Sunday, November 12, 2017 16 Pages No. 60 of the 129 th Year USPS No. 295-420 50 cents www.kingfisherpress.net TIMES FREE PRESS Est. April 22, 1889 - Oklahoma’s Oldest Continuously-Published Newspaper KINGFISHER & A Sailor Scorned Vietnam War, vicious aftermath leave mark on local Navy vet By Gary Reid Publisher Emeritus [Ed. Note: In recognition of Veterans Day, the Times and Free Press interviewed one of Kingfisher’s Vietnam veterans, Dave Kretchmar.] Kingfisher Vietnam vet- eran Dave Kretchmar still remembers the three differ- ent times someone spat in his face after he returned home from that war. That wasn’t all. The worst part for Kretch- mar was when returning troops were instructed to go to the base PX and buy civilian clothing to avoid being harassed by jeering protesters at the Los Angeles airport. Kretchmar, now a full- time farmer and retired Pio- neer Telephone Cooperative employee, still remembers being called a baby killer upon his return. “We came home like whipped dogs with our tails between our legs,” he says ruefully. He said the urge was strong to bust the protesters in the nose but they were or- dered not to because it could cause a riot. Kretchmar carries an even more palpable remind- er of his time in Vietnam. He now goes to dialysis three days a week due to kidney deterioration prob- ably caused by exposure to Agent Orange, the defoliant used by American forces to open up the jungles so that American troops could fight “Charlie” (the name given to North Vietnam fighters, the Viet Cong). Although Kretchmar still remembers the taunts and jeers he and other veterans of that unpopular war re- ceived, he has forgiven the taunters. But he still has some confusion as to why such animosity targeted young men, most of them drafted, for simply doing their duty as ordered by their govern- ment. They would have pre- NAVY VETERAN, retired Pioneer Telephone Cooperative employee and fulltime farmer Dave Kretch- mar carries physical and emotional reminders of his service in the Vietnam War and treatment by the public after returning home. He’s suffered irreversible kidney damage likely caused by exposure to the military defoliant Agent Orange and undergoes dialysis three days a week. [TIMES-FREE PRESS Staff Photo] [See Sailor Page 15] This Times and Free Press weekend edition is coming to you in the mail on Friday rather than Saturday to avoid holiday mail delays. Saturday is Veterans Day and a partial holi- day, with no U.S. mail delivery. Banks will be closed on Saturday. A number of city, county and state govern- ment offices were slated to close on Friday. First known as Armi- stice Day, Nov. 11 com- memorates the armistice between the Allied na- tions and Germany that ended World War I on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918. Now celebrated as Veterans Day, the holi- day recognizes current and former military per- sonnel. Among other area Veterans Day events, In their honor [See Veterans Page 15] Assessor finds errors in articles Alleged shooter faces murder charge Judge sets $5 million bond for Leatherwood;DA declines to charge 2 other arrestees By Christine Reid Times-Free Press Senior Editor A first-degree murder charge was filed Wednes- day against Travis Michael Leatherwood, 20, of King- fisher, for allegedly shooting Arron Smith, 21, at Leather- wood’s home Oct. 31. Leatherwood also was charged with four other fel- ony offenses – distribution of marijuana, endeavoring to cultivate marijuana, pos- session of a firearm during commission of a felony and maintaining a place for keep- ing or selling controlled sub- stances – and a misdemeanor charge of possession of drug paraphernalia. Two other individuals held without bond since the shooting, Amber Dawn Clay- ton, 22, of Loyal, and Devin Palmer, 19, of Kingfisher, were released Wednesday af- ter District Attorney Michael Fields declined to file charges against them. At the request of King- fisher County Assistant Dis- trict Attorney John Salmon, Associate District Judge Robert Davis set Leather- wood’s bond at $5 million at his initial court appearance Wednesday. Leatherwood, appearing without an attorney, pleaded not guilty to all charges. According to Kingfisher County Sheriff’s Office re- ports, Leatherwood called 911 after 7 p.m. Oct. 31 to report he shot Arron Smith, but said he acted in self-de- fense after Smith entered his home northeast of King- fisher. By the time of the call, Mercy Hospital Kingfisher personnel had already made their own 911 call to report that a gunshot victim had ar- rived at the emergency room. Smith was transported there by Clayton and Palm- er and was subsequently pronounced dead at 7:12 p.m., according to Kingfish- er County Sheriff Dennis Banther. Smith drove to Leather- wood’s house in Clayton’s car with Clayton and Palmer as passengers after an online feud involving Smith, Palmer and Leatherwood over Face- book Messenger, according to law enforcement reports. Palmer told deputies that he was at Smith’s house with Smith and Clayton and was having a conversation with Leatherwood over the Mes- senger app. Palmer said when Smith realized he was talking to Leatherwood, Smith took Palmer’s phone and “started fighting” with Leatherwood through the app. In a separate interview the Travis Leatherwood next day, Leatherwood told Banther he and Palmer were talking about how to extract THC from “ditch weed,” a term for uncultivated, generally lower quality mar- ijuana found growing wild, Banther reported. Leatherwood told Ban- ther that he and Smith had Kingfisher Coun- ty voters will decide the fate of a quar- ter-cent public safety sales tax extension to fund construc- tion of a county jail and provide funds to county rural fire departments. All voters regis- tered in the county can vote at their nor- mal polling places from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday. Or, if you’re read- ing this article before 6 p.m. Friday due to our early publication schedule this week, you can cast your ballot early at the Kingfisher County Election Board in the county courthouse. Early voting was available from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday and Friday. Whether voting early or at your reg- [See Charge Page 15] been friends for about two years but their relationship soured about two weeks before the shooting when Smith allegedly stole some marijuana from Leather- wood, according to Ban- ther’s report. At some point during the online altercation, Leatherwood called Palm- er and Smith cowards, the response from Palmer’s phone was that they would come to Leatherwood’s house and “settle it,” to which Leatherwood re- sponded that he didn’t believe they would and the last reply from Palmer’s phone was “bet,” accord- ing to the sheriff’s report. Palmer and Clayton told deputies the two of them then drove to Leather- wood’s house in Clayton’s car with Smith behind the wheel. Both witnesses said they believed Smith’s intention was to “beat up” Leatherwood. Smith was unarmed, according to sheriff’s reports. Leatherwood told Ban- ther he was inside his house when he saw the car pull into his driveway with Smith, Clayton and Palmer inside and he went to his bedroom to grab a .22 caliber rifle and two BB guns, which looked like handguns. Leatherwood said he planned to meet Smith outside with the BB guns to scare him away and if that didn’t work, he would run back inside to grab the ri- fle, according to Banther’s report. Leatherwood said he “blanked” when he saw Smith running towards his back door, then run The body of a Mustang man was found in Kingfish- er Tuesday, the day after he failed to appear at at an Oklahoma County jury trial on felony drug charges. Michael Dwayne Thompson, 48, appeared to be the victim of a self-in- flicted gunshot wound to the head, Kingfisher Police Chief Dennis Baker said. Thompson’s body was found about noon Tuesday inside a port-a-potty locat- ed behind Countrywood Assisted Living Center on South 13 th Street, when the Yukon company that owned the portable re- stroom was retrieving it, Baker said. The port-a-potty had been placed behind a stock- ade fence in the far west corner of the property for the use of contractors working on a roofing proj- ect that ended Friday, Nov. 3, Baker said. Police believe Thompson likely died sometime after 7 p.m. Saturday, which was when a Kingfisher resident called police requesting they check on his welfare. The resident reported Thompson was an acquain- tance who had been visiting her apartment and then left after making statements that suggested he might be planning to harm himself, Baker said. “Our officers canvassed the city and even put out a BOLO (be on the lookout alert) to surrounding coun- ties but we never found him and never heard anything further until we received the call reporting the body,” Baker said. An official from the state medical examiner’s office was called to the scene to aid the investigation befpre the body was transported to the ME’s office in Okla- homa City. Baker said Thompson appeared to have been killed by a single shot to the head from a 38-special revolver, which was found at the scene. Both the local resident and Thompson’s mother, who lives in Oklahoma City and was notified by Oklaho- ma City police of his death, reported Thompson was facing a jury trial last week, Baker said. According to online court records, Thompson failed to appear Friday, Nov. 3, in Oklahoma County District Court on two separate fel- ony charges of distribution of methamphetamine and trafficking in meth. He was absent again last Monday when a jury trial on the charges was to begin and a bench warrant was issued for his arrest, according to online records. Man who failed to appear Monday at OKC jury trial found dead here Our thanks to County Assessor Car- olyn Mulherin for calling attention to inadvertent errors in articles in Wednes- day’s edition on the county’s 2017 valua- tions and tax rates. She reports King- fisher’s tax levy is 35 cents higher at $88.10 this year compared to $87.75 a year ear- lier; Lomega’s rate is $77.25 compared to $82.42 last year; Hennessey’s is $75.55 compared to $74.91 in 2016, and Cashion’s is $92.59 compared to $91.57. Our apologies for the errors. Public safety sales tax voting started Thursday [See Vote Page 15]
Transcript
Sunday, November 12, 2017 16 Pages No. 60 of the 129th Year USPS No. 295-420 50 centswww.kingfisherpress.net
TIMES FREE PRESSEst. April 22, 1889 - Oklahoma’s Oldest Continuously-Published NewspaperKINGFISHER&
A Sailor ScornedVietnam War, vicious aftermath leave mark on local Navy vet By Gary ReidPublisher Emeritus
[Ed. Note: In recognition of Veterans Day, the Times and Free Press interviewed one of Kingfisher’s Vietnam veterans, Dave Kretchmar.]
Kingfisher Vietnam vet-eran Dave Kretchmar still remembers the three differ-ent times someone spat in his face after he returned home from that war.
That wasn’t all.The worst part for Kretch-
mar was when returning troops were instructed to go to the base PX and buy civilian clothing to avoid being harassed by jeering protesters at the Los Angeles airport.
Kretchmar, now a full-time farmer and retired Pio-neer Telephone Cooperative employee, still remembers being called a baby killer upon his return.
“We came home like whipped dogs with our tails between our legs,” he says ruefully.
He said the urge was
strong to bust the protesters in the nose but they were or-dered not to because it could cause a riot.
Kretchmar carries an even more palpable remind-er of his time in Vietnam.
He now goes to dialysis three days a week due to kidney deterioration prob-ably caused by exposure to Agent Orange, the defoliant used by American forces to open up the jungles so that American troops could fight “Charlie” (the name given to North Vietnam fighters, the Viet Cong).
Although Kretchmar still remembers the taunts and jeers he and other veterans of that unpopular war re-ceived, he has forgiven the taunters.
But he still has some confusion as to why such animosity targeted young men, most of them drafted, for simply doing their duty as ordered by their govern-ment.
They would have pre-
NAVY VETERAN, retired Pioneer Telephone Cooperative employee and fulltime farmer Dave Kretch-mar carries physical and emotional reminders of his service in the Vietnam War and treatment by the public after returning home. He’s suffered irreversible kidney damage likely caused by exposure to the military defoliant Agent Orange and undergoes dialysis three days a week. [TIMES-FREE PRESS Staff Photo][See Sailor Page 15]
This Times and Free Press weekend edition is coming to you in the mail on Friday rather than Saturday to avoid holiday mail delays.
Saturday is Veterans Day and a partial holi-day, with no U.S. mail delivery.
Banks will be closed on Saturday.
A number of city, county and state govern-ment offices were slated to close on Friday.
First known as Armi-stice Day, Nov. 11 com-memorates the armistice between the Allied na-tions and Germany that ended World War I on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918.
Now celebrated as Veterans Day, the holi-day recognizes current and former military per-sonnel.
Among other area Veterans Day events,
Intheirhonor
[See Veterans Page 15]
Assessor finds errors in articles
Alleged shooter faces murder chargeJudge sets $5 million bond for Leatherwood;DA declines to charge 2 other arresteesBy Christine ReidTimes-Free Press Senior Editor
A first-degree murder charge was filed Wednes-day against Travis Michael Leatherwood, 20, of King-fisher, for allegedly shooting Arron Smith, 21, at Leather-wood’s home Oct. 31.
Leatherwood also was charged with four other fel-ony offenses – distribution of marijuana, endeavoring to cultivate marijuana, pos-session of a firearm during commission of a felony and maintaining a place for keep-ing or selling controlled sub-stances – and a misdemeanor charge of possession of drug paraphernalia.
Two other individuals held without bond since the shooting, Amber Dawn Clay-ton, 22, of Loyal, and Devin Palmer, 19, of Kingfisher, were released Wednesday af-ter District Attorney Michael
Fields declined to file charges against them.
At the request of King-fisher County Assistant Dis-trict Attorney John Salmon, Associate District Judge Robert Davis set Leather-wood’s bond at $5 million at his initial court appearance Wednesday.
Leatherwood, appearing without an attorney, pleaded not guilty to all charges.
According to Kingfisher County Sheriff’s Office re-ports, Leatherwood called 911 after 7 p.m. Oct. 31 to report he shot Arron Smith, but said he acted in self-de-fense after Smith entered his home northeast of King-fisher.
By the time of the call, Mercy Hospital Kingfisher personnel had already made their own 911 call to report that a gunshot victim had ar-rived at the emergency room.
Smith was transported there by Clayton and Palm-er and was subsequently pronounced dead at 7:12 p.m., according to Kingfish-er County Sheriff Dennis Banther.
Smith drove to Leather-wood’s house in Clayton’s car with Clayton and Palmer as passengers after an online feud involving Smith, Palmer and Leatherwood over Face-book Messenger, according to law enforcement reports.
Palmer told deputies that he was at Smith’s house with Smith and Clayton and was having a conversation with Leatherwood over the Mes-senger app.
Palmer said when Smith realized he was talking to Leatherwood, Smith took Palmer’s phone and “started fighting” with Leatherwood through the app.
In a separate interview the
Travis Leatherwoodnext day, Leatherwood told Banther he and Palmer were talking about how to extract THC from “ditch weed,” a term for uncultivated, generally lower quality mar-ijuana found growing wild, Banther reported.
Leatherwood told Ban-ther that he and Smith had
Kingfisher Coun-ty voters will decide the fate of a quar-ter-cent public safety sales tax extension to fund construc-tion of a county jail and provide funds to county rural fire departments.
All voters regis-
tered in the county can vote at their nor-mal polling places from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday.
Or, if you’re read-ing this article before 6 p.m. Friday due to our early publication schedule this week, you can cast your
ballot early at the Kingfisher County Election Board in the county courthouse.
Early voting was available from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday and Friday.
Whether voting early or at your reg-
[See Charge Page 15]
been friends for about two years but their relationship soured about two weeks before the shooting when Smith allegedly stole some marijuana from Leather-wood, according to Ban-ther’s report.
At some point during the online altercation, Leatherwood called Palm-er and Smith cowards, the response from Palmer’s phone was that they would come to Leatherwood’s house and “settle it,” to which Leatherwood re-sponded that he didn’t believe they would and the last reply from Palmer’s phone was “bet,” accord-ing to the sheriff’s report.
Palmer and Clayton told deputies the two of them then drove to Leather-wood’s house in Clayton’s car with Smith behind the wheel. Both witnesses
said they believed Smith’s intention was to “beat up” Leatherwood. Smith was unarmed, according to sheriff’s reports.
Leatherwood told Ban-ther he was inside his house when he saw the car pull into his driveway with Smith, Clayton and Palmer inside and he went to his bedroom to grab a .22 caliber rifle and two BB guns, which looked like handguns.
Leatherwood said he planned to meet Smith outside with the BB guns to scare him away and if that didn’t work, he would run back inside to grab the ri-fle, according to Banther’s report.
Leatherwood said he “blanked” when he saw Smith running towards his back door, then run
The body of a Mustang man was found in Kingfish-er Tuesday, the day after he failed to appear at at an Oklahoma County jury trial on felony drug charges.
M i c h a e l D way n e Thompson, 48, appeared to be the victim of a self-in-flicted gunshot wound to the head, Kingfisher Police Chief Dennis Baker said.
Thompson’s body was found about noon Tuesday inside a port-a-potty locat-ed behind Countrywood Assisted Living Center on South 13th Street, when the Yukon company that owned the portable re-stroom was retrieving it, Baker said.
The port-a-potty had been placed behind a stock-ade fence in the far west corner of the property for the use of contractors working on a roofing proj-ect that ended Friday, Nov. 3, Baker said.
Police believe Thompson likely died sometime after 7 p.m. Saturday, which was when a Kingfisher resident called police requesting they check on his welfare.
The resident reported Thompson was an acquain-tance who had been visiting her apartment and then left after making statements that suggested he might be planning to harm himself, Baker said.
“Our officers canvassed the city and even put out a BOLO (be on the lookout alert) to surrounding coun-ties but we never found him and never heard anything further until we received the call reporting the body,” Baker said.
An official from the state medical examiner’s office was called to the scene to aid the investigation befpre the body was transported to the ME’s office in Okla-homa City.
Baker said Thompson appeared to have been killed by a single shot to the head from a 38-special revolver, which was found at the scene.
Both the local resident and Thompson’s mother, who lives in Oklahoma City and was notified by Oklaho-ma City police of his death, reported Thompson was facing a jury trial last week, Baker said.
According to online court records, Thompson failed to appear Friday, Nov. 3, in Oklahoma County District Court on two separate fel-ony charges of distribution of methamphetamine and trafficking in meth.
He was absent again last Monday when a jury trial on the charges was to begin and a bench warrant was issued for his arrest, according to online records.
Man who failed to appear Mondayat OKC jury trial found dead here
Our thanks to County Assessor Car-olyn Mulherin for calling attention to inadvertent errors in articles in Wednes-day’s edition on the county’s 2017 valua-
tions and tax rates.She reports King-
fisher’s tax levy is 35 cents higher at $88.10 this year compared to $87.75 a year ear-lier; Lomega’s rate is $77.25 compared
to $82.42 last year; Hennessey’s is $75.55 compared to $74.91 in 2016, and Cashion’s is $92.59 compared to $91.57.
Our apologies for the errors.
Public safety sales tax voting started Thursday
[See Vote Page 15]
2 Sunday, November 12, 2017 Kingfisher (Okla.) Times & Free Press
Kingfisher FFA Benefit Auction
Some Items to be Auctioned Include:
•Thunder Tickets
•OSU & OU Items
•Homemade Quilts
•Decorations
Please Join Us For A Great Evening Of Food & Fun!
•HomemadePies & Cakes
•Weekend Getaway
•Fire Pit
•And Much More!
Monday, November 13, 2017Meal and Viewing Begin at 6 pmAuction Begins at 6:30 pm
Kingfisher Co. Fairgrounds Exhibit BuildingProceeds Benefit Kingfisher FFA Members
Featuring Lippard Auctioneers
GRAND OPENING!!!
It’s the moment we have all been waiting for!Please join us Saturday, Nov. 18th for
Sei Bella’s Grand Opening! ~EVERYONE IS WELCOME~
We will be selling...Beautiful Home Decor*Antiques*Spa Products
Fall & Christmas Decorationsand overall, a wide variety of Unique Gifts!Come Check It Out From 10 a.m.-6 p.m.
Saturday, November 18, 2017410 Main Street • Drummond, OK
Saturday – 10:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.Sunday – open at 2:00 p.m.
Normal Business Hourswill be updated after the New Year
Coffee Shop & paStrieSComing at a later date!
SPORTSTIMES & FREE PRESS
KINGFISHERYELLOWJACKETS
CASHIONWILDCATS
OKARCHEWARRIORS
LOMEGARAIDERS
HENNESSEYEAGLES
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CRESCENTTIGERS
Lomega got clutch buckets from Kenzi Lamer and free throws from Courtney Fox Tuesday night to give the Lady Raiders a 67-63 home win against rival Okarche.
The victory was the first for Lomega seniors against Okarche as the Lady Raiders hadn’t won in the series since the 2011-12 season.
“It’s been a while, so I’m happy our seniors got to go out with a win against them,” said Lomega coach Kevin Lewallen, whose team improved to 2-0. “Anytime you can beat a team like Okarche, it’s good for your program.”
Lomega’s win spoiled the coaching debut of Kelli Jen-nings at Okarche. Jennings is succeeding Hall of Fame coach Cherie Myers, who retired after last year’s run to the Class A state title game.
“For so few of our players have big-game experience, I thought we responded okay,” Jennings said. “We made some mistakes, but hopefully we will learn from film and get it fixed.”
The game had a scary mo-ment in the first half when Lomega’s Megan Dunigan and Okarche’s Hannah Lee collided while both were scrambling for a loose ball.
Both players were down on the court for several minutes before being helped off.
Dunigan suffered a concus-sion and did not return.
Lee, while also bumping her hand, complained of a hand injury. Though Lee returned to play in the second half, a trip to the hospital revealed multiple fractures in her hand.
“I really hate that for her,” said Jennings of Lee, who missed part of her junior season last year
with a torn ACL.On the court, Okarche got
back-to-back 3-pointers from
Bailey Baustert to give the Lady Warriors a 16-7 lead in the first quarter.
But Lomega closed the quarter with a 7-0 run and found ways to free up Lamer in the second quarter to outscore Okarche 19-9.
Lamer didn’t get her first field goal of the game until 5:44 of the second quarter, which sparked a 16-3 run to close the half, where Lomega led 33-25.
Okarche pulled even at one point in the third quarter and trailed by four entering the fourth.
Lamer opened the fourth with a deep 3-pointer.
Okarche’s Rachel McDowell began to heat up in the fourth as she made 3-pointers on back-to-back trips.
Lamer answered the first with a trey of her own then the second with a driving bucket.
McDowell scored twice more, the second with 1:20 left to pull Okarche withing 63-61.
But the sophomore missed a corner trey with 1:00 that would have given her team the lead.
Lamer made two free throws 25 seconds later and, after a Sarah Griswold bucket for Okarche, Fox made two more free throws with 6.4 seconds left to give Lomega a four-point cushion.
Lamer led all scorers with 28 points the night before she signed to continue her career at Northwestern Oklahoma State University.
She scored 20 in the second half, 13 in the fourth quarter.
Fox scored 14. Lamer and Fox scored all of Lomega’s fourth-quarter points.
Maddie Chestnut added 16 points, 12 in the first half.
“I thought she came up big for us,” Lewallen said. “We did pretty good on the boards against a team that’s really good at that and she was a big reason.”
McDowell scored 19 to pace
Okarche.Baustert scored 18 before foul-
ing out with 2:36 to play.Griswold poured in 17 points
and faced foul trouble much of the game.
“We missed having her in there so many times,” Jennings said.
Warriors swarm Raiders 90-58
Okarche’s pressure proved too much for Lomega as the Raiders opened their 2017-18 campaign with a 90-58 road win.
The Warriors forced 31 turn-overs and pulled down 24 of-fensive rebounds. That led to an 83-46 advantage in field goal attempts.
“Being able to do that cer-tainly helps you get more shots,” Okarche coach Ray West said.
“I thought our guys came out and were aggressive and really played well together.”
Lomega led 18-15 with 29 sec-onds left in the first quarter when Kaleb Turner picked up his third foul and went to the bench.
Okarche closed the quarter with a 6-0 run then outscored the Raiders 26-9 in the second quarter, most of which Turner spent on the bench.
“We can’t lose him to those fouls and have a chance to play with a team like Okarche,” Lomega coach Justin Edsall said. “And even when we were given a chance, we didn’t take advan-tage.”
Edsall was pointing out to the 14 free throws his team missed in the first half alone.
Lomega was led by Riley Lumpkin’s 15 points. Turner scored 14 and Hector Rivera 12.
Stuart Gleichman had a game-high 18 points and 10 rebounds.
Lomega seniors finally top OkarcheLamer scores 28 in 67-63 win; Okarche boys too much for Raiders
LOMEGA’S COURTNEY FOX drives against the Okarche defense which in-cluded Rachel McDowell (3) and Bailey Baustert. Cox scored 14 points, in-cluding two game-clinching free throws with six seconds left to help boost the Lady Raiders to a 67-63 win. [Photo by Russell Stitt/www.stitt.smugmug.com]
[See Rivalry Page 14]
CASHION SENIOR Sydney Manning, center, signed Wednesday to play basketball for Mis-souri State University in Springfield. Joining her while she signed were family members, from left, Barbara Manning (grandmother), Hank Manning (father), Totsy Manning (mother and coach) and Mason Manning (brother). See full story on Page 7. [TIMES-FREE PRESS Staff Photo]
Kingfisher (Okla.) Times & Free Press Sunday, November 12, 2017 3
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Loyal Fire Station
100 years ago - “All the windows facing on the street of the new Methodist Church have been sold and will be shipped in about thirty days. They will be of art glass and in the nature of memorial windows. It will truly be a work of art. The following families have contracted for these windows in memory of departed ones, Sabbath school classes, boys gone to uphold the nation’s honor or some cherished memory which they wish to perpetuate; Jesse Baughman, J. E. Walton, J. A. Best, W. U. Cochrane, S. S. Simpson, Hildreth, Men’s Bible Class, Junior Bible Class, Baracca Class in their class room, besides the twelve small windows were taken by as many different classes of the younger students in the Sunday school.”
Nov. 6 • Kingfisher Daily Times
75 years ago - “Election of Robert S. Kerr, Democrat, as governor was conceded Wednesday afternoon by W. J. Otjen, Enid, Republican, as Kerr’s majority which slumped during the day picked up slightly in late returns.
“Kerr was leading 14,421 in returns from 3,492 of 3,690 precincts with a vote of 185,290 to 170,869 for Otjen.
“E. H. Moore, Republican nominee for U.S. senator, ex-tended his majority to 36,433 over Senator Josh Lee with a vote of 191,518 to 154,883 for Senator Lee in returns from 3,429 of the 3,690 precincts.
“In the sixth district congressional race, Jed Johnson, Democrat, won over J.L. Hart, Jr., Republican. Vote in 331 of 391 precincts was 16,692 to 12,446.”
Nov. 5 • Kingfisher Times
50 years ago - “A young horsewoman who recently won the top trophy in the Kingfisher County 4-H Horse Show will be a queen candidate for the National Finals Rodeo in Oklahoma City.
“Miss Jackie Edge will be the queen candidate spon-sored by the Kingfisher Roundup Club. The finals will be held Dec. 19, making its third consecutive annual appear-ance in the Oklahoma capital.
“Only a few tickets are left, according to Charles W. Smith, of the Roundup Club.
“Smith explained the rodeo queen will be selected from 10 finalists which will be determined by the tickets sales of their sponsors. The queen will then be selected on her qualifications.”
Nov. 9 • Kingfisher Times
25 years ago - “Carla Lynn Seaton of Kingfisher was among students of the University of Tulsa’s Henry Kend-all College of Arts and Sciences honored Oct. 30 for their high academic achievement during the annual Fall Honors Convocation.
“Each year the college honors full time students who have cumulative grade-point averages of 3.8 or above after completing more than 30 hours at the university.
“Miss Seaton, the daughter of the Rev. and Mrs. Leon Seaton, compiled a 3.829 grade point average at Tulsa University, a private university with an enrollment of 4,922. TU is nationally known for its humanities-based undergraduate curriculum, technological programs and global initiatives in Eastern Europe and Russia.
Nov. 11 • Kingfisher Times
The Altrua Club Sup-porters of Chisholm Trail Museum will meet at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday, Nov. 15,
at the museum.Keri Bivins is the hostess
and Julie Storm the pro-gram leader.
Following the regular business meeting, members will decorate the Cole Cabin for Christmas.
The Plainview HCE held its monthly meeting at 1:30 p.m. Mon-day, Oct. 9, at the BancFirst Commu-nity Room.
Dana Golbek was hostess.Diane Musick, president, called
the meeting to order. Members recited the pledges to the flags of the United States and Oklahoma.
Jean Mackey led the monthly song, “You are My Sunshine.”
Roll call revealed 11 members present, including new member Doris Brehm.
September minutes were read and Terri Peck gave the treasurer’s report.
In new business, 2018 officers were elected: Musick, president;
Golbek, vice president; Sue Craig, secretary; and Peck, treasurer.
The October lesson was “Aging in Place/Improving Memory.”
The next meeting is 1:30 p.m. Monday, Nov. 13. Brehm will be the hostess in her home.
The lesson will be “Tea Time and Mixes.”
Kingfisher High School seniors Isaura Padilla, Chris-tian Rios and Cricket Kaya were guests last Tuesday of the Kingfisher Rotary Club.
Padilla is the daughter of Olga and Ricardo Padilla.
She’s been listed on the principal’s honor roll and is active in band, student council and the Spanish Club.
She plans to attend Northern Oklahoma Col-lege-Enid and pursue a career in education.
Rios is the son of Wendy Rios.
He is active in the Native American Club, Spanish Club, soccer and has served as a manager for softball and girls basketball.
Rios also plans to pursue a career in education after high school.
Kaya is the daughter of Kurt Kaya and Shel Wagner.
Her honors include National Honor Society, Oklahoma Honor Soci-ety, Distinguished Young Woman runner-up, Duke University Field Studies Fellow, Oklahoma Arts In-stitute at Quartz Mountain Fellow and she was named “Outstanding Citizen” at Oklahoma Girls State.
Kaya is also active in
IN THE DAYS OF...
LONG AGOCompiled from the files
of old Kingfisher newspapers
KHS SENIORS, from left, Isaura Padilla, Christian Rios and Cricket Kaya, were guests last Tuesday of the Kingfisher Rotary Club. [TIMES-FREE PRESS Staff Photo]
3 KHS seniors are Rotary guests
band, Technology Stu-dent Association, academic team and student council. Kaya was the junior class president and is currently
the senior class vice pres-ident.
She plans to attend the University of Oklahoma and major in international
studies and political sci-ence.
Kaya’s career goals in-clude research professor and running for office.
Plainview HCE holds regular meet; next one this week
Altrua Club plans meeting this Wednesday
Veteran reads to youth at library
City Manager Dave Slezick-ey, also a military veteran, read to children and parents Nov. 7 at Kingfisher Memori-al Library as a part of Story Time. “It was such an honor to have him come read to us,” said Stacy Themer, youth services librarian. In addition to reading, Slezickey provided the Story Time with a list of Army soldiers that are currently deployed to Afghanistan from the Oklahoma National Guard 180th Calvary Unit. Themer said she will be putting together care packages to be sent over to them for Christ-mas. The items will be collected at the Kingfisher Memorial Library and the boxes will be assembled during Story Time on Tuesday, Nov. 21. Pic-tured above right, Slezickey and his nephew (seated on his lap), Kinsler Troxell, read “Veterans: Heroes in our Neighborhood” to a group that includes Katelyn Wee, Liam En-gland, Austin Pacek, Shonna Starr, Hannah Wee, Lindsey and Press-ley Page, Christie Kraus, LaRita Sipe and Krista and Busk Pacek. Below right is Slezickey with his nephews Kinsler and Daklyn Troxell. [Photos provided]
Improving Your Mem-ory was the lesson subject when the Surprise Exten-sion Homemakers met in the home of Linda Caldwell on Oct. 11.
The group learned how memory works and why people lose their memory and when it is serious enough to bring it to a doc-tor’s attention.
Caldwell also told mem-bers ways to help improve the memory, such as keep-ing stress in check, getting enough sleep, making time for friends and laughing.
Voting ‘yes’ on quarter -cent tax for new jail makes sense
is whether a Bud Box or a sweep tub is best. The big argument over the HAVE-NOT’S kitchen table is which bills get paid this month.
The HAVES buy their bulls for $8,000 at leading purebred sales and know how well their calves per-form because they retain ownership. The only thing retained at HAVE-NOT’S place are the placentas in trader cows bought cheap
at the Junker Jamboree. HAVE-NOT’S cows are impregnated by one of the uncastrated calves following them around like ducks in a row, or they fail to conceive. Again. HAVE-NOT’s herd improvement program con-sisted of buying three year old unregistered bulls adver-tised in theThrifty Nickel for $1,200 apiece.
HAVE has no calving trouble because only low calving ease EPD bulls are used and only heifers with wide pelvises are kept. HAVE-NOT doesn’t have any calving trouble either, at least that he’s aware of. HAVE NOT fertilizes his pastures by leaving carcasses where they lay while HAVE actually buys fertilizer. The last time HAVE-NOT’S pastures were reseeded was when the Forest Service mixed seed with the borate they dropped on a brush fire of suspicious origin.
HAVE’S calves weigh 775 at eight months and are organic, natural, NHTC, non-antibiotic, grass fed, and qualify for all the programs.
Just as America is doing, the cattle industry is separat-ing itself into two classes: the HAVES and HAVE-NOTS. According to the USDA, 57% of American ranchers have less than 20 cows and the average herd is only 42 head. But it’s the ranches with over 500 cows that produce most of our beef. Going all the way back to the Johnson County Wars, the beef cattle business always has been about the BIG against the small; the HAVES versus the HAVE-NOTS.
HAVE lives in a house that’s been in the family for five generations; HAVE-NOT lives in a double wide. HAVE-NOT pulls an antique two horse trailer behind a 1982 two door Chevy. HAVE loads his $10,000 Quarter Horse into 24 foot Goose-necks® pulled by a 2014 Ford F350. HAVE-NOT’S remuda consists of a 25 year old kid’s horse or a young and crazy BLM adoptee.
HAVE’S highly bred cattle are worked in a hy-draulic squeeze chute in a building that’s bigger than HAVE-NOT’S house. HAVE’S working facilities were designed by Temple Grandin, the barbed wire is still shiny on his five wire fences that were built with the aid of a gas powered post driver. HAVE-NOT’S fences were built with the aid of an illegal. His squeeze chute is made from two old dairy stanchions and the loose wire hanging on their fences is Glidden Winner, patent 1874.
HAVE cowboys live in a bunkhouse. HAVE-NOT has a doghouse. The great de-bate in HAVE’S bunkhouse
What’s left of usHAVE-NOT’S aren’t treated either. At all. For anything. HAVE aims for Certified Angus Beef but all the initials CAB mean to HAVE-NOT is who to call when he’s had one too many. HAVE collects carcass data and uses artifi-cial insemination. To HAVE-NOT the initials AI are the nickname of Allan Iverson. The only thing HAVE-NOT collects are the skulls that litter his pastures.
HAVE was Cattleman of the Year, is on his or her alumni advisory committee, sits on the Fair Board, Farm Credit, and two bank boards. HAVE-NOT went to the fair but never to college, hasn’t paid back Farm Credit and has been denied a credit card by several banks. The HAVES own private land and have wolves but no snakes of the zoologic or BLM variety. They are di-versified and may own oil wells, wind farms, solar installations or any combina-tion of the three. HAVE NOT leases his ground, buys his oil by the quart, has a sunny disposition but can be windy.
Mr. HAVE is married to a wonderful woman who keeps all the records, pays the bills, anchors their team roping team, cooks for the main house and the bunk-house, and come branding time can be seen holding a baby or grandbaby in one hand with a syringe in the other. Mr. HAVE-NOT also has a wonderful wife who does all of the above, in ad-dition to teaching school. If the wife left either HAVE or HAVE-NOT the operation would fall apart within 24 hours.
wwwLeePittsbooks.com
By Amy Swearer[Ed. Note: Amy Swearer
is a visiting legal fellow at the Meese Center for Legal and Judicial Studies at The Heritage Foundation.]
On the morning of Sun-day, Nov. 5, Devin Patrick Kelley opened fire on the congregants of First Bap-tist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas. The attack killed 26 people, including a pregnant woman and a number of children.
A man living nearby heard the shots, grabbed his own firearm, and pursued Kelley. Kelley was found dead in his truck 8 miles away from the scene, and it is not clear whether he or his pursuer fired the fatal shot.
As with every highly publicized mass casualty shooting, the news was followed by immediate calls for legislators to “do some-thing.” Too often, these calls are made with limited knowledge of existing gun restrictions, of constitution-al jurisprudence, and the facts of the shooting itself.
So, what is the current state of the law regarding possession of firearms? What do we know – and not know – about Kelley and his weapon? Could this shoot-ing have been prevented if Congress “just did some-thing” above and beyond what it has already done?
Current US Law on Firearms Disabilities
The Second Amendment dictates that, “A well-regu-lated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.”
The Supreme Court has repeatedly held that this right belongs to individual citizens, is grounded in
the natural right of self-de-fense, and is applicable to the states through the 14th Amendment.
But the Second Amend-ment right is not unlimited and can be subjected to reg-ulation and restriction. By far one of the most common restrictions on the Second Amendment right is the ban on firearm possession by certain classes of indi-viduals determined to pose a danger to themselves or others.
The dominant federal law for purposes of firearm restrictions is 18 U.S.C. §922(g), which bars the possession of firearms by nine different categories of individuals, including: those convicted in any court of a crime punishable by more than one year im-prisonment; those dishon-orably discharged from the military; those subject to a restraining order against an intimate partner or child; and those convicted in any court of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence.
The only way for these individuals to legally pos-sess a weapon is to have their firearm rights explic-itly restored by the juris-diction in which they were convicted [18 U.S.C. § (a)(33)(A)(ii)].
For those convicted of felonies or domestic vio-lence misdemeanors in state courts, the convicting state determines the mechanism through which a person’s right to keep and bear arms can be restored.
Roughly half of states allow for restoration of firearm rights only through a gubernatorial pardon. States like Iowa and Cali-fornia do not allow resto-ration of firearm rights for
certain offenses, even with a pardon.
Other states will auto-matically restore firearm rights after a certain num-ber of years without another offense, and still others, like Texas, will automatically restore a limited right to possess only a handgun and only in the home.
Individuals convicted in federal or military courts face a practically impossible task to have their firearm rights restored. The Su-preme Court determined in Beecham v. United States (1994) that only federal law can restore a federal offend-er’s civil rights.
However, while federal law technically affords a mechanism of application for the restoration of these rights, Congress has not funded this mechanism since 1992. Absent a pres-idential pardon, those con-victed of applicable offenses in federal or military courts face a lifetime firearm dis-ability.
What We Do and Don’t Know About Kelley
Kelley entered the Air Force in 2010, and was stationed at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico. In 2012, he was court-mar-tialed and sentenced to 12 months confinement in a military prison for assault-ing his wife and child, in violation of the Uniform Code of Military Justice Article 128.
The Air Force’s chief prosecutor for Kelley’s court martial revealed the case was very serious, and that Kelley intentionally frac-tured his baby stepson’s skull. He received a bad conduct discharge.
In April 2016, Kelley
Current laws should have made it impossible for Texas shooter to buy gun
[See Guns Page 5]
It’s the PittsBy Lee Pitts
We will vote “yes” on the one-quarter cent sales tax for a new county jail Tuesday.
The old jail has given full value during its 81 years of service and is now falling apart.
Is it important for Kingfisher County to have a jail?We think it is.We could farm out prisoners to other counties with jails
that meet state standards but besides being expensive it would be a step backward for the county.
We can either be a fully-functioning, stand-alone coun-ty or a subsidiary of another county.
One additional point: If sheriff’s deputies are required to spend a considerable portion off their workday taking prisoners here, there or wherever to a jail that has room for a prisoner, that takes away from their other respon-sibilities.
That would involve time and money spent running prisoners back and forth for court appearances – not just one-way trips – a time-consuming and costly activity.
According to Sheriff Dennis Banther, who has investi-gated that option, Garvin County has the closest jail with space to accommodate our inmates our facility is closed.
This county has a well-deserved reputation as one of the top-operating counties in the state.
The current jail is no credit to the county’s reputation. In fact, it may well be the jail statewide most in need of replacement.
Some may ask, can the old jail be repaired?It’s old and continues to deteriorate daily. Plumbing
installed between the floors leaks from the cells above to the offices below, masonry is crumbling, doors have shifted off plumb and no longer function, the roof on one side is supported only by the cell bars below it and is one strong earthquake away from collpase.
It would likely cost more to attempt to repair the old jail and sheriff’s department complex than to build a new one. And even then, the old facility wouldn’t accommodate a growing inmate population.
The jail’s current capacity of 40 inmates is routinely exceeded and when juveniles and inmates of different genders who must be segregated are added to the mix, the situation becomes more critical.
New laws reclassifying certain felony offenses to misdemeanors will only exacerbate the overcrowding, as misdemeanor sentences are served in county jail, rather than state prison.
Kingfisher County commissioners have given a lot of thought and time to this project as have members of the Kingfisher County Criminal Justice Authority, a volunteer group.
Commissioners have called an election for a quar-ter-cent sales tax with a 10-year time limit.
How would we ever finance construction of a jail at a more propitious time than this?
Sales tax collections are reaching record highs due to oil and gas production activity locally.
This will be the most painless time and method to build a badly-needed facility. Unlike a bond issue that would be repaid through ad valorem taxes that only affect proper-ty owners, the sales tax is paid by everyone – including nonresidents – who spends money at county retailers, restaurants and other businesses.
Best of all, the tax for the jail will not be an additional tax but will take the place of another expiring quarter-cent tax.
A quarter-cent fire department tax had been levied for five years to help rural fire departments upgrade. That tax will expire at the end of December and the jail tax will take its place.
The fire departments still are not left out in the cold. They are being guaranteed 10 percent of the tax revenue collected to help maintain their departments, as the vital community safety agencies they are.
We applaud our county officials for doing what they consider the right thing for the right reasons.
Kingfisher County commissioners have a record of taking actions they consider right for the entire county.
A legislator from a neighboring district has attempted to muddy the water regarding the election by claiming it is an attempt at log-rolling (putting two unlike issues on the same ballot).
The county commission and the jail committee took special effort to avoid that issue.
Rep. Mike Sanders said he had received no complaint on the election proclamation and seemed puzzled why a neighboring representative was pulled into the discussion.
The out-of-district legislator declined to reveal who had asked him to become involved.
That is suspicious in itself and county voters should give it the consideration it deserves – none.
We look forward to seeing Kingfisher County take another positive step into the future.
Those are some of the reasons we will vote “yes” on the one-quarter cent tax on Tuesday.
Please remember to go vote.
Anti-oilnonprofitrespondsto O&G
criticismof report
Dear Ms. Reid:In the 10/22/17 article,
“Oil Industry Calls Report Alleging Methane Pollu-tion Misleading Scare Tac-tics,” oil and gas operators questioned the quality and integrity of Earthworks and the Coalition for Okla-homa’s Renewable Energy’s (CORE) recent report on the industry’s air pollution.
Unfortunately, the arti-cle did not explain the meth-ods we used or the standards we followed.
To document the pollu-tion detailed in the report, a trained and certified ther-mographer (standing on the ground, not via drone) used the industry state of the art optical gas imaging (OGI) camera -- the FLIR GF320 -- for exactly the purpose it was designed, and for which it’s often used by oil and gas operators and regulators. Earthworks’ Sharon Wil-son received training at the Infrared Training Center, which is the same training center used by government regulators and oil and gas companies.
As a result, she is an expert in using OGI to (among other things) dis-tinguish between heat and volatile organic compounds (VOCs), including methane. Industry representatives are correct that the GF320 alone cannot specify which of the 20+ VOCs are pres-ent, but subsequent air sampling by regulators or operators certainly would. Sadly, Oklahoma doesn’t have rules requiring them to do so.
CORE’s work is not motivated by party politics, but rather by an interest in protecting the health of Oklahomans and the quali-ty of our air, water and land.
As industry represen-tatives explained in the article, there are proven ways and widely available technologies to reduce toxic emissions from oil and gas facilities.
However, industry is not adequately nor consistently implementing those solu-tions -- even less so in states that don’t require them.
The message of our re-port is that Oklahomans need and deserve sensible state safeguards that pro-tect against health-harming pollution from oil and gas operations.
This includes require-ments that all operators adopt the solutions to pollu-tion industry touts in their public relations materials. Industry accountability is the job of state regulators.
Nonprofit organizations like CORE should not have to shoulder the burden of air quality testing and industry oversight.
CORE is comprised of in-dividuals and organizations committed to transforming Oklahoma’s energy future by educating and empower-ing Oklahomans to protect our lives, land, and liveli-hoods through a just and equitable transition to 100 percent renewable energy solutions.
We strive to do that by focusing on environmental research and public educa-tion, legislative policy, and economic development, while working to eliminate unconventional resource extraction processes, in-cluding hydraulic fracturing and the associated use of wastewater disposal wells, which threaten the public health and safety.
Our desire is to restore the power to make local pol-icy decisions to the people of the State of Oklahoma, rather than entrusting our government to the demands special interests, like the oil and gas industry.
