Commissioners Discuss Purchase of New Paver

The Board of Sequoyah County Commissioners opened and awarded a bid for the purchase of a paver at their weekly meeting Monday.

District 3 Commissioner Jim Rogers said he wanted time to examine the Caterpillar paver himself before actually accepting Forsgren’s $44,000 bid -- the only one the county received. Rogers said after he saw the vehicle and reviewed the necessary documents, he would place the item back on the commissioners’ agenda for a future meeting.

The commissioners also approved a payment to Union Pacific Railroad Company as part of District 2’s Dwight Mission Road resurfacing project.

The panel also approved the removal of Bruce Tabor from the Bank of Cherokee County SAC Nutrition Checking Accounts, SAC Nutrition.

Laura Brown, KXMX Staff Writer

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SAC Nutrition Center in Need of 1,000 NEW Plastic Bags

The SAC Nutrition Center in Sallisaw is needing as many NEW plastic bags as possible for use in its senior citizens feeding program.

The bags, commonly used as shopping bags, come in handy at SAC, where they are used to hold meals for hungry senior diners.

Carol Thomas, who runs the nutrition center, said Monday that she and her staff “hope to open back up for dine-in service in July.”

Used shopping bags can not be acceptable due to sanitation reasons. The center is asking businesses and/or individuals to donate new bags. Many retailers sell the bags in bulk.

The center has been closed to in-person diners since the coronavirus pandemic hit the state more than a year ago. The group was quickly able to switch to takeout and delivery meal service to keep area seniors fed for the past year, providing a lifeline to elders in senior citizens in eastern Oklahoma.

Laura Brown, KXMX Staff Writer

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Muldrow Man Pleads Guilty to Child Porn Charges

The United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Oklahoma has announced that Hunter Jacob James Hope, 21, of Muldrow pleaded guilty to seven counts of production of child pornography, and one count of possession of child pornography. According to the plea agreement, he will face between 262 and 327 months in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.

According to court documents, Hope engaged in a pattern of conduct that involved threatening to share sensitive (typically undressed or partially undressed) images of minors unless the minors either engaged in sex acts with him or provided him with sexually explicit images of themselves over the internet.

The charges arose from an investigation by the Sallisaw Police Department and the Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations.

The Hon. Kimberly E. West, U.S. Magistrate Judge in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma in Muskogee, accepted the plea and ordered the completion of a pre-sentence investigation report.

Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Gwendelynn Bills represented the United States.

Laura Brown, KXMX Staff Writer

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Laura Brown, KXMX Staff Writer

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

   

Pitts Tased After Attempting to Elude Deputy

Johnathon Pitts

Johnathan Pitts, 29, of Sallisaw was tased Friday evening after attempting to elude a Sequoyah County deputy.

Deputy Mark Choate was dispatched to a residence north of Sallisaw in response to a report of Pitts having taken his aunt's vehicle without permission. While Choate was obtaining information from the reporting party, Pitts pulled up in the vehicle and his aunt attempted to talk him into leaving the vehicle without incident but he drove away. Choate pursued him to the Dollar General located north of Sallisaw where Pitts pulled over.

Deputy Choate stated that Pitts refused to leave the vehicle so he called for a second unit. At that time Pitts put the vehicle in reverse and backed into the deputy's patrol unit. Pitts then began to drive away. "I was able to deploy my Taser through the car window and then take Pitts into custody," Choate said. (Click on link below for video)

https://youtu.be/IOaHiTyLXOQ

Pitts also had in his possession his aunt's purse and her dog.

Sheriff Larry Lane stated that Pitts was charged with unauthorized use of motor vehicle, resisting arrest, attempting to elude, larceny of a dog and petit larceny.

Pitts is currently still in custody at the Sequoyah County Detention Center.

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COVID Vaccine to Become Available for All Oklahomans

Starting Monday, March 29, all Oklahoma residents will be eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine, the Oklahoma State Department of Health announced Tuesday.

For those wanting to schedule their vaccine, please note that the Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines are approved for use with individuals 18 and older, and the Pfizer vaccine is approved for those 16 and older, according to the Federal Drug Administration.

Schedule your vaccine at vaccinate.ok.gov.

With thousands of Oklahomans continuing to be vaccinated against COVID-19, state health leaders say they are preparing to move on to the next and last phase of Oklahoma’s vaccination plan.

So far, the OSDH says, nearly 1.7 million Oklahomans have received at least one dose of the vaccine. In all, about 71 percent of Oklahomans over age 65 have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Keith Reed, Oklahoma’s deputy commissioner of health, says hospitalizations are steadily declining as the vaccine supply grows, a key factor in Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt’s decision last week to ease restrictions put in place in 2020 to try and keep the coronavirus pandemic under control.

Stitt’s move allowed hair salons, bars, restaurants and similar establishments to reopen despite concerns that the virus is still out there.

Stitt said the sacrifices made by Oklahomans – closing businesses and missing out on important life events like weddings and proms – have “flattened the curve.”

The governor warned that the virus hasn’t magically gone away simply because the state’s infections are trending in the right direction and hospital capacity is good.

“We still have coronavirus in the United States, it’s still in the state of Oklahoma, we’re still going to have people get this, we’re still going to have positive cases, but our rate of positive cases continues to decline,” Stitt said.

Laura Brown, KXMX Staff Writer

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Cox Arrested for Public Intoxication

Sequoyah County Court Clerk Gina Cox

Sequoyah County Court Clerk Gina Cox was arrested near her home on Tuesday evening. Cox was placed under arrest by Sequoyah County Sheriff Larry Lane.

At the time of her arrest Cox was charged with Public Intoxication and Malicious Destruction of Property Less Than $1,000. Both charges are misdemeanors. 

Sheriff Lane stated that although these are minor charges, "they become more magnified when it’s a public elected official being charged." Lane said that Cox was booked into the Sequoyah County Jail at approximately 3 p.m. and was held until about 10 p.m. when she bonded out.  

Sheriff Lane also stated that there were some questions about the delay in uploading the booking photo. In response Lane said, “We treat everyone the same, no matter who they are or what their title is. In this case the delay was due to Mrs. Cox being very belligerent, combative and uncooperative when the jail staff were trying to get booking photos and fingerprints of her. When this occurs, we do not let the inmate bond out until they fully complete the booking process. It was a few hours before she finally cooperated with jail staff. Therefore she ended up staying in jail for about seven hours instead of the normal four to six hours for an intoxicated person."

Sheriff Lane went on to say,  “I hate that she put me in the position to have to make this arrest but I really had no choice. I did my job and I will say that I am very proud of Undersheriff Cox for doing his job and maintaining his professionalism as well." 

“We should be praying for Mrs. Cox and her family," Sheriff Lane added. "All of us have had personal issues to deal with and we all deal with these problems in different ways. Hopefully she gets help if she needs it."

Cox was elected to the position of Sequoyah County Court Clerk in November of 2020 and took office in January of this year.

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Wright Says Tourism Key to Eastern Oklahoma Growth

Kenyatta Wright

Vian native Kenyatta Wright discussed the importance of tourism to eastern Oklahoma at the Sallisaw Chamber of Commerce’s monthly meeting Wednesday.

Wright, a graduate of Vian High School and Oklahoma State University, played in the NFL for the Buffalo Bills and the New York Jets. He returned home to the Vian area after his football career and currently lives near Lake Tenkiller with his wife, Amber, and their four children.

Now in charge of the Tenkiller Association, Wright says he and Oklahoma Tourism Director Jerry Winchester agree that tourism works if state agencies work together. “We are all in this together,” he said, “and we need to cross-promote each other, highlight each other and try to connect everything.”

Wright talked about the importance of bringing in tourism dollars to the region, saying, “I want to get as many people as I can to come to Sequoyah, Cherokee, Adair and Muskogee counties.”

“Once we come together, we (eastern Oklahoma) are going to be a powerful place,” Wright said.

Also on hand at the meeting, Sallisaw City Manager Keith Skelton and Jerry Cook, vice president of GRDA’s Customer Service Division, thanked city electric customers who stepped up during February’s winter storm and complied with city requests to conserve power. The city only had one outage during the storm, Skelton said. The situation could have been a lot worse.

“We want to thank our 17 municipal public power communities,” Cook said. “Without them we could not have kept the power going as well as we did.”

Cook also praised customers for their efforts, saying, “You’re not just our customers, you’re our partners. We asked you to conserve and you did.”

Mayor Ernie Martens took the microphone to discuss the recent Junior Livestock Show, which brought in $82,649 this year. “Marty Green, me, FFA and 4-H leaders and others started brainstorming on ways we could get this show up and running this year. Area county shows have followed Sallisaw’s model,” Mayor Marten said.

The money donated at the sale goes back to the students. “It’s not an expense, it’s an investment in our kids,” he said.

Cliff’s Pharmacy was named the Chamber’s March Member of the Month. Accepting the award from Chamber President Rhonda Nicholson (above left) was Mike Meece. Mike is the son of the late Clif Meece, founder of Clif's Pharmacy.

Cazadores provided the meal for the meeting.

Laura Brown, KXMX Staff Writer

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