undercover drug operation in the Walmart parking lot. During the operation Bryant and the other two suspects tried to drive away and struck a police officer, Blake Brunk. Brunk recovered, and the three suspects were arrested after Bryant drove their vehicle into the grassy area on the east side of Walmart.

U.S. Attorney Brian J. Kuester said, “Methamphetamine ruins lives, families, and communities. Those that deal drugs do so for their profit without regard to the destruction it causes. The defendant’s business has been shut down due to the efforts of the Sallisaw Police Department and the DEA, as well as law enforcement agencies in Arkansas, who investigated his criminal activity in that state. We commend those agencies for their work.”

U.S. District Judge Ronald A. White presided over the hearing in U.S. District Court in Muskogee. Assistant U.S. Attorney John David Luton represented the United States. The defendant will remain in custody pending transportation to the designated federal facility at which the non-paroleable sentence will be served. 

Sally Maxwell, Senior News Director

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Man Shot in Standoff Charged in District Court

A 22-year-old Muldrow man, who was the central figure in a standoff with Muldrow police on Feb. 8, was charged Feb. 26 in Sequoyah County District Court in Sallisaw with two counts of feloniously pointing a firearm and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon.

An arrest warrant was issued for Marcus Allen Hignite the same day, said District Attorney Jack Thorp.

Thorp said Hignite was wounded in the Feb. 8 standoff. The standoff with Hignite began at about 4:30 p.m. Feb. 8 at Main and Interstate 40 in Muldrow, and concluded about three hours later when Hignite fired a handgun at police. Assistant Muldrow Police Chief Tim Keith fired back and wounded Hignite.

Hignite was flown to a Fort Smith hospital then on to the University of Arkansas Medical School in Little Rock, where he recovered in ICU, according to officials.

Thorp said, “Word is that Hignite is in custody in Benton County (Ark.).”

According to the report of the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation (OSBI) agent filed with the charges, Hignite took a handgun from another person at the Executive Inn in Muldrow and reportedly pointed the handgun at others.

Muldrow Police Chief George Lawson located Hignite and told him to drop the handgun, but Hignite would not do as ordered.

According to the report, “Lawson and Muldrow Assistant Police Chief Tim Keith attempted to talk with Hignite to get him to lay down the handgun and step away from it. Hignite refused. Hignite placed the handgun in his mouth and under his chin on several occasions. Hignite raised the handgun toward officers that were securing the perimeter of the parking lot.”

When Hignite fired the weapon at the officers, which included Sallisaw Police Officers Herbert Hutchinson and Jeff Murray “an officer (Keith) shot at Hignite and knocked him to the ground.”

According to the report, it was learned later that Hignite allegedly pointed the gun at the man he stole it from and at a female victim, whom he threatened to kill.

Keith’s shooting was reviewed by Lawson, and Keith was found not to have violated any Muldrow police policies. Keith, who was on administrative leave after the shooting, as is the usual policy, was allowed to return to work. Thorp said he is still reviewing the shooting.

This was not Hignite’s first encounter with the courts. In 2015 he was charged in Sequoyah County District Court with malicious injury to property, unlawful possession of a controlled drug with intent to distribute and unlawful possession of paraphernalia.

Hignite at first pleaded not guilty to the charges, then later changed his plea to no contest, and was sentenced to seven years suspended and a fine. Hignite was paying on the fine, but because no payment was received since December, another arrest warrant was issued on Feb. 28 for him for failure to appear and failure to pay.

Sally Maxwell, Senior News Director

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Sallisaw Animal Transport Gets Fresh New Look

The Sallisaw Animal Care Facility recently had their newest animal transport vehicle decorated with decals. Randy Freeman, Sallisaw’s Animal Welfare supervisor, said the 2017 Chevrolet Savannah van has been in service since August but was only recently decaled. The van serves two purposes, he said. It is used in daily patrols by Freeman and Lewis Brown, animal control officer, and is used to transport dogs to new homes in other cities. Freeman explained Sallisaw is considered a source shelter for canine pets while other cities are considered receiving shelters.

Sally Maxwell, Senior News Director

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Using Existing Money to Fund Teacher Pay Raises; By Rep. John Bennett

A bill I co-authored that would boost annual teacher pay passed out of the House Appropriations & Budget Committee on Monday night. It now can be considered by the full House or Representatives.

House Bill 3440 would use revenue already earned by the state Commissioners of the Land Office (CLO), but it will not take away from money school districts already receive through the State Funding Formula. Instead, it will be on top of the current distribution.

If the measure had been in place last year, the state’s 41,000-plus teachers would have each received an additional $2,500 in pay. The bill will not fund raises for school administrators.

This is the only plan currently being put forward that would give our teachers a much needed pay raise without raising their taxes or the taxes of other hardworking Oklahomans.

This measure would not dip into the CLO’s corpus, which now totals $2.4 billion – yep, that’s billion with a “b,” and it would only utilize a portion of the CLO’s revenues, not impacting other spending by the land office.

Former U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn supports this plan. Constitutional law professor Andrew Spiropoulos, a recognized expert in state constitutional law and government, stated this plan is constitutional.

The CLO was established in the state Constitution for the sole purpose of earning money for the benefit of public schools. Each year, they give an annual distribution to public K-12 schools and to higher education. The commissioners have done a good job of earning money; they’ve done an equally good job of placing that money in various trust accounts to grow the fund and distribute only a sliver of the earnings to public schools.

The commissioners defend this by claiming any change to the fund would violate the state Constitution and the Enabling Act. They say the trust fund is inviolate and sacred. Those are words used in the Constitution, but they refer to the principal of the fund, not the income, and to the mission of the trust: the benefit of public education. The constitution specifies that the principal must remain inviolate and cannot be diminished. The income, however, is to be used for the benefit of public schools. What better way to support our schools than to pay our teachers more each year. Teachers, after all, are the lifeblood of our schools. Without a qualified teacher in our classrooms, our students don’t learn and are not prepared for the future.

House Bill 3440 charts a clearly constitutional path that will require only a portion of the earnings from the CLO be used for annual pay increases for every teacher in the state. The amount would depend on the amount of earnings from the land office each year. Oversight by the state Board of Equalization would be required.

This is a good bill, and I will be fighting for it to be passed by the House. I would encourage all teachers who would like more money in their pockets to contact the state representatives and senators and encourage them to pass HB3340.

Please contact me with your concerns, issues and input. I truly appreciate it. It is an honor to serve and fight for you as your state representative.

John Bennett represents Oklahoma House District 2. He can be reached at (405) 557-7315 or John.Bennett@okhouse.gov.

Sally Maxwell, Senior News Director

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New Head Start Center Opens Monday

Rebecka Jamison is one of the teachers at the new KiBois Early Head Start in Sallisaw. She adjusts a sleeper in one of the new cribs, which can also be used for evacuation if needed.

Sadie Blackbird, age 2, tries out the new toys at the KiBois Early Head Start Center. Sadie is the daughter of Lyndsay and Justin Blackbird and her mom will be a teacher at the new center.

With a $300,000 grant, the KiBois Community Foundation took over the old band room on the old middle school campus in Sallisaw and turned it into Sequoyah County’s first Early Head Start Center.

The center will welcome 16 students on Monday. The children will be ages birth to 3, and the early schooling is free to children from eligible-income families.

Sherry Hullinger, KiBois assistant Head Start director for Sequoyah, Adair, Cherokee and McIntosh Counties, emphasized that the Early Head Start program is not a day care program, but is a learning program.

“The children will have lesson plans,” she explained.

The 3,200-square-foot old band room “was dark and dreary,” when remodeling began, but is now light and airy, Hullinger pointed out.

The center is furnished with stable, blonde, and adult- and child-sized furniture made by the Amish-owned Community Playthings.

The center also has an outside play area but the development of that has been hampered by the rainy weather, Hullinger said.

In the meantime, the children have an indoor play space for those dark and dreary days.

Dalene Duvall is the site director, and the center will be open from 7:30 a.m. until 2:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Volunteers are welcome to join the center staff, which includes two teachers per classroom and part-time aids. Volunteers may apply at the center, and families may apply at the center or by visiting www.kibois.org.

Hullinger said the applications are also available at the center or at any Head Start.

Sally Maxwell, Senior News Director

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Suspects Identified in Debit Card Case

The Sallisaw Police Department has identified the suspects in a credit card fraud case, and are working on getting arrest warrants for the two suspects, said Sallisaw Police Chief Terry Franklin Wednesday afternoon.

Franklin said it is believed the two suspects are from Spiro.

Franklin said the case came to light when the victim reported he forgot to retrieve his debit card from a bank ATM, and when he returned to find it, the card was gone.

The card was later found to have been used at about 5 p.m. on Feb. 25 at the Walmart and McDonalds in Sallisaw. The victim closed the account immediately.

Franklin said, “We thank everyone for their help in helping us identify the suspects.”

Sally Maxwell, Senior News Director

For more news stories stay tuned to The MIX 105.1 or visit www.kxmx.com