1. science
2. weather

SATURDAY, MARCH 21, 2015
PoteauDailyNews.com
SERVING LEFLORE COUNTY
Complete Spor ts Coverage, 5-7A
• 3A Obituaries
• 4A Opinions
• 8A Area News
• 1B Celebrations
• 2,3B Faith, Devotion
• 4,5B Courthouse
2015
LEFLORE
COUNTY
SPRING SPORTS
G U I D E
� SPRING SCHEDULES
★ TEAM PICTURES
• 6B Comics
• 7,8B Classifieds
� TEAM ROSTERS
Inside:
2015 LeFlore County
Spring Sports Guide
Plus:
TV Guide, American
Profile, Coupons,
Dick’s Sporting
A semi-trailer got stuck Friday on Polk Creek Street after leaving the Cavanal Expressway.
Goods, Walmart
According to residents, the driver was led off the bypass by the GPS system he used. After
damage to a few yards, a lengthy delay and a wrecker the driver was on his way.
Photo submitted
www.facebook.com/poteaudailynews
$1.25 Weekend Edition
Volume 119
No. 190
18 Pages
Police pleased
with crossing
safety program
By Kim Ross
PDN Editor
Drawing taken from the website of Irish sculptor Alex Pentek shows his creation, “Kindred Spirits,” which
will be erected in Midleton, Ireland, in honor of the Choctaw Nation.
Echoes of kindness
Irish commemorate 1860s gifts from Choctaws
By Ken Milam
PDN News Editor
its,” is being completed by Cork
sculptor Alex Pentek.
On his website, Pentek said, “By
t was an act of compassion that
creating an empty bowl symbolic
has resonated for generations.
of the Great Irish Famine formed
Monday marks the anniver- and commemorated many times.
from the seemingly fragile and
The newest is a sculpture of
sary of the start of a campaign by
rounded shaped eagle feathers used
the Choctaw people to raise money nine towering stainless steel eagle
in Choctaw ceremonial dress, it is
to send to ease the suffering of the feathers to be installed in Bailic
my aim to communicate the tenderIrish during the Great Potato Fam- Park, in Midleton, County Cork,
ness and warmth of the Choctaw
Ireland this year to thank the Choc- Nation who provided food to the
ine.
taw for their kindness.
Only a decade and a half after
hungry when they themselves were
That announcement prompted
their forced removal over the Trail
still recovering from their own
Amadeus Finlay, an Irish native
of Tears to Oklahoma, the Choctragic recent past.
living in the U.S., to contact the
taws gathered in in 1867 Skully“I have also chosen feathers to
Choctaw Nation and tribal Counville near what is now Spiro.
reflect the local bird life along the
cilman Delton Cox, whose district
According to various historical
nearby water’s edge with a fusion
includes Skullyville. Finlay has
sources, they collected $170 —
of ideas that aims to visually comwritten an open letter of thanks to
tens of thousands of dollars in
municate this act of humanity and
the Choctaw Nation, which appears mercy, and also the notion that the
today’s currency — and gave it to
on Page 8A in today’s paper.
a famine relief organization.
Choctaw and Irish Nations are forThe sculpture, “Kindred SpirThe gift has been remembered
ever more kindred spirits.”
I
For the fourth year
Poteau Police and Kansas
City Southern Railroad
have partnered for the
“Officer on a Train” event,
to promote railroad crossing safety.
“A motor vehicle collision with a train is very
likely to produce death or
serious injury” said Poteau
Police Chief Stephen Fruen.
“We have participated in
A grandmother, her granddaughter and their partner-in-charity have
teamed up to help the homeless —
and seek the community’s help to
keep up the good work.
Juanita Shoop is a retiree new to
Poteau who hails from Alabama.
Alongside her granddaughter,
Kayla Allen-Aldridge, and her best
friend and charity partner Lydia
Roscoe, they help make sleeping
mats from discarded plastic bags to
benefit the homeless in Columbus,
Ga.
“I was searching for a new project and took to Pinterest,” said
Allen-Alridge, who lives in Georgia. “That’s when I discovered you
could crochet plastic bags.” She
(See TRAINS, page 2A)
Sunrise service set
The Friends of the
Kerr Mansion is hosting
its first annual Easter
Sunrise Service at the
Kerr Mansion at 6:30
a.m. Sunday, April 5.
The service will be
held on the south lawn of
the Kerr Mansion overlooking the Poteau River
Valley and the mountains
of the Ouachita National
Forest, according to
group spokesman Kenneth Corn.
The service will be
conducted by the Rev.
Phil McGeehee with
music provided by J.B.
Lloyd.
Family members team up to aid homeless
By Amanda Corbin
PDN Reporter
this enforcement action
with KCS the last few years
in an effort to raise public
awareness and heighten
safety at crossings.”
Friday the duo held this
year’s event from 11 a.m.
until 1 p.m. and reported
lower numbers of traffic
violations than previous
years.
“The number of stops
we made for violations was
down this year” said Assis-
started the project in the winter of
2014 while making scarves, ear
warmers and bootcuffs. AllenAlridge said she looked further
into the craft by searching Youtube, where she saw a women’s
prison in Ohio that made the bags
for the homeless in their area. That
inspired her to create mats in
Columbus and her grandmother to
collect bags to aid the effort.
“I said, well, I can do that,”
Shoop said. Shoop said she collects her own bags that she twists
into balls to send to her granddaughter. Shoop used to help crochet but is no longer able due to
cancer in her hands. She is reaching out to the community to donate
to the effort. She said she tried to Kayla Allen-Aldridge and her grandmother, Juanita
Shoop of Poteau, recycle discarded plastic bags to
(See MATS, page 2A)
make a difference for the homeless.
“The Easter service
fits the deeply held religious belief of Sen. Robert S. Kerr and will
showcase the beautiful
scenery that the area is
blessed with,” Corn
said.
Following the service,
the Friends of the Mansion will host a pancake
breakfast before those
attending head to their
regular church services.
The cost of the breakfast
is $5. Children under
three are free. All proceeds are being used to
help refurnishing and
restoring the home.
Brass knuckles,
drugs net charges
By Amanda Corbin
PDN Reporter
Drugs and brass knuckles were allegedly found after an early March traffic
stop in Heavener.
Justin Dees, 27, was charged by the
District Attorney’s Office with two counts
of possession of a controlled dangerous
substances, felony counts that court records
show are his second offense. Dees received
a third misdemeanor charge of possession
of a prohibited weapon in the alleged incident.
Heavener Police Officer Larry Milligan
performed the traffic stop. According to
the affidavit, Milligan stopped the vehicle
at U.S. Highway 59 and Independence
Road for not yielding to the red flashing
(See CHARGES, page 2A)
Area
PAGE 2A . . . SATURDAY, MARCH 21, 2015
CHARGES
TRAINS
lights at the intersection. Milligan and Officer Addison
Entmeier did an inventory of the vehicle, allegedly finding a bag with eight smaller bags inside and a straw with
a crystal-like residue on it.
Court records show officers also reportedly found a
small homemade container with fine white powder suspected to be cocaine inside. The affidavit alleged that
Dees admitted that everything illegal in the vehicle was
his own, including a set of brass knuckles. At the LeFlore
County Detention Center, methamphetamine allegedly
was found in Dees’ clothing.
The drug charges could earn Dees from four to 20
years in prison and a fine up to $10,000 each if convicted,
while the weapon charge is worth up to 30 days and a fine
between $100-250. His bond was set at $7,500.
tant Chief Greg Russell. “I
take that as a positive sign
that these events are promoting safety at crossings
the way that we hoped.
“We value our partnership with KCS and applaud
their commitment to safety.”
Russell spent the afternoon aboard a KCS train
engine watching for the
crossing violations and
notifying police units on
the streets ready to stop the
daring drivers. Officers
participating included Cpl.
Brandon McDaniel and
officers Jeremy Lamb,
Cody Johnson, Jerimy
Emmert and Tara Winters.
The officers were stationed
near several crossing from
Airport Road to north of
Witte Street.
Russell reported that
according to the National
BULLETIN BOARD
Summerfield FD Chicken Dinner
Summerfield Fire Department will hold its
annual fundraising chicken dinner from 11
a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday, April 12.
Enjoy a great home cooked meal — $6 for
adults, free for children 8 and younger.
McClendon Homes
For Sale
Under Construction
21254 East Branson Rd, Poteau
1350 Sq. Ft. 3 Bed, 2 Bath.
Enclosed Garage on 2 acres.
Located 1 mile from Wal Mart.
You pick appliances, floor coverings
and paint
Ready for move in mid April
$125,000
POTEAU DAILY NEWS
Secreted away on a Kansas City Southern Railroad train engine, Poteau Police
Asst. Chief Greg Russell watches for motorists to ignore railroad crossing signals
Friday during the annual Officer on a Train event.
PDN photo by Kim Ross
Highway Traffic Safety
Administration, three out
of four crashes occur within
25 miles of a driver’s home
and half occur within five
miles of their home. A comparison of statistics from
NHTSA and the Federal
Railroad Administration
reveals that a motorist’s
collision with a train is far
more likely to result in a
fatality than a collision
between two motor vehicles, according to Russell.
mat unique with a different
color pattern so they are
easy to tell apart,” she said.
“In Columbus, we have a
large homeless population
that live in tent communities. We have also teamed
up with Columbus State
University and Troy Uni-
versity’s Phoenix City
Campus to aid in our collection efforts.”
The program called Crocheting for Comfort officially started Jan. 11. Since it’s
start, Allen-Alridge and Roscoe have taken to Facebook,
Craigslist and yard sales to
post ads requesting bags. So
far, they have collected about
4,000 plastic bags.
If you’d like to donate,
contact Shoop at (918) 6493740. Bags can also be
dropped off at the Poteau
Department of Human Services office.
MATS
collect bags from Walmart
and Price Cutter, but both
bags returned to those businesses are recycled to make
more bags.
One full mat takes 500600 bags. The number
depends on the thickness of
each bag. Target bags are
thicker and larger than Walmart’s, she said.
“A full mat takes about
15 hours to crochet and the
cutting process takes even
longer,”
Allen-Alridge
said.
The bags are flattened
and cut into 1.5-inch strips,
connected and crocheted
into a 3x5 foot mat. Each
mat weighs about 4 pounds.
When plastic and yarn is
used to create a mat, it is
called “plarn.”
“We try to make each
Stubbs seeks election
I, Shannon Stubbs,
would like to announce my
candidacy for Poteau Street
Commissioner.
I am 47 years old and
have spent the last 23 years
right here in Poteau. I have
been married to Amy
Stubbs for 26 years. Amy is
a first-grade teacher at
Poteau Primary. We have
two children, Zachary and
Peyton. Zachary is in his
fourth year at Northeastern
State University in Tahlequah, pursuing a degree in
education. Peyton, our
daughter, is 12 years old
and enjoys playing competitive softball and basketball.
Our family belongs to
the First United Methodist
Church in Poteau and I am
a member of the Poteau
Masonic Lodge 46 and
Heavener Masonic Lodge
154. I have a Bachelor of
Science degree in engineering design from Northeastern and attended Architecture School at The University of Texas at Arlington.
I am a hard working selfemployed architectural
designer and have been
around the construction
business my entire life. My
father was a residential
contractor, so I’ve been
exposed to construction job
sites for four decades. I
spent my summers, while
in college, working for the
Texas State Highway
Department in the engineering division. For three
summers I was part of a
team that rebuilt Interstate
1
30 through East Texas from
Greenville to Mount. Pleasant.
After college I started
my career in architecture,
specializing in the hospitality industry. I have been
responsible for designing
and providing construction
administration on more
than 60 hotels and numerous other projects in the
five-state region including
some local projects: Holiday Inn Express & Suites
Hotel, Days Inn & Suites
Hotel, Best Western Hotel
addition, Jamatt RV Sales,
Ron’s Discount Lumber,
Glenn Thompson Law
Firm, Holt Eye Clinic,
Main Street Medical and
many custom homes. Not
only am I responsible for
the design and construction
administration for the structure, but I am also responsible for the design and
construction of the parking
lots, frontage roads and all
the storm water drainage.
Having been a partner
in an architectural firm in
Fort Smith, I am experienced when it comes to
managing
employees,
dealing with budgets, hiring and training staff and
day-to-day operations of
an office. As a designer, I
am trained to handle multiple projects simultaneously and cope with any
problem that arises. I have
a working knowledge of
all federal, state and local
design codes and ADA
regulations. I am an experienced professional that
has spent my entire career
dealing with contractors,
budgets, deadlines and
building code officials, so
I understand how a project
needs to be managed.
Poteau is my home and I
want to see it grow and
prosper as much as possible. I know the job of
improving our streets will
not be easy and it cannot be
done overnight, but I pledge
to Poteau, if elected, to
tackle the streets head on
and I will do my very best
to improve our streets.
I have the experience,
training, knowledge and
the drive. With your help,
let’s make Poteau a better
place to live. “Better Roads
Ahead.”
I would greatly appreciate your vote on April 7.
Check out my website at
www.shannonstubbs.net
for more information, or
contact me at (918) 6476069.
More Home Sold — Heavener, OK
L-R
Aaron & Kalyn Lute - Buyers
Jody & Andrea Clubb - Sellers
Trina Ward - REMAX CLB
Sandra Barron - Barron Mortgage
Special Thank You to ALL.
5021 N. Broadway • Poteau, OK
918-649-0201
www.clbrealestate.com
Each Office Independently Owned and Operated
POTEAU DAILY NEWS
Today's Weather
Local 5-Day Forecast
Area/State
SATURDAY, MARCH 21, 2015 . . . PAGE 3A
DEATH NOTICES
Sun
Sat
3/21
3/22
Mon
Tue
3/23
Wed
3/24
3/25
Joseph Eugene Henry III
67/51
64/50
73/58 of
Joseph Eugene
Henry66/47
III, 71, of 70/51
Dewar, currently
Compiled by Ken Milam Cloudy with Mostly
Clouds givA few
A few
Poteau, died Thursday, ing
March
way to19, 2015,
clouds. in Poteau.
clouds.
newseditor.pdn@gmail.com rain ending cloudy.
services
held.
Evans
and
Miller
in No
the afterHighswill
in thebe sun
. Highs
Highs
in the
HighsFuneral
in the
noon. High
mid 60s
and in thearrangements.
mid
low 70s and low 70s and
Home,
Poteau,
is
handling
Today is International
67F.
lows in the
60s and
lows in the
lows in the
low 50s.
lows in the
low 50s.
upper 50s.
Day for the Elimination
upper
40s.
Juanita
McCurtain
of Racial Discrimination
Juanita McCurtain,
96, of Hodgen
Thursday,
Sunrise:
Sunrise:
Sunrise: diedSunrise:
• TODAY — 28th Annual Sunrise:
7:22 AM
7:20 in
AMHeavener.
7:19 AM
7:18 AM
7:16 AM
19, 2015,
Family Kite Flite Day, 9 March
Sunset:
Sunset:
Sunset:
Sunset:
Sunset:
Servives
will
2 PM
p.m. Monday,
23, at
a.m. to 5 p.m., Spiro
7:29
PM
7:30be
PMheld at
7:31
7:32 PM March
7:33 PM
Mounds Archaeological Dowden-Roberts Funeral Home Chapel with burial in
Memorial Park Cemetery, Heavener.
Center.
— Free community lunch,
Helen Louise Terry
noon to 2 p.m., New
Helen Louise Terry, 81, of Muldrow died Thursday,
Beginning
Family
Oklahoma
19, 2015. At A Glance
Ministry, south Saddler. March
Private family services will be held at the U.S. National
— Ribbon cutting, noon,
Cemetery in Fort Smith, Ark.
Family visitation will be
Enid
Wister City Barber Shop
Tulsa
from 3-5 p.m. Sunday, March
71/45 22, at Mallory-Martin
69/50
and Mary’s Hair Design,
Funeral Home in Spiro.
U.S. Highway 270 and
Main Street, Wister.
Oklahoma City
— Dance with Libby and
the Bandits, 8 p.m., Spiro
Eagles center, all invited.
Today's Weather
Local 5-Day Forecast
Lawton
67/51
Sat
Sun
3/21
3/22
Mon
3/23
Poteau
67/51
66/48 Tue
Wed
3/24
• MARCH 22 — Poteau
Special Olympics footArea Cities
ball practice, 2-4 p.m., City
Hi Lo Cond.
City
Hi
66 55 rain
Oklahoma City 67
Costner Stadium (if rain- Antlers
67/51
64/50
70/51 67
65 53 cloudy 66/47
Okmulgee
ing, in Poteau Upper Ardmore
Cloudy with Mostly
Clouds givA few
Bartlesville
70 44 cloudy
Pauls Valley
65
Elementary gym).
rain ending
to
clouds.
Broken
Bow cloudy.
65 54 rain ing way Perry
70
• MARCH 24 — Lunch at
the Museum fundraiser
for LeFlore County
Historical Society, 11
a.m. to 1 p.m., LeFlore
County Museum at Hotel
Lowrey, 303 Dewey
Ave.
in the afterClaremore
noon. High
Cordell
67F.
Duncan
El Reno
Elk City
Enid
Guymon
Sunrise:
Lawton
7:22 AM
McAlester
Sunset:
Miami
7:29 PM
Muskogee
Highs
sun . Highs
Highs in the
70 in
48the
cloudy
Sallisaw
69
mid
in the mid
low 70s and
6660s
47and
cloudy
Sapulpa
69
lows
thecloudy
60s andShawnee
lows in the 69
66 in51
low6650s.
lows in the
48 cloudy
Snyderlow 50s. 66
upper 40s.
66 45 cloudy
Stillwater
71
71 45 cloudy
Tahlequah
67
68 39 pt sunny
Tulsa
69
Sunrise:
Sunrise:
Sunrise:
66 48 cloudy
Watonga
68
7:20 AM
7:19 AM
7:18 AM
67 53 cloudy
Weatherford
66
Sunset:
Sunset:
Sunset:
69 47 cloudy
Wewoka
66
7:30 PM
7:31 PM
7:32 PM
68 49 cloudy
Woodward
71
— Parent cluster training National Cities
Hi Lo Cond.
City
for Poteau and Carl City
Atlanta
71 51 cloudy
Minneapolis
Albert Head Start pro- Boston
37 29 sn shower New York
59 41 mst sunny Phoenix
grams, 6 p.m. Tuesday, Chicago
AtrainA Glance
Dallas
65 57
San Francisco
March
24,
Poteau Oklahoma
Denver
70 38 sunny
Seattle
Primary School cafete- Houston
79 66 t-storm
St. Louis
Los Angeles
75 58 sunny
Washington, DC
ria.
Enid
Miami
86 69 sunny
• MARCH 25 — Area 10
Special Olympics Track Moon Phases
and Field Meet, 10 a.m.,
Costner Stadium.
Hi
60
34
77
68
65
62
41
71/45
— Leflore Schools JOM
meeting, 3:15 p.m.,
Leflore
Elementary
building. Info: (918)
753-2345 ext. 103.
• MARCH 26 —
Free
screening of the film “To
Light a Candle,” 7 p.m.,
Donald W. Reynolds
Community Center.
— Free legal community
education by Legal Aid
Services of Oklahoma
Inc., “Power of Attorney”
and
“Advance
Directives,” 6-7 p.m.,
Patrick Lynch Library.
— Blood drive, 8:30 a.m.
to 2:30 p.m., Panama
High School.
• MARCH 27 — Blood
drive, 8:30 a.m. to 1:45
p.m.,
Kiamichi
Technology
Center,
Poteau.
— LeFlore County Health
Fair, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.,
Donald W. Reynolds
Center.
• MARCH 28 — Citywide
Easter Egg Hunt, registration 1:15 p.m., Twyman
Park. (Rain date 3:15
p.m. March 29.)
— Vike
Hike
Half
Marathon and 5K, 7
a.m., Carl Albert State
College.
— Dance with Movin’ On,
8 p.m., Spiro Eagles center, all invited.
• APRIL 2 — “The Gospel
Crusade” with evangelist
Bobby Burton, 6:30
p.m.,
Donald
W.
Reynolds Community
Center.
Lo Cond.
51 cloudy
5073/58
cloudy
A
50few
cloudy
clouds.
46 cloudy
Highs
in the
48 cloudy
low
70s and
50 cloudy
lows
in the
54 cloudy
upper
50s.
49 cloudy
47 cloudy
46 cloudy
50 pt sunny
Sunrise:
45 cloudy
7:16 AM
46 cloudy
Sunset:
51 cloudy
7:33 PM
44 pt sunny
Lo Cond.
29 pt sunny
30 snow
57 pt sunny
53 cloudy
50 rain
46 pt sunny
35 mixed
Tulsa
69/50
Oklahoma City
67/51
Poteau
67/51
Lawton
— Free Sexual Assault
66/48
Response and Resource
Teams training, 8 a.m. to
New
First
Full
5 p.m., Kiamichi Tech
Mar 20
Mar 27
Apr 4
Cities
Center, 1509 S. McKenna Area
City
Hi Lo Cond.
City
St. Registration: Info@ Antlers
66 55 rain
Oklahoma City
UV
Index
orcpi.org or call (405) Ardmore
65 53 cloudy
Okmulgee
Bartlesville
70Sun
44 cloudy MonPauls ValleyTue
416-5448.
Sat
Sudoku
Puzzle
#3416-M
— Blood drive, 9 a.m. to
1:30 p.m., Howe High
School
3/25
Last
Apr 12
Hi
67
67
65
Broken
Bow
653/22
54 rain
3/21
3/23Perry
3/24 70
Claremore
70 348 cloudy
69
3
7 Sallisaw
7
Cordell
66 47 cloudy
Sapulpa
69
Moderate
Moderate
Duncan
66 51 cloudy HighShawnee High 69
El Reno
66 48 cloudy
Snyder
66
The UV Index is measured on a 0 - 11 number scale, 0
Elk aCity
66showing
45 cloudy
71
with
higher UV Index
the need forStillwater
greater
skin
Enidprotection.
71 45 cloudy
Tahlequah
67
Guymon
68 39 pt sunny
Tulsa
69
Lawton
66 48 cloudy
Watonga
68
©2010 American Profile Hometown Content Service
McAlester
67 53 cloudy
Weatherford
66
Miami
69 47 cloudy
Wewoka
66
Muskogee
68 49 cloudy
Woodward
71
Lo Cond.
51 cloudy
50 cloudy
50 cloudy
Wed
46 3/25
cloudy
48 cloudy
7
50 cloudy
High
54 cloudy
49 cloudy
47 cloudy11
46 cloudy
50 pt sunny
45 cloudy
46 cloudy
51 cloudy
44 pt sunny
City
Atlanta
Boston
Chicago
Dallas
Denver
Houston
Los Angeles
Miami
Lo Cond.
29 pt sunny
30 snow
57 pt sunny
53 cloudy
50 rain
46 pt sunny
35 mixed
2
1
5 3
2
8
6
National Cities
1
9 4 7
1
6
3 Phases 7
Moon
2
4
Hi
71
37
59
65
70
79
75
86
Lo Cond.
51 cloudy
29 sn shower
41 mst sunny
57 rain
38 sunny
66 t-storm
58 sunny
69 sunny
3
6
4
7
9
9 1 8
3
City
Minneapolis
New York
Phoenix
San Francisco
Seattle
St. Louis
Washington, DC
1
Hi
60
34
77
68
65
62
41
9
5 8
9
7
© 2009 Hometown Content
U.S in ‘tornado
drought’
TULSA (AP) — The
U.S. appears to be locked
in a tornado drought as
meteorologists have recorded only about two-dozen
twisters so far this year during a period when 100 or
more are typical.
And there have been no
reports of tornadoes so far
in March — a sometimes
violent period for severe
weather. The last time there
were no tornadoes in March
was 1969.
Forecasters at NOAA’s
Storm Prediction Center in
Norman have issued only
four tornado watches and
no severe thunderstorm
watches — less than 10
percent of the average 52
tornado watches issued by
mid-March.
Warning coordination
meteorologist Greg Carbin
said there isn’t one answer
to explain the sluggish start,
but that a persistent weather
pattern of cold, stable air
prevents a tornado’s ingredients from coming together.
Child dead after
standoff
standoff that the child was
in any immediate danger
from the dad,” who had
told negotiators throughout
the night that the boy was
sleeping.
“At no point did they
believe the child was in
immediate danger,” Tuell
said, leading to the decision
for officers not to try and
force their way into the apartment, saying such action
often escalates the danger of
a hostage situation.
Tuell said Creech was
arrested and would be questioned, but had not immediately retained an attorney.
Ex-fire chief
indicted
OKLAHOMA CITY
(AP) — A grand jury has
indicted the former chief of
the now-disbanded Higgins
Volunteer Fire Department
on an embezzlement
charge.
The Oklahoman reports
48-year-old Curtis Gregory
Baker of Hartshorne is
accused of embezzling
more than $1,000 from the
fire department for his own
personal use over a twoyear period.
Baker denied the claims
to the newspaper on Thursday night. He disbanded the
volunteer fire department in
Latimer County in 2013.
Historic site
grants available
OKLAHOMA CITY
(AP) — The Oklahoma
Historical Society is accepting applications for matching grants to prepare nominations for the National
Register of Historic Places.
Each grant is limited to
$1,000, and the funds must
be used to retain a professional to complete an individual property nomination
for the national register.
The deadline for the applications is June 3.
The register is the catalogue of the nation’s significant buildings, structures, sites, districts, objects
and landscapes. While listing is not a guarantee of
preservation, it’s one of the
most important preservation components for any
significant property.
The designation provides
increased public awareness
of the sites as well as limited
protection. It also qualifies
property owners for federal
tax credits under certain circumstances and may qualify
the property owner for grant
assistance when the programs are funded.
TULSA — A 5-year-old
boy was found dead Friday
inside a south Tulsa apartment after his father, who
had shot at police during a
17-hour standoff, surrendered to authorities, police
said.
“The SWAT team went
in to clear the apartment
and found the child,” after
Bryon Creech surrendered
about 10:30 a.m., according to Sgt. Shane Tuell.
It was not known when
or how the child died, Tuell
said. The name of the child
was not released.
“He led the negotiators
to believe that the child was
OK when in fact the child
was not,” Tuell said. “There
was no indication at any
point during the entire
TAKING CARE
OF BUSINESS
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puzzle is divided
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First into Solution
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Apr 12
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all 81 squares on the puzzle
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© 2009 Hometown Content
HAMMOND FAMILY DENTAL
Dr. Kendra Yandell, DDS
Hammond Family Dentistry was established in 1975 by
Dr. Ken Hammond. In 2008, after completing dental
school at the University of Oklahoma, Kendra joined her
father in the family practice. After purchasing the practice in 2010, one of her first goals was to build a new
state of the art dental clinic. The new building was completed in November 2013. The design of the building is
centered on patient care and efficiency. It is a clinic that
patients, staff and the community can be proud of.
Quality patient care continues to be the focus of
Hammond Family Dentistry. Kendra and husband Chad
bring a new energy to our community and we
appreciate their leadership and many contributions.
PANAMA
STIGLER
POTEAU
CENTRAL NATIONAL BANK
HEAVENER
www.cnbpoteau.com
POCOLA
Opinions
PAGE 4A . . . SATURDAY, MARCH 21, 2015
POTEAU DAILY NEWS
Gearing up after spring break
Notes from the 55th
Ed Cannaday
Two forces at work
A segment of this column will attempt to explain some of
the rather unusual processes that legislation takes as it makes
its way to eventually becoming a law or statute.
Fortunately the process is not always as bizarre as the
example I am going to share with you. Let me preface this
by saying this story provides the absolute worst aspect of
politics and perhaps the best. By this I mean absolute examples of both the deceitful actions of some political figures
while others in a similar role of authority try to serve the
constituents of the state in a spirit of cooperation rather than
deceit.
Let me take you back to my sixth column where I referred
to a bill I filed, HB1027, which passed out of Common
Education Committee on 13-to-1 vote, co-authored by Rep.
Dennis Casey, R-Morrison. The one no vote becomes more
telling as the story develops.
As I indicated, this would call for placing a hold for two
years on the “Student Academic Performance” portion of the
new state-mandated teacher evaluations sometimes referred
to as the quantifiable portion of this process. This makes up
50 percent of a teacher’s evaluation and has been the source
of considerable concern for school administration and teachers alike. These problems have been documented by a company employed by the Department of Education under the
leadership of newly elected state Superintendent of Education
Joy Hofmeister.
Based on this recent research, Hofmeister led the TeacherLeader Effectiveness Commission to recommend a reassessment of this quantifiable portion of the teacher assessment.
As a member of this commission, it was within this context
that I filed HB1027 and it passed out of committee with Rep.
Jason Nelson, R-Oklahoma City, casting the single no vote.
While I did not place a lot of significance on his no vote,
I did notice that, as assistant floor leader, he let two weeks
go by before calling it up for a vote on the full House floor.
Since there was a deadline to have House bills heard by the
end of last week and that left only four days, Casey and I
approached him on his failure to call the bill up for consideration.
His response was that he was concerned that the language
in the bill could jeopardize Oklahoma’s waiver from federal
education law, No Child Left Behind. Upon being informed
of this I emailed a copy of the bill to the U.S. Department of
Education and contacted members of their staff to set up a
conference call between them and Casey and myself.
This call took place within 48 hours of this portion of the
House session ending. As a result of this call and confirmation that there was not a problem with the language, I went
to Nelson with this news anticipating that he would immediately place HB 1027 on the floor calendar, since any delay
would keep this much needed legislation from moving forward. To my shock and amazement he said that his real
problem was with my Senate author, Earl Garrison,
D-Muskogee. Had I known that, I would have asked
Garrison to allow me to pick another senator since this legislation was needed for the TLE Commission to move forward with reforms.
Casey and I were equally upset by this immature game
played by Nelson.
Here is where it takes a positive turn. Casey brought the
situation up with Presiding Floor Leader Rep. Charles
Ortega, R-Altus, and this resulted in a meeting with myself,
Casey, Ortega and Minority Leader Rep. Scott Inman.
Inman was adamant that HB 1027 be heard even though
the 24-hour clock had passed. Following this meeting all of
us except Inman were called to meet with Speaker Jeff
Hickman.
In this meeting Casey suggested he remove the language
of one of his bills, HB 1290, and amend it with HB 1027
language. His bill had problems and probably would not be
heard even though it was on the calendar. We four agreed to
this procedure and that was actually done in the late hours of
March 11. It passed on a vote of 79 yes 15 no and is headed
to the Senate as HB 1290 with me as its primary author.
I share this real-life political drama to demonstrate two
dominant forces at work in state politics. One is pure immature pettiness on the part of the assistant floor leader and the
second is an example of real leadership by those setting
politics aside and attempting to allow legislation through so
that our superintendent of education and TLE Commission
followed by the State Board of Education could fix a major
problem that would have had a negative impact on our
schools, teachers and students.
Ed Cannaday represents District 15, which includes part
of LeFlore County, in the Oklahoma House. Write him at P.O.
Box 98, Porum, OK 74455, e-mail him at ed.cannaday@
okhouse.gov, call him at (800) 522-8502 or (405) 557-7375
or go to his website at www.edcannaday.com.
SERVING LEFLORE COUNTY
Spring break is coming to an end,
and we are preparing to spring ahead at
Patrick Lynch Public Library. For students, this is the last leg of the
school term, and an opportunity for a
last push for their best possible school
year. Some of our student readers here
have already met their academically
required reading goals for the year and
can enjoy leisure reading of their choice,
but others are scrambling to complete
their prerequisites. We can help with
each of these situations and all in
between at the library.
Students, particularly teens, who see
reading as a chore may need help comprehending the potential rewards and
satisfaction reading can give in comparison to the effort. Successful treasure
hunting can make the cost seem trivial.
For a teen with access to a good library
and willingness to hunt, rewards may
include any or all of the following:
Improved decision making, or what
might be tagged as stupidity insurance.
Teens have more of an aversion to looking, saying or doing something “stupid”
than most of us. If they are considering
trying something new, or will be discussing something unfamiliar to them,
why not “beef up” on the subject first?
Let’s state this in a positive way: learning about new subjects, considerations
Deadline has passed on Senate bills
Last week marked the
final week for full Senate
consideration of bills that
were introduced by our
members and approved at
the committee level.
The next step in the legislative process will be for
the House to begin committee work on the bills
that began in the Senate
and made it out of our
chamber. Likewise, we will
begin committee consideration of their measures.
Still to be addressed this
session is the Fiscal Year
2016 budget. With a $611
million reduction in available state dollars, the challenge to appropriate funds
to the most critical services, including education,
public safety, health, mental health and transportation remains at the top of
the priorities this session.
In order to do that, we will
be searching for ways to
help state agencies identify
savings and further priori-
AWARD WINNER
Presented by the
OKLAHOMA PRESS
ASSOCIATION
Terry Erwin, Publisher ................................................ Ext. 25
publisher@poteaudailynews.com
Kim Ross, Editor ........................................................ Ext. 17
tize their allocations. With
a shortfall of this size, there
is no way to completely
avoid
budget
cuts.
However, it is critical to
approach them as thoughtfully and carefully as possible.
I’m very pleased that
Senate Bill 788, authored
by my colleague, Sen. Dan
Newberry, was approved
by the full Senate before
the first deadline passed.
SB 788 would protect clergy members and others
who are authorized to perform marriage ceremonies
from being required to perform those duties if it conflicts with the officiant’s
religious beliefs. It would
not only protect officiants
who are authorized by law
to solemnize a marriage, it
would also shield churches
from being required to participate in ceremonies that
might conflict for religious
reasons.
The legislation wouldn’t
To Contact Us:
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Guest Column
Joseph Silk
prevent anyone from seeking marriage services, but
it would send our pastors
and churches a strong message, letting them know
that we not only believe in
their religious freedoms
and beliefs, but also in their
right to exercise those liberties. SB 788 is now headed to the House.
I am the Senate coauthor of two House bills
now headed to the Senate
for consideration. House
Bill 1911 would eliminate
restrictions on certain types
of knives people can carry
and essentially would
reduce regulations and
return certain rights back
to
the
people
of
Oklahoma.
The second House bill
I’ve co-authored is HB
1652, which would move
an archery hunting tag and
license expiration date to
Jan. 15 instead of the current Dec. 31. This is just a
common sense approach to
make the tags valid until
the end of the hunting season.
I’ve also been working
with constituents in regard
to modifying various statues that could help keep
electrical co-ops more
accountable. I will expand
on that topic in more depth
in the coming weeks, as
well as discuss an interesting update on water issues.
Joseph Silk is senator of
the 5th District. He can be
reached by phone at (405)
521-5614 or email at sil@
oksenate.gov.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR:
editor@poteaudailynews.com
Cheryl Thornburg, Business Manager ...................... Ext. 29
learning. Many interests, sports and vocations
have their own vocabulary, and learning
about these subjects, again through fiction as well as nonfiction, gives new
meaning to “key words” by opening
new and exciting vistas. But be prepared for some words to drop from the
teens’ vocabulary, such as “I’m bored”
and a lot less “I can’t.” For successful
knowledge treasure hunters, there may
be more directions calling than time to
explore.
Can you keep a secret? There are
times when teens are wary of communicating, and wisely so. Once information, feelings or concerns are shared,
they cannot be retrieved. To seek out
facts for personal information or advice,
to examine feelings related to teen situations in a safe or perhaps vicarious
setting, books are just the thing. Charles
W. Eliot, the 17th century president that
led Harvard University into national
prominence mused, “Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they
are the most accessible and wisest of
counselors, and the most patient of
teachers.”
Obviously, reading increases brain
power. Just as athletes develop muscle
and strength by exercising their body,
so creativity, imagination, quick connection, retention and hopefully wisdom can be developed through prudent
and committed reading, not to mention
the “chore” attitude disappears.
Turning the page to the week ahead,
our adults will again have the opportunity to work on foundational computer
skills in the Wednesday afternoon computer class and on Thursday, learn more
about Power of Attorney and Advance
Directive from 6-7 p.m. in an introductory workshop presented by Legal Aid
in the library’s community room.
Carole Gill is the children’s and
young adult librarian at Patrick Lynch
Public Library in Poteau. E-mail her at
carolegill@oklibrary.net.
2013
The Poteau Daily News (USPS 440-200) is published daily by
Horizon Oklahoma Publishing Company Inc., Poteau, OK 74953.
Periodical privileges paid at Poteau, OK. POSTMASTER: Send change
of addresses to Poteau Daily News, P.O. Box 1237, Poteau, OK 74953.
The Poteau Daily News publishes Tuesday through Saturday.
Treasure Hunting
or ways to achieve
gives confidence
to step forward
and explore and
reaps a treasure of
personal growth Carole Gill
and confidence.
Young people
like to have an advantage, an edge up as
they go out into the world. Exploring
the page before heading into unknown
territory can do that. Both fiction and
nonfiction give criteria for making
choices, building confidence. Where
resources are limited, we can get much
vicarious experience at bargain prices.
That neat, new guy in class who played
cricket before moving here? Learning
enough to ask questions then researching what he shares may establish common ground, friendship and a whole
new sphere of experience. We want people to understand us.
Improved communication skills are a
natural outgrowth of wide-ranging reading: a better understanding of other
perspectives and cultures, hearing and
permitting other thoughts, a better way
to say, a better word to use. Building a
heavyweight vocabulary is a treasure
that can drastically improve many test
measures and give freedom to move to
new levels and new satisfaction in
. $12
. $35
. $66
$129
Email letters to Editor Kim Ross at editor@
poteaudailynews.com, mail or drop off at 804
N. Broadway, Poteau, Ok. 74953. All letters
must include name, town of residence and
phone number for verification. The phone
number will not be published.
EDITORIAL CONTENT POLICY:
Columns, cartoons and letters to the editor
published in this newspaper do not necessarily
reflect the opinions of the Poteau Daily News
or its management.
Sports
POTEAU DAILY NEWS
Wister boys beat Wright City,
Washington in Red Oak Festival;
Heavener boys fall to Allen
RED OAK — The Wister Wildcats had
a banner Thursday of baseball in the Red
Oak Festival as they got a pair of 3-1 wins
over the Wright City Lumberjax and the
Washington Warriors.
Things were not quite as nice for the
Heavener Wolves, who began the day’s
worth of games with a 9-2 loss to the Allen
Mustangs.
In Wister’s win over Wright City, the
Wildcats (4-1) jumped out to a 2-0 lead in
the opening inning, only to see the Lumberjax cut the deficit in half by the end of
the frame.
The ’Cats got a big insurance run in the
fifth inning for a 3-1 lead.
For the game, Jake Sconyers was 2-for-4
with a double and a run scored, while Koby
Midgley was 2-for-4 with a run scored.
Bryar Ward (1-0) got the win, pitching
six innings with four strikeouts and scattering two hits. Sconyers got his first save of
the season, pitching the final two innings
with a strikeout and allowing a hit.
In Wister’s victory over Washington, the
Wildcats scored twice in the first inning
and once in the second for a 3-0 lead.
The Warriors cut the deficit to 3-1 in the
fourth inning, but they got no closer.
For the game, Adrian Gonzales was
3-for-3 with a double and a run scored,
Ethan Billings was 2-for-4 with a double
and a run scored and Jesse Hammons was
2-for-3 with two runs scored.
Midgley (1-0) got the win, pitching a
complete-game, four-hitter with six strikeouts.
In Heavener’s loss to Allen, the Mustangs erased a 2-1 deficit with a five-run
third inning for a 6-2 lead.
The Wolves (3-3) committed three errors, allowing for six unearned runs for the
Mustangs.
In defeat, the Wolves had five hits, a
single apiece for Dillion May, Noah Davis,
Jordan Terry, Dillan Stallings and Hunter
Tiffee. May (0-2) took the loss, despite
fanning two batters in 2.2 innings and only
giving up three earned runs of the seven he
allowed. Grant Shipman pitched the final
3.1 innings with two Ks and allowing no
earned runs.
CASC softball team to be in
Carthage Bash today, Sunday
It will be a busy weekend for the Carl Albert
State College Lady Vikings softball team as it
will play five games in two
days beginning today at the
Carthage [Mo.] Bash.
Today, the Lady Vikings
(8-3) will meet Iowa Western Community College at
10 a.m., Riverland Community College at noon
and Three Rivers Community College at 6 tonight.
On Sunday, the Lady
Vikings will meet Indian
Hills, Iowa, at 11 a.m.,
then host Crowder, Mo., at
1 p.m.
The Lady Vikings will
SATURDAY, MARCH 21, 2015 . . . PAGE 5A
Sports Briefs
There will be a fund-raising golf tournament beginning at 10 a.m. next
Saturday at Choctaw Country Club.
The entry fee for the four-person
scramble is $160. Golf carts will be
available but at extra costs.
There will be prizes awarded to the
top three teams as well as a prize for the
straightest drive and closest to the pin.
For additional information, call Matt
Brown at (918) 647-3488.
•••
There will be a one-day boys and girls
basketball tournament next Saturday at
Brushy Public School.
The entry fee is $150 per team. There
will be three age divisions — grades
three-four, five-six and seven-eight.
Each team will be guaranteed three
games.
The winning team’s members will be
awarded medals.
For additional information, call (918)
774-8261.
•••
There will be a coed softball tournament sponsored by 3 Girls Animal Shelter
April 3-4 at the Poteau Area Recreational
Complex.
The entry fee is $150 per team, which
must have at least 10 players, with three
females.
There will be a home run derby for
$20 for 10 balls.
For additional information, call Kenny
Blaylock at (918) 605-9922, Cheryl
Greenmyer at (918) 471-8514 or Keni
Jane Deatherage at (479) 462-9818.
•••
The Whitesboro High School senior
class will have the second annual “Run
with the Big Dawgs" 5k on April 18.
There will also be a 1-mile run, as well
as a 1k for ages 10 and younger, and a
0.5k for ages 6 and younger. This is a
class fundraiser. The cost for the 5k and
1-mile run is $20 prior to April 3, and $5
for the kids races. After April 3, the 5k
and 1-mile run entry fee will be $25, and
the kids race will be the same.
The first 100 will be guaranteed a
T-shirt, as well as the first 30 kids in each
division. On-site registration as well as
packet pick-up will be from 8 to 9 a.m.,
with the race starting at 9:30 a.m.
The kids events will start after the 5k
awards, or approximately 10:45 a.m.,
and they can register until about 10:30
a.m.
The 5k is a timed event with medals in
five age groups, and the kids will receive
medals in the 1k and 0.5k runs.
The registration form is available on
the school's website at www.whitesborops.k12.ok.us or contact Sonya
Morgan at (918) 567-2231 or contact
Whitesboro School at (918) 567-2624 or
Teresa Davis at (918) 839-5039.
play three road doubleheaders next week, 2 p.m.
Tuesday against Northeastern Oklahoma A&M
in Miami, 2 p.m. Thursday
against Northern Oklahoma College-Enid and 2
p.m. next Saturday against JUNIOR PRIDE — Here are the members of the Howe Lions junior high baseball
Rose State College in Mid- team. From left — Coach Jon Sockey, Brandon Knudsen, Chris Garcia, Carson
McGee, Haydon Hall, Nicholas Ford, Dustin Stimac, Joseph Benefield, Tyler
west City.
Sockey, Trever Sockey, Colby Butler, Caleb Crabtree, Brayden Ogelsby, Eduardo
Sanchez, Wesley Bradley and Francisco Herenandez. To see most of the LeFlore
County high school spring teams’ photos, season previews and schedules, check
out the 2015 Spring Sports Guide in today’s edition.
Photo Submitted by Scott Parks
Cameron girls suffer losses to Red Oak,
Keota, Dale in RO Festival on Thursday
Wister’s games rained out Friday, won’t be rescheduled
Poteau HOF Class of 2015
nominations being sought
Keota.
The Lady ’Jackets (0-3) only had two
hits all day long. Dallas Hadley (0-3) suffered all three losses.
Wister’s games Friday in the festival
Nominations are currently being ac- girls all-around athlete, wrestling, coachwere rained out and won’t be rescheduled. cepted for the 2015 Poteau High School
ing, support and service.
Sports Hall of Fame.
The deadline to submit nominations is
Requirements for nominations are that April 1.
the individual has been graduated no later
For additional information or to subthan 2010, played sports or coached Po- mit a nomination, call Glynda McDaniel
teau teams and was a big fan by giving at (918) 647-7724) or (918) 635-0580, or
support and/or service to the Poteau High email to: mcdanielg@poteau.k12.ok.us or
School athletic program.
mail to Poteau Schools, Attention Glynda
Today’s Wister-Dale-Spiro three-way canceled, won’t be rescheduled Categories include football, boys and McDaniel, 100 Mockingbird Lane Pogirls basketball, baseball, fast-pitch and teau, OK 74953.
By David Seeley
games today on the Yel- Sallisaw-Central, while slow-pitch softball, boys and girls soccer,
The Hall of Fame Banquet will be at 6
PDN Sports Editor
lowjackets’ home field. contests lost Friday at boys and girls track, boys and girls golf, p.m. May 23 at the Bob Lee Kidd Civic
The Pocola Indians will Cameron were Cameron boys and girls cross country, boys and Center.
Mother Nature almost meet the Wilburton Dig- vs. Oktaka, Cameron vs.
rained out the final three gers at 11 a.m., followed Checotah, Poteau vs. Chedays of the 2015 Eastern by Spiro and Valliant in cotah and Poteau vs. AntOklahoma Shootout, but a battle of Bulldogs at lers. None of these games
not quite.
1 p.m., the ’Jackets and will be rescheduled.
YUKON
—
The their second game of the boro pitchers in the home
While Friday’s games at Valliant at 3 p.m. and the
Today’s three-way with Whitesboro Bulldogs will day against the Yukon ju- half of the frame enabled
Spiro and Cameron were Leflore Savages and Eu- the Wister Wildcats and
have to wait until next nior varsity rained out. It the visitors to score five
rained out, a new sched- faula Ironheads at 5 p.m.
the Dale Pirates at Spiro
runs to take an 8-3 lead afule of games for today in
Friday games lost at was canceled due to wet week to try to get their will not be rescheduled.
ter four innings.
Dakota
Farris
hit
a
twofirst
win
of
the
season.
Cameron has been slated. the Spiro site were Spiro fields and will not be reJoe Smith (0-2) took the
The Bulldogs lost run single to tie the game
There will be four vs. Antlers and Spiro vs. scheduled.
RED OAK — It was a rough start to
the 2015 slow-pitch softball season for the
Cameron Lady Yellowjackets as they lost
all three games in Thursday’s action of
the Red Oak Festival, losing 12-0 to both
host Red Oak and Dale and falling 12-3 to
Wet fields change schedule of final
day of Eastern Oklahoma Shootout
Whitesboro boys suffer loss in UC Festival
11-3 to the co-op team of
Hydro-Eakly/ArapahoButler on Thursday in the
Union City Festival.
The ’Dogs (0-3) had
facing the prospect of trying to make the
playoffs without him.
Durant last played Feb. 19 against
Memphis and had surgery three days later
to replace a screw that was causing discomfort in the right foot that he broke during the preseason.
Thunder forward Serge Ibaka could
miss the rest of the season after having an
arthroscopic procedure on his right knee
earlier this week.
Durant has foot pain, remains out
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — There is
more bad news for Thunder star and the
reigning National Basketball Association’s
Most Valuable Player Kevin Durant.
General manager Sam Presti says Durant still has pain in his right foot and will
remain out indefinitely. Durant will see
specialists to determine the next step.
Earlier this month, coach Scott Brooks
said Durant could return to the line-up
in 1-2 weeks. Instead, Oklahoma City is
The Poteau Daily News
is your best source for
local sports coverage
in LeFlore County
at 3 in the fourth inning for
the Bulldogs, but the combination of either walking
or hitting seven batters off
of three combined Whites-
loss, but a bright spot was
Austin Stepp’s relief outing as he went two-plus
innings with two strikeouts.
✮ 35 % of young readers
aged 18-34 prefer receiving
advertising circulars.
✮ 86% who regularly read
weekend papers check for
print circulars for grocery
or foodstore ads.
✮ 80% check print circulars
for department store ads.
✮ 70% check print cirulars
for discount store ads.
Bottom Line: print circular
Advertising works!
Source: http://www.netnewscheck.com/article/27241/millennials-still-want-their-newspapers?ref=search
PAGE 6A . . . SATURDAY, MARCH 21, 2015
Sports
POTEAU DAILY NEWS
Arkansas women rally for
win over Northwestern
WACO, Texas (AP) —
Jessica Jackson scored 14
points, including the tiebreaking free throw with
30 seconds left as Arkansas
overcame a 13-point deficit
to beat Northwestern 5755 in a first-round NCAA
Tournament game Friday.
The free throw by Jackson made it 56-55, giving
the Razorbacks (18-13)
their first lead in the second
half. They overcame three
consecutive missed free
throws after that, including
Jackson's miss on the second attempt that Melissa
Wolff rebounded.
GOIN' HOG WILD — The Arkansas Razorbacks celebrates their 56-53 win over
Wolff had 13 points and
Wofford during Thursday's NCAA Tournament second-round game in Jacksonville,
Fla. The Hogs will meet North Carolina tonight for a berth into the Sweet 16.
Photo by John Raoux/The Associated Press
Arkansas hangs on to beat Wofford,
faces North Carolina tonight
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Arkansas surely knows about Wofford now.
Michael Qualls scored 20 points, Southeastern Conference player of the year Bobby Portis added 15 points and 13 rebounds,
and the fifth-seeded Razorbacks held off
the No. 12 seed Terriers 56-53 in the NCAA
Tournament on Thursday night.
Arkansas (27-8) escaped a slow-paced,
back-and-forth game in the West Regional that featured 18 lead changes, 10 ties
and neither team ahead by more than five
points.
"I told our guys (Wofford) just ran out of
time," Arkansas coach Mike Anderson said.
"Thank goodness they ran out of time."
The Razorbacks advanced to play fourthseeded North Carolina tonight. The Tar
Heels edged Ivy League champion Harvard
earlier in the night.
Arkansas looked as though it might
become the latest No. 5 seed to get upset
in the NCAAs — No. 12 seeds went 6-2
against No. 5 seeds the previous two years.
But pesky Wofford (28-7) missed three
3-pointers in the final minute-plus, allowing the Razorbacks to hang on.
"We know we had a great team coming
in," Wofford coach Mike Young said. "Arkansas was just a little better. ... The score
was in the 50s, we took nine more shots
and we had eight turnovers. I would bet my
last dollar that we would win that game. We
didn't, obviously."
Southern Conference player of the year
Karl Cochran and Eric Garcia had decent
looks on the final possession, but both shot
off the mark. Garcia's clanged off the rim
at the buzzer.
"I felt the 3s were going to go in," said
Spencer Collins, who led Wofford with 16
points and nine rebounds. "That's the same
sometimes. Shots go in. Shots don't go in."
Cochran and Jaylen Allen added 12
points apiece for the Terriers.
Many picked Arkansas to falter, especially after Anderson and his players made
it clear Wednesday they had done little
preparation for the Terriers. Instead, they
spent much of the lead time working on
getting themselves ready.
It nearly backfired.
"We didn't get rattled," Qualls said. "If
they would have made their bucket, we
knew we would have taken care of business
in overtime."
Wofford had no answer for Qualls' athleticism and Portis' inside presence. Qualls
made eight of nine shots, including three
big dunks, and Portis scored all his points
in the paint. Arkansas also played at Wofford's pace, which was plodding and methodical at times.
"We can win a lot of different ways,"
Anderson said. "We showed that tonight."
The game was entertaining from start to
finish, and included a couple of interesting
moments involving shoes.
Moses Kingsley played a possession
in the first half without a shoe, which he
flipped to the bench. Rashad Madden also
lost a shoe in the second half. He seemed
to toss his toward the bench and then it
got thrown back across the court. Officials
called timeout and looked at the replay, but
couldn't decide what to do. They eventually tagged Arkansas with a delay-of-game
warning.
Michigan State holds off Georgia men
CHARLOTTE,
N.C.
(AP) — Denzel Valentine
scored 16 points and went
6-for-6 at the free throw
line in the final 30 seconds
to help Michigan State hold
off Georgia 70-63 on Friday
in the NCAA Tournament's
round of 64.
Travis Trice scored 15
points and Branden Dawson
had a strong second half for
the seventh-seeded Spartans (24-11), who answered
a push from the Bulldogs
with a poised run to take
back control.
Yet they weren't nearly
so steady coming down
the stretch, flirting with
blowing a 10-point lead in
the final 1:16. Valentine's
free throws were critical as
Georgia (21-12) rallied to
make it a one-possession
game in a finish that at one
point had Spartans longtime
coach Tom Izzo turning and
punching the scorer's table
in fury.
Still, Michigan State did
enough to hang on, showing at least glimpses of the
experience from playing in
18 straight NCAA Tournaments.
Michigan State advanced
to face the Belmont-Virginia winner in Sunday's round
of 32 in the East Region.
Charles Mann scored
19 points to lead the 10thseeded Bulldogs, who were
playing in the NCAAs for
the first time since 2011 and
only the second time since
2008.
http://www.netnewscheck.com/article/27241/millennials-still-want-their-newspapers?ref=search
Coffey's lay-up with 11:39
left.
Arkansas from the SEC,
in its first season under
former Razorbacks player
and ESPN analyst Jimmy
Dykes, cut the gap to a single possession by scoring
10 straight points.
Calli Berna's 3-pointer
with 8:16 started the Razorbacks run, before Brooks
had a layup and Bowen a
three-point play. Wolff's
jumper with 5:48 left got
them within 51-49.
The game was tied 23-23
at half after the score was
tied six times and changed
four times.
No. 2 seed Kansas routs
New Mexico State Aggies
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The last few
weeks have been an exercise in patience
for Kansas. Shots haven't been falling, the
offense hasn't looked good. The game has
been a struggle.
All of that changed against New Mexico
State.
Frank Mason III scored 17 points to lead
a balanced attack, and the second-seeded
Jayhawks rolled to a 75-56 victory over the
No. 15 seed Aggies on Friday, giving their
beleaguered Big 12 its first NCAA Tournament victory in four tries this March.
"It was nice to see the lid come off
the basket," said Kansas coach Bill Self,
whose team had twice failed to hit a single 3-pointer in games during the last few
weeks of the season.
Perry Ellis added nine points for the
Jayhawks (27-8), who also did their part
in setting up a tantalizing match-up with
seventh-seeded Wichita State in the Midwest Region's round of 32.
The Shockers played No. 10 seed Indiana in their opening game later Friday.
"It would be a big game for our state,
without question," Self said. "But if it's Indiana, we get a chance to play one of the
most storied programs in the history of our
game."
D.K. Eldridge had 11 points and Remi
Barry and Tshilidzi Nephawa scored 10
each for the Aggies (23-11), who had swept
the Western Athletic Conference regularseason and tournament titles.
"We ran into the real Kansas," Aggies
coach Marvin Menzies said. "I know they
sputtered a little bit there toward the later
part of the conference, the conference tournament. But I knew Bill would have his
guys ready. I knew they wouldn't take us
for granted."
Especially after a stunning day of upsets
Thursday, including an 0-3 mark from the
Big 12.
Kansas made sure to rob any drama
from its opener at the CenturyLink Center,
though. It shot holes in the Aggies' unorthodox zone, going 9-of-13 from behind the
arc. It turned just about every turnover into
a run-out. And the Jayhawks ran ragged
New Mexico State's veteran starters, who
had not allowed an opponent to score 70plus points in their last 24 games.
"It was very nice to see the ball go in
the basket," Mason said. "It gave us confidence as the game went on. We're happy
we knocked down shots."
In fact, the rim played better defense
against Kansas for much of the game.
Ellis missed a dunk in the opening minutes. Mason and Landen Lucas each missed
bunnies. Wayne Selden Jr. even got the ball
on a fastbreak, elevated high above the rim
and then realized he was going to come up
short on a dunk, missing a desperation layin instead.
Kelly Oubre Jr. clanked a dunk on an
alley-oop pass off the iron early in the second half.
All those easy misses didn't put the
Jayhawks in danger, though. All they did
was keep New Mexico State from an even
more lopsided defeat in its fourth straight
NCAA trip.
Cold from beyond the arc late in the
season, the Jayhawks heated up in front of
a heavy pro-Kansas crowd. Ellis knocked
down an early 3, Oubre added another, and
Devonte' Graham hit consecutive 3s that
gave the Big 12 regular-season champs a
34-16 lead late in the first half.
No. 1 Kentucky hammers Hampton
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP)
— Take away the sluggish
start and ragged finish,
and top-ranked Kentucky
opened the NCAA Tournament just the way it wanted
against 16th-seeded Hampton.
Karl-Anthony
Towns
bounced back from a minislump with 21 points and 11
rebounds, Andrew Harrison
added 14 points and the
Wildcats rolled to a 79-56
win over the outmanned Pirates on Thursday night in
the Midwest Regional.
Getting started took
some doing for Kentucky
(35-0), which was already
56%
65% of young people aged
18-24 and 75% of those aged
25-34 act on newspaper
advertising in some manner
15 rebounds, while Kelsey
Brooks had 15 points and
Jhasmin Bowen 12 for Arkansas, the No. 10 seed in
the Oklahoma City Regional.
Ashley Deary and Alex
Cohen each had 13 points
for Northwestern (23-9),
which was in its first NCAA
Tournament since 1997.
Maggie Lyon had 12 points
and Nia Coffey 11.
The Big Ten Wildcats
opened the second half with
three consecutive layups
by Lyon, Deary and Coffey in a 75-second span to
turn a halftime tie into a 2923 lead. They led 48-35 on
of Young Adults
between ages
18-34
read newspaper
media content
in print or online
during a typical
week.
Source: http://www.netnewscheck.com/article/27241/millennials-still-want-theirnewspapers?ref=search
resigned to the late tipoff.
The Wildcats' wait became
even longer as Cincinnati
fought to a 66-65 overtime
win over Purdue in the preceding game.
That made for an uneven
night as the Wildcats shook
some cobwebs and seemed
to tire late. Fortunately for
Kentucky, it did what it
needed in between.
"I didn't like how we
started the game, I didn't
quite like how we finished
the game, but it is 1 o'clock
at night," said coach John
Calipari, who nonetheless
called it a good win. "And
we had an overtime game
where the guys were hanging out in the locker room
for an hour and a half, so
I'm going to chalk it up to
that and move on."
One who seemed fresh
throughout was Towns,
whose game needed the
jump start.
Limited by foul trouble
the past two games, the
6-foot-11 freshman was
forceful all night without
getting careless in helping
the Wildcats cruise to the
site's most lopsided outcome of the day after three
1-point finishes at the KFC
Yum! Center.
"One thing I did tell
them in the huddles," Calipari added, "you have to
respect the fact that we're
throwing you the ball every
time down. And if you get
double-teamed, you must
pass it because you've got
to respect the guys that are
passing you the ball. So if
we do — and Hampton
didn't trap, which is why he
had all those baskets."
Trey Lyles added 10
points and six rebounds, Tyler Ulis scored 11 and Willie Cauley-Stein grabbed 11
rebounds for the Wildcats,
who face Cincinnati this afternoon.
Hampton's
Quinton
Chievous shook off an ankle
injury suffered in Tuesday's
First Four upset of Manhattan to score 22 points with
10 rebounds. But the Pirates (17-18) were no match
for Kentucky after the first
10 minutes and trailed by as
many as 35 midway through
the second half.
Hampton shot just 29
percent from the field.
"When you come with
two 7-footers and bring
two more 7-footers off the
bench, it can begin to wear
you down, and I think that
was a problem for us,"
Hampton coach Edward
Joyner Jr. said.
Sports
POTEAU DAILY NEWS
SATURDAY, MARCH 21, 2015 . . . PAGE 7A
Baylor stunned by Georgia State in NCAA Tournament
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP)
— Baylor was in complete control, and then it fell apart in the
final three minutes. It was quite
the surprise for coach Scott
Drew.
No. 3 seed Baylor was unable
to handle Georgia State’s fullcourt defensive pressure down
the stretch and lost 57-56 on R.J.
Hunter’s long 3-pointer in the
closing seconds of their NCAA
Tournament game on Thursday.
Rico Gathers’ two foul shots
with 2:54 left put Baylor up by
12, but the Bears (24-10) didn’t
score again. They finished with
21 turnovers.
“The thing I’m disappointed
with is all year long we’ve executed down the stretch,” Drew
said. “We’ve been a tough team,
and I feel bad the way that the
last five minutes went.”
Hunter’s 3-point basket with
2.7 seconds remaining capped
the comeback for No. 14 seed
Georgia State and knocked his
proud father, coach Ron Hunter,
right off his seat.
With dad working the sideline
in a rolling chair less than a week
after tearing his left Achilles tendon while celebrating the Sun
Belt Conference championship,
R.J. shrugged off a slow start
to come through when his team
needed him the most.
Big 12 Sixth Man of the Year
Taurean Prince had 18 points and
15 rebounds for Baylor.
Pesky Georgia State (25-9)
forced three crucial turnovers as
Hunter scored nine in a row during the closing surge, including
a 3-pointer that brought chants
of “R.J. 3! R.J. 3! R.J. 3!” from
Panthers fans at the Jacksonville
Veterans Memorial Arena.
The junior guard’s steal and
layup trimmed Baylor’s lead to
56-53, and he drained another
NBA-range 3-pointer for the win
after the Bears’ Kenny Chery
missed the front end of a 1-and1 that could have put the game
away.
“He just made a contested 3.
There was nothing we could do
about it. We did our job and he
just made it,” Chery said.
Baylor, which also squandered a double-digit lead in the
first half, appeared to be in good
shape after Royce O’Neale and
Lester Medford made 3-pointers
during a 12-1 burst that turned
a one-point deficit into a 52-42
lead, but the Bears couldn’t finish the job.
“We’ve been preparing all
season for moments like these,”
O’Neale said of the shot that
ended the Bears’ season. “He just
made a good shot.”
No. 3 seed Iowa State Cyclones upset by No. 14 seed UAB Blazers
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Georges
Niang sat bent over with a towel draped
over his head and his face in his hands.
Iowa State’s All-Big 12 forward was at a
momentary loss for words.
He even apologized for not being able
to describe his emotions after the ninthranked and third-seeded Iowa State Cyclones lost 60-59 to 14th-seeded UAB on
Thursday in the first major upset of the
NCAA Tournament.
“All the expectations this team had and
then you’re just bounced the first game of
the NCAA Tournament,” Niang said. “I
can’t tell you how terrible I feel.”
It was the second year of heartbreak for
Niang, who broke a bone in his right foot
in the Cyclones’ opening win in last year’s
tournament on their way to the Sweet 16.
Their leading scorer played only eight
minutes of the first half with foul trouble,
though he managed to finish the game with
only 11 points.
“I let a lot of people down,” Niang said.
“It’s just tough to just sit and have this be
a reality.”
Iowa State (25-9) came into the South
Regional looking for a much longer run
than a year ago, when it reached the regional semifinals without Niang. The Cyclones just couldn’t match the scrappy
Blazers on the boards and couldn’t hold
onto a 55-51 lead with 3:13 left.
Cyclones coach Fred Hoiberg called it
as tough a loss as he’s had. The Cyclones
had won five straight, rallying from double-digit deficits in each on their way to
the Big 12 Tournament title. Hoiberg said
they had an emotional three days in Kansas City and were not helped by playing
the first game Thursday.
“I’m not going to make any excuses,”
Hoiberg said. “You’ve got to come out and
play 40 minutes ... I don’t know. Maybe we
should have let them get up double digits.
That’s kind of how we play our best.”
Iowa State wound up as the first No. 3
seed to go down on the day. Baylor followed within the hour, a 57-56 loser to No.
14 seed Georgia State. That makes this the
third straight year a 14 seed has upset a
No. 3 seed, and further damaged the reputation of the Big 12.
The Blazers (20-15) came in with the
youngest team in the NCAA Tournament
and with nobody having played in this
event. They wound up winning the program’s first NCAA game since 2005 and
ran over to celebrate in front of the fans
of a school that shut down its football program in December.
“We were celebrating because that was
a really big win for us with us being the
underdogs,” UAB guard Tyler Madison
said.
Iowa State, which lost its opener as a
No. 2 seed in 2001, last led 57-56 on a basket by Monte Morris, but William Lee hit
a 17-foot jumper with 24 seconds left.
Niang had a jumper blocked by Tosin
Mehinti, and Lee got the rebound. Lee hit
two free throws with 12.1 seconds left for
the Blazers’ final points.
The comebacks the Cyclones made so
successfully in the Big 12 Tournament
never materialized.
“We anticipated we would start to make
a run,” Cyclones forward Jameel McKay
said. “Throughout the day, shots weren’t
falling like we thought they were.”
Naz Long missed a 3 that Morris tipped
in with 0.4 seconds left, and the Cyclones
couldn’t get the ball back before the Blazers started celebrating their gutty win.
Robert Brown led UAB with 21 points,
Lee finished with 14 points and 12 rebounds. Madison also had 11 rebounds as
the Blazers dominated the boards 52-37.
Texas Longhorns end frustrating season with loss to Butler Bulldogs
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Texas convinced itself
it had finally turned the corner, confident that three
months of inconsistent play had finally developed into
something more cohesive as the Longhorns entered
the NCAA Tournament.
Nope.
Sluggish at the start and sloppy at the finish, Texas
saw another maddeningly erratic season end with an
all too familiar sight: a slow trudge to the locker room
after another first-weekend flameout.
Jonathan Holmes scored 15 points and Isaiah Taylor added 14 but the 11th-seeded Longhorns mustered
little flow in a 56-48 loss to sixth-seeded Butler on
Thursday. Texas (20-14) failed to win more than one
game in the tournament for the seventh straight spring,
a drought that is threatening to eat away at support for
coach Rick Barnes.
“Whether you get knocked out right now or you get
knocked out in a week, two weeks, there’s always an
empty feeling,” Barnes said.
One that’s becoming an annual rite of spring in
Austin. The Longhorns were ranked as high as No. 6
in the AP Top 25 in December before another freefall
through the Big 12. Given a chance to change the narrative against the resurgent Bulldogs, Texas instead
was undone by an avalanche of missed shots and mistakes.
It was a common theme for perhaps the country’s
most competitive conference during the regular season. Baylor and Iowa State, both No. 3 seeds, were
stunned earlier in the afternoon.
“This tournament’s not given to anybody,” Barnes
said. “All you have to do is look around today. I know
we’ve got teams in our league that struggled today.”
Few struggled mightier than the Longhorns, who
have one of the nation’s most imposing front lines but
could not use it to their advantage. Texas outrebounded
Butler 41-28 and blocked five shots but turned it over
15 times and led for less than six minutes.
A pull-up jumper by Taylor drew Texas within 4443 with 2:42 to play but the Longhorns never got closer. Kellen Dunham knocked down a free throw and
then hit a 3-pointer from the right wing to make it 4843. Dunham shook his right index finger as he trotted
LSU men collapse late in loss to N.C. State
PITTSBURGH (AP) —
LSU’s return to the NCAA
Tournament following a
six-year absence went brilliantly for 30 minutes. The
athletic and precocious Tigers overwhelmed North
Carolina State at times,
and it looked as if they had
finally arrived for coach
Johnny Jones.
Then the misses piled
up. Frustration followed.
A maddeningly familiar
result, too.
Better days may be
ahead in Baton Rouge, but
this one is going to sting
for a while after BeeJay
Anya’s hook shot rolled
around and in with a second to play to lift the Wolfpack to a 66-65 victory.
It was the latest and
most painful collapse in a
season pockmarked with
them for the ninth-seeded
Tigers (22-11). There was
the meltdown against No.
1 Kentucky last month.
The baffling loss to Auburn in the Southeastern
Conference tournament a
week ago.
And now there is a
long offseason to figure
out how the Tigers missed
their final 12 field goals
and six crucial foul shots
that allowed the Wolfpack
to somehow survive.
“We wasn’t ready for
our season to end right
now,” LSU forward Jarell
Martin said. “We worked
real hard and felt like we
had a great shot. North
Carolina State, they did
Xavier goes inside-out, beats Ole Miss men
JACKSONVILLE, Fla.
(AP) — Having already
dismissed the First Four’s
comeback kids, Xavier now
gets the NCAA Tournament’s little darlings. Matt
Stainbrook scored 20 points,
Dee Davis added 17 and the
sixth-seeded Musketeers
beat No. 11 seed Mississippi 76-57 in the West Regional on Thursday.
The 6-foot-10 Stainbrook took advantage of his
size in the post, making 8
of 10 shots in the paint and
adding nine rebounds and
five assists.
Davis was nearly as good
from the outside, hitting
4-of-9 shots from 3-point
range. Coach Chris Mack
pulled them to a rousing
ovation with 1:51 remaining and the game in hand.
Xavier (22-13) advanced
to face 14th-seeded Georgia
State on Saturday.
Stefan Moody led the
Rebels (21-13) with 14
points.
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a great job of executing
their plays down in the
stretch.”
down the court in celebration.
Taylor bricked a shot in the lane and Kameron
Woods made two free throws to stretch Butler’s lead
to 50-43 and the Longhorns failed to get within a possession the rest of the way.
Dunham led Butler (23-10) with 20 points and the
Bulldogs moved on to face third-seeded Notre Dame
on Saturday while the Longhorns begin another long
off-season wondering how things went wrong.
BREAK THROUGH
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Don't Miss this Opportunity to Attend the Natl. Electrical Code
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Board. Will be held Sat., March 28 ; 9 a.m - 4 p.m. ; Cost of Class: $65 ; Enroll by
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Long-Term Nurse Aid Classes begin every other Monday
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AGRI-Business Recordkeeping Class – Meets April 24, 25 and May 1,2 from
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The following people were booked into the LeFlore County Detention
Center overnight. The information was gathered from the jail’s daily roster
and only shows booking information. Only those with a case number listed
have been charged. Stay tuned each morning to see who was arrested overnight.
CF — criminal felony
CM— criminal misdemeanor
FD — family docket such as child support
For more information about an arrestee, you can search by name or case
number on www.ODCR.com or www.OSCN.net.
March 18
Noah Wayne Burnett, writ; no bond
Allen Collins Jr., CF-11-179, CF-14-6, FTA FTP, CF-14-6, drug court
sanction; $4,053 bond
Sean M. Hollan, CM-14-812; $9,000 bond
Michael Hammond, CF-03-13A, CF-10421, CF-11-5, county DOC;
$4,608.10 bond
William Livingston, county DOC; no bond
Sandra Kay Loper, domestic abuse violence; $2,000 bond
Daniel Himes, city warrant, city charges, attempting to elude, no driver’s license in possession while driving; $1,485 bond
March 19
Jacqueline Renee Harjo, writ; no bond
Kristy Luann Goines, drug court; no bond
Littie Gallegly, writ; no bond
Kenneth Pariseau, driving under influence; no bond
William Burrough, hold; no bond
Joshua Moore, county DOC; no bond
Cooper Davis, Poteau warrants; $1,898 bond
Ken Brookfelt, Wister warrants, public intoxication, transporting open
container, Wister; $2,982 bond
Area
PAGE 8A . . . SATURDAY, MARCH 21, 2015
POTEAU DAILY NEWS
Friendship through Famine
A letter of gratitude to the Choctaw Nation
Editor’s Note: March 23
marks the anniversary of
the beginning of the Choctaw Nation’s campaign to
raise money to donate to
Ireland during the Great
Potato Famine. The gesture created a bond
between the nations that
continues today.
“A mist rose up out of
the sea, and you could
hear a voice talking near a
mile off across the stillness
of the earth... when the fog
lifted, you could begin to
see the tops of the potato
stalks lying over as if the
life was gone out of them.
And that was the beginning of the great trouble
and famine that destroyed
Ireland.”
By Amadeus Finlay
Of all the devastations
to befall Ireland, few have
been as harrowing as the
You started out
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© 2015 JATW
Great Potato Famine.
Striking in the fall of 1845
and lasting for almost six
years, an Gorta Mór left
over 1 million Irish dead
as a result of starvation,
exposure and disease.
When the emaciated peasants looked to their colonial masters for support,
the British minister for
famine relief responded
that the events were, “a
mechanism for reducing
surplus population... the
selfish, perverse and turbulent character of [Irish]
people.” During the famine
years, Britain exported out
of Ireland approximately £500,000 of government
produced food. The fact
that it had been British
policy to constrain the
Irish to tiny plots of barren
land suitable only for
growing basic tubers was
conveniently forgotten.
When famine hit, the Irish
would starve. It was an
inevitability brought on by
nature but predetermined
by acts of man.
Within such a hostile
environment, the Irish felt
that they had few friends.
And yet, 4,000 miles away,
the news of the ruin in Ireland had reached the people of the Choctaw Nation.
The Choctaw, too, were
familiar with how society hemorrhages in the
face of tyrannical governance, and in the Irish they
saw shadows of their own
past. Only 15 years before,
the Choctaw had been the
victims of a forced march
from their homelands, a
wretched exodus that they
call the Trail of Tears. But
the long march from Mississippi to Oklahoma had
made the Choctaw acutely
sensitive to the anguish of
those desperately in need,
and when news arrived of
what was happening in Ireland, a group of concerned
tribal members promptly
rallied together to raise
funds for those Irish still
clinging on to life.
“We helped the Irish
because that’s who we are
and what we are,” explains
Tribal Council Speaker Delton Cox. “We
remembered the sorrow to
befall our people, and we
felt the same for the people in Ireland. ... $170
might not seem like much,
we were poor, yet each of
us eagerly gave to help our
brothers and sisters.”
A softly spoken man
with a musical Oklahoma
twang, Delton is the
embodiment of the connection enjoyed by Ireland
and the Choctaw. Some of
his ancestors were Brysons, a name historically
associated with a rugged
peninsula on Ireland’s west
coast named Donegal. Delton compares his two lines
of heritage, drawing on a
shared cultural landscape
centered on kindness and
support.
“This way of being is
important to us,” he continues. “My granddaughter
is part of a short film
about kindness and compassion, so she is learning
to take this on through her
life.”
There is a certain familiarity in Delton’s fondness
for his granddaughter. Like
the Choctaw, the relationship between grandparents
and grandchildren is one
that is highly treasured by
the Irish, and it was from
my grandmother that I first
learned about the kindness
of the Choctaw during the
Great Hunger. Born in the
spring of 1913, the Ireland
that young Evelyn Johnston knew was a place still
at the mercy of illness,
violence and political
unrest. Her own grandparents had lived through the
famine, the proximity of
the event made even closer
by the lingering uncertainty in the world around her.
With just enough animation, this kindly matriarch impressed upon me
her belief that Ireland’s
unlikely allies had been
sent by the divine. But
there was more. Not only
had the unprompted charity of the Choctaw resonated deeply with my grandmother, but since her own
father had met the great
Lakota Sitting Bull during
a visit to the United States
in the 1880s, Evelyn felt
she had just the faintest
sense of connection with
the native people of North
America.
In turn, Evelyn’s son,
my father, ensured that the
stories of our connected
past were not lost, and
until the day he died he
passionately advocated
that the Choctaw were to
be remembered as our
friends. But such is the
way of Ireland, a misty
island crisscrossed by a
deeply ingrained culture of
oral history. Sure, I learned
about Medb, Cú Chulainn
and Finn, yet of all the
exciting stories I heard
growing up in rural Ulster,
the relationship between
Ireland and Oklahoma was
the one that captured my
imagination.
Indeed, it seems that the
relationship enjoyed by the
Choctaw and Irish has captured the imagination of
more than just my family.
In 1990, a delegation of
Choctaw officials participated in an annual walk in
County Mayo to commemorate the Doolough Tragedy, a starvation march that
occurred during the Hunger, while in 1992, a group
of Irish anthropologists
retraced the Trail of Tears
in a gesture of reciprocal
solidarity. Most notably of
all, the Choctaw dubbed
Ireland’s then-president,
Mary Robinson, an honorary chief.
And the beautiful thing
is that the friendship continues. Later this year, a
monument of gratitude to
the Choctaw shall be
unveiled in Midleton,
County Cork. The sculpture will take the form of
an empty bowl cupped by
feathers, a poignant
embodiment of the Choctaw embracing a starving
people. The news was
warmly received in Ireland, and it was due to the
announcement of the Midleton statue that I first got
in contact with the Choctaw Nation. Not only did
Chief Gary Batton promptly respond to my enquiry
with considerable grace,
but in the continuation of
the close relationship
between our people, I was
extended the offer to write
this article.
So what to say in closing? Well, my thoughts are
simple, and as I write in
my adopted country of the
United States, thousands of
miles from the whitewashed cottage of my
childhood, I fondly reflect
that the friendship between
the Choctaw and the Irish
continues to blossom. Few,
if any connections have
lasted so long, and certainly none have known as
much mutual respect, compassion and laughter as
that enjoyed by Ireland
and the Choctaw.
Look how far we have
come. Now, let’s see how
far we can go.
Go raibh maith agat.
•••
Amadeus Finlay was
born in Ireland and educated at the University of
Edinburgh where he studied American History. He
has spent his professional
career in international
media and communications, and currently lives
with this wife in New England. Amadeus can be contacted at amadeus_finlay@
hotmail.com
•••
About The Choctaw
Nation
The Choctaw Nation is
the third largest Indian
Nation in the United
States, with close to
200,000 tribal members.
The first tribe over the
Trail of Tears, the historic
boundaries are in the
southeast corner of Oklahoma. The vision of the
Choctaw Nation is “To
achieve healthy, successful, productive, and selfsufficient lifestyles for a
proud nation of Choctaws.” Tribal business success over the past few
years has enabled the
Choctaw Nation to begin
to achieve this vision, as
well as to assist the communities that are in the
Choctaw Nation. Servant
leadership is an important
value to Choctaw people.
For more information
about the Choctaw Nation,
its culture, heritage and
traditions, please go to
www.choctawnation.com.
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