Students blistered in softball game against their teachers
While all the official school sports have ended, state competitions are over and school is winding down, one of the biggest Barnsdall sporting events was saved for last – the student teacher softball game. It is a tradition that has been going on “forever,” according to Coach Joe Gilbert, although it’s not as old as [...]
Duncan sworn in, then raises eyebrows by declining three Osage Nation felony arrests
As expected, Gov. Mary Fallin appointed Rex Duncan as district attorney for Osage and Pawnee counties last Tuesday, but no one expected what would happen the following day. On the arraignment docket Wednesday afternoon were three felony cases in which the Osage Nation Police Department had made arrests on non-tribal land. At Duncan’s behest, all [...]
Mom to more than 250
A boy no older than 10 came bounding through a sea of cats and dogs in the Swindells’ front yard with a dark blonde mop of hair flying. “I am a foster kid,” was the first thing out of his mouth with a beaming smile before he hopped off to the trampoline next to the [...]
A first: Carrying the torch
While Osage County Deputy Sheriffs Travis Harris, Terry York and Kevin Burke rappelled down into the Oklahoma Special Olympics opening ceremonies in Gallagher Iba Arena in Stillwater on Wednesday night, Osage Nation Sgt. Michael Fish walked alongside athletes and other officers. All four of the men, including other officers from Highway Patrol Troop K, the [...]
Barnsdall teen honored for her cheer and grace in the face of arthritis, scoliosis
Barnsdall teenager Bailey Mayfield got top honors from the Arthritis Foundation, which singled her out for gracefully and with good humor facing challenges posed by arthritis and scoliosis. “You have won our hearts with your contagious smile and positive attitude, Brian Harris of the Oklahoma Chapter of the Arthritis Foundation told her at the Skirvin [...]
Rexwinkle’s first class graduates high school
There was plenty of talk and speeches at the Memorial Field in Barnsdall on Thursday that were devoted to the topic of the seniors’ future and life advice. But the Tuesday before had been all about their past, specifically their past in D’Ann Rexwinkle’s fifth grade class. Rexwinkle died after a short battle with clear [...]
Barnsdall police officer resigns in wake of friendly fire incident that hit two other lawmen
Danny Couffer, the Barnsdall police officer whose assault rifle discharged and accidentally shot two other lawmen last Monday, has resigned from the force Wednesday and effective immediately, Police Chief Matt Clark said. On the evening of May 8, Couffer, a resident of Pawhuska, was putting or had put his personal AR-15 in the back of [...]
Bucks graduate, tears and all
Hominy High School held it’s graduation ceremony Friday night in Hominy. There were plenty of tears and smiles surrounded with some purple pride. Shidler and Woodland High School have their graduation ceremonies Fri., May 18, while Skiatook’s is Thurs., May 24, and Pawhuska’s is Fri., May 25. Photos by Louise Red Corn
Kourtney Brown is finalist in National Miss Oklahoma pageant
Pawhuska resident and Shidler student Kourtney Brown, 14, is a state finalist in the National Miss Oklahoma Pageant in Tulsa June 9-10. The National Miss pageants are held for girls ages 4-18, and have five different age divisions. Brown will be participating in the Jr. Teen age division. All activities and competitions are kept age [...]
Trials end with mixed results
Two guilty, two acquiited in meth case Two people accused in a meth lab case out of Sand Springs were found guilty at trial last week and two others were acquitted. The jury recommended that Roger Wayne Dorris, 46, and David George Powell Jr., 34, each serve seven years in the case, while Karmen Leigh [...]
Two police hurt in cop gun mishap
An accidental discharge from a Barnsdall police officer’s AR-15 assault rifle sent a bullet into the leg of an Osage County deputy sheriff and wounded another Barnsdall officer in the neck and abdomen on Monday evening. Osage County Chief Deputy Sheriff Charlie Cartwright said that Barnsdall Police Officer Danny Couffer had placed his assault rifle [...]
Jim Roberts, a pioneer who made Skiatook grow, is remembered
Jim Roberts, a Skiatook developer who led the charge to turn the sleepy burg into one of the fastest-growing towns in Oklahoma, died Sunday in a fiery car crash in Rogers County. Roberts, 74, the proprietor of Roberts Real Estate and a man with many land interests in northeastern Oklahoma, was killed when his 2011 [...]
Simmons asks for change in record, but files no appeal against Sheriff
Daryl Simmons, the would-be candidate for Osage County Sheriff, filed a motion with the election board on Monday asking that the Election Board change its findings issued after a hearing at which he was disqualified as a candidate. Simmons was disqualified after the board decided he did not meet the legally required residency and voter [...]
Sheriff’s house-cleaning is your gain: Auction for 250 guns, more, set for May 19.
For the first time in more than four years, the Osage County Sheriff’s Office is cleaning its house of a vast number of guns, DVDs and other items that have lain unclaimed for years in storage. Whether you want a copy of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir belting out Joy to the [...]
Quilted love
D’Ann Rexwinkle’s 5th grade class has had a substitute teacher all year because she was battling cancer, a fight she lost recently. To remember her and to raise money for an OSU scholarship in her honor. the class that missed Mrs. D and her substitute, Julie Johnson, made a quilt of 50 squares, one for [...]
Johnson’s sentencing pushed back; Enos pleads guilty
Sentencing for Gary Johnson, Skiatook’s former superintendent, was rescheduled once again. It has been rescheduled several times. This time is was schedule for Wed., May 2 before Tulsa County Judge Tom C. Gillert moved the sentencing to June 15 along with Rick Enos’ sentencing date. Johnson plead guilty to four counts of bribery last year, [...]
Burbank floods; people evacuate
Early Monday morning storms wreaked havoc throughout the county. Lightning set fire to a home in Skiatook just before 3:30 a.m. Heavy rains eventually flooded and closed OK 18 north of Fairfax while residents in Burbank, just west of Pawhuska, woke to a river running through their small town of about 150 residents. In Burbank, [...]
Pawhuska schools hire a new superintendent
The Pawhuska School Board sifted through a whopping 42 superintendent candidates to replace Ben West, and on Thursday voted unanimously to hire Landon Berry, the current superintendent of Haskell Public Schools. The school board is hosting an informal “meet and greet” on May 10 for members of the public to meet Berry on May 10 [...]
A helper gets some help
Joan Fuller, pronounced JoAnn, volunteered with Pawhuska’s Hands and Hearts since its inception 13 years ago, even though she was in her 80s. She continued being a helping hand with an open heart at the annual event up until her death more than two years ago from breast cancer. During those years of volunteering, friends [...]
When called as a juror, leave meth in your car
The Osage County Courthouse’s new security system, in which all who enter are screened for weapons, snagged a felony arrest Wednesday after a prospective juror apparently forgot to leave his meth in his car. Deputy Ronnie Stevens was working the security post at 9:15 a.m. Wednesday when Jerry Wayne Robinson, 45, of Tulsa, went through [...]
“Lust” case ends in plea to abduction, not molestation
A Tulsa man who had been accused of lewdly molesting a 12-year-old girl pleaded no contest Friday to abducting her in order to assault her, and received a 10-year deferred sentence. The record of Joseph Abraham Brookshire, 22, will be wiped clean if he successfully completes the sentence without getting in trouble again, completes “impulse [...]
Two jury trials in the Osage end with acquittals
Jurors in a busy trial season in the Osage County Courthouse found two defendants not guilty last week in separate felony cases. Vernon Eugene Decker, 41, of Oakhurst, was found not guilty of assault with intent to kill in a bizarre and bloody case near Osage in January 2011, and Shane Anson, 22, was acquitted [...]
The last of the Osage 10 comes home to Pawhuska
The last bronze bust made from a plaster mold of a living Osage by the Smithsonian Institution’s Museum of Natural History was unveiled Saturday at the Constantine Theater to a packed audience. Ten busts were made of Osages and another 82 were also cast of native people from around the globe, including Mongolians, Peruvians and [...]
Skiatook realtor accused Tulsa police captain of sexual misdeeds
A Tulsa police captain is the target of a protective order filed by a Skiatook Realtor who claims that the officer engaged in deviant sexual behavior with a 12-year-old but that the Tulsa Police Department’s Internal Affairs division has done nothing about it. Capt. Shawn M. King, 42, of TPD’s Gilcrease Division is also the [...]
