Apartment Fire Leaves Six Families Homeless

Six families in Sallisaw were left homeless Wednesday evening when a fire broke out at Royal West Apartments on Ruth Street. Sallisaw firemen contacted the Red Cross and Red Cross personnel were on their way to make other living arrangements for the families and to provide them with food. At least two apartments were destroyed in the fire and four others were badly smoke damaged. No one was injured and all the families and their pets were able to escape without injury. The fire erupted at about 7 p.m. and Fire Chief Anthony Armstrong, above left, said the cause of the fire was still under investigation. The fire began in Apt. 5, where Jimmy and Mary Hunt live. They believe a candle may have started the fire according to what they told apartment manager Brenda Adams. The apartment complex is owned by Lynn Bolton, who arrived shortly after the fire began. Adams said, "Everybody's safe. That's all I'm worried about. Material things can be replaced. No one died and even the animals are all safe." The families were told that when the firefighters had the apartment building safe, they would be allowed to get what they could from the smoke-damaged apartments. As of 8:15 p.m. all of Sallisaw's firefighters and fire trucks were still on the scene. Stay tuned to KXMX for the latest news, or visit www.kxmx.com.
By Sally Maxwell
Senior News Director

Clean Line Energy Meeting is Thursday

Clean Line Energy is looking for a route to transmit wind power from western Oklahoma to the Tennessee area and is holding a meeting at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at Belfonte School, north of Muldrow, to meet with property owners and hear their concerns. Company spokesman, Phillip Teel, the company's Oklahoma manager, said there is no definite route yet. An Environmental Impact Study must be done and the route approved by the Department of Energy (DOE). The DOE will most likely suggest a route later this year or early next year, and other agencies are studying the environmental and local impact of the proposed route.
Stay tuned to KXMX for the latest news, or visit www.kxmx.com.
By Sally Maxwell
Senior News Director

Waterline Contract Approved for Sallisaw Sports Complex

April 2015. . .that’s when the new Sallisaw Sports Complex is expected to be ready for play. City Manager Bill Baker said Sallisaw City Commissioners unanimously approved bids at a special meeting Wednesday morning to provide water to the complex and for lighting. Construction is to begin May 12 on four baseball fields and four softball fields. Seven of those fields will be lighted, and the city is searching for funding to light the eighth. Baker said the city commissioners approved a contract with LLG Construction Inc. of Oktaha, for $339,330 to build the 12-inch waterline down Delaware Street to the complex. The LLG bid was the lowest. The commissioners also approved an agreement with Hawkins-Weir Engineers of Van Buren for administration and inspection of the water line. Baker said the $3.9 million sports complex project contract is for 300 days and the complex should be done, weather permitting, by March or April next year. Stay tuned to KXMX for the latest news, or visit www.kxmx.com.

By Sally Maxwell

Senior News Director

Fugitive Running from 25 Year Sentence

A 36-year-old Stigler man, who told authorities he had been living on acorns and turtles after escaping from the Haskell County Jail on April 22, was captured by Sallisaw police and Sequoyah County deputies at about 5 a.m. Monday. Edward Branch Jr. was charged April 28 in Haskell County District Court with escaping from the Department of Corrections, and a warrant for his arrest was issued the same day. Haskell County authorities said Tuesday morning that Branch had just been sentenced to 25 years, with five years suspended, for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, first-degree burglary, and robbery by force and fear with a dangerous weapon. He was awaiting transfer to the State Department of Corrections when he escaped. Haskell County Sheriff Brian Hale was unavailable for comment on the details of the escape. It wasn’t Branch’s first escape. According to court records, Branch was charged in February with escaping from the same jail, but was found only three hours later in an abandoned home. The records also reveal Branch was charged with escape from a penal institution in Craig County in 2006. An arrest warrant on that charge was filed in Craig County District Court on Jan. 17 of this year. Authorities had been searching for Branch in the Kerr Lake area, and he was captured while walking along Interstate 40. Court records indicate that Branch has an extensive criminal history. Stay tuned to KXMX for the latest news, or visit www.kxmx.com. By Sally Maxwell, Senior News Director

Escapee Apprehended

36 year old Edward Branch Jr, an escapee from the Haskell County Detention Center, was arrested this morning by the Sallisaw Police Department after being spotted around mile marker 310 on Interstate 40 near Sallisaw. Branch escaped from the Haskell County Detention Center on April 22, 2014 around 1:00am. He is currently in the Sequoyah County Jail awaiting extradition to Haskell County. For more local stories visit our website at www.kxmx.com.

Teen Arrested for Alleged Cover Up

Kyle Lewis Brannon, 18, turned himself in at the Sequoyah County Detention Center Wednesday on a misdemeanor warrant that accuses him of destroying evidence at the scene of an all-terrain vehicle (ATV) wreck and obstructing law enforcement. Brannon was accompanied by a bondsman, was booked and released immediately on a $2,000 bond. According to the warrant affidavit filed in Sequoyah County District Court in Sallisaw, Brannon and another teen were called to the ATV wreck scene by Angela Gray, 38, who told investigators she was a passenger on the ATV which was driven, she said, by Christian Mayberry, 16, of Muldrow. Brannon and the other teen, who has also been arrested, took a cooler and beer from the scene, and may have even moved Christian Mayberry, 16, of Muldrow who was seriously injured in the wreck. Mayberry was thrown about 12 feet from the ATV and lay unconscious for at least three hours before being found. He suffered a severe brain trauma in the wreck and has been in rehabilitation ever since trying to recover his former life. Stay tuned to KXMX for all the news, or visit www.kxmx.com.

Sally Maxwell

Senior News Director

UPDATE-Farris Pleads Not Guilty

Arty Allen Farris, 19, entered a not guilty plea to a first degree murder charge Wednesday in Sequoyah County District Court in Sallisaw. Farris was charged Tuesday for the death of Jason Stone, 22, on the night of April 4. Farris told investigators that Stone and two others were at Farris’ home in Marble City, drinking. Farris said Stone was bullying him and hit him on the lip. Farris said he then got a rifle, loaded one bullet, and shot Stone when he called him a vulgar name. Farris told investigators that he then spilled gasoline around the house and set it on fire. The state medical examiner reported Stone died of smoke inhalation. Farris’ case was put on Judge Larry Langley’s disposition docket on June 25. Stay tuned to KXMX for the latest news or visit www.kxmx.com.

By Sally Maxwell

Senior News Director