It’s going to be a big weekend for LeFlore County.
First up, week 5 of the high school football season.
Poteau, Panama, Heavener, Pocola and Bokoshe all play at home on Friday night. It is homecoming at Poteau and Talihina visits Panama in a battle of two county teams.
Saturday will be filled with events, also.
First off, the Go Yellow Bike Tour will be held at CASC. Registration is at 7 a.m. with the bike tour starting at 8 a.m. There will be lots of other activities held with games, food, live band, health screening, blood drive and a chance to win two tickets to the OU-OSU football game.
This is a fund raiser for local cancer survivors. Spots for vendors are still available. The goal is to raise $5,000. If interested, call (918) 647-8611.
To cap off the day, after everybody has watched the OU-Texas game, the Heavener Lions Club will stage its annual Fall Carnival in downtown Heavener.
The event has been going on for over half a century. A block of downtown Heavener will be closed off and thousands of people will return for the annual celebration. There will be lots of food, games, cake walk, bingo and the crowning of the queen will be the finale.
This is the only fundraiser the Heavener Lions Club puts on each year. They use the proceeds to help local citizens and groups with donations and to help purchase glasses for needy citizens.
If you have an event coming up, the Journal will post it for free. Call (918) 649-4712 or send an email to: craig@leflorecountyjournal.com.
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Friday, September 24, 2010
A multi-topic blog
If you choose to read today’s blog, be prepared for a multi-topic blog!
The Poteau Kiwanis Club was apparently hurting for speakers yesterday and the Craigman was invited to take part.
Apparently this was my boss Lyle Whitworth’s chance to get even with the Kiwanis for serving as program coordinator and asked if I would speak about the Journal.
I agreed. Most of the speakers are fairly good. Some are entertaining and others are informative. Then there are some that do the “uh…” and stutter a bit.
I was determined not to stutter and to keep it quick. I even won the Lucky Buck from my old math teacher, Mr. Marvin Watson.
Mary Fallin (candidate for governor) was speaking in the next room and her group were making way too much noise. I feared some of the Kiwanians probably wished they were listening to the possible next governor of Oklahoma instead of the publisher of a web site they had probably not heard anything about.
I felt relieved only two people left before my speech. But, they didn’t know I was the guest speaker and do not feel the two events are related in any way, shape or fashion.
Finally, without anything else to do, they asked for me to speak. I expected the people to be eyeing their watches and yawning after a hearty Sizzlin lunch, but because of the quick nature of my speech, I either did not notice or they were good actors.
I talked about the Journal, how it started and what we do. I even handed out a handout! One listener actually called up the Journal on his smart phone and showed several others the site!
I wrapped up my little speech probably before my allotted 15 minutes, not that anybody seemed to care. Several people asked questions! No, really. They actually did seem interested in the Journal, or they could not hear what I was saying and were listening to the speech from next door.
-----
Our Molly is losing her ability to reproduce today. I worry about her but feel good that we will never have a slew of Molly replicas running about.
One Molly is all we can handle. I have never been around a puppy who wants to play constantly. Molly is a little Cocker Spaniel who is a bundle of energy. She has figured out the whole digging thing and we now have several ankle sprainable holes in the backyard.
Because of the operation, she can’t eat or drink. Molly keeps walking over and looking at her dish and looking at me like why can’t I get off my lazy rear and get her some grub and drink. Or something like that.
She also decided to run down the road the other day to join some kids playing. I had to chase her, not a good decision. Fortunately one of the kids grabbed her and brought her some of the way back.
Molly has also developed a keen interest in cats. She can’t figure out why they don’t want to play and the whole hiss action when she gets too close.
-----
The wife put up a new shower liner for our shower. It is see-through and I accused her of using that one so she could see my nudeness glistening under the stream of Wister Lake water.
The response? No comment.
-----
We have feasted at the new Almost Italy restaurant a couple of times now. The food is good, as is the service and surroundings, plus it is only a few blocks from the homestead.
I am a spaghetti with meat sauce kinda guy. Pretty good stuff, I must write.
----
And that’s the rest of the blog, as Paul Harvey would say if he was still alive and wrote a blog.
The Poteau Kiwanis Club was apparently hurting for speakers yesterday and the Craigman was invited to take part.
Apparently this was my boss Lyle Whitworth’s chance to get even with the Kiwanis for serving as program coordinator and asked if I would speak about the Journal.
I agreed. Most of the speakers are fairly good. Some are entertaining and others are informative. Then there are some that do the “uh…” and stutter a bit.
I was determined not to stutter and to keep it quick. I even won the Lucky Buck from my old math teacher, Mr. Marvin Watson.
Mary Fallin (candidate for governor) was speaking in the next room and her group were making way too much noise. I feared some of the Kiwanians probably wished they were listening to the possible next governor of Oklahoma instead of the publisher of a web site they had probably not heard anything about.
I felt relieved only two people left before my speech. But, they didn’t know I was the guest speaker and do not feel the two events are related in any way, shape or fashion.
Finally, without anything else to do, they asked for me to speak. I expected the people to be eyeing their watches and yawning after a hearty Sizzlin lunch, but because of the quick nature of my speech, I either did not notice or they were good actors.
I talked about the Journal, how it started and what we do. I even handed out a handout! One listener actually called up the Journal on his smart phone and showed several others the site!
I wrapped up my little speech probably before my allotted 15 minutes, not that anybody seemed to care. Several people asked questions! No, really. They actually did seem interested in the Journal, or they could not hear what I was saying and were listening to the speech from next door.
-----
Our Molly is losing her ability to reproduce today. I worry about her but feel good that we will never have a slew of Molly replicas running about.
One Molly is all we can handle. I have never been around a puppy who wants to play constantly. Molly is a little Cocker Spaniel who is a bundle of energy. She has figured out the whole digging thing and we now have several ankle sprainable holes in the backyard.
Because of the operation, she can’t eat or drink. Molly keeps walking over and looking at her dish and looking at me like why can’t I get off my lazy rear and get her some grub and drink. Or something like that.
She also decided to run down the road the other day to join some kids playing. I had to chase her, not a good decision. Fortunately one of the kids grabbed her and brought her some of the way back.
Molly has also developed a keen interest in cats. She can’t figure out why they don’t want to play and the whole hiss action when she gets too close.
-----
The wife put up a new shower liner for our shower. It is see-through and I accused her of using that one so she could see my nudeness glistening under the stream of Wister Lake water.
The response? No comment.
-----
We have feasted at the new Almost Italy restaurant a couple of times now. The food is good, as is the service and surroundings, plus it is only a few blocks from the homestead.
I am a spaghetti with meat sauce kinda guy. Pretty good stuff, I must write.
----
And that’s the rest of the blog, as Paul Harvey would say if he was still alive and wrote a blog.
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
The Journal turns 1
There was no birthday card, lit candle or the Happy Birthday song.
But none was expected. There was a birthday last week without any fanfare.
Your LeFlore County Journal had its one-year birthday last week.
The Journal started publishing last year at that time and made it to one year without closing the doors, although technically we have no doors to close.
Our first event to cover last year was Mena’s football game at Poteau. From that point on, the Journal has published most days, although the weekends sometimes get a break.
Since our marketing budget is a big donut (aside from business cards that need updated), most of the advertising has been from word of mouth and from one person sharing it with another, who, you know.
We have had feature stories, news events, sports from around the state and a bunch of obituary notices.
Back when we started the Journal, it looked pretty much the way it does today, without as much content, of course.
Our goal from the first was to provide fair and balanced coverage for the county, from the largest town and school to the smallest. We can’t make all the events, especially since your Journal publisher also has a side job, but luckily we have had a lot of help from people contributing stories and events.
During the past year, we have covered sporting events in towns throughout the county and even traveled to Hennessey, Muskogee and McAlester. We have seen some great games (last year’s football game between Wagoner and Poteau was probably the best) and covered some that were a little on the lopsided side.
Fortunately, we have a good group of coaches, administrators, school personnel, fans and players who have helped out considerably.
In addition to stories, we have had a bunch of pictures in the Journal. Some I would consider good, others that were okay.
Our biggest advantage from day one is how quick we can publish the stories and pictures. We frequently have the stories and pictures published the same night the event takes place, whether it is election coverage or a football, basketball, baseball or softball game.
Unlike the traditional newspapers, our readers don’t have to wait until the next day or week to read about events happening in the county.
There is no way to thank all the readers, contributors, advertisers and supporters personally, but you will never know how much you are appreciated.
We hope the Journal continues to grow and improve. Your advice, suggestions and help are always welcome. So again, thank you.
But none was expected. There was a birthday last week without any fanfare.
Your LeFlore County Journal had its one-year birthday last week.
The Journal started publishing last year at that time and made it to one year without closing the doors, although technically we have no doors to close.
Our first event to cover last year was Mena’s football game at Poteau. From that point on, the Journal has published most days, although the weekends sometimes get a break.
Since our marketing budget is a big donut (aside from business cards that need updated), most of the advertising has been from word of mouth and from one person sharing it with another, who, you know.
We have had feature stories, news events, sports from around the state and a bunch of obituary notices.
Back when we started the Journal, it looked pretty much the way it does today, without as much content, of course.
Our goal from the first was to provide fair and balanced coverage for the county, from the largest town and school to the smallest. We can’t make all the events, especially since your Journal publisher also has a side job, but luckily we have had a lot of help from people contributing stories and events.
During the past year, we have covered sporting events in towns throughout the county and even traveled to Hennessey, Muskogee and McAlester. We have seen some great games (last year’s football game between Wagoner and Poteau was probably the best) and covered some that were a little on the lopsided side.
Fortunately, we have a good group of coaches, administrators, school personnel, fans and players who have helped out considerably.
In addition to stories, we have had a bunch of pictures in the Journal. Some I would consider good, others that were okay.
Our biggest advantage from day one is how quick we can publish the stories and pictures. We frequently have the stories and pictures published the same night the event takes place, whether it is election coverage or a football, basketball, baseball or softball game.
Unlike the traditional newspapers, our readers don’t have to wait until the next day or week to read about events happening in the county.
There is no way to thank all the readers, contributors, advertisers and supporters personally, but you will never know how much you are appreciated.
We hope the Journal continues to grow and improve. Your advice, suggestions and help are always welcome. So again, thank you.
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Hijacked by Molly!
Hi everybody! This is Molly, Craig’s new puppy writing this thing! Again, it is simply Molly. Not Mollypop or Mollybygolly. Geez.
Now you might be asking how I can write this down, since I am a puppy. Well, don’t.
Craig is off working at whatever a job is, so I decided to write a blog and let everybody meet me. I know Craig wrote one of these blog things a couple of weeks ago, but he didn’t capture my true essence.
First off, I am a little black cocker spaniel. I like to eat (human food! Dog food tastes like ground up horse meat, if you ask me!) I also like to play for hours on end, especially when my people are trying to do something. Tee hee, it's great fun! They should have thought about that before they brought me home.
I don’t actually need that much attention, but it is fun to make them toss a toy for hours on end just to try and keep me entertained. It’s actually a little boring, to tell the truth.
We are still having a battle for control of the house. The people think they are in control but I am taking over a little bit more each day. Don’t believe me? Who decides how much sleep the people get? I do! It’s amazing how one little bark or whimper will wake a human, especially the bald dude.
They hurt my feelings last night. The people let me sleep with them and I had to tinkle and did so in the bed. I didn’t mean anything by it. Yeah, let’s see them hold their pee pee all night if they had a bladder the size of a pecan.
For that little incident, I was banished back to my cage for the rest of the night. That just wasn’t fair! And when I protested, they told me to be quiet!
The nerve. I acted like I was happy to see them this morning, but I was just glad to get out of the cage and I snuck in a pee spot on the carpet, hoping one of them would step in it. They did! Success!
The bald guy calls me a fart sniffer. I object to that term. I can’t help it! He does it too much and I have to find out where it is coming from. He’s just lucky I investigate and don’t go into attack mode.
I felt bad last night. See, I like to bite Trish in the nose. It’s great fun, you should try it some time! My little puppy teeth are sharp as razors. But I missed and cut her face. She wouldn’t play with me the whole night after that. So I got my revenge in the bed!
Ha ha! You should have seen them scramble up out of the bed. It was like two in the morning. I didn’t know old people like that could move so fast! All it takes is a little wee wee and it was like they were attacked by a bunch of spiders.
I would also like to point out that I am not scared of other animals, despite what you might have heard. I am a little dog (duh!) and every animal they put around me is like, huge (except for that little weenie dog from the Perdue household)! Especially that bulldog who lives next door.
One other complaint: they expect me to go outside IN THE RAIN to use the bathroom! As if! I would say it’s not like they do it, but then again the bald guy did while trying to get me to go. He must have been born in a barn, or Heavener. I sat under the roof and stayed dry. There’s plenty of places to tinkle inside! And I don’t even have to get wet.
It’s about time for a nap so I can be well rested when the people get home. They will be tired. I won’t. See ya!
Now you might be asking how I can write this down, since I am a puppy. Well, don’t.
Craig is off working at whatever a job is, so I decided to write a blog and let everybody meet me. I know Craig wrote one of these blog things a couple of weeks ago, but he didn’t capture my true essence.
First off, I am a little black cocker spaniel. I like to eat (human food! Dog food tastes like ground up horse meat, if you ask me!) I also like to play for hours on end, especially when my people are trying to do something. Tee hee, it's great fun! They should have thought about that before they brought me home.
I don’t actually need that much attention, but it is fun to make them toss a toy for hours on end just to try and keep me entertained. It’s actually a little boring, to tell the truth.
We are still having a battle for control of the house. The people think they are in control but I am taking over a little bit more each day. Don’t believe me? Who decides how much sleep the people get? I do! It’s amazing how one little bark or whimper will wake a human, especially the bald dude.
They hurt my feelings last night. The people let me sleep with them and I had to tinkle and did so in the bed. I didn’t mean anything by it. Yeah, let’s see them hold their pee pee all night if they had a bladder the size of a pecan.
For that little incident, I was banished back to my cage for the rest of the night. That just wasn’t fair! And when I protested, they told me to be quiet!
The nerve. I acted like I was happy to see them this morning, but I was just glad to get out of the cage and I snuck in a pee spot on the carpet, hoping one of them would step in it. They did! Success!
The bald guy calls me a fart sniffer. I object to that term. I can’t help it! He does it too much and I have to find out where it is coming from. He’s just lucky I investigate and don’t go into attack mode.
I felt bad last night. See, I like to bite Trish in the nose. It’s great fun, you should try it some time! My little puppy teeth are sharp as razors. But I missed and cut her face. She wouldn’t play with me the whole night after that. So I got my revenge in the bed!
Ha ha! You should have seen them scramble up out of the bed. It was like two in the morning. I didn’t know old people like that could move so fast! All it takes is a little wee wee and it was like they were attacked by a bunch of spiders.
I would also like to point out that I am not scared of other animals, despite what you might have heard. I am a little dog (duh!) and every animal they put around me is like, huge (except for that little weenie dog from the Perdue household)! Especially that bulldog who lives next door.
One other complaint: they expect me to go outside IN THE RAIN to use the bathroom! As if! I would say it’s not like they do it, but then again the bald guy did while trying to get me to go. He must have been born in a barn, or Heavener. I sat under the roof and stayed dry. There’s plenty of places to tinkle inside! And I don’t even have to get wet.
It’s about time for a nap so I can be well rested when the people get home. They will be tired. I won’t. See ya!
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Another sad day for Heavener
I should start this blog by saying I didn’t know Billy “Shane” Olen Davis of Heavener.
I did know his parents, Jason and Amy Davis, and they are both good people.
And I am sad to say I will never get the opportunity to meet the 17-year old. He was the latest in a long line of Heavener youth, taken way too early by accidents. Apparently Davis was either “surfing” in the back of a truck or trying to climb out the driver side window and into the back seat window.
Again, I don’t know which. But whatever happened, it was again a sad day for Heavener and its residents, which should be getting used to such accidents, but never will, of course.
This is at least the fifth young man who has died in Heavener over the last few years. There were two ATV accidents, a diving accident and others.
In each incident, the youth was a good guy with lots of friends. These weren’t your bad kids, the drug dealers or criminals who left us too early, but kids with plenty of good traits and a lifetime ahead of them to have a great life.
What can be done to prevent this? Nothing, really. You can’t take away all the fun activities or life will not be much fun. Who would have thought one of these boys would pick a bad spot to jump into a creek where so many others have gone before? Or one little mistake driving a four-wheeler would cause the ATV to hit a fence or tree?
Nobody would. Should we stop these activities? No, of course not. Surfing in the back of a truck? Yes, please do stop it before we lose somebody else. Hopefully if something good does come of this, other kids will no longer stand up in the back of a moving truck or try to climb from one window into another.
But kids will still do things like this and most will wake up the next morning. Lucky? Yes.
I was a kid once and liked to have fun. I still like to have fun. We never stood up in the back of a truck or had four wheelers when I was a kid. But we did dumb stuff.
We were lucky. But sometimes there are those who are not going to be fortunate. That is life. But again, hopefully others see what happened to their friends and will be a little more careful and will live to see middle age and eventually old age.
But once again the little town of Heavener is devastated and people are asking why this happened.
Hopefully, this will be the last accident. People should be talking about the football game Friday night or how their kid did on a spelling test. The only loss should be on the athletic field, not life. Instead, there is a dark cloud hanging over the town, one which will never produce the rain we need so badly.
I did know his parents, Jason and Amy Davis, and they are both good people.
And I am sad to say I will never get the opportunity to meet the 17-year old. He was the latest in a long line of Heavener youth, taken way too early by accidents. Apparently Davis was either “surfing” in the back of a truck or trying to climb out the driver side window and into the back seat window.
Again, I don’t know which. But whatever happened, it was again a sad day for Heavener and its residents, which should be getting used to such accidents, but never will, of course.
This is at least the fifth young man who has died in Heavener over the last few years. There were two ATV accidents, a diving accident and others.
In each incident, the youth was a good guy with lots of friends. These weren’t your bad kids, the drug dealers or criminals who left us too early, but kids with plenty of good traits and a lifetime ahead of them to have a great life.
What can be done to prevent this? Nothing, really. You can’t take away all the fun activities or life will not be much fun. Who would have thought one of these boys would pick a bad spot to jump into a creek where so many others have gone before? Or one little mistake driving a four-wheeler would cause the ATV to hit a fence or tree?
Nobody would. Should we stop these activities? No, of course not. Surfing in the back of a truck? Yes, please do stop it before we lose somebody else. Hopefully if something good does come of this, other kids will no longer stand up in the back of a moving truck or try to climb from one window into another.
But kids will still do things like this and most will wake up the next morning. Lucky? Yes.
I was a kid once and liked to have fun. I still like to have fun. We never stood up in the back of a truck or had four wheelers when I was a kid. But we did dumb stuff.
We were lucky. But sometimes there are those who are not going to be fortunate. That is life. But again, hopefully others see what happened to their friends and will be a little more careful and will live to see middle age and eventually old age.
But once again the little town of Heavener is devastated and people are asking why this happened.
Hopefully, this will be the last accident. People should be talking about the football game Friday night or how their kid did on a spelling test. The only loss should be on the athletic field, not life. Instead, there is a dark cloud hanging over the town, one which will never produce the rain we need so badly.
Friday, September 3, 2010
Bulldogs look good in win
Going into Thursday night’s game, Spiro was supposed to have the edge in speed.
The Bulldogs certainly did.
But Panama was supposed to have an edge in line play.
The Razorbacks didn’t. Spiro’s speed and impressive play by both the offensive and defensive line made the difference in the Bulldogs’ 27-14 win over Panama before a huge crowd at George Ollie Stadium.
Spiro sacked Panama quarterback David Shirey nine times, frequently getting to the signal-caller before he had a chance to look for receivers.
The Bulldogs’ offensive line looked good at times, although Panama was able to put some pressure on quarterback Clayton Mitchem several times. Mitchem was able to escape the pressure using his speed, however.
Big plays belonged to Spiro. Junior K.J. Booze emerged as the next star for the Bulldogs, returning the opening punt some 75 yards for a touchdown and another 41 yards to set up a score.
He was almost impossible to tackle, reversing field and juking away from frustrated tacklers. Booze also caught three passes for 36 yards and intercepted a pass on defense.
Spiro running back Elliott Hawkins was equally impressive, rushing for 126 yards on only 13 carries, scored twice, including a 52-yard run on the opening drive of the third quarter.
The only negative for Spiro on the night was the loss of Jermaine Jimmerson, a sophomore who was expected to be a big contributor for the Bulldogs.
Jimmerson suffered a gruesome broken bone to his left leg late in the first quarter, delaying the game some 30 minutes. For some reason, there was not an ambulance at the game.
Somebody said there was one there earlier, but had to answer a call. I didn’t see an ambulance, not that I was really looking for one. Fortunately, Panama had a squad of first responders in attendance to help with the situation while Doc Stone helped hold the bone in addition to coaches from both schools.
It was a scary situation. The EMTs did an excellent job once they got there and transported him to a hospital. But it still makes me wonder why there wasn’t an ambulance standing by at the only high school football game in the county.
The Bulldogs certainly did.
But Panama was supposed to have an edge in line play.
The Razorbacks didn’t. Spiro’s speed and impressive play by both the offensive and defensive line made the difference in the Bulldogs’ 27-14 win over Panama before a huge crowd at George Ollie Stadium.
Spiro sacked Panama quarterback David Shirey nine times, frequently getting to the signal-caller before he had a chance to look for receivers.
The Bulldogs’ offensive line looked good at times, although Panama was able to put some pressure on quarterback Clayton Mitchem several times. Mitchem was able to escape the pressure using his speed, however.
Big plays belonged to Spiro. Junior K.J. Booze emerged as the next star for the Bulldogs, returning the opening punt some 75 yards for a touchdown and another 41 yards to set up a score.
He was almost impossible to tackle, reversing field and juking away from frustrated tacklers. Booze also caught three passes for 36 yards and intercepted a pass on defense.
Spiro running back Elliott Hawkins was equally impressive, rushing for 126 yards on only 13 carries, scored twice, including a 52-yard run on the opening drive of the third quarter.
The only negative for Spiro on the night was the loss of Jermaine Jimmerson, a sophomore who was expected to be a big contributor for the Bulldogs.
Jimmerson suffered a gruesome broken bone to his left leg late in the first quarter, delaying the game some 30 minutes. For some reason, there was not an ambulance at the game.
Somebody said there was one there earlier, but had to answer a call. I didn’t see an ambulance, not that I was really looking for one. Fortunately, Panama had a squad of first responders in attendance to help with the situation while Doc Stone helped hold the bone in addition to coaches from both schools.
It was a scary situation. The EMTs did an excellent job once they got there and transported him to a hospital. But it still makes me wonder why there wasn’t an ambulance standing by at the only high school football game in the county.
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