LeFlore County Blogs

County teams gearing up for playoffs

2012-02-10T07:25:00.000-06:00

The 2011-12 basketball season is quickly winding down with districts for the smaller schools set for this weekend with the larger schools going at it next weekend.

The seasons seem to fly by and it only seemed like a short time ago that basketball started.

It has once again been a good year for many county teams with several teams having a chance to extend their seasons deep into the playoffs.
Last year, two county teams made it to the state tournament in the Spiro girls and Talihina boys with Talihina winning state.
Another state championship will be difficult as we currently have only one team ranking in the top 10 as the Howe girls are ninth in Class 2A, despite a 23-1 record.

With its record, Howe is obviously our best bet to reach the state tournament. The Lady Lions are in a tough area with second-ranked Oktaha, 14th-ranked Talihina, No. 15 Central and Rattan, the only team to beat Howe this season.

Perennial power Savanna is not ranked, but is also in the region.

Bokoshe’s girls are No. 10 in Class B and could make another run.

Spiro’s girls are not ranked and got a tough draw in the district with a road game at Eufaula, which is 14-4 and ranked 14th. The Lady Bulldogs had a difficult schedule and lost in district play last year before coming back through the losers’ bracket to make state.

For the boys, several teams have the potential to make a run, especially LeFlore and Spiro.

LeFlore is 13th in Class B and with the scoring combo of Dakota Watson and Caleb Smith, along with a good group of players, the Savages could surprise.

Spiro is so explosive and has played a very difficult schedule with games against Poteau, Muldrow, Roland, Stilwell and Oktaha. When the Bulldogs are hot and with their athletes, they could compete with pretty much everybody in Class 3A.

Howe, Pocola and Wister will be tough in 2A while Cameron could challenge in Class A with a solid bunch of starters, which can feature five seniors.

The county 2A teams are a tough draw. Howe has gotten better throughout the year and almost beat Spiro (at Spiro) in the county tournament. Wister has a pair of excellent scorers in Cody Luman and Tyler Gibson, while Pocola is also an explosive team with a 17-4 record.

Like Spiro, Poteau has played a difficult schedule and a tough conference slate. The Pirates are able to compete with anybody as they have played McAlester, Roland, Stilwell and Muldrow tough at home, only to lose late.

The Pirates got a break in the district by avoiding Muldrow and Roland and get to open at home against Hilldale. But Cascia Hall, Muldrow, Roland and Stilwell are all in Poteau’s area and the Pirates will likely have to play Roland on its home court in the district open with a win over Hilldale in the district tournament.

Alliance good for area

2012-02-03T07:06:00.000-06:00

It is good to see the area working together under the Fort Smith Regional Alliance to make this area a better place to work and live.

A new manufacturing plant recently announced plans to open in Mulberry. Sure, Mulberry won’t have much effect on the citizens of LeFlore County, but it is still good news.

The Alliance is made up of towns within a 50-mile radius of Fort Smith, including six counties in Arkansas (Crawford, Franklin, Johnson, Logan, Sebastian and Scott) along with two in Oklahoma (LeFlore and Sequoyah). There are 14 communities taking part—Alma, Altus, Booneville, Charleston, Clarksville, Greenwood, Fort Smith, Mulberry, Ozark, Paris, Poteau, Roland, Sallisaw and Van Buren.

In case you didn’t notice, Fort Smith is not listed first in that group. While it is named the Fort Smith Regional Alliance, this group seems to be working for the area and not primarily Fort Smith, which is a big reason I hope this group succeeds.

In the past, there have been other groups who tried to do the same thing, but the primary emphasis seemed to be on Fort Smith. For the alliance to succeed, it must be for the area, which seems to be the goal of the alliance.

We wish all the jobs and visitors would come to LeFlore County, but that is never going to happen. But if jobs and money come to the area, it is good for everybody. There are a ton of people from our county who work across the state line.
And unemployment in eastern Oklahoma is not that great. There are eight counties in Oklahoma with unemployment above 8.1. Three of those border Arkansas in southeastern Oklahoma in LeFlore, McCurtain and Sequoyah.

At the end of 2011, LeFlore County ranked eighth in the state in unemployment. Our percentage of unemployed was 8.4 percent, up from 7.6 in November, but down from 9.0 at the end of 2010.

LeFlore County has a labor force of 19,477 with 17,846 currently employed. Latimer County led the state at 10.5. Sequoyah was 8.9 and McCurtain was 9.7.
Here is a link to the unemployment statistics.

Aside from our local representatives and senators, nobody in Oklahoma City gives a flip about what happens in southeastern Oklahoma.

I imagine that is also true for our friends and allies across the state line. Western Arkansas and the Fort Smith area is not a big priority with Little Rock, especially not with the growth in northwestern Arkansas.

But with the Alliance working together, this could be the ticket. We have the development of Fort Chaffee and hopefully a lot more in the pipeline.

We will soon have a four-lane highway from Poteau to Sallisaw and I-40. Hopefully one day there will be a four-lane to Fort Smith from at least Poteau.

LeFlore County also has railroad access, an airport, college and the most beautiful area in the state for visitors to hike, camp, fish and hunt.

In case you missed it...

2012-02-02T07:07:00.000-06:00

In case you missed it…

The following topics will be addressed in this blog:

Some blather about Groundhog Day;

Poteau’s Alyssa Kramer is hitting it big;

And…district basketball!

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Today is Feb. 2, which means it is once again Groundhog Dog. Punxsutawney Phil will poke his head out to see if he can see his shadow, to determine if we are going to have six more weeks of winter.

Six more weeks? We haven’t even had winter. Duh.

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Alyssa Kramer, the 14-year-old Poteau girl continues to amaze with her ability to say any word backwards. She appeared on the Today Show yesterday and her YouTube video has been viewed 2,041,448 times as of this morning.

Seriously. I did notice she didn’t say Bob Laval backwards, which is about the limit on my ability to say words backwards.

Her original YouTube video and her appearance on the Today Show can be seen by clicking HERE.

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The class A and B basketball directs were announced a couple of weeks ago while the 2A, 3A and 4A will be released today at 4 p.m.

In Class A, our two county class A teams (Arkoma and Cameron) will be in a district at Cameron. Clayton is the third team in the district. Arkoma’s girls and Cameron’s boys have a bye.

The Class B schools have three different districts. Whitesboro is hosting a district (Eagletown and Moyers) in Area IV, while Bokoshe and LeFlore are in Area III.

Whitesboro’s girls and the Moyers boys have a bye in the first round.
Bokoshe will compete in a district at Kinta with Midway the third team. Bokoshe’s girls and Kinta’s boys have a bye.

LeFlore is hosting a district and will face McCurtain.

All the district games are scheduled for Feb. 10 and 11 according to the OSSAA.

It will be interesting to see how the districts for the larger county schools are set. We have five county schools in 2A with the districts set for three teams. Throw in Central Sallisaw and that would be six schools close by. You would think Howe and Talihina would be separated because of the strength of the girls, but you also wouldn’t expect the OSSAA to place Howe, Pocola and Wister in the same district because of the boys’ records.

We could easily see a pretty good team eliminated in the district tournament.

In 3A, Heavener and Spiro are the only schools competing. Also, Hartshorne, Stigler and Wilburton could be placed in a district. Don’t be surprised if Heavener and Spiro are paired together.

Look for Poteau to once again be placed in a district with either Muldrow or Roland. Sallisaw will likely be the other team competing against either Muldrow or Roland.

Readers respond...

2012-01-24T07:25:00.001-06:00

Well, I apparently struck a few nerves with my blog yesterday about a recap of the LeFlore County Tournament, not that it was my intent.

My goal with the blog was to simply make a few suggestions, not disrespect any county gym, team player, official, fan, etc.

I wrote that I like Spiro’s gym and probably should have stopped there. Instead, I wrote that it was the nicest facility in the county.

This was not written to insult any other gymnasium, of course. The county is blessed with several nice facilities.

Lloyd James of Talihina wrote: I take offense that you said that the Spiro gym is the nicest in the county. Talihina has a nice gym and seats more than Spiro. Apparently Talihina is never considered as a host for the tournament except for its turn in the rotation. There has been several Area and Regional tournaments held here with the largest payback to the OSSAA in the state. All I ask for is a reason as to why Talihina cannot have the semi and finals here.

The tournament host decides where the semifinals and finals are played. Talihina can host the event just like any other school in the county and if it does, I would support it just like I would at any other location.

Another reader wrote: Howe also has a really nice gym, it may not have as much seating as Spiro but it is just as nice.

Howe does have an excellent facility.

I wrote that it would be better to play the tournament at a neutral facility so no team has a home-court advantage.

That brought on the following remark: i must be mistaken but i thought carl albert's gym was located in poteau. Did spiro have their own players ref the games?

Yes, Carl Albert’s gym is in Poteau. However, Poteau plays its home games at its own gym, not at Carl Albert. CASC would be a neutral site. As for officiating, that was not mentioned and I felt like the officials did a great job. Spiro won because the Bulldogs played better Saturday night, not because of favoritism by any official.

The best situation would be if the games were played at a neutral location. Any time a team plays on its home court, they have an advantage. Spiro has done a great job the last two years, and Bokoshe also did a great job as this year's host. I do not want to see anything hurt the tournament and there are always going to be some people who aren't happy if a team gets any advantage.

The LCT just completed its 80th run and I hope the tournament is around for 80 more years.

And my final comment was: MY NAME IS DYLAN BROWN...AND I FEEL I WAS LEFT OUT OF CONSIDERATION FOR THE ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM! #GOYELLOWJACKETS!

Unfortunately, not everybody can make the all-tournament team although Dylan, if this is actually Dylan, you have another shot at it next year and I wish you and all the other players the best.

Some final thoughts on the LCT

2012-01-23T07:33:00.000-06:00

Looking back over the 80th LeFlore County Tournament, I have a few thoughts and suggestions.

First off, congratulations to the Howe girls and Spiro boys for winning the tournament. Bokoshe also did a great job as a host of this year's tournament.

One thing that really surprised me was the number of empty seats for the Thursday semifinals. I realize that Heavener and Poteau did not have teams competing, but if you are a basketball fan in the county, you missed out.

Next, it’s always easy to second guess, but there were a few players who deserved mention on the all-tournament team who were not chosen.

For the girls, the most obvious one was Chelsea Baggs of Talihina. There might have been some against her selection because she was playing for a different team than she started her high school career with, but I do not feel like an all-tournament team was complete without her.

One other player who had a great tournament and wasn’t selected was Lindsey Mote of LeFlore.

For the boys, there are three players who were left off who deserved to be on the team. The first one is Kendrick Hardaway of Poteau.

I realize three players from Poteau were selected, but I don’t know how we could have an all-tournament team and not have him on it. He was ill on Saturday and did not have his normal stats, but he is as good of a player as there is in the county.

Another player who deserved to be on the team was Cody Luman of Wister. Teammate Tyler Gibson obviously deserved to be on the team and Luman did not have his usual game against Spiro in the semifinals, but is still one of the best players in the county.

Another player who deserved to be on the team was Anthony Milburn of Panama. Also, Heavener finished fourth and did not have a player selected. It would be a tough choice, but I would have selected Luke Culpepper.

I love Spiro’s gym. It is obviously the nicest one in the county. Spiro has done a really good job hosting the semifinals and the finals the past two years.

But, is this fair to other schools having to play Spiro at Spiro? Would Saturday’s game between Poteau and Spiro have been different if it was played on a neutral court? Or, what about when Howe’s boys played at Spiro on Tuesday?

There is no simple solution to this. The best thing that could happen would be if Carl Albert State College enlarged its facility. That would be a great recruiting tool for the college to bring all these players, coaches and fans in.
If we want the games to be played at a neutral facility in the county, that is our only hope. I don’t see the county or Poteau investing $5 million dollars for a new facility when the new Donald Reynolds Community Center could host everything other than basketball.

An enlarged facility would also allow CASC to host the LCT, along with regional and area tournaments, bringing in teams and fans from all over the area.

I am all for CASC adding new buildings for learning, but here’s hoping the administration addresses this issue and considers bringing the LCT back to where it should be.

If nothing can be done with CASC about enlarging its facility, my suggestion would be to hold both semifinals there and do the finals at Spiro.

Another suggestion is to keep all the games neutral. If a school is a subsite, don’t let them host their games at home. Also, some more thought needs to go into where games are scheduled.

For instance, Whitesboro’s boys played Pocola at Spiro in the opening round of the tournament.

That game would have been better to have been played at Heavener. The Talihina and LeFlore boys played at the Heavener sub-site, which was how it should have been. It probably would have been better to have Panama and Howe’s boys play at Spiro and move the Pocola and Whitesboro game to Heavener.

And, the final suggestion is to not seed the teams until after the first of the year. The teams were seeded for the 2012 LCT when several schools had only played one or two games.

Semifinals should be interesting

2012-01-18T07:24:00.000-06:00

After two days and nights filled with basketball, the semifinals are set for the 2012 LeFlore County Tournament.

And while some questioned the early seeding, the top four seeds in both divisions advanced to the semifinals, which will be played Thursday and Friday.

Two good runs for county teams ended Tuesday as the reign of the Heavener girls and Talihina boys ended after both teams had captured the prior two LCT championships.

So far, I have watched two-and-a-half games both nights. There have been good games and some that were not all that good.

Action now moves strictly to Bokoshe and Spiro for the final four days with the host Bokoshe closing down its gym after Wednesday.

There really haven’t been many surprises in the tournament so far. Arkoma’s girls, an 11th seed, defeated the sixth-seeded Wister girls, but the Lady Mustangs had already defeated the Lady Wildcats once this year, so that really can’t be considered an upset.

Also, Talihina’s boys (seeded 10th) knocked off seventh-seeded LeFlore, but that was a toss-up as the Tigers are starting to play much better after having to replace all their starters from a year ago.

Spiro’s boys and girls both dodged big bullets Tuesday. The top-seeded Bulldogs trailed most of the game before Devon Perry scored with six seconds left to give Spiro a 50-48 win over Howe.

The second-seeded Spiro girls also needed two free throws by Kanisha Hutchinson in the final seconds to edge Poteau, 45-44.

The semifinals should be interesting. On Thursday, the girls play their semifinals with Howe taking on Bokoshe at 7 p.m. and Spiro and Talihina playing at 8:30 p.m.

Howe will be favored to down Bokoshe, which overcame the loss of one of its best players to reach the semifinals for the second straight year after the 43-39 win over Heavener Tuesday. The two teams played last week at Bokoshe with Howe winning easily.

The second game will be even more interesting as Talihina and Spiro hook up. Both teams are athletic and like to run so there should be plenty of scoring. Talihina must overcome Spiro’s big girls if the Lady Tigers hope to win.

The boys take over action on Friday with Heavener and Poteau playing at 7 p.m. followed by Wister and Spiro hooking up at 8:30 p.m.

Poteau boasts wins over Heavener and Spiro already this season with both wins coming at home. The Pirates’ matchup zone caused problems for both opponents in those games, along with Talihina on Tuesday in a rematch of last year’s finals.

The Wolves boast height and good outside shooting, but were blown out in the earlier meeting. The Wister and Spiro game should also be a good one.

Wister boasts a pair of excellent scorers in Cody Luman and Tyler Gibson. The Wildcats will have an edge in height, but Wister will have to handle Spiro’s press and speed.

LCT madness starts today

2012-01-16T07:22:00.001-06:00

For many people in LeFlore County, this is the best week of the year.

The annual LeFlore County Tournament starts today and runs through Saturday.

It is also the busiest and the longest. There will be games starting today at 4 p.m. with the finals set to tip off Saturday at 8:30 p.m.

We will once again try to keep you up to date on all the scores on our Facebook page and by our Twitter updates. To keep all the scores posted, we will need your help. If you are at a game, please send texts to (918) 649-4712 and we will post the scores.

With games being played at three different locations, it is almost impossible to keep track of all the games without a lot of help.

At the end of each night, we will have a story on the day’s action, pictures and update the bracket.

That means a lot of late nights and early mornings, but it is worth it.

I posted my picks yesterday for who I think will win each game.

There are some teams the seeded teams need to keep an eye on. For the boys, the unseeded teams which could cause some problems are Cameron, Howe, LeFlore and Pocola.

Cameron lost a pair of games to county opponents Pocola and Howe late in the week, but the Jackets are a well-coached team and have one of the better players in the county in Ryan Carter.

Howe has improved throughout the season. The Lions are back at full strength and in Jared Brown, possess another of the better players in the county.

LeFlore has a scoring machine in Caleb Smith, who along with Dakota Watson and a solid group of starters could be a thorn. The Savages open with defending champion Talihina, which is coming on strong after a slow start, with Poteau lined up to face the winner of the LeFlore/Talihina game on Tuesday.

The one team which could cause the most problems is Pocola. The Indians lost at Talihina last week and were blown out earlier in the year against Wister, but the Indians also have blitzed Heavener badly at home and took both games from Cameron.

Pocola is small, but have some of the better outside shooters in the county with Grant Severe and his teammates.

Probably the best opening-round games feature Howe playing Panama, along with LeFlore taking on Talihina.

For the girls, the unseeded team which could pull off a big upset or scare a seeded team is Arkoma. The Lady Mustangs have downed Bokoshe twice and are 9-3 with several players off the 2011 junior high tournament champions.

Another team which could surprise is Poteau. The Lady Pirates have not won a game, but have played a difficult schedule. Poteau had leads against county foes Spiro and Poteau, but could not hold on.

Poteau opens with Whitesboro, with the winner taking on Spiro. If the Lady Pirates pick up that first win on Monday, don’t be surprised if Poteau causes some problems for Spiro in the quarterfinals.

Fourth-seeded Bokoshe lost one of its better players when Jamie Carberry moved to Duncan. The Lady Tigers should defeat Cameron in the first round and then will likely take on Heavener Tuesday in a rematch from a semifinal game last year.

The best opening-round games should be Panama and Pocola along with Arkoma and Wister.

Predicting the 2012 LCT

2012-01-15T08:35:00.000-06:00

Each year, the Journal picks its winners of the LeFlore County Tournament, which starts Monday.

This, of course, opens us up to much ridicule, but that’s okay. We do the same thing every week during the football season and some of my picks there were so bad that none of these can touch it.
Instead of taking the easy way out and choosing the finals, we take the hard road of picking each game (at least in the winners bracket), from the first contest to the crowning of the county champions.

Not meaning to brag, but just a little, last year we picked the winner and second-place team in each division. We will start with the girls, since we are gentlemen around here. Please share your thoughts and opinions in the comments section at the bottom.

GIRLS

FIRST ROUND

POCOLA (#8) vs. PANAMA (#9)—One of the two best opening-round games (along with Arkoma and Wister) for the girls. Look for a close game with Pocola pulling out the win. POCOLA 41, PANAMA 38.

HEAVENER (#5) vs. LeFLORE (#12)—Heavener is the two-time defending champions. The Lady Wolves are in a rebuilding mode, but should have enough to win this one. HEAVENER 51, LeFLORE 35.

CAMERON (#13) vs. BOKOSHE (#4)—Bokoshe has defeated Cameron twice already so look for the Lady Tigers to pull off the hat trick. BOKOSHE 48, CAMERON 32.

WISTER (#6) vs. ARKOMA (#11)—The worst seeding was giving Arkoma an 11 seed. The Lady Mustangs are 9-3 with two wins over Bokoshe and a 56-53 overtime win at Wister on Jan. 5. Not really an upset, although the seedings would say so. ARKOMA 51, WISTER 49.

POTEAU (#7) vs. WHITESBORO (#10)—An intriguing matchup of the big vs. little. Poteau is looking for its first win after playing a difficult schedule while Whitesboro has posted double-digits in the win column. POTEAU 52, WHITESBORO 41.

SECOND ROUND

HOWE (#1) vs. POCOLA (#8)—Howe shows why it is the top seed as the Lady Lions look to win after finishing second the last two years. HOWE 52, POCOLA 36.

HEAVENER vs. BOKOSHE—Bokoshe is the higher seeded team, but the loss of Jamie Carberry has hurt the Lady Tigers. Should be a good game between a pair of teams which met in the semifinals last year. HEAVENER 36, BOKOSHE 33.

TALIHINA (#3) vs. ARKOMA—Arkoma is going to be a force in the LCT, but Talihina’s experience will be a little too much. TALIHINA 45, ARKOMA 36.

POTEAU vs. SPIRO (#2)—Spiro won the earlier meeting between the two teams at Poteau. The Lady Pirates had a big lead in the second quarter before Spiro rallied. SPIRO 44, POTEAU 39.

SEMIFINALS

HOWE vs. HEAVENER—The two teams which have played in the finals of the last two tournaments meet again. Howe finally gets its revenge. HOWE 52, HEAVENER 38.

TALIHINA vs. SPIRO—The two most athletic teams in the tournament. Spiro has better height and is playing at home. Talihina has won a tournament and finished second in another. TALIHINA 41, SPIRO 40.

FINALS

HOWE vs. TALIHINA—A really intriguing game. Howe faces former teammate Chelsea Baggs, who was a standout for the Lady Lions two years ago and is now playing at Talihina. HOWE 36, TALIHINA 35.

BOYS

FIRST ROUND

HOWE (#8) vs. PANAMA (#9)—Teams played a classic at the Panama Festival in late December before Howe won. Lions were a little shorthanded that night but are on a roll. HOWE 58, PANAMA 46.

CAMERON (#5) vs. ARKOMA (#12)—Cameron enters the tournament with losses to Pocola and Howe. Jackets break that streak. CAMERON 57, ARKOMA 42.

BOKOSHE (#13) vs. WISTER (#4)—Wister wins easily. WISTER 50, BOKOSHE 20.

POCOLA (#6) vs. WHITESBORO (#11)—Pocola enters the LCT on a roll. POCOLA 46, WHITESBORO 34.

LeFLORE (#7) vs. TALIHINA (#10)—Two-time defending champion Talihina has righted its ship after struggling early. Should be the best game for the boys on the opening day. LeFLORE 43, TALIHINA 38.

SECOND ROUND

SPIRO (#1) vs. HOWE—Teams played in the Panama Festival. Spiro eventually wore down Howe, which was missing several players that night. Howe could make things difficult for the top seeds. SPIRO 64, HOWE 59.

CAMERON vs. WISTER—Should be another excellent game between the two rivals. Each team has defeated the other on their home court. WISTER 73, CAMERON 71.

HEAVENER (#3) vs. POCOLA—Pocola drubbed Heavener two weeks ago at Pocola. Heavener is struggling recently with blowout losses to Poteau and Henryetta. POCOLA 55, HEAVENER 52.

LeFLORE vs. POTEAU (#2)—Poteau has dominated the only county teams it has faced this year. LeFlore stays close before the Pirates pull away. POTEAU 57, LeFlore 44.

SEMIFINALS

SPIRO vs. WISTER—Wister’s Cody Luman and Tyler Gibson have the height that Spiro is missing. But the Bulldogs’ speed and press will make the difference. SPIRO 69, WISTER 55.

POCOLA vs. POTEAU—Pocola makes up for its lack of height with a deadly three-point shooting and quickness. Poteau has the size and speed to slow down the Indians. POTEAU 61, POCOLA 49.

FINALS

SPIRO vs. POTEAU—Spiro is the top seed although Poteau won the only meeting this year between the two teams. Poteau’s defense totally frustrated Spiro in that contest, but the finals will be played at Spiro. POTEAU 61, SPIRO 59.

Literacy Council needs your help

2012-01-13T07:07:00.000-06:00

Everybody wants to be number one.

LeFlore County is close to the top of a certain statistic, but not one to brag about.

The county is second in Oklahoma, trailing only Texas County, in the number of residents who struggle to read.

According to LeFlore County literacy coordinator Laura Young in a speech to the Poteau Kiwanis Club, the statewide numbers of adults who read below a 12th-grade level is 20 percent.

In our county, it is 30 percent.

For those who read below a ninth-grade level, statewide the percentage is six. LeFlore County’s percentage is 10 percent.

Some 22 percent of those in the 18-24 age group have less than a high-school education. It increased to 25 percent for those over 25 years of age.

And that is why we have the Literacy Council, whose mission is to help county residents to learn to read. People who are considered at Level 1 literacy usually cannot locate an intersection on a street map, find two pieces of information in an article, identify and enter information on a social security card application or calculate totals.

The LCLC offers basic literacy instruction as well as English as a second language class. They also partner with the Oklahoma Department of Human Services in providing up to 30 hours a week of instruction to Temporary Aid to Needy Families (TANF).

These classes help prepare residents to earn their GED or enter the work force.

The LCLC uses trained tutors to teach the literacy students. Tutors are given 10 hours of training, split into three sessions.

And they could use our help. The LCLC needs tutors and also help with the costs of materials. The council relies on funding from a grant and the generosity of individuals and groups to help teach our residents basic skills.

Their only fundraiser is the annual spelling bee.

If you can help, either with a donation or would like to help tutor, contact the Literacy Council at (918) 647-3833 or by email to literacypoteau@gmail.com.

LCJHT another success

2012-01-09T06:04:00.001-06:00

The crowd was packed for Saturday's finals of the LCJHT

The LeFlore County Tournament was a great idea by whoever decided to start the tournament back in 1932.
The decision to start the LeFlore County Junior High Tournament was also a good one.

Once again the junior high version was played the past week before a packed house for the finals Saturday night at Carl Albert State College.

If the Mick Thompson Field House holds around 1,200 people, there were easily over 1,000 in attendance to watch the Howe and Poteau girls along with Poteau and Wister boys play a pair of finals which were as exciting as anybody could hope to see. Throw in the ones who came earlier and left and it would have been like one of the old LCT finals.

It was an opportunity to see the future varsity standouts playing with as much enthusiasm as we will see on Jan. 21 for the finals of the LCT.

Poteau’s boys and girls won the finals, but Howe’s girls and Wister’s boys were in both contests until the final buzzer.

The crowd got loud, coaches questioned calls and the players celebrated big plays, just like in any varsity game.
There were great plays and some not so great. Play got a little sloppy at times, but that was okay. None of the older kids will play harder than these 12, 13 and 14-year old eighth (and some seventh) graders did.

The most refreshing parts were none of the players in the finals felt the need to question a call, talk trash to an opponent or try to show up a player from the other team.

Those are some traits sometimes forgotten by the older players.

We saw some familiar names like Hardaway and Brown for Poteau’s boys, a Standridge for the girls, a Gibson from Wister and a Hillebrand for Howe. All of them are the little brothers or sisters of players who will have a key impact when the LCT opens a week from today.

And who knows, four years from now we might see these same players and schools competing against each other in another finals played at a location to be determined.

The only complaint I heard was there was not an all-tournament team selected. Some said this was to save money, but it was actually done for the right reason: not to put individuals above the team. Sure, it would be nice to honor the players who deserved this award, but anytime that happens, there are going to be some who felt like they deserved the honor, but weren't selected.

Heavener and Poteau play a classic

2012-01-07T07:42:00.001-06:00

Heavener and Poteau hooked up on the basketball court once again Friday night.

The parking lot was packed a full 30 minutes before the tip off. Before the first game tipped off, there was a feeling of excitement in the air.

This was not going to be your ordinary night at the Sherman Floyd Fieldhouse.

The final game of the evening was a thriller, probably the best game I have seen all year. Players were diving for loose balls, playing with an intensity expected in a meeting between two rivals. A big lead by Poteau was wiped out and the gym started rocking as the lead dwindled and the outcome was in doubt.

Must have been the boys, right? Two of the top three seeds in the upcoming LCT pairing off in what could be a preview of the semifinals…nope. That was a sleeper. Since it was Poteau’s homecoming, that game was played first and was a blowout from the red and white.

The excitement on this night came between a Poteau team looking for its first win and a Heavener team trying to regain the glory of winning the last two LCT championships. There were turnovers, missed shots from point blank and the game was sloppy at times.

In the third quarter, it appeared like Poteau was finally going to break through and win a game. The Lady Pirates had a 12-point lead and despite some foul problems, Poteau was in control.

But just when it looked like Heavener was done, the Lady Wolves made a charge. Heavener suddenly didn’t look like a team that was 3-5 entering the game and had gotten blown out two nights before at Hartshorne.

Nine straight points by the girls in purple cut the margin to three points. After Heavener cut the lead to two, Poteau went back ahead by three. Heavener answered with a three by Amber Holt and the margin was only a pair.

After a pair of free throws by Sadie Hawkins, one of only two returning starters for Heavener along with point guard Jordan Kannady, the game was tied. Briley Benson promptly drilled a three from the top of the key with 53 seconds left and again, it looked like Poteau would finally post thate elusive “W” after playing a difficult schedule to start the season.

Watkins answered with a basket for Heavener. Only 38 seconds left now. Poteau 46, Heavener 45. One of those big, massive California earthquakes could have happened with the epicenter at Costner Stadium, and it couldn’t have been felt or heard.

A missed free throw gave Heavener a shot to go ahead. Brenna Vise, who played one of her best games for Poteau, got the steal and Poteau had possession. But the Lady Pirates failed to hang on to the ball and turned the ball back over to Heavener.

The Lady Wolves had the ball on the far end of the court with only 4.5 seconds left. Heavener called a timeout and Holt broke free for Heavener. She took a shot right at the three-point line, but missed. A whistle stopped play as the officials ruled Holt had been fouled on the shot. Only 2.1 seconds were left.

She was originally given three shots, but the officials correctly ruled Holt was inside the three-point line and would get only two free throws.

Holt was only 2-6 on free throws in the game. With every eye in the gym on the Heavener junior and the Poteau side doing everything they could to distract her, Holt calmly took the first shot. Nothing but net. The game was tied and a roar erupted from the visitor’s side like Heavener had just won another county championship.

Now, it was time for the second shot. If it was good, Heavener would probably win a game which the Lady Wolves badly needed. A miss and it would be a four-minute overtime session for a pair of teams both worn out from the frantic pace.

The official handed Holt the ball again. Again, she calmly eyed the basket, somehow blocked out the roar coming from the hundreds of Poteau faithful, let the shot go and watched as the shot was again perfect.

Heavener 47, Poteau 46. Poteau scrambled for a shot, but to no avail. It was over.

But a pair of struggling teams gave those fans who stuck around a game to remember.

The Christmas break!

2011-12-27T07:23:00.000-06:00

My well-deserved four-day break comes to a crashing end at approximately 8:15 this morning.

Due to my consistent hard work and much pleading, my boss was kind enough to grant me an extra day off from work Friday, which gave me that long stretch away to relax, enjoy Christmas with the family, count my calories, and watch the rain.

Here were the highlights!

Friday, slept in past 7 a.m.! Since I typically get up between 5 and 6 on work days, this was indeed a blessing.

I did my remaining Christmas shopping that morning. I only had to take care of my mother and daughter and after much consideration, I went to my bank and exchanged some money to give the perfect Christmas gift: cash.

No long lines or worries about gosh, will they like my Christmas gift? I did place those gifts in Christmas envelopes. The family did me right for Christmas, although Trish the Wife had already thoughtfully presented my present earlier so she could enjoy my gift to her, which she had picked out and received about three weeks ago.

We had Christmas at my mother’s house that night. Food was good and the only regret was forgetting to bring my camera, which was pointed out several times by the wife as in, “I can’t believe you forgot your camera!” Unfortunately, it was the start of a trend.

I am trying to remember what I did on Saturday. I did sleep in again, then, uh, watched some football while the wife was at her mother’s baking goodies for Sunday’s Christmas festivities. I read and let the dogs, Molly and Dodger, in and out approximately 50 times.

Molly would announce her wish to go outside by standing at the door and barking. I would let her out and coax Dodger to follow. If I chose to go outside with them, which I did several times, they were happy.

If I decided to stay inside and watch a crucial football play on a game which I was watching because there wasn’t anything else on, they went outside and before I could plop my rear back down, they would scratch to come back in.

Molly comes in without a problem. Dodger stands at the door and glances back and forth between me and the door, not really sure if he can make it in before the door slams on him, even though I am holding it with a foot or other body part.

Sunday was Christmas Day and that meant a trip to the in-laws. All the way across…town. Yes! No travel for Craigman, thank goodness. Another excellent meal, but some person again forgot to bring his camera to document all the festivities.

The food was ready when we got there, another bonus. But as I was elbowing my way past the small children to the front of the food line, the wife put me on fill the glasses with ice patrol. I filled like eight cups with ice and brought them back into the kitchen, only to discover she only wanted cups for us.

Fortunately, the line was small and plenty of food remained. After again eating a balanced meal, I made my way into the family room and was soon appointed play partner with Parker, who got a new bike from Santa and wanted somebody to help.

I was pretty good the first four times I got to help him ride the bike. Parker is three and decided it was more fun to slam on the breaks while I tried to push him. I thought it was funny the first three or four times he did this, but at about 30 or so, grew a little irritated.

Parker actually got going pretty good about the fifth time he dragged me outside and left me wondering what I was missing on the History Channel. He had training wheels on the bike, so I wasn’t all that worried. At least until Parker tried to turn and the training wheels failed.

Fortunately, he fell about the speed of a turtle. He looked up at me, as if to scold me for not protecting him, or to wonder what kind of fit he should throw. I checked for blood and found none, and acted like it was no big deal and got him back on the bike to distract him.

He was fine. Parker did run over his sister later on, but that was her fault. Not Parker’s. Or mine. I thought we were going to have to perform emergency stitches on her, but the only casualty was a small tear in the knee of her hose things.

And then, there was Monday. It was raining and not really excited about going anywhere. We did have a gift card for my favorite eating establishment in Fort Smith, along with one for a book store. Sadly, the wife had a gift card for a clothing store and wanted to go there first.

I survived, barely. Then we went to eat! Not many cars in the parking lot! We were behind like one group and they got seated instantly. Then, the receptionist said it would be a few minutes that all there waiters had tables.

I looked around and saw approximately eight tables occupied. So, we sat. And sat some more. Other people filed in, obviously not aware of the waiter shortfall. The receptionist disappeared and the waiting area soon filled with people.

An older worker soon arrived and took control of the madness. Two, count ‘em two, tables got their food before we did, even though our waiter took our order first! If we hadn’t had wings and bread to tide us over, there could have been a scene!

Our food finally arrived. Mine was not up to its usual greatness. They totally messed up Trish’s grub. But did send it back for correction.

We used a gift card and paid with a large denomination bill. Our host/waiter, returned several minutes later and asked if we had smaller denominations as he could not break it. Seriously.

We paid the balance with a debit card so we could escape. Made another quick stop and returned home, where Molly and Dodger were waiting to go outside and come back in repeatedly.

And the break was over.

Top 10 for 2011

2011-12-22T07:13:00.002-06:00

Every year, all the major news organizations feature the top stories of the year.

We are not a major news organization, unfortunately, but there have been some big stories in LeFlore County over the last year. And here are my top 10 stories for the year:

1. State champions. LeFlore County had three state champions in 2011, likely an all-time record. Talihina boys won state in basketball, Wister captured a state crown in the spring in baseball while Panama’s girls won a fast-pitch softball title in the fall.

2. Oklahoma dumps on state parks. The Oklahoma Department of Tourism and Recreation decided to close seven state parks, including the Runestone near Heavener, without advance notice or any planning to keep the parks open. Fortunately, the city of Heavener was able to keep the gates of the Runestone open along with help from the Friends of the Runestone.

3. Weather. Bad ice and snow storms in the winter turned into the stormiest spring in recent memory with high winds, tornadoes and hail. The summer was the hottest ones in history.

4. Audit reveals problems. LeFlore County finally got an audit and it was not that good. The state auditor revealed problems with the county, especially regarding former county commissioner Carrol Rogers in Dist. 1. County residents, including members of the Tea Party are calling for an investigative audit.

5. Poteau superintendent. The Poteau school board offered the position to Hank Harris, then removed the offer at a heated school board meeting which did not set well with supporters of Harris.

6. County tournament returns to LeFlore County. After two years at UAFS, the LeFlore County Tournament was played in Spiro’s new facility in 2011. Heavener’s girls and Talihina’s boys each won for the second straight year.

7. Pocola problems. The school board and city council of Pocola continues to have problems and infighting.

8. Bokoshe. Continued controversy over fly ash dumped near town along with a police officer striking a member of the city council.

9. Alleged murderer returned to county. Suhail Shanti was arrested in June and extradited to LeFlore County for allegedly murdering a fellow Carl Albert student in 1983.

10. Donald W. Reynolds Community Center opens. The new facility in Poteau opened with much fanfare this fall with an open house and several events already held there.

Naturally, there are some stories which are not listed. Please list other events from 2011 in the comments section below or send them to me by email to craig@leflorecountyjournal.com and they will be addressed on Friday.

Thanks for the memories, John Inman

2011-12-21T07:02:00.002-06:00

I first met John Inman in the summer of 1986 at a Dallas Cowboys game at Texas Stadium.

John was a veteran sports writer back then and I was just making my debut in the profession. Somebody took our picture together as two sports writers from Heavener and it appeared in the Heavener Ledger.

Since then, I have gotten to know John better. He is, without doubt, one of the good guys and in my various publishing platforms, nobody has helped me more over the years.

So it is with a more than a little bit of sadness that John’s Time-Out column is missing from the Journal. After some 200 columns and blogs, John informed me last week that it was his last column.

For the Journal, it was his 42nd column, ranging from Heavener football to the Yankees, his favorite professional baseball team. Since he started writing his weekly column for the Journal, the only time he has missed was when he had surgery on both eyes.

John has decided to devote his time to writing his upcoming book on the history of Heavener football and I am sure it will be a project all the old Wolves will enjoy.

I can’t fault him for his decision, but instead want to thank John for his contributions. There are so many people who have helped over the years and I don’t want to name them here because I would leave somebody out, but John has helped more than anybody.

He always passes on a kind word and his stories were never about how the sky was falling, but instead were always with a positive slant, even his Yankees stories.

Hopefully John and his Time-Out column will return sometime in the future, but until then, I thank him and wish him good luck with the book and in life.

The best county rivalry

2011-12-20T06:49:00.000-06:00

In the captivating blog I wrote yesterday about the toughest gyms to play in as a visitor in LeFlore County, Cameron Sanders made a good suggestion.

Cameron suggested that I write about the best rivalries in LeFlore County. That was such a good idea I am going to follow his advice.

After reading his comment, I started thinking (which is one of the key components of trying to write a blog, or anything for that matter), just what is the best rivalry in LeFlore County?

Naturally, this is basketball only since it is that time of the year.

Many would say it is Poteau and Spiro. An easy choice, and also a good one. These are the two biggest schools in the county and like to pound each other whenever they play.

Perhaps, it is Panama and Pocola? Not exactly a lot of love lost when these schools play, eh?

Could it be Howe and Wister? Two longtime foes of the hardwood!

How about Heavener and Poteau? Cameron and Pocola?

And how can we talk about great rivalries and overlook that spirited Hodgen and Monroe clash?

But are these the best rivalries? For me, the best rivalry in the county is one involving two schools who don’t even play during the regular season.
They are located approximately five miles apart as the crow and Highway 59 fly.

Want intensity? Check. A willingness to bash each other’s head against a backboard? Got it. Beating the foe makes the whole year worthwhile? No doubt.

In case you haven’t figured it out yet, I believe the best rivalry is between Heavener and Howe. Back in the old days when the people of Heavener did not care about basketball, it wasn’t a big deal.

But in the last 20 years or so, the purple and gold vs. the red and white has been a big deal, just about every time the two foes compete.

Since they typically don’t schedule each other, those meetings typically come in the LeFlore County Tournament, which just ups the intensity quite a bit.

Heavener is the bigger school, but Howe has had more success with state championships and more trips to the big house. Basketball is the big deal at Howe. It is also big at Heavener, but there are other distractions such as football, which the Lions and Lady Lions don’t have to worry about.

For 364 days of the year, the residents of these two county teams work with each other, worship together, share how-do-you-do greetings at the store and typically do not want to tear each other’s throat out. In times of trouble, they come to the aid of the other.

But if these two teams are paired up in the game James Naismith invented, there is an intensity that borders on insanity. Normally sane people holler and scream like they have just escaped from a certain facility in Vinita.

Players play a little harder, coaches coach like their job is on the line, and there is an effort by both teams typically only found in a state tournament game.

The noise can border on ear popping. Even during the warm ups.

Heavener and Howe’s boys haven’t played for a couple of years while the girls have met up in the championship game of the past two county championships.

One game was played at UAFS in Fort Smith. Sure, there was another game to follow that night, but there were more people at the game that night than there were when Northside and Southside played in the same facility a month later.

The other meeting was at Spiro, another full house. Heavener and Howe could have been played in Timbuktu and the fans would pack the auditorium (that is, if they have auditoriums in Timbuktu) and behave like they had been bitten by rabid creatures.

Another rendition of this rivalry could happen again this year. For the girls, it would be in the semifinals as Howe is the top seed while the Lady Wolves are seeded fifth.

The only way the boys could play would be in the finals as the two squads are on opposite sides of the bracket.

The NCAA has March Madness. In little old LeFlore County, it is January jubilation, at least for the winning town. But for the losers, there is always next time.

Don’t agree that Heavener and Howe is the best rivalry? Share your observations in the comment section below.

The toughest gym to play

2011-12-19T07:14:00.000-06:00

Our fine county has a wide assortment of gyms, from the old to the new.

There is the almost brand new facility at Spiro and the old gym at Cameron.

During one of my recent trips to a county game, I started thinking about which gym truly gives its team the best home-court advantage.

From a win-loss percentage, this is a no-brainer. Howe’s girls have never lost a game at home since they moved into the new gym.

But that record isn’t built on the fact the gym is any tougher than any other to play in, instead, that’s because Howe’s girls have seldom lost anywhere over the last few years because the Lady Lions have been so good.

It is a nice facility, but not one other teams dread playing at for any reason other than how good the Lady Lions are at playing basketball.

For me, the toughest place to play as a visitor would be Cameron. It is an old WPA building, built back in the 1920s or 30s and there just aren’t many teams playing in a facility like this.

The crowd is right on top of you and the court seems smaller than others, mainly because there isn’t any room along with sidelines or the baselines. Old wooden stands, an old court which has stood the test of time well, but was old back when I played there in the 1970s.

It doesn’t hold a huge crowd, but when it is packed, it gets cranking.

Another tough place to play is Pocola. This is another facility which hasn’t changed much over the years. The crowd is right on top of you and can be intimidating, as many others teams have discovered over the years.

Spiro’s new gym is easily the most comfortable facility of any of the county facilities. All chair-back seats and a huge scoreboard hanging down at the center of the court. But the crowd is back from the court. It is by far the best place for me to take photographs at in the county. Good lighting and enough room that I don’t have to worry about getting stepped on by officials or players.

The best crowd atmosphere for high school games were the finals at Carl Albert State College, back before the facility was downsized and the big games of the LCT were moved to UAFS for a couple of years and then Spiro.

No empty seats in the building and people packed like sardines behind both baskets. It was always hot, loud and a fire marshall’s worst nightmare.

The facilities at UAFS and Spiro are much nicer, of course, but it just isn’t the same. The Mick Thompson gym at CASC is nicer now after the remodel, except it isn’t big enough to hold the games any more.

I just wish the new Donald W. Reynolds facility in Poteau had been configured to hold about 3,000 for a basketball game. But it isn’t and with the way the economy is, we have to play with the hand that is dealt to us.

It is always better to have a neutral site and Poteau is more centrally located.

Share your thoughts on the toughest place to play by leaving a comment.

Don't 'fix' the LCT

2011-12-16T06:55:00.000-06:00

As the 2012 LeFlore County Tournament approaches, expect to hear some discussion about breaking the tournaments into two divisions again.

Some supporters want the tournament to be divided into a big school and small school division.

I had no idea anybody was thinking about doing this until last year.

For me, that is a terrible idea. If something isn’t broken, don’t mess with it.

The LCT is the best tournament in the state of Oklahoma, drawing huge crowds and creating memories for those players and fans which will last a lifetime.

Some would argue the smaller schools have no chance to win. There are years when it is tough, sometimes even impossible, for a smaller school to win, but there have been plenty of years when the smaller schools have not only competed well, but won.

I do not know how those supporters want to break the tournament into two divisions, but it would probably be with Poteau, Heavener, Howe, Spiro, Panama, Pocola, Talihina and Wister in the big school division. They would have a tournament among the two divisions with the winners playing in the finals.

All those schools are Class 2A and above. That would put Arkoma, Bokoshe, Cameron, LeFlore and Whitesboro in the small school division. That automatically messes things up as the breakdown is eight and five.

Won’t work. With 13 schools competing in varsity basketball, there is going to be an odd number. Howe is the smallest school of the ones listed in the big schools. Think the smaller schools want a piece of Howe’s girls?

I don’t expect one of the small schools to win this year. But one never knows.

And what makes this tournament so exciting is the opportunity. It’s the chance to see teams play against other teams which don’t play during the season, the chance of a Bokoshe, Cameron or Whitesboro to defeat a Spiro, Poteau or Heavener.

Or, even come close to an upset. That makes this so special.

Back in the old days, Indiana’s state tournament featured every school in the state.

Remember the movie Hoosiers? The movie was about a small school beating a big one for the Indiana state championship.

We have our modern day Hoosiers during the middle of January every year, maybe not with the silk short shorts, but it is the same thing. Small vs. Big, the chance of an upset which the coaches, players and fans will remember for years to come.

And that is the way it should be.

No clear cut favorite for LCT

2011-12-14T07:31:00.001-06:00

The first mega game of the 2011-12 season has come and gone and the 2012 LeFlore County Tournament is now just over a month away.

One thing that has been shown is there is no clear cut favorite to win the tournament. Talihina’s boys and Heavener’s girls each won the last two years, but with both of those teams rebuilding, a new champion for both divisions will likely be crowned.

For the boys, Spiro is the top seed. But as second-seeded Poteau proved in its 64-43 win Tuesday night, the Bulldogs can be beat. Spiro will have the home-court advantage in the LCT again and still has to be considered the favorite, although the Pirates landed the first punch of the season.

Spiro is easily the most athletic team of the county, but when the outside shots aren’t falling, like in Tuesday’s game, the Bulldogs are vulnerable. And Poteau has the guard play and height to cause Spiro problems.

The Bulldogs also can’t have a meltdown like they did last night where their players were whistled for four technicals. While Spiro must learn to keep its cool, Poteau must improve its free throw shooting if the Pirates hope to win.

Poteau was 21-37 from the charity stripe in the win, but missed eight of its first 10 free throws in the fourth quarter when the game was still in doubt.

Heavener also can cause problems with a solid team and good height. But the Wolves have gotten off to a slow start against some tough competition, which includes Spiro and Stilwell.

Cameron, Howe, LeFlore and Wister are the smaller schools which could cause some problems in the tournament for the bigger schools.

For the girls, Howe was seeded No. 1, Spiro was second, Talihina third and Bokoshe fourth. But, Howe lost to Rattan last week and Spiro fell at Stigler. Talihina is now the only undefeated team in the county after Arkoma knocked off Bokoshe on its home court last night.

After Rattan lost to Howe, Talihina defeated Rattan. It was on Talihina’s home court, but if the tournament was seeded now, the Lady Tigers would probably be the top seed.

The Lady Tigers don’t have a lot of height, but are very athletic. Howe and Spiro have height and experience in playing in big games as the Lady Lions have been to the last two LCT finals while Spiro reached the state tournament last year.

Bokoshe is the fourth seed, but has been playing without one of its best players in Jamie Carberry. She can’t return until the second semester, if Carberry does rejoin the Lady Tigers.

Arkoma’s girls have been the biggest surprise. After struggling for a long time, the Lady Mustangs are easily the most improved team in the county. With several players off the team which won the junior high county championship last year, Arkoma is 5-2, won its own tournament and scored the upset over Bokoshe.

County seeds and tournament update

2011-12-12T07:19:00.001-06:00

Some notes and thoughts about county basketball as we head into the last week before the holiday break:

LeFlore County basketball coaches and administrators met last Wednesday to seed the county teams for the upcoming LeFlore County Tournament, which begins on Jan. 16.

To run a tournament, teams have to be seeded and this happens every year. The only difference was this year the seeding was a little early.

With the larger schools just getting started, some schools had not played enough games to be able to judge how good they are. Heavener’s boys and girls had played once prior to the seeding, Spiro had only played twice, as had Poteau’s girls, and others.

There is no perfect time to seed the teams, but even a little later could have changed the seeding process. Howe’s girls were seeded first, as they should have been at the time.

But one day after the seeding was done, the Lady Lions lost to Rattan at the Choctaw Invitational Tournament. Talihina defeated Rattan the following night and went on to win the tournament.

Sure, the tournament was played at Talihina and the Lady Tigers had the home court advantage, but this certainly would have had some influence on the seeding process if done later.

As it is, Howe’s girls are seeded first, Spiro (which also lost last week) is second while Talihina is third. Everybody still did a good job with the seeding and until and if Howe and Talihina play, there is no way to determine which team is better. Or if a talented Spiro team is the best in the county, and you also have to throw undefeated Bokoshe into the mix.

Here is how the boys bracket and girls bracket for the 2012 LCT will look like, obviously we do not have the times or locations yet.

And speaking of tournaments, the county was well represented over the weekend. As mentioned earlier, Talihina’s girls won the Choctaw Invitational Tournament while Howe’s boys edged Wister in the third-place game.

Arkoma’s girls captured their own tournament with wins over County Line and Mansfield.

At EOSC, county teams won their bracket. Bokoshe’s girls overcame a lot to win their bracket while Cameron edged LeFlore in the boys division.

Bokoshe played without one of its best players in Jamie Carberry, lost a big lead and went over six minutes without scoring to win. Brianna Brassfield hit another winning basket on an assist from tournament MVP Miranda McFarland in the overtime win over Panola.

In the boys finals, it was a “no…no…good shot!” moment which was the clincher for Cameron. With the score tied in overtime and some 17 seconds left, the Yellow Jackets called a timeout to set up a final shot. Instead of working the clock, Ryan Carter took the inbounds pass and launched a shot from deep in the corner.

It went in to give Cameron a three-point lead and Kenny Whitehead iced the win seconds later with a pair of free throws.

Carter was the MVP of the tournament. But this isn’t the same old LeFlore team which Cameron defeated.

Caleb Smith is one of the best scorers in the county for the Savages and his not making the all-tournament team is still a mystery, unless it was reserved for seniors. Along with Dakota Watson, LeFlore has a couple of standout players and solid players in other positions.

The Savages could cause a lot of problems in the LCT for one of the higher seeds.

Eighth graders show promise

2011-12-09T06:53:00.001-06:00

Unfortunately, I don’t get to see the younger teams and players of LeFlore County play all that much.

The varsity sports are a priority and there is only one of me to go around.

I do enjoy watching the younger teams play so I can get a sneak peek at the future Pirates, Bulldogs, etc.

So I ventured out to Pansy Kidd Middle School Thursday to watch the finals of the junior high tournament, prompted by a text from a friend who had high praise for the teams in the finals.

It was Spiro vs. Roland for the girls and Poteau against Sallisaw for the boys.

I wasn’t disappointed, that’s for sure.

In the first game, Spiro and Roland paired off and both teams have a player who could dominate once they reach the varsity.

For Spiro, it was Carleigha Thompson. She has the talent to be one of the better players in the county. Thompson scored 29 points in the game, 17 in the first half as Spiro grabbed a halftime lead.

As good as Thompson was, Roland’s Mikiah McDonald had a better game. McDonald scored 19 points in the third quarter alone as she led the Lady Rangers’ comeback in an eventual 50-43 win for the championship.

McDonald finished with 39 points, 26 in the second half, outscoring Spiro as a team in the final two quarters.

That set the stage for the boys’ championship. Poteau has an outstanding team and group of players in the eighth grade, both in basketball and football, where the Raiders went undefeated this season.

This group has not lost a game against a team from its own age since the sixth grade. On this night, the Raiders had an off night from the field, which several people pointed out.

But their quickness and pressure wore down the Diamonds and the Raiders used a 25-3 run to grab control of the game and they won their own tournament, 34-21.

The Raiders are loaded. They have size, speed and depth. They are the best eighth-grade team I have seen since the Poteau group from two years ago that are now sophomores dominated the county.

In two years, when this group joins up with the current sophomores on the varsity, Poteau could have something special, possibly the best team the Pirates have had in a while.

And it is easy to see why the Spiro girls and Poteau boys got the top seed in the upcoming LeFlore County junior high tournament which tips off on Jan. 2.

A new family member

2011-12-06T07:20:00.000-06:00

The dreaded phone call came sometime Friday afternoon.

It was from Trish the Wife. Since she usually doesn’t call during the school day because she is hopefully busy inspiring the minds of our students and future leaders, it worried me.

I braced for bad news…and it came.

“What would you say if we got another (she paused here for dramatic effect)…dog?” she said.

First off, we have a dog. Second off, that dog (Molly) is sometimes more than we can handle. And she wanted to add another? Egads!

I mumbled something back along the lines of we don’t really need another dog but it probably doesn’t matter what I say because you will do it anyway since you are Trish the Wife.

I asked what kind of dog it was, fearful it would be a Pit Bull or Rottweiller, which would probably eat Molly for an appetizer. She said it was a Maltese, which is one of those little fluffy dogs.

When I got home that evening after a long and strenuous day at work, Trish was sitting on the back deck with Molly and some little white thing that looked about the size of a New York City rat.

I quickly realized our dog population is no longer segregated. We had Molly, solid black, and the dog to be named later, solid white.

We, or rather Trish, finally settled on a name: Dodger. She kept asking me what we should name it. I ventured forth with names such as “Spike” and “Slayer”, which certainly did not do justice to the little pooter.

Trish had named both her sons names starting with the letter “D” and planned to call the next one which never came Dodger, or Dodge. And the dog was named.

I had never been a big fan of the Dodgers growing up. The name Dodger Dog does have a good ring to it and I understand the Dodger Dogs are quite tasty out in L.A.

So, it was Dodger. The little guy is a little skittish, to tell the truth. He is not sure about contact with people and is perfectly happy to run away when one of us tries to pet him, or scamper off in his cage and try to hide. Dodger does like to play with Molly, which has made my morning publishing even more difficult.

I would share a picture of Dodger with you, but he does not stay still long enough for me to get one. Dodger also rides a little low to the ground and the wet grounds have not been kind to his whiteness, kind of like a white truck as dirt and mud are attracted to both.

He weighs a whopping 6.8 pounds, most of it hair. Dodger is fond of chasing Molly in the yard. But since his legs are about the length of a buffalo wing, Dodger is not all that swift a foot.

Dodger also likes to grab Molly’s toys when we play fetch. After this happens, Molly looks up at me with a “why?” look on her face, probably the same way I look at Trish when the new dog leaves a Dodge pile on the floor.

But overall, she has done quite well with Dodger, considering Molly is not a big fan of other dogs attempting to take away her attention.

The worst thing is that while Molly is supposed to be my dog, she favors Trish aside from when it is time to play. Dodger follows me around like he is my shadow, even when I don’t have food.

Journal big in Mongolia, Waterloo

2011-12-04T09:11:00.000-06:00

I know this makes me sound like a dork, but I have always enjoyed statistics.

In fact, I didn’t know the university I attended even awarded “A’s” to one Craig Hall until I took a statistics class after several semesters.

I spent a little time examining some of the statistics from the Journal and our facebook page and since it is a rainy Sunday morning and I don’t have anything better to do, thought I would share this with our fine readers.

Under the Journal’s facebook page, I came across statistics showing where our fans are from, sex (as in male or female, not frequency), age and much more.

Here’s a startling fact: most of our fans come from the United States! No really. Of our current 2,066 fans, 1,975 come from the good old U.S.A. I must say it was a great relief that our goal of getting a fan from Mongolia has been realized.

Canada is our second most popular country. Not really sure why we have fans in Canada, but we do and that is, of course, all that matters. Guess I need to use the term “hey, hoser!” more often.

The top city for fans is Poteau with 472 fans, followed by Dallas. We also have 31 from Waterloo?

Of our fans, 65 percent are women and 32 percent are male. Not really sure what the other three percent is, not that I am sure that I want to know.

As for age, we are most popular in the coveted 35-44 age group.

We also have a good stats package with our new web hosting. It tells the most popular story along with hits, plus the searches that bring our excellent readers to the Journal.

Our top story of all time, at least since Sept. 12, is a story Jason Green wrote about Potty Mouth Dolls. Honest. Next up, was the game story of Gravette beating Poteau in football.

The top search topic to bring readers to the Journal is from people searching for: Leflore county journal. Luckily, those fine internet surfers who were trying to find the Leflore county jernal have been rewarded with a link.

Unfortunately, the stats do not show what our fan from Mongolia likes to read.

Journal tries out new reporting technique

2011-11-30T07:25:00.002-06:00

After over two years of publishing the LeFlore County Journal, I finally figured out why we aren’t making the big bucks.

This came to me while listening to a game on the radio the other night and it was a “duh” moment. Why had I not thought about it earlier?

No response necessary to that last question, thank you very much. Before I get started with my new writing style, I thought I would test it out first, kind of a target audience to get your response.

Okay, this example is from an imaginary football game.

Welcome to the game story on the Stu’s Septic Service LeFlore County Journal Game of the Week! Remember, at Stu’s Septic Service we take crap so you don’t have to!

Tonight’s game was between the Petros Panthers, sponsored this week by King’s BBQ, and the Summerfield Squirrels, once again sponsored by Jamatt RV, where they can't save you money if you shop anywhere else!

The Marilyn’s Bail Bond play of the game happened in the third quarter when the KP’s Player of the Game, Bub Bubbles intercepted a pass and returned it for a 74-yard Lyle Whitworth Allstate Agency touchdown to put the Panthers ahead, 6-0.

The First National Bank, which is the largest bank in Heavener, extra point attempt was wide right. The score update was sponsored by the Kiamichi Technology Center.

And our Anchor Finance Final Score was, 6-0, in favor of the Panthers!

Both teams played solid defense in wet and muddy conditions, but were certainly warm and dry when they returned home, at least if they have Baker’s Heating and Air service their units.

Our Warehouse Willy’s offensive player of the week was Jimmy Bob Jo-Jo Chipper from the Squirrels, who completed 1-13 passes for six yards and rushed for two yards on 19 carries.

The LeFlore County Youth Services defensive player of the game was presented to Ralf de Pardue, who narrowly edged out Farm Bureau agent Jerry Pitchford’s second-best defensive player of the game, Mickeal White. White would have probably won the first-place award, but had to leave the game with an EOMC Hospital medical update dislocated pinkie toe.

Our Myers Drive-In ballchildren for the game were Danny Don Dumas for the Panthers and Jasminian Nikolian Featherdusterhead for the Squirrels. Both ballchildren were presented certificates suitable for framing by Kevin Traywick at GCT Printing Solutions! And remember, always get your suitable for framing certificates put in a frame from Diane’s Hobby and Leisure Attire in downtown Monroe.

The postgame interview with the winning coach was sponsored this week by Kay Sullivan Realty, who has been assisting buyers in their search for their dream home for well over 10 years.

“Goshdarn it was good to win this here dadgum ballgame,” said Bob Marchant Scoreboard Show (TM) winning coach Billy “Burp” Magnet. “I really gotta, uh, hand it to the players! They was the ones who won this game. I knew we had one of them big advantages in the coaching department, but them boys out on the field was the ones a blockin, a tackalin and sweating so much they probably cleaned out all those blackheads on their noses which gives me heartache. Not us coaches.”

“I can’t figger this out,” said Summerfield coach Arnie “the Lefty” Switchthrower in our Dawgone Grooming Salon interview with the losing coach! “Them refs done ripped us a new one! I tell you, Burp musta paid them an extra chili dog with the extra cheese or something at halftime. We got them yeller hankies throwed on us all night long.”

Our Stu’s Septic Service LeFlore County Journal game of the week picture is sponsored this week by the Dugout Drive-In on Hwy. 271 in Wister.

The Carl Albert State College scholastic player of the game was Ithan Lanscome III from Summerfield, who has a 2.23 GPA despite missing two weeks earlier in the semester with a medical condition that HIPPA laws state we cannot share.

“I wish I could have played tonight,” said Lanscome III, a fourth-string slotback on offense for the Squirrels. “I can understand the coach’s decision, but I really think I could have made a difference. It’s a good thing my uncle Mortimer is the president of the school board because I am going to talk with him about getting rid of the coach.”

Hopefully this generates the ad revenue for the Journal to make it big time!

Basketball is back

2011-11-09T07:16:00.000-06:00

Many people look forward to the first day of deer season.

I am not a hunter, so that does not give me any particular thrill. For me, it is the first game of the year for football and basketball.

Each year, I look forward to that first football game over the summer and as the weather turns cold, I turn my attention toward that first basketball game.

My first game of the year was Tuesday as I ventured over to Cameron to watch the Yellow Jackets and Howe play. Both schools already had a game under their belts, so the new had worn off a bit for them.

It was still muggy as I arrived in the greater Cameron metro area and had to park out in the north 40 as the main parking lot was full. Fortunately, the ground was soggy but still solid so I didn’t have to worry about getting my wife’s car stuck.

It is warm inside the gym, but luckily the windows are open and it isn’t a sweatbox. Cameron’s gym is easily the oldest in the county, one of those rock buildings built back in the 1920s or 30s, during our last major depression. It’s small, old and smells of history. If the great state of Oklahoma ever has an old basketball movie filmed here like Hoosiers, it should be in Cameron.

I usually like my sit to the side of one of the baskets to take pictures in the first half of both games. That isn’t possible at Cameron, where the baseline is approximately six inches wide. I start off at the Cameron end, but quickly realize that was a mistake as all the action is down at the other end. I walk to the other end and squeeze my body into a doorway that provides a little more room and hopefully keeps me from tripping one of the officials, or them from stepping on me.

I haven’t taken a picture at a basketball game since last March. I wonder if I still have it in me. Seriously. Howe is attacking the basket with a passion and I soon have some keepers, although I did have to throw back a few because of bad focus.

Unfortunately, the game is one sided and it is hard to stay interested. I go out to get a bag of popcorn and a student shows extreme gusto and chases me down to sell a chance on a rifle. As I mentioned before, I don’t hunt and don’t need a rifle, but I cough up my two bucks.

The first game ends with a final score of 78-17 in favor of Howe. Despite the score, Cameron does show some improvement under new coach Sheila Jones.

Finally, the excitement starts to build as the boys take the court. This promises to be a good one as Cameron has three starters back from last year and starts five seniors while Howe is much improved over last year’s bunch.

The action is at a frantic pace from the start. Both teams play defense like it should be played, man up, belly to belly. Easy shots are few and far between.

Howe slowly builds a lead through the first half and stretches the margin to nine early in the third quarter, only to see Cameron come back, even though its two big guys are on the bench and the Jackets don’t have a player on the court who is six-foot.

The intensity builds. The fans are into this game and the noise level picks up. Players dive for loose balls and an already physical game gets even rougher as players from both teams play like this is for the county championship, not an early-season game.

The fouls start to mount up and trips to the charity stripe build. Cameron loses its two big guys as does Howe with Daniel Barnhart. Each possession is critical and the game could go either way.

Rodie Snell makes a three for Cameron with 1:45 left. It is his only basket of the game and breaks a 51-51 tie and puts the Jackets ahead for good. Howe misses a couple of shots and Cameron converts to build the lead to six in the final minute.

The game finally ends at 61-57. A good game and night, even though somebody else won the gun I didn’t need.

But basketball is back.

Don't quake on me

2011-11-08T06:45:00.000-06:00

So, here we are safely tucked away in the central part of the United States.

We thought we were pretty safe from those nasty earthquakes that threaten to break California apart and send Hollywood out into the Pacific.

Wrong. An earthquake hit near Prague early Saturday morning and aftershocks could even be felt here in the county Saturday around 11 p.m., which was conveniently timed right after the end of Oklahoma State’s game with Kansas State.

I have never particularly wanted to be in or anywhere near an earthquake. I don’t dig the ground shaking, sorry. And I missed this one. People from the county felt this one and described the event like “uh, the house started shaking!”

As far as I know, our house didn’t shake. Or it might have been because our house had been shaking since approximately 3 p.m. that day since Trish the Wife had invited three (count them, THREE!) little ones to spend a good part of the day and the night with us.

The little ones were 10, 4 and 3. I’ll admit that herr Craigman likes things calm and quiet, except for the muttered adjectives tossed about when Oklahoma and Oklahoma State failed to perform the way they should during their games that day.

The noisy one of the trio is Brenley, aged 4, who is a personal earthquake. She was on the go constantly and enjoys fighting with our dog, Molly, who enjoys fighting back. Brenley does not quite grasp the whole sit still and watch a movie.

She gets bored with inactivity after approximately .02 seconds. Since I was safely tucked away back in the office/Craig cave watching football, she visited me on average every 3.35 minutes to ask me what I was doing, what everything in the office was, and managed to stand perfectly between my spot on the couch and the television.

I tried the mute button on her, but unfortunately it didn't work.

Like every semi-sane adult male, I was flipping back and forth between the OSU/K-State and LSU/Alabama football game. I lost track of the touchdowns I missed in the OSU game and the missed field goals by Alabama in the other game.

She had good timing. Every time something was about to happen, Brenley came running into the office wanting to know what the printer was, the laptop, remote, cell phone, book and other items were.

I started to suggest a strong dose of allergy medicine for sleep aid, but did not feel like that would go over well since Trish the Wife is a responsible adult for the most part and would frown on that suggestion, even though she was in charge of children entertainment and accident prevention.

My little buddy Parker also visited a few times, but since he is only 3, did not understand or enjoy the whole football thing. The oldest one, Kennedy, is shy for the most part and voiced her desire for popcorn by sending a text to Trish the Wife, who was sitting next to her on the couch in the family room.

The household was settling down at about the time the tremor effects were supposed to have hit the area. Again, our house did not shake, but it was probably because it had been shaking for approximately eight hours nonstop.

Goodbye 'Coach'

2011-11-07T06:53:00.000-06:00

Ralph Perdue Sr. lived the good life.

He touched the lives of hundreds of people as a coach, principal, teacher, administrator and as a person. He was also a good husband, parent, grandfather and friend to many.

Perdue’s battle finally came to a close Sunday at around 4:20 in the afternoon and while we are glad he is no longer in pain, the world is not nearly as good of a place as it was yesterday.

He moved to Heavener in the mid-1960s along with wife, Peggy, and sons, Ralph Jr. and Andy to take over as head football coach of the Wolves.

Perdue was the coach at Heavener from 1966-74 and while his record was only 36-50-4, he took over a program which was struggling in a difficult time to coach anywhere.

His second team upset defending state champion Talihina, which was undefeated at the time, and he was the last Heavener coach to lead the Wolves to a win over Poteau, winning over the Pirates in 1971-72.

He was an old school coach and teacher, but behind that rough exterior, all his players and students knew a jewel was hiding.

Perdue got out of coaching as his sons got old enough to play sports and umpired baseball and was later a football official.

After retiring from Heavener, he golfed, but only on days ending in “y”, and was a member of the First Baptist Church in Heavener and the Heavener Lions Club.

He was always a person I respected. Even as an adult, it was almost impossible to call him by his first name. It was still "Coach" or Mr. Perdue.

I remember as a young boy going to watch football practice. Coach Perdue and Coach Bob Riley were coaches then and they let the players know what needed to be done, and if it wasn’t done, that messaged was delivered in a simple fashion.

His sons Ralph Jr. and Andy are now two of my best friends. Another indication of how good Perdue was as a parent is both his sons are two of the best people around. Andy has followed in his father’s footsteps and is an assistant coach at Poteau.

He leaves behind his wife, Peggy, along with his two sons and wives, and four grandchildren.

Goodbye “Coach”, you will be missed.

County notes

2011-11-02T06:27:00.001-05:00

The regular season ends Friday night for all county football teams.

At least two county teams will make the playoffs, and possibly three.

Arkoma is in, along with the winner of Pocola's game at Heavener. Spiro must win at Stigler and see how other district games wind up to find out if the Bulldogs will make the playoffs.

One of the biggest surprises for county teams this year was the improvement Panama showed. Earlier in the year, the Razorbacks were not a good football team. But the Razorbacks snapped a 17-game losing streak two weeks ago by beating rival Pocola, 21-20, and gave Heavener a tussle before losing last week.

If Panama had defeated Heavener, the Razorbacks would have made the playoffs. This was certainly a difference from early in the season. Panama coach Brandon Ellis has probably done the best coaching job of any coach in the county this year.

Ellis has got the Razorbacks headed in the right direction. If he is given enough time, Panama could be back.

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It looks like the LeFlore County Tournament will be played in county again this year. Bokoshe is the host this year with the semifinals and finals to be played at Spiro High School, just like it was last year.

This means the big games in the county tournament will be played in the county. This is still a little controversial move. Everybody wants the county tournament to be played in the county, but there are some who don't like playing at Spiro.

But until a new facility is built, and there are no plans to do so, if we are going to play it in LeFlore County instead of UAFS, this is the only choice.

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Talihina's girls were already expected to be better this year. The addition of Chelsea Baggs could make the Lady Tigers one of the teams to beat in the LCT.

Baggs was one of the top players in the county as a sophomore and played her junior year at Caddo.
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Baseball is still months away, but there is already some controversy. Arkoma was scheduled to be the host this year, but handed it off to Spiro, which will now host the county tournament.

Some coaches are not happy with this and have said their teams will not participate. Hopefully this won't happen and all the teams will compete in the showcase for county teams.

It does look like one of the best pitchers in the county, Blake Roley, will not be throwing for Poteau this year as he is scheduled to have an operation on his arm. Roley, also one of the better basketball players in the county, will miss his senior year in hoops.

Roley came out for football as a senior after not playing since his freshman year and is one of Poteau's leading receivers, catching three touchdown passes in last week's 59-56 loss at Fort Gibson.

Apparently the injury dates back to last summer and was not a result of playing football. Roley, who was throwing over 90 MPH last year, was expected to get a lot of attention from colleges this spring.

State makes another dumb move

2011-10-27T06:41:00.000-05:00

Well, another day and another strange move by some government officials in the great state of Oklahoma.

Remember the fiasco that was the Oklahoma Tourism and Recreation Department’s decision to close seven state parks?

There’s another brilliant move coming up. Starting in January, all state employees and teachers will be forced to get most of their prescriptions by mail.

This is preventive medicines, which are typically for 30, 60 and 90-day supplies of drugs. Again, this is preventive medicines. State employees can still get a prescription filled at a local pharmacy if it is for a cold, infection, etc., which is not a preventive drug.

The move is expected to save the state over $8 million a year.

Great, huh?

Uh, not really. These orders will be filled by out-of-state companies with the money being sent to companies in different states.

Naturally, Oklahoma pharmacists are not happy with this move. They shouldn’t be. Neither should state residents.

While this might appear to save $8 million, it actually has an estimated $75 million negative impact on the state with lost revenues.

That will hurt countless pharmacies, especially the small-town pharmacies. Think you can get the same customer service from some drug company in Texas or Arizona as you do with your local pharmacist?

I don’t.

My only experience with mail-order prescriptions was not a good one. While working for a company which marketed medical plans for senior citizens, customers were told they could get their prescriptions for free if they were by mail.

Sounded great, except when orders were delayed or the prescription was messed up. This caused customers to be without their prescriptions and was a pain in the rear for the customers and doctors, who had to redo prescriptions which were supposedly never received by the drug company.

Several legislators are trying to change this decision, along with state pharmacists.

Hopefully the state will realize this is a bad move. But based on recent decisions, don’t hold your breath.

County team wins state...again

2011-10-10T06:07:00.000-05:00

It is never easy to win a state championship.

But for the third time in less than a year, a LeFlore County team has brought a state championship trophy back to our county.

The latest to bring home the gold was the Panama fast pitch softball team.

Previously the Talihina boys won state in basketball last winter and Wister won the Class 2A state baseball championship in the spring.

Three teams from LeFlore County have proven to be the best Oklahoma has to offer in the respective sports. Some counties never win a state championship.

LeFlore County has won some, but it is never easy.

While Talihina and Wister were both considered favorites, or at least among the favorites going into the state tournament, Panama was not.

The Lady Razorbacks were not even rated in the top 20 by OK rankings.com at the end of the regular season. But the girls entered the tournament on a roll, going back to the end of the LeFlore County Tournament.

Faced with elimination in the tournament and trailing Panama by two runs going into its last at bat, the Lady Razorbacks rallied to win that game and played Poteau a lot closer than anybody expected in the finals.

From that point on, Panama was on fire. The Lady Razorbacks defeated Poteau the next week, won their district and cruised through regional play, even though they had to play and win at Konawa.

Panama downed fifth-ranked Calera in the regional and won all three games in the tournament to advance to state.

Being unranked, Panama drew top-ranked Colbert in the first round. Colbert scored two early runs and it looked like the Lady Razorbacks were going to make a quick exit, trailing by two runs heading into their final at bat.

But once again, Panama rallied and tied the score at 2. Neither team could score in the eighth, ninth and 10th inning. Finally, in the 11th inning, Panama got the winning run to down Colbert, 3-2, and advance to the semifinals.

Panama only scored one run in the semifinals against Savanna, which won its first-round game the day before by scoring 10 runs. But the Lady Razorbacks got excellent pitching by Taylor Eaves and solid defense in holding Savanna scoreless.

That sent them to the state finals against an Oktaha team which had defeated Panama earlier in the season. This time Eaves and her teammates were too good, blanking Oktaha and again, scored only one run.

But that run was all Panama needed and the Lady Razorbacks won the 2A state championship, winning all three games at state by one run, and only allowing two runs in the three games.

So congratulations Panama, the rest of the state didn’t realize until it was too late you were the best in your class. You did the county proud.

Panama, Wister heading to state

2011-10-04T06:30:00.000-05:00

Congratulations need to go out to the Panama softball and Wister baseball teams.

Those two squads advanced to this week’s state tournaments.

Panama was unranked going into the regional tournament last week, but went 3-0 in a field which included fifth-ranked Calera.

The Lady Razorbacks have been on a roll since the LeFlore County Tournament, where they finished second to Poteau. The momentum started in the losers bracket finals against Spiro.

Panama trailed going into its last at bat, rallied and then gave Poteau a tough battle in the finals before losing.

Since then, the Lady Backs have been strong, even beating Poteau the following week.

Panama opens the state tournament against top-ranked Colbert on Thursday at the ASA Hall of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City. The game is set to start at 5 p.m.

Wister’s road to a repeat trip to the state tournament was even tougher. The defending spring state champions hosted a regional, but fell into the losers bracket with a loss to Cameron in the first game of the tournament.

The Wildcats battled back to defeat Wright City and then downed Cameron to make it to the state tournament.

Wister opens tournament play with a game against Amber-Pocasset Thursday at 5 p.m. at Edmond Memorial High School.

If the Wildcats win, they will likely get a rematch with top-ranked Dale in the semifinals on Friday at noon. Wister downed Dale in the finals last spring.

Several other county teams came close to making the state tournament. Cameron lost out to Wister one day after nearly advancing before losing late to Rattan. Heavener, Spiro and Wister also won at least one game in the regional tournaments before coming up short.

Panama and Wister might not be the only county teams in the state tournament as Poteau’s girls open regional play at home this week. The Lady Pirates could qualify for next week’s state tournament by winning their regional in a field which includes Stilwell, Broken Bow and Fort Gibson.

Talihina streaking on

2011-09-27T07:22:00.000-05:00

The night was Oct. 26, 2007.

It was a late-season football game when Talihina visited Warner. The final score was Warner 9, Talihina 0.

Just another football game, right?

Wrong.

That night was the last time Talihina lost a regular-season football game.

Since that fall evening four years ago, Talihina has played 35 regular-season football games. Some have been close, many have not. Players have come and gone.

But the end result has not changed. The Tigers walked off the field as winners.

The only losses during that stretch have come in the playoffs.

This was supposed to be the year when things changed. Talihina lost one of the most talented groups of seniors our county has ever seen.

The stockpile is not empty. Far from it.

Talihina has gone 4-0 so far this season and will likely make that 5-0 on Friday when the Tigers host a struggling Panama team which has not won a game this year.

There have been some very good players along the way, no team could achieve that kind of record without some talent.

But there has obviously been some excellent coaching, as well. Kelly Gravitt and his staff have constantly won, first in Class A and the last two years in 2A.

This might be his best coaching job. The early schedule has not been difficult, but Talihina has improved each week.

Now Gravitt and his Tigers are preparing for their first district game on Friday. In addition to the long winning streak, Talihina has won three district champions in a row.

The Tigers do not have an easy road in front of them in their bid for number four. First off, Panama, then a big challenge the following week against Pocola. Followed by Heavener, Wilburton and Hartshorne.

Then, of course, comes the big challenge. It is too early to say if the Tigers will still be perfect after nine games. But don't be surprised if they are.

That is when the biggest challenge to the streak awaits.

Vian.

The Wolverines are a monster this year and just beat a previously undefeated Pocola team, 75-6, in the district opener for both teams. And yes, the Wolverines will want revenge after Talihina defeated them in the regular-season finale last year for that third straight district championship.

But Pocola won't be easy. Heavener is struggling at 1-3. Wilburton can cause some problems while Hartshorne is improved.

Still, don't be surprised if the small school from the southern part of the county keeps winning and is 9-0 heading into that showdown.

Winning can be contagious as the Tigers have shown.

Two thoughts and suggestions...

2011-09-26T07:16:00.000-05:00

On an early Monday morning, here are a couple of thoughts and suggestions.

In the past, it was never a problem of having football games start at 7:30 p.m. That was, of course, before the dreaded spread formation caught on and teams started passing way too much.

Former Ohio State coach Woody Hayes said, "There are three things that can happen when you pass the ball, and two of them aren't good." And that did not even take into consideration three-or four hour games.

Now, many teams pass the ball on roughly three out of four plays. Unfortunately, some (or many) of those passes are incomplete.

When that happens, the clock stops. After a running play, the clock keeps going unless the runner goes out of bounds or picks up a first down.

With so many passes being thrown, games are lasting longer…and longer. Used to be a game would get over at 9:30 p.m. or so. Two hours, good entertainment and not so long people would lose interest.

Now some of the games last longer than one of those “epic’ movies that are expected to win an Oscar.

Or even as long as an eight-man game.

That is too long. I know this will be hard to grasp, but Arkansas actually did something smart. The schools in Arkansas now start games at 7 p.m.

Yeah, that makes travel a little difficult, but I would definitely endorse this idea.

High school football games do not need to end at 10:15 or 10:30 at night. How is Bob Marchant supposed to stay up that late? How am I? Fans lose interest after a certain point, as do the players.

Two years ago, I covered a Central game at Talihina. I believe there were less than 10 passes thrown in the game.

Nice.

I was able to avoid hitting Bambi on the way home, and arrive home before most of the other games in the county were over that night. And some wonder why I enjoy covering Talihina games.

Personally, I say bring back the wishbone, the veer and the Power-I and run the stinking ball, not only because it makes the game quicker, but that is the way high school football should be played. Most 16-17 year old kids do not need to be throwing a football 40 to 50 times a night.

So as long as the spread continues to rule, the games need to start earlier.

One other suggestion Oklahoma needs to change: volleyball.

Volleyball? Seriously?

Yes, seriously. I am not a big fan of volleyball even though I covered it back in the Texas era. But it can be exciting, honest.

Some schools already play volleyball, but not many of the smaller ones. This is a sport more schools need to pick up. Play volleyball in the fall and move fast-pitch softball to the spring.

Get rid of slow pitch. That sport needs to be reserved for the beer drinkers and church leagues. Most girls don’t even like the slow-pitch version.

Volleyball is much more exciting than slow pitch, plus aside from the bumps and bruises, is better exercise for the student-athletes.

None of the local schools play volleyball, except maybe in physical education classes.

But like the 7 p.m. start for football, it is something that needs to happen.

Journal turns two

2011-09-19T07:30:00.000-05:00

It's hard to believe in many ways, but the Journal turns two today. Sorry, no birthday cake or big celebration.

It was two years ago when we published this little website for the first time.

The first event I actually covered and wrote about was the Poteau and Mena football game.

Let's hope the terrible two does not apply, not that I think it will.

The times are a changing as Bob Dylan once wrote, and that is certainly true with the Journal. Sometime this week, maybe even today, we will have our 2,000th fan on the Journal's facebook page.

During these past two years, I have covered a bunch of events, both near and far. But all of our content is focused on our county, from the smallest community to the largest.

The goal from the very first post to the latest, which was Bobbie McAuliffe's In Simple Terms column today, is to inform our readers on what is going on in LeFlore County, from our towns, to the schools to the people and places.

Hopefully, we have done that. We have changed over these past two years with the biggest change coming in the last two weeks as the site has migrated from an old Frontpage site to one hosted on Wordpress.

Most of our readers seem to like the new look. A not very comprehensive survey on our Facebook poll was 5-1 in favor of the new look.

It is taking a little getting used to, but it will be better. It is easier to post stories and we don't have to worry about messed up links, thank goodness.

We can now add video, not that the Journal currently has a video camera, but this is a feature that hopefully will happen ASAP.

Thanks again to Jason Green for all his help in getting the new site set up and making it presentable. Also, thanks to all the people and businesses who have helped financially with donations and advertisements, and those of you of who have helped in all the other ways. I have thanked all of you many times before and thank you again.

And last, thanks to all of you readers, especially the ones who check in every day and who have spread the word.

During the last 18 months, I have published the Journal and also worked a full time job.

That means a lot of hours and means that the Journal has missed out on stories and events. It also means a lot of hours, such as last week's county tournament. But it has been worth all those early mornings and late nights in trying to keep you informed, educated and hopefully entertained.

It is my goal to keep making the Journal better and expand the coverage. I have thought, discussed and consulted with those close to me on what comes next. I have considered doing an actual newspaper and that might eventually come, but I have thought for the last few years that to succeed, you have to do things differently.

And the Journal is different. Hopefully, a difference that you enjoy. So thanks again and hopefully we will be celebrating another birthday on Sept. 19, 2012.

Pirates show potential

2011-09-03T11:34:00.000-05:00

Poteau has had some excellent offenses over the years.

The 2011 version could be one of the best, if Friday’s opening 38-35 win over Checotah is any indication.

Poteau used a quick strike passing attack to build a big lead, then come from behind twice in the fourth quarter to escape with the win.

Wilson Klutts threw for a career high 351 yards and four touchdowns for the Pirates, who have one of the best receiving groups in school history. Poteau has a bevy of talented receivers to stretch the defense and Klutts was on target most of the night.

A pair of seniors better known for excelling in other sports, showed they also have abilities in football as well.

Senior Jesse Woodson was better known as an outstanding soccer player before Friday’s game, but he quickly showed his talents are also suited for football, catching three touchdown receptions and also intercepting a pass in the final seconds to finally end the cliffhanger.

Blake Roley, who came out for football for his final year, is an outstanding pitcher in baseball and basketball player. He had seven catches, as did Woodson, and bounced back after two drops early.

While those two had the most catches, they are not Klutts’ only weapons. Five other receivers had at least one catch. Tyler Tustin, Kendrick Hardaway, Jace Pitchford and Dakota Clark all had catches while Jerrett Lowrimore also saw playing time.

It was apparent early this was not the same Poteau offense which struggled for most of last year. The Pirates scored early and often in building a quick 28-6 lead. Poteau moved the ball throughout, the only mistakes were a pair of interceptions in the third quarter, which ended potential scoring drives.

The only negatives to come out of the game, for the offense, was the running game struggled most of the night other than a pair of long runs by Klutts. He got the first touchdown on a 41-yard rush and a 29-yard carry in the fourth helped the Pirates regain the lead, only to see Checotah bounce back.

Poteau’s running backs had trouble finding running room behind the young offensive line, which did a good job for the most part in protecting Klutts. Starting running back Nick Donathan was struggling with an injury and only carried the ball four times.

There will be a lot of shootouts like last night unless the Poteau defense shows some improvement. After a solid first half, the Pirates were shredded by Checotah in the second half, before making a stand on fourth down to give the offense a final chance.

Checotah mixed in the pass and run to keep the Pirates’ defense confused. The Wildcats ran at will in the final half as the young Poteau defense had trouble tackling Checotah’s Brandon Mann, who finished with 142 yards rushing.

Poteau’s defense did make the big stop late and also intercepted two passes, one by Woodson and the other by Hardaway in the first half.

Enjoy the moment

2011-08-31T06:37:00.000-05:00

It was hot a couple of weeks ago when I visited Poteau’s practice to take a few pictures.

Actually, it was more than hot. This was one of those early practice with the players dressed out in shorts, tee shirts and helmets. No full pads, yet.

Those weren’t ideal conditions for being outside, let alone practicing football with a heat index of around 110. But I heard the players laughing when they weren’t doing drills and enjoying what they were doing, which is how it should be.

And I wanted to tell them to lap it up, enjoy it to the fullest because one day soon, there will be no more football practices, games or teammates and all they will have left are the memories and the friendships.

My high school years were among the best ones in my life. Yes, that is probably sad and makes me shallow, but it is true.

I got to play football, basketball and baseball. I also got to see my friends all the time and was part of something special. I have read the bonds a person makes serving in the military are the strongest.

That’s understandable. You are trying to keep your buddy alive and another friend is doing his (or her) best to make sure you live to fight another day.

Being on a football field with your friends and teammates is not like fighting somebody who wants to kill you, but there will always be something linking me to those guys.

I have made many friends over the years since leaving Heavener High School. Some have remained friends, others have vanished into the shadows of adulthood.

But the friends I made in school and out on the football field, basketball court and baseball diamond are still there. When you go through something as tough as a football practice when it is well over 100 degrees together or keep fighting and clawing to win a game you probably shouldn’t, that makes it special.

These were all team sports, of course. Nobody could win a football, basketball or baseball game by himself. It takes 11, five or nine all working together and helping each other out to win.

Sometimes at the end of the night, our team would have more points or runs than the other team. Other times, we didn’t. There were times we got spanked rather roughly. But the next day, or couple of days later, we were back out there again.

Until the games ended. I can still remember, 31 years later, how each sport ended. Stigler was it in football, Poteau in basketball and Vian in baseball.

I can’t remember what I ate for dinner two nights ago, but I do remember the feeling at the end of all those games, knowing that was the last time we would play that particular sport.

And it hurt.

Now, I seldom see most of those old friends or teammates. Unfortunately, it usually takes a funeral for us to get together.

That is why I hope all those young men and women, especially the seniors, enjoy this year and make the most of it before they move on to college, jobs, family and being an adult.

More manure from OTRD

2011-08-29T06:36:00.000-05:00

Xavier Neira wrote a truly thought-provoking column recently in the Norman Transcript.

Neira wrote in the column that the closing of the seven state parks was truly a “win-win” situation.

Seriously.

He said all the Oklahoma Tourism and Recreation Department employees were able to keep their jobs. This would probably come as a surprise to Lester Rowland and Vickie Hurst, the former employees at the Runestone, who are no longer working for either the OTRD or the park they dedicated much of their life to serving.

After the OTRD dumped the seven parks, locals were forced to come up with a plan to save the parks. This will enhance local operations, according to Neira..

At least the locals will actually care about the parks, something the OTRD does not.

Now, the local communities, already hurting for money because of the bad economy, will have to raise funds to keep the gates open for those visitors who help support those same local economies and bring in revenue to the state, without one iota of help from a state organization that is in operation to promote the state and bring visitors into Oklahoma.

Neira wrote of the savings for the state. Wow, a supposed $700,000! It’s a good thing the OTRD is sitting on over $30 million in various funds. Plus, as you will recall, the total savings for the Runestone (not counting employee salaries) was around $4,000.

He also wrote the OTRD showed innovation in helping those local communities. Innovation? It was more like sticking the proverbial middle finger out to the rural communities. Also, Neira proclaimed the OTRD showed efficient workforce management to ensure the most efficient use of resources.

Really?

The most efficient use of resources would have been to keep the parks in operation and not fling them back at the local communities like some object that had been picked from a nose.

Sadly, Neira complained that the Oklahoma Public Employees Association has brought a lawsuit against the OTRD for transferring employees. Even though the OTRD has been dedicated to preserving the jobs of those impacted!

See Hurst and Rowland above.

He says all but two were transferred to a park less than 30 miles away. Yep, that is a good way to preserve those employees. This was that efficient workforce management he alluded to earlier.

And to wrap it up, Neira wrote that Oklahomans should be proud of the OTRD!

I am not making this up.

I have an idea for efficient management for the OTRD. Get rid of the current director and don't allow the governor to place a buddy in charge of operations and name who she wants on the committee. Let the legislature hire somebody qualified in running state parks and not one who helped raise a bunch of campaign money.

By the way, Neira is a new member of the Oklahoma Tourism and Recreation Department.

The column can be seen HERE.

Father's picture of Stoops on ESPN

2011-08-25T07:04:00.001-05:00

The day was Sept. 15, 1979. It was a typical late summer day in Oklahoma as my mother and father made their trek to Norman to watch OU open the season against Iowa.

My parents attended most of the OU homes games from the middle 1970s through early 1980s. My father, Gene Hall, was a serious photographer and had a sideline pass courtesy of the Southwest Times Record out of Fort Smith.

He would take pictures at the game and drive to Fort Smith to drop the film off so the SWTR could use a picture in the Sunday edition.

It was another series of openers for the Sooner dynasty under Barry Switzer, hosting an Iowa team which had just hired Hayden Fry as its new head coach.

This was OU, so everybody expected an easy win. But like many early games back in those days, the Sooners had trouble holding on to the ball and eventually won, 21-6.

That Sooner team featured Billy Sims, the reigning Heisman Trophy winner and regarded as the best running back in the country.

On that day, an Iowa freshman named Bobby (now better known as Bob) was a member of the Hawkeyes and playing in his second college game after his team won the opener over Indiana the previous week.

Move forward to the early 2000s. Stoops was now the head coach at Oklahoma and my father pulled out the old negatives from that game, along with the game program.

He found Stoops in the program along with his number (41) and tried to see if he had pictures of the new OU coach during that game.

To his surprise, Stoops was pictured three times. The best one was of Stoops leaping over a blocker to try and tackle Sims. That picture is probably my father’s most famous picture and can be seen HERE.

It has been viewed by thousands of people over the years as I had posted it on my former photo website.

Now, move forward to 2011. Earlier this week, I got a text from a friend saying my father’s picture was shown on the ESPN All-Access series on the Sooners. I checked out the video and it had fans showing the picture to one of the Sooners. The player talks about how it is a great picture and he can’t believe it is actually his coach trying to tackle one of OU’s all-time greats.

Stoops appears in the background and is seen signing the picture for the fans. The episode can be seen HERE. It is in the middle of the video.

He is also pictured again trying to tackle Sims and in another picture, Stoops is tackling OU wide receiver Steve Rhodes. The gallery from that game (which includes the picture of Stoops in the program) can be seen HERE.

I just wish my father, who passed away three years ago, could have seen the video. It would have made his day, or year.

Looking ahead for county teams

2011-08-23T05:54:00.000-05:00

The official start of the 2011 football season is now only nine days away.

Most observers think this will be a down year for county schools overall, as Spiro and Talihina lost heavily to graduation last year and were two of the three county teams to make the playoffs, along with Arkoma.

While Spiro and Talihina are reloading, other county teams should show some improvement.

Arkoma and Poteau are two teams that could make a serious run this year. The Mustangs return several starters from last year’s playoff team and if their defense improves, Arkoma could be one of the top teams in its district.
The Mustangs were potent on offense last year and should be even better this time around.

Poteau returns most of its skill players from last year’s team and boasts great speed and talent at the wideouts with Tyler Tustin and Jesse Woodson heading up the corp.

Quarterback should also be a strength with Wilson Klutts and sophomore Jace Pitchford. Klutts has improved considerably from last year and both players can also play receiver and be a threat.

Nick Donathan is back at running back after having to play quarterback last year after Klutts was injured.

The key for the Pirates is a young line on both sides and how well the defense plays.

Spiro and Talihina both lost heavily to graduation. The Bulldogs are looking to replace their potent backfield from last year while Talihina lost a great group that were part of a team that did not lose a regular-season game for three years.

Heavener has most of its starters back from a team that only won one game last year. The Wolves have a small senior class, but strong junior and sophomore classes in their final year playing in 2A before moving to 3A.
Pocola showed a lot of improvement last year and could make a serious run at the playoffs.

Panama and Bokoshe round up the county teams and are playing with new coaches. The Razorbacks failed to win a game last year while Bokoshe lost several key players from a team that competed for a playoff spot.

Panama and Spiro open the season next Thursday before the other schools get the year started on Friday.

The old days

2011-08-17T07:47:00.000-05:00

Once upon a time…

Downtowns of small towns everywhere were bustling with activity. People in the outlying areas came into those small towns like Heavener, Talihina and Spiro to buy most of their items.

This included food, furniture, clothes, lumber and much more. On Saturdays, it was like a parade with cars and trucks filled with families descending on downtown to get the necessities.

We had plenty of stores and few vacant and boarded up buildings. This meant small businesses, which offered jobs and tax revenues for the local communities.

Highways ran through these communities, but most of the action took place in the downtown area, especially for Heavener and Spiro. Talihina’s downtown is located on the highway for the most part.

Now, if you drive through the downtown areas, most of the old and historic buildings are empty and fading fast. There are usually less than a handful of cars and trucks, especially on the weekends.

I remember as a child how nice it was to have almost everything one needed all within walking distance. We had Stanley Hardware, Wilson & Johnston, Ben Franklin, even a movie theater in Heavener.

We didn’t have to leave town for most of what we needed. There was an occasional trip to Fort Smith and the mall, but that was a rarity. Of course, back then Walmart was just getting started and was not a required shopping trip once a week for most families. There were no Supercenters or groceries at Walmart.

Most of the stuff at Walmart could be found in local stores. Plus, you usually got much better service, although a trip to Wilson & Johnston in Heavener typically included a heated discussion of national politics.

There are a few small businesses like those surviving. In Heavener, there is Rice Furniture, Bernard’s and a couple of flower shops. Poteau offers Bridgeman’s, Holton Hardware and Ollie Lumber.

Ron’s Discount Lumber at Howe is sort of a throwback to the old days and ways.

But those businesses are few and far between.

And I miss them.

An outlined blog!

2011-08-15T06:25:00.000-05:00

In honor of school starting back, today’s blog will be categorized to make it easier to follow. Sorry, no syllabus as I don't expect you to learn much.

OUTLINE:

1. Weather

2. School starting

3. A smattering of football stuff

4. Molly by golly

5. Squirrels

1. WEATHER! As you can probably tell, the weather has been much nicer over the last week. No 115 temperatures and even some rain! Just in time for football practice, which should be in section three but was moved up in my excitement.

Here at the House of Trish, looks like a bumper crop of leaves! And it just seems like the last week or so that I finally finished dumping last year’s crop over in the neighbor’s yard.

Since winter, spring and summer were so rough, I feel like we deserve to have the best fall in recent memory. Eh?

2. SCHOOL has started for a couple of county schools with the rest getting started soon, much to the relief of parents throughout the county, state, country and universe.

Not that I have been appointed community service…yet. But be careful out there and watch out for our students, even those wearing shorts down at their knees.

3. FOOTBALL—practice has started and the first scrimmages will be held this week. YES. That means cool weather is coming and many of us will enjoy our Friday night rituals.

A friend (yes, I have a few), asked about the county teams. Overall, the county teams will not be as strong as last year. At least I don’t believe we have powerhouse teams like Spiro and Talihina were last year.

The two teams I believe have the best shot at making runs this year are Poteau and Arkoma. Both teams have some excellent skill players back and could be pretty good.

I heard Poteau and Spiro were having trouble finding a third opponent for the 2012 and 2013 school year. The two county rivals are discussing reviving the rivalry and I hope this happens.

4. MOLLY—has now been a member of the House of Trish for over a year. She is now almost 16 months old, so she should be showing some maturity. Not.

Molly wants things her way and wants constant attention. Lately, she has decided wet ground is not proper for her so I have to bribe her to do her deal outside.

Wet never bothered her before and Molly was a big fan of the snow. Since she always hangs out with me while doing the Journal stuff, I ought to honor her with some title such as associate editor or morale buster, but she is a dog.

She pouted a little when the Trish had to go back to educating students last week since she didn’t have company all day, but has since got back into a sleep all day and stay up later routine, which Molly tries to share with me.

Pet experts, such as my mother, say dogs should start calming down when they are 18 months old. So that means Molly has two months before she becomes a normal dog. I fail to hold my breath in anticipation.

5. SQUIRRELS—I am easily entertained. Sunday morning, while sitting outside on the deck trying to get Molly to get her feet wet and do the bladder empty routine, I noticed several squirrels playing in the trees.

They chased each other, made their irritating squeaking nose and jumped from limb to limb. I was a little worried for them since a good 50 percent of our trees appear to be dead thanks to the drought. Fortunately, none of them fell. Molly also watched, hoping one would fall, I fear.

That reminded me of my all-time favorite squirrel memory. Back in my bachelor days, I had two dogs named Maggie and Harley. There weren’t any trees in the back yard, only a light pole. Maggie and Harley did not care for squirrels running rampant in the back yard.

I let them out one day and a squirrel was trapped and climbed the pole to escape. There weren’t any trees close by so I feared this might not end good.

But instead of panicking, the squirrel started mocking my dogs. Harley wasn’t the sharpest canine to ever chase a stick, but he was fairly proud he had light poled a squirrel. He was barking and doing his best to shake the squirrel down from the pole.

The squirrel continued to mock him, then decided to show Harley who was boss. He (or she) took aim and dropped a load of squirrel urine on Harley. That was when I went inside and got my gun and...ha ha, just joking. Uh, that's all folks!

A big thank you

2011-08-05T05:50:00.001-05:00

I have taken thousands of pictures over the years.

Some were very good. Others average and many were sent to the trash bin fairly quick.

I got the opportunity to take a picture Thursday evening I was proud to take.

It isn’t a picture that will bring in any income or win awards. Still, it was one I was honored to take.

The photograph, as you can see here, was of members of the Poteau Fire Department, family members, and one of the fire trucks with Old Glory flying proudly from the ladder. The picture was taken in front of the renovated Costner Stadium for the 2011 Poteau Football Program.

There are a lot of groups who deserve praise. None deserve it more than our fire departments, especially with the current weather conditions.

These men and women don’t do it for the money, but do so to help others. While most of us are at work or enjoying time away from the job, they are called away from work or their families to fight house fires, grass fires and much more.

Fires are hot. Being around a blazing inferno is not pleasant. Add to it temperatures that are breaking records for heat and the fire fighters wear safety clothing and equipment, which makes it even hotter. That can’t be pleasant.

But they still make those sacrifices, even in the worst conditions when it is blistering hot or freezing cold. They fight fires, respond to accidents and so much more.

Most of the fire departments are volunteers. I would say they are like you and me, but they aren’t. I have never gone inside a burning building to save a person, or rushed to the scene of an accident to help remove an injured person from a demolished car or truck.

The county voted for a tax increase last year to help pay for equipment for our county fire departments. I am not a big fan of tax increases. That is one I supported and was long overdue.

Our fire departments and the members never get the thanks or support they need. I have never thanked these individuals like I should have. Most people haven’t.

But all of you are appreciated, from the larger departments to the small ones in communities that might not even be on a map.

Schools start too...

2011-08-01T06:10:00.000-05:00

It’s hot in them thar hills. And the forests, pastures, roadways and valleys, also.

Many of the outside workers have adjusted their schedule to come in earlier and get off earlier to avoid the record-breaking heat.

I have been through a lot of Oklahoma summers. This is the worst I can remember since the summer of 1980.

Many of the county schools start next week. At least two are starting later in the month.

It seems like almost every year, the start of the school year is a little earlier in August.

Why?

In Texas, schools start after Labor Day. That is how it should be in Oklahoma, too. Back in our ancient days, we started school late in August and got out a little later in May.

What would be gained by this?

Good question. The main factor is to consider the savings in the old electric bills. Yeah, it’s warm in May, but nothing like the students, faculty, etc. are going to encounter when they begin the 2011-12 journey to education.

That alone should be enough to change the schedules in the coming years. In case you missed it, the state and country are facing a difficult economy. Schools don’t have the money they once did.

Consider how much could be saved by cooling all the facilities starting early in September instead of early August.

I know, it is still going to be hot in September, it always is during the first weeks of the month. Maybe even as warm as it is during August, but the schools would still have less weeks of the oppressive heat than if they did start on the current schedule.

Nothing can be done for this year. The schedules are set in stone. But this is something that should be considered for the coming years.

It would not have any effect on the start of football or softball practices.

Sure, many parents are ready to send little Johnny and Jane back to school for a little break at home, but they should also consider what is best for the children and the schools.

Will this happen? Doubtful, but it should.

A good idea

2011-07-29T07:35:00.000-05:00

After seeing a story that Murray State, a junior college in Tishomingo, had started a golf program, Ralph Perdue Jr. of Heavener had an idea.

If Murray State could have a golf team, why not Carl Albert State College?

He sent an email to CASC president Dr. Brandon Webb suggesting that would be a good idea.

I also think that would be a great idea.

Yeah, times are tough and there have been cutbacks at all colleges and universities in Oklahoma.

But if a school is considering adding a program, golf would be a great fit.

The expenses are not as high as most sports. If a golfer wants to play college golf, they have their own equipment. The major costs would be for a coach and travel expenses. Hopefully there is a volunteer or a member of the CASC staff who could oversee the program.

Poteau already has two golf courses in Choctaw Country Club and Wolf Ridge, so that would not be a problem.

Plus, this would provide an opportunity for local golfers to stay at home and play. There hasn’t been a lot of college golfers come out of the county, but if CASC started a golf program, that could change.

It could provide the opportunity for golfers to play two years at the Poteau college and then move on to a bigger school while completing their education.

I have no idea what CASC spends on other programs. But in basketball, most of the players are not from this area. That is a no-brainer, of course. Basketball in LeFlore County is good, but there is no way local talent would win at the JUCO level.

But look at how many players are playing basketball (and baseball) at CASC, and look where they are from. A golf program would also bring in student-athletes who would not consider attending the school if CASC didn’t have golf.

Back when we were in school, Heavener did not offer golf. Ralph and the other Heavener golfers never had a chance to test their skills in high school or try out at a local college to develop their skills. His brother, Andy, was good enough to play golf at Northeastern, even though he never played high school golf or during his first couple of years of college, while he played baseball at Carl Albert.

It’s not like we would expect national championships. That doesn’t happen in other sports, either. But most golfers are also good students, unlike some student-athletes in other sports.

The good golfers from Poteau and the area have to go away to play college golf. If CASC had a program, some of them could have stayed and played at CASC. Others who did not play college golf, would have had the opportunity to develop their game and move to the next level.

I seriously doubt CASC will start a golf program, unless there is a lot of demand from graduates, regents and area residents. But I do think Ralph’s suggestion has some merit and should be considered.

Hopefully, so do you.

Not all gloom and doom

2011-07-25T06:22:00.000-05:00

I guess it is easier for some people to think about what is wrong instead of looking at what is good.

People like to complain about the weather, economy, government, neighbors and much more. But not everything is doom and gloom.

The new Reynolds Civic Center is nearing completion and should be a gem for Poteau and the county. Yes, we all wish it had been built so the county tournament could be played there, but it won’t and can’t.

But for a community the size of Poteau to have a facility like this should be a big asset. I have watched construction over the last few months and it is really going to be impressive.

Also, a new library will be built next to the new Reynolds Center. Buckley Library is good, but is not big enough and lacks parking. The new library in Heavener is excellent and with the new one at Poteau, will have libraries as nice or nicer than those in much bigger places.

Carl Albert State College continues to grow and has a big construction project going on which will provide the college with more room for more students. Enrollment at CASC is up, along with several of the county schools.
A new pharmacy is almost finished at the old Central National Bank branch on Broadway in Poteau and it looks like two of the offices in the new commercial building on the north part of Broadway are rented.
Almost Italy’s facilities are impressive since the remodel. The Wise Construction and Real Estate building out near the Fenton car lots is one of the nicer buildings in the county.

Despite the shaky economy, houses are being built throughout the county.

In Heavener, two vacant structures have been rented as an Asian restaurant and a donut business have taken the place of a diner and a pizza place.

Cost of living is still low compared to most areas and with most of the roads from Poteau to I-40 now four lane, it makes getting to and from the interstate a lot easier. Now, if we could just get a four-way from Poteau to Fort Smith…sorry, one little complaint snuck into the blog.

Bremner has called back many of its workers who were recently laid off.

We also have a strong technical education program going at Kiamichi Technology Center for those young and old.

Poteau hosted a state baseball tournament and several communities hosted regional tournaments. These tournaments require a lot of help and long hours, but bring in a lot of visitors and money.

The City of Heavener and Friends of the Runestone have kept the park open, a key for our tourism efforts.

Spiro’s new gym is easily the nicest in the county and brought the LeFlore County Tournament back home last year.

The remodel and expansion of the Methodist Church in Poteau is nearing completion and is one the members have to be proud of.

The banks are also contributing. First National Bank and CNB have built new branches. Community State Bank has a new building to the south and Arvest has remodeled its Poteau branch and added a branch in the south part of Poteau.

So many areas of the county were hit hard with the bad weather during April and May, but friends, neighbors and strangers helped those who saw their homes damaged or destroyed.

This proves to me that there are still good people in our county.

It is easy to stick your head in the dirt when things are not at their best, but it is reassuring to see so much good going on. The economy will come back around, it always does. And with all the good that has been done when times are not the best, this should really benefit our towns and the county.

A weather gripe

2011-07-22T06:25:00.000-05:00

I try to not think about the weather, let alone write about it.

But curiosity overcame this cat (typically a rather cool one, but not in these conditions) and I typed in extended weather forecast in a search box by a company looking to own the world the other day.

There was the Farmer’s Almanac! It had to be right. After all, people have been turning to the publication for several decades.

I expected to read about some prediction based on the length of fuzzy hair on some endangered insect, but was proven wrong.

Here was our forecast for the summer: Cooler and rainier than normal. (Rainier?) I’d have to go out on the proverbial limb (not a real tree limb, of course) and say WRONG!

This has been the worst summer since the summer of 1980. Ah, that one was a booger. I think this one is worse, but it might be my extended age and favoritism of a good air conditioner.

Not that our cooling system would be considered good. Our AC hasn’t shut off in over a month and ceiling fans and other fans are going pretty much nonstop around the House of Trish. Still, it is hot in and out.

Anyway, another section called for temperatures only a degree above average for July and the precipitation below average. The Farmers were batting .500 there.

August looks better, although my confidence in them has worsened since the prior prediction about the cooler summer is still on the website. Temperatures for Aug. 1-7 are supposed to be below average. Notice the “supposed” in that sentence.

For Aug. 8-10 it is predicted to be hot. But hey, Aug. 11-16 is going to be cooler to the north. Sadly, it does not fully explain the whole north part of our region, but since it is Oklahoma and Texas, maybe that will be good news. Then again…

We are supposed to be comfortable from Aug. 17-23. Does this mean we are migrating to Montana and Wyoming? Then the month is supposed to close with thunderstorms and storms to the south.

And just for something to speculate about, which is basically what a long-term forecast is, the forecast for September and October is supposed to be cooler and dryer than normal.

Since I have no faith in other forecasts and you have managed to stumble along this far, here is my extended, long-term forecast with a no money-back guarantee:

Hot. Little chance of a break until late September. Then warmer than average until a surprise winter storm hits in late October, bringing the average tempature down to below freezing untl next April. Sorry, no fall. Just straight from summer to winter. Cold until April, then storms and an early and hot summer.

There. You have it, for what it’s worth.

Me and the Tea...Partiers

2011-07-21T06:37:00.000-05:00

It was with a little apprehension I approached the Buckley Library Monday evening.

Inside, a group of county Tea Party members were waiting to hear Oklahoma Auditor and Inspector Gary Jones discuss the recent county audit.
I wondered whether the members would treat me rudely. I had, you may recall, written blogs on our new Republican governor that were not exactly kind. To be more accurate, I wrote that I voted for her in the last election and would not repeat that action in the future.

Would I be allowed in? Was there some kind of secret handshake or word that would get me past the front door? I hoped there was not any kind of initiation ceremony that involved paddles or removal of clothing.

So I made my way into the auditorium and SURPRISE! It looked like most of the other meetings I had attended over the years. I just strolled in. Nobody let out a boo, shouted out I was a communist or worse, a Democrat.

No group chants or four-letter words used in connection with the Democratic party. Instead, I was treated like a person should be welcomed.

I saw Bobbie McAuliffe and talked with her a few minutes and she introduced me to a few people. Nobody was rude or sneered at me.

For the most part, the group was middle aged and above. Not many youthful Tea Party people in LeFlore County, but that was to be expected.

Prior to the meeting starting, there was a prayer and we did the pledge. I think all meetings should start this way. If you don’t agree…tough. Go outside. Pick your teeth, nose or whatever

After a few introductory comments (again, no bashing of other political parties, honest) Jones was welcomed to talk about the recent audit.

He said his office was way behind on county audits and displayed a document showing which counties needed audits. When Jones took office, the county was four years behind in audits on LeFlore County.

The auditors were initially planning to do an audit on 2007 and 2008. After hearing about the problem with a certain former commissioner in the district in the northern part of LeFlore County, the auditors added 2009 and 2010.

And the auditors noticed the former commissioner of that district, Carroll Rogers, had a going away party with the county money before he left office. Jones explained that once a commissioner is not relected, the commissioner can only spend half the budget for that district before the officer leaves, er, office.

Jones welcomed and took several questions from the audience. Unlike most public meetings, I found none of the questions dumb. People say there are no dumb questions, I tend to disagree. It’s like a law that somebody always has to disgraces the good people of the county with a stupid question, but not this time.

The group was educated and looking for answers on what could be done on the problem and ways to make sure it couldn’t, and didn’t, happen again.

I didn’t switch my allegiance to the Tea Party during or after the meeting. But I did better understand the group. These weren’t a bunch of destroy the government types. Like most of us, they want our country to be great once again and the elected leaders to be better stewards of money, which they definitely need to be.

And I was invited back to the next meeting.

Remembering

2011-07-18T06:59:00.001-05:00

Just imagine you are a player, fan or coach of the Heavener Wolves.

You open the newspaper to look at the upcoming football schedule. Let’s see, the opener is at Fayetteville. Eek. Then, we return home the second week to host Van Buren before another trip is on the agenda for the third week to play Fort Smith.

No, not Southside or Northside. That was Fort Smith. Whoever made that schedule would not be a popular person. Heavener will not open with those three opponents in the upcoming 2011 season. Instead, the opener on Sept. 2 is at Savanna.

But at one time, specifically 1930, that was Heavener’s three opening games. And guess what? The Wolves came out of that trio of contests with a pair of wins and a loss to Van Buren. That team went on to finish 10-1 and was proclaimed the Oklahoma State/EOAC champions, the only big championship the school has captured. Click HERE to review that season.

Lately, the Wolves have gone through some rough times. But just over 50 years ago, Heavener dominated southeastern Oklahoma. Consider the following: Heavener scored 54 points in its first four games in wins over Vian, Muldrow, Panama and Eufaula.

Spiro held the Wolves to ONLY 28 in a 28-6 loss. Heavener came back to hang 42 on Broken Bow, then really got its offense going by scoring 78 points later in a pair of lopsided wins over Wilburton and Poteau.

That Heavener team was the only one is school history without a loss. The only non-win was a tie in a second-round playoff game to Stigler, a team Heavener defeated earlier in the season. Back then, they didn’t play overtime. The Panthers advanced because of a tiebreaker. Here is the information on that season.

I find all this old information very interesting. That is why I started a new website oksportsreview.com. In addition to having links to sports stories from throughout Oklahoma, there is a section with what I hope will eventually be scores from all the Oklahoma high schools games which have ever been played.

Currently, I have most of Heavener’s scores from 1926 through 2010, aside from a few years, which I hope somebody will forward. Next, I will turn my attention to Poteau and the other county schools, then branch out to the rest of the state.

Yes, this is rather ambitious. But I hope others enjoy looking back through the years and reading about how our fathers, grandfathers and even great grandfathers did on the gridiron.

Along with the scores, I hope to get team photos and stories which can be added to each year.

Eventually, I plan to add basketball and maybe baseball. But that is a ways down the road.

If you have information, please send it by email to craig@oksportsreview.com or by mail to: Craig Hall, 300 S. Earl, Poteau, Ok. 74953.

Poteau goes big time

2011-07-13T05:55:00.000-05:00

Baseball people invade town!

Sounds like a horror movie, eh? But not so fast. All the strange faces started arriving in Poteau Monday night and some will be here through Friday, or even Saturday.

Is it some kind of coup? A government intervention?

Nah, just one of the better events Poteau has held in a long time.

Players, coaches and families from seven different towns are in and around Poteau for the 2011 OK Kids Midget State Baseball Tournament.

The tournament began its run in the heat Tuesday at 2 p.m. and games will be held for at least four days, and maybe even a fifth.

Temperatures soared close to 110 on the first day of the tournament. But still the players and their entourages came to the PARC looking for what might be the biggest win of a bunch of 12-and 13 year old boys’ lives.

They came from the west, of course, as there aren’t any other Midget teams between Poteau and the Arkansas state line. They also came from the southwest and the northwest.

Tushka was the closest town from Poteau with Durant running a close second. A group from Holdenville were also in town, along with Kingfisher and Shawnee. Then there were the really long-distant visitors all the way from Weatherford and Elk City, many probably getting their first opportunity to visit the beauty of southeastern Oklahoma.

There were good crowds and some excellent baseball. We saw double plays, a home run (which I missed), exciting finishes and even a mini-wave from the fine folks from Holdenville.

In case you missed it, this is the first time Poteau has hosted a state tournament and this IS a really big deal. We have approximately 10 players from seven different locations, along with coaches, family members and fans visiting our fair community, staying in hotels, visiting local attractions and bringing in a much-needed economic boost.

It is never easy to host a tournament like this, especially for the first time. But everything about the tournament appears to be first rate. The field was in great condition, even if the tournament was held in May. It wasn’t. This is July and we are suffering through a miserable heat wave.

You really have to give credit to many people. Dr. Steve Smith was instrumental in getting the tournament to come to Poteau, along with local OK Kids head honcho, Jerry Pitchford.

But then you also have to give a big credit to Dale Gilstrap, who is the tournament chairman, along with Poteau high school baseball coaches Ronnie Sockey, Andy Perdue and many more.

The City of Poteau made some great improvements to the facility to help make this tournament one many people will remember for a long time. Then there are all those who have spent hours working on the field, or running the concession stand. Plus, local businesses are helping to support the event with donations and publicity, along with making our visitors feel at home.

Hopefully this is the start of an annual tradition. Many of the state tournaments are held way out in western Oklahoma or around the Oklahoma City area.

No, Poteau is not the most convenience location in the state to hold a tournament such as this, but I doubt any other community or group could put it on any better.

The only disappointment, at least for four groups, is their teams lost on the first day. But since the tournament is double-elimination, they get to do it all again today.

Q & A on the Journal

2011-07-07T07:22:00.000-05:00

I sometimes get questions about the LeFlore County Journal and would like to answer a few of them.

The most asked question is how and why I started the Journal. As some of you know, I once worked at a newspaper and was a journalism major in college.

During the mid 2000s, I started a website called heaveneronline. It was a big hit and I kept it up for a couple of years before I took a job which prevented me from running the website.

I missed it. So I still wanted to do something along the lines of heaveneronline, but make it bigger. After talking it over with some friends, I decided to do something for LeFlore County. At the time, I was considering doing one for the county, or one just for Poteau. I actually listened to the suggestions and I think that was the best decision.

Even before I started the original heaveneronline, I realized there was a better way to get news, sports and information out instead of the traditional newspaper. At best, you are looking at getting the information the next day, but only if you purchase a paper. Typically, the information would not be available online until two days later.

That is why I am such a big proponent of publishing news and information on a website. I can get the information out there quicker and that is one reason why the Journal has grown.

Second question is if the Journal is profitable. I do have some dedicated advertisers and a few supporters who donate to the Journal, but I also work a full-time job and can’t dedicate the time selling ads for the Journal as I would like. So I do make a little more income than I spend, if you don’t consider the two hours or so I spend on the Journal most days.

Third question is about the people who write a column frequently and if I pay them. Unfortunately, no, I can’t pay them. I wish I could. The Journal is fortunate to have some really good writers. We also have some readers who send in information frequently and that is also greatly appreciated.

Traci Barnes has been sending in columns for the longest. Don Barnes has been a frequent contributor while John Inman and Bobbi McAullife have sent in columns for the last few months. Happy Frazier has sent in some columns and David Deaton with the LCBGC has contributed his weekly column over the last few weeks.

I can’t thank them enough.

I haven’t been asked this question but wanted to tell what my biggest mistake was with the Journal. That was with the Journal ezine. It was a weekly publication I put out with all the latest stories and photographs. It looked like a weekly newspaper, except full color and not as big.Just when it started to take off, I started my job and there wasn’t enough time to do everything.

But with the ezine, I did it the wrong way. I had people subscribe to get the information. Instead, I should have made it available for free and tried to bring in income from advertising.

Hopefully, I will be able to resurrect the ezine in that manner. The thing I always liked the best about it was people could print off a certain page and keep the publication to show others.

Now, I just need to figure out how to start this up again.

I have also been working on a new project, which I hope will be a big hit, especially for the sports fans. Look for more information in the next few days.

The Journal has come a long way since its debut on Sept. 19, 2009. I started spreading the news about the Journal to a few people, who shared it with others, who did the same thing. Even in the slow times, the Journal gets several hundred hits a day.

As always, if you have any suggestions on making the Journal better, please send an email to craig@leflorecountyjournal.com or leave a comment below.

Vacation ends...sadly

2011-07-06T07:45:00.000-05:00

It is with a great deal of sadness that my brief vacation has ended and I must return to the toils of labor today.

Because of skillful planning, I combined two days of vacation with a weekend and the July 4th holiday to form a five-day escape from work.

But as I mentioned previously, that ends at approximately 8:20 this morning.

As you are probably breathless in anticipation of my exciting vacation, I will share it with you!

FRIDAY—uh, was the first day of vacation. I, uh, can’t remember what I did. I vaguely recall renting a movie (or was that Saturday?) We’ll call this a relaxing vacation day.

SATURDAY—let’s see, that was the second day of vacation. I, uh, crud, what did I do? Oh yes, the brain cells are not completely frittered away. The wife, mother of mine and I went to Fort Smith and visited my 96-year old grandmother, Rena.

Okay, I have been a negligent grandchild and have not seen her in a long time. Consider me scorned. She has lost a little of her speed over time but is still sharp, although she could not grasp why I could not print off the LeFlore County Journal and show it to her. “It’s a website, not printed!” I tried to say. Of course, she probably has not ever seen a website and has no interest in surfing the old web.

I introduced her to my wife, Trish, several times. With my past marital strikeouts, I can see how this would be confusing.

After that, we went to eat at a Fort Smith restaurant I shall not name because they failed to advertise for their mention or grant me free eating. It was good, though, and I enjoyed making a mess with the peanuts and Trish not having grounds to scold me for making the above-mentioned mess, for once.

SUNDAY—I was actually a semi-sorta bee (or Craig) on this fine day. I mowed a portion of the grass which had not died yet, cleaned the wood floors (which have somehow become my responsibility) and went to a local laundry to clean a rug. Unfortunately, while at the laundry, I forgot an almost new thing of laundry soap. Trish figured this out later on when she decided to do laundry.

I went back to retrieve the soap but somebody had pilfered it away. NEWS FLASH: Thieves terrorizing local laundromat! I have been reading a lot of mystery novels and thought about breaking out Detective Craig, but decided that would probably be a waste. I considered confronting a person visiting our fine country from south of the Red River, but did not want to deal with all the language difficulties. Plus, he wasn’t there earlier so I had to buy a #%$ new thing of laundry soap at a local store, which I will also not name since I did not mention Logan’s earlier.

MONDAY—The big day! Not only was it the birthday of our country, but Trish turned a year older! I would tell you how old she is, but I forgot. So we had a big cookout, I came close to a personal grilling record by knocking out 24 angus burgers and 16 hot dogs (no, not the Anthony Weiner variety).

Fans, let me tell you, it was a hot one as I labored in front of the old grill to make sure nobody went home hungry. I sweated in places that I did not know could or would leak perspiration.

But bravely, I fought through the discomfort, the pain, the constant mosquito attacks and the frequent “when are we going to eat?” questions and I conquered the challenge! The grub was good, also, as you probably expected from a grillmeister of my fame, but no fortune.

After everybody scooted, it was time to watch the fireworks. Fortunately, our homestead is just below the hill and we had a great view of the explosives. After much prodding from my wife to take it easy and relax, which I had been doing since approximately 5 or so, we settled in out front. Coach Andrew Perdue joined us and we rejoiced in the splendor and magnificence of the fireworks and good company, since I was there.

And that leads us to the final day…

TUESDAY—a sad day this was, knowing my parole was fixing to end. I actually slept in (to almost 8 a.m.!) because of the grueling Independence Day and staying up WAY past the optimal sleeping time for Craigman.

Met a couple of friends for lunch and then went to swim at a friend’s house, even though they were home. We planned on having a cookout but I was a little wheezy (probably from the suffering on Monday) and we had to leave before the food was grilled.

So, there you have it! My vacation in a nutshell (or rather long-winded narrative, if you must).

Less than an hour of freedom remains. Now if life had a pause or rewind button.

July 1st

2011-07-02T09:12:00.000-05:00

July 1st has come and gone once again. It is one of those days that probably do not mean much to most people.

For a lot of us, it just means the Fourth of July and fireworks are about here.

Everybody has a few certain dates they remember. It could be birthdays, anniversaries or special moments.

I remember July 1st because it was three years ago that we lost my father.

My father, Gene Hall, had battled cancer once previously in his prostate. The cancer returned to his body in the fall of 2007. We were frustrated that it didn’t seem like the doctors would do anything about it and his condition grew worse.

His battle ended on July 1, 2008, three years ago to the date.

I try not to dwell on his death and the absence he left for my family, but remember the good things he did.

My father loved several things: his family, Heavener, photography and OU football. At the end of his funeral service, we didn’t leave on a sad song, but blasted Boomer Sooner, which we all thought was appropriate.

Some people consider me to be a pretty good photographer. I take some good ones, but nothing compared to my father. If he was in the right location or got a good break, my father would have been considered to be as good of a photographer as there is.

He was a perfectionist in many ways, including his photography. He used film for photography and for a long time, had a dark room set up in one of the bedrooms of the family home.

Now, two rooms of the home are filled with his images of people and places, mainly of Heavener and LeFlore County, but also from OU football games.

He took pictures for the Southwest-Times Record of Fort Smith of many OU games in the 1970s.

I always think the best pictures tell a story. His certainly did.

Probably the one best known is the one pictured here to the left. At first glance, it is not all that remarkable until you consider the OU running back is Billy Sims, who won the Heisman Trophy the previous year.

The game was against the University of Iowa in September, 1978. If you look to the right in the picture, the player wearing No. 41 was a freshman for the Hawkeyes named Bobby Stoops.

That freshman weighed around 170 pounds, and was diving over an OU blocker to tackle the best football player in the country, one who outweighed him well over 30 pounds.

I think that tells something of the drive that Bobby Stoops had and why some 21 years later, that player, now better known as Bob Stoops, became the head coach at the University of Oklahoma and returned the program to the greatness it had achieved in so many previous autumns.

My father has hundreds of pictures from OU games. He made the trip to Dallas several times and he could capture the excitement of that adventure known as OU vs. Texas like few others.

We watched the OU-Texas game together in October, 2007. Somehow, I had a feeling this was a special day and this was probably the last time we would watch an OU-Texas game together. It was. And the Sooners winning that day made it even more memorable.

I also wanted to share my favorite photograph my father took. It is one from Wister Lake with the sun looking huge and a pair of boats out on the lake.

This photograph should have been on the cover of every tourism magazine for Oklahoma. It is not easy to get a picture like this, trust me, I have tried many times.

He captured it perfectly. Remember, this was taken back when photographers used film. There weren’t any viewfinders on the camera and you could not check out the image and make changes like we can now.

My father used to enter his pictures in the Fort Smith Photography Alliance contest every year. He won some awards, but one of my prized moments was when a photograph I took several years ago won second place in the contest.

He was probably more proud for me than if the award went to him.

A grand idea!

2011-06-30T07:53:00.002-05:00

I had what I thought was a grand idea the other day.

I had just gotten home from another long and difficult day of work at the Lyle T. Whitworth Allstate Agency in Poteau, and went outside to play ball with Molly.

You might say this is how I unwind after work, assuming I was actually wound up at work.

Anyway, every evening I take Molly outside and throw the wiffle ball for her. She thinks this is great fun and will repeatedly go chase down the ball and bring it back to me to…be thrown again!

This actually serves a dual purpose. In addition to spending quality time with the family dog, since we are suffering through global warming here in southeastern Oklahoma, I hope it tires her out.

She has the bad habit of wanting to play right as I want to go to sleep and I do my best to wear her out, not that Molly is prone to get worn out.

This has nothing to do with the whole concept of this blog, but while playing ball, Molly also has a bad habit of accidentally dropping the ball so it will fall down under the deck so she can rescue it and get dirty in the process.

This is not a good thing for Craig. See, if the Trish (AKA wife) sees Molly go under the deck, she assumes the dog is dirty and that means the above mentioned Craig must give Molly a bath. So I try to conceal Molly’s actions whenever possible and pick her up and kind of give her a shake, hoping the dirt will magically fall off.

Anyway, I regressed. So I was throwing the ball as far as possible. The gun just isn’t what it used to be and it isn’t exactly easy to get much distance from a wiffle ball. (CRAIG’S NOTE: it is spelled wiffle, not whiffle, even though my spell check keeps trying to get me to change it!).

I started thinking of ways to improve the Journal, which I typically do some 20 to 30 times a day, and possibly bring in more income. Another idea! I thought of making the Journal a 501(c) 3 non-profit corporation. Hmm, that would mean anybody who donates to the Journal could get a break on their taxes.

What a great idea! I had brain flatulence and decided to see what the wife thought about it. I spelled out my plans and waited with great anticipation for her response.

“I thought you were already non profit,” she said.

I told her the benefits for both the Journal and readers and how the corporation is set up.

“But you’re already not making a profit on the Journal.”

Aargh.

Friday marks a new beginning

2011-06-29T07:36:00.000-05:00

Friday is a big day for Heavener and LeFlore County.

July 1, 2011 marks the beginning of a new era as the Friends of the Runestone take over operation of the historic park.

In case you missed it over the last few months, the Oklahoma Tourism and Recreation Department washed its hands of the Runestone and six other state parks.

To the OTRD, good riddance. They didn’t want the park so to heck with them.

Now, the park will be run by people who actually care about it. The Friends of the Runestone and city of Heavener will be operating the park.

It has taken a lot of hard work by a lot of people to keep the park gates from closing for good and taking away the major tourist attraction for Heavener, and one of the main ones for the county.

Mike Kennerson, city manager for Heavener and president of the Friends, deserves a lot of credit. So do a lot of others.

But for all those who love the park and want it to be there for the future generations, your help is needed. Heavener does not have the funds to keep the park operating. Neither does the Friends of the Runestone.

That is where all of you can and need to help. We need to support this financially and any other way, by volunteering or getting the word out to the world about the beauty and historical significance of the park.

Here is a link to a story Kennerson wrote about the Park with a link to a membership form.

There are various membership amounts available for individuals and businesses. The Runestone will not get any help financially from the state so our tax dollars are being used for other purposes, which will not benefit the citizens of LeFlore County.

It’s not about sticking our thumb (or other finger) out or up at the OTRD, lieutenant governor or the governor. But this is a great way to show everybody, especially those government goobers who made the decision to close the state parks, what can happen when people work together and hopefully we can make the park even better than it was before.

We will miss Vicky Hurst and Lester Rowland and thank them for all they did for the Runestone, and also wish them the best in the future.

And I hope all of you will do what you can for the Heavener Runestone Park.

Picture this

2011-06-24T07:48:00.000-05:00

Tuesday night, I let Molly the sometimes (and frequent) pain in the buttock dog go do her business.

Since Molly sometimes refuses to take care of her calls of nature unless she has company (don't ask me why), I followed. As soon as I looked out the back door, it looked like a disco bar was going on outside.

Strobe lights were apparently firing off every second or so. Being the curious person I am, I walked to the side of the house to find out what was happening.

I was expecting a work truck or something on the road in front of the homestead.

Nope, no work truck. It was a natural light show going off. Overhead the clouds were clear and stars were visible. But to the east, there was a large cloud firing off lightning at a rate I have never seen before.

Typically, there will be a flash of lightning, followed by another a few seconds or minutes later.

Not this time. There was continuous lightning going off with flashes in different locations inside the cloud.

This was neat, I decided, and glad this wasn’t overhead. Despite the brightness of the flashes, the cloud was far enough away no thunder could be heard.

I alerted my wife to this and asked her to come look. She wasn’t all that excited to get off the couch since Trish had a rough day vacationing. But finally, she came outside and took a look.

This actually interested her for a few seconds before whatever was on the telly prompted her to move back inside.

When I see something unusual or interesting, this was a call for me to morph into Craig the Photographer!

I got the old camera out, changed the lens to one better suited to the conditions and grabbed the tripod. There are big trees in front of my house, so I decided to go to the top of the hill and take some pictures.

One of my favorites is pictured in this blog!

I got set up pretty much in the middle of the road next to the water tower, hoped nobody would run thine rear over with an automobile and took to firing pictures.

I set the shutter at a slow speed so I could capture a string of lightning, and that is what I got.

While fighting off the attack from a swarm of mosquitoes and other irritating insects which wanted to distract me, I spent about 20 minutes firing off pictures until the cloud moved to the north and behind a group of trees.

I looked in the viewfinder and reviewed the pictures. They looked good! Of course, they all look pretty good until I post them on the computer and cull out the bad ones.

I loaded the pictures and went through them until I narrowed my choices to a couple. I always shoot on RAW instead of JPEG so I have more control over the processing, er, process.

I edited the picture and got it ready to go and this was the result from the light show.

I go in stages where I take a bunch of pictures and times when I am not so active. Yesterday, I saw some little flowers in the yard and took the second picture. The flowers were roughly the size of a dime.

And since they were low to the ground, I got out my miniature tripod and loaded up a macro lens to try and get the picture.

Not my best effort, but it turned out okay.

People sometimes ask me what I like to take pictures of. My favorites are sports, macro (bugs and flowers) and wildlife. People? Not really. I don’t really enjoy the whole posing thing and prefer taking candid pictures of the little ones doing cute stuff like smashing cake over their face.

Tragedy, controversy and more

2011-06-23T06:17:00.000-05:00

We offer for you today, a multi-topic blog.

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Like many others, I was saddened to hear the news about what happened to the Watkins family of Heavener.

Eric, only 21 years old, and his seven-month old son Bryor, were killed in an auto accident near Verdigris last Friday. Eric’s wife and Bryor’s mother, Ginger, was also in the vehicle, but survived the accident.

The Watkins vehicle was struck by a vehicle driven by Keaton Hannah of Verdigris, an 18-year old who had just hit another vehicle, left the scene and then crashed into Watkins' vehicle.

Hannah was charged with manslaughter, DUI and leaving the scene of an accident.

I don’t understand why somebody is charged solely with manslaughter when they drive while drunk and then take the life of another person. I do know that to be charged with murder, it typically must be premeditated, but is this enough punishment?

I know Hannah will have to live with the memory of this the rest of his life. But hopefully the justice system will throw the book at him. And hopefully they can find who supplied the alcohol to an underage driver and go after them, too.

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Next up, the superintendent situation at Poteau continues to draw controversy. The school board named Wayland Bonds of Moore as the interim superintendent at a meeting on Tuesday.

Bonds recently retired as Moore superintendent. He takes the place of Dr. Alice Smith, who is retiring at the end of the month. In case you missed it, assistant superintendent Hank Harris was earlier named to the position, but that offer was later rescinded by the board in a controversial 3-2 vote last week.

Supporters of Harris are passing around a petition in support of him. The petition has over 400 names on it, but was not presented to the school board at the meeting on Tuesday as they hope to add more names to the list.

The issue has left the community divided. Supporters of Harris are outraged and no official reason has been given by the board on why the offer was rescinded.

Harris' supporters have held meetings and threatened to do other things to pressure the board to try and reinstate him.

I do not feel like this will accomplish anything, other than get the board members to plant their feet firmly in the ground. If somebody does not support the actions of a board member, they should remember this when the next election happens. Threatening to do this or that is not the solution.
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And to wrap up this blog, I watched Glenn Beck’s talk show yesterday afternoon. Typically, I do not watch talk shows as they are a waste of my precious time.

But I was flipping through the channel and caught him talking about basically how the country is headed for a mess. His studio audience consisted mostly of college students.

Beck’s message was the students and others have a great opportunity and could turn things around. He also talked about how the college system is flawed, which is something I have believed for a long time.

Instead of wasting time taking classes that will never help students in their career choice, they should be taught how to succeed in their chosen profession. Much like the technical schools do.

Beck also pointed out the cost of attending college is growing faster than it should.

It was interesting listening to the students. Some complained about how they can’t find a job and it was like they should be owed a job after completing college. Others were taking action and starting their own businesses or interning for companies to learn the profession.

Naturally, some complained about having to intern and not get paid anything for it. One of the persons in the audience said they learned so much by being an intern that it more than made up for not getting paid.

It was easy to see who will succeed and the ones who will struggle and complain that it is the economy’s fault or the fault of somebody else.

Board makes tough call

2011-06-17T08:40:00.000-05:00

Every time school board elections are coming up, I see all the signs for people wanting to serve on the school board.

I wonder if these people are crazy. I served on the school board at Heavener a few years ago. I even served as president of the school board for one year. While the first year of being on the board was okay, during my term as president it seemed like there was constant controversy.

No, it was not because of anything I did. I hope that it was just poor timing. We had to replace a superintendent and make other decisions that make the position a difficult one. I had phone calls and visits to work and home from people (many of them friends and people I had known my whole life) telling me why I should do this or not do that.

It isn’t fun, that’s for sure. Every decision you make upsets some people and makes others happy.

I always tried to do what was best for the students and the school. And sometimes I voted against what my friends wanted me to do, or against the majority.

In case you didn't know, school board members don’t get paid to administer the school and there are no fringe benefits.

Poteau’s school board made one of those difficult decisions during a school board meeting on Tuesday.

By a 3-2 vote, the board voted to rescind the offer it made earlier to Hank Harris to serve as the next superintendent of Poteau schools.

Board president Chris Fenton and members Beth Buchanan and Crystal Walker voted to rescind the offer to Harris. Board vice president Jay Sommers and clerk Adrian Sconyers voted no.

The reason why the board took this action was not disclosed and don’t expect any statement as to why this happened. That would violate every privacy law out there and bring a flock of lawsuits.

There are plenty of rumors and hearsay floating around. No, I won’t get into it because it is rumors and hearsay.

I did attempt to get some information from one board member as to why the board addressed the issue, but got the “no comment” reaction.

I can understand that. If I was in the board member’s position, that is what I would have done.

Harris has served Poteau schools for a long time and has a lot of support. He was the logical person to replace current superintendent Dr. Alice Smith, who is retiring on June 30. Naturally, there are a lot of people upset with the decision.

I can certainly understand that. But again, this was not an easy thing for the board to do. Hopefully, this was not done because of some axe to grind or because it was personal.

Instead, I hope it was because the three people who voted yes were doing so because they thought it was in the best interests of the students and the school.

Was this the right decision? Only time will tell.

Time to act

2011-06-13T08:00:00.000-05:00

Like areas all over the country, LeFlore County has its problems.

Unemployment is high and thanks to the recession, the economy is not all that good.

One of the leading employers in our county, Bremner, has announced plans to lay off 135 people and there is speculation the plant will soon close its doors.

Most employers are trying to ride out the bad times and are not adding employees. When the workers do find jobs, they frequently require travel and do not pay what the person made in previous occupations.

Many people who would like to live and work in LeFlore County, have to relocate elsewhere to find a job, especially our college graduates.

Now, just like areas everywhere, the county tries to bring in new employers with a bunch of workers.

It would be great if we could bring in some company that hires several hundred people.

Those companies are few and far between.

So what is the solution? That would need to come from somebody far smarter than this publisher of a small web site.

But I do have some ideas.

The first one is to do everything possible to help our small employers, those with 10 or so workers to stay in business and hopefully grow.

I believe these types of companies are the key to our future. While still trying to bring in new companies, we can’t forget about these companies or businesses and must support them.

Also, I believe we need to support any start-up businesses. This includes one-person businesses and others who have a skill and dream about starting a business.

Every company has started off small and the successful ones grow and provide jobs and services to our residents.

I remember while growing up in Heavener that we had pretty much everything we needed. There were hardware stores, several grocery stores, lumber yard, toy stores and much more.

These were old family businesses that were successful, had employees and contributed to the sales tax for the town and county.

Now, those businesses are gone. Much of the blame goes to the Walmarts of the world, which can sell products for less than your local business. That has led to so many empty, boarded-up buildings in communities everywhere.

We can’t look for help from Oklahoma City. That is obvious. Just look at the recent Runestone fiasco. Everybody likes to point fingers, but this is not a Republican, Democrat, Tea Party or independent problem.

Toss the partisan politic crud aside. To move forward, we must work together and not worry about who votes for who or who supported who.

Everybody running for office always talks about bringing new jobs, lower taxes and paints a rosy picture for the future if he or she is elected. That doesn’t happen, of course.

We can’t sit on our tush and wait for somebody else to solve our problems. LeFlore County needs to capitalize on our resources and people. That means getting people to visit our county.

Desperate times require desperate actions. If you have suggestions on how to improve our county, please leave your comments below.

Facebook friends!

2011-06-11T07:33:00.001-05:00

Just threw Molly’s ball and watched her chase it and bring it back for me to throw it again…and again!

Or…Dadgum, what is that smell? Molly must have…oops, forgot that was me. Need to get some air working in here!

If I was the type to update my Facebook status, those would have been my latest status updates.

Pretty exciting stuff, eh?

As you probably didn't know...or care, I use Facebook mainly for LeFlore County Journal stuff and rarely look at my personal page.

But I dropped by and noticed my friend list has grown to 517. At first, this brought incredible feelings of joy. Happiness, I say! I had 517 friends! Wow. I felt like Sally Fields accepting an Oscar.

Then I actually wasted time thinking about it and realized while I probably know and can name 517 people on a good day, I don’t think I actually have that many friends.

After browsing through the list, I soon figured out my Facebook friends could be broken into the following categories: 1. People who are actually friends; 2. People I know; 3. People I vaguely remember; 4. People I know but wish I didn’t (just kidding!); and 5. Who the #@%$ are these people.

Many of the people in the final category probably are friends of a friend, or requested to be friends for some reason that would probably confuse the heck out of sociologists or FBI profilers.

I wondered if these people requested my friendship out of some hope we would grow to be buddies and spend many fun-filled hours bonding over their latest updates on where they ate supper or discussing the latest Dancing With The Stars Many of Us have never heard of!

Maybe having a bunch of friends on Facebook brings up a person’s self esteem. Or perhaps, they like to brag that “I have more Facebook friends than you do!” or “I have never really been that popular until I got on Facebook and because of constantly asking people I don’t know to be friends, now I have nine zillion trillion friends!”

Do the others care? Is there some kind of prize for having the most friends?

My version of a true friend is somebody you can count on for help if you need it, not somebody who requested to be a friend when you don’t even know them on a social networking site.

Perhaps I should start requesting all my friends on Facebook do something to prove their friendship, such as mowing my yard when it gets hot or wash the Genemobile, since it is currently filthy.

Or to really test their friendship, I should make silly remarks to their status updates or pictures and see if they unfriend me.

But I’ll pass.

Weather woes

2011-06-09T07:28:00.000-05:00

The first headline I saw today when I got on the internet was not the way a person should start his morning.

It was on Yahoo and said: Democrats shun Weiner.

Do I really need to know that?

In case you have missed out, over the last month or so the Journal has had the weather forecast.

Each morning I get an email from Intellicast.com with the local weather forecast.

In case you were not aware, I am not a professional meteorologist. No, really (and I did look up the spelling. The first word I typed was for a person who studies meteors). I am not even as good as the old dudes who can tell what the weather will be six months from now because of the amount of fur on some bug's back.

Basically, I post what comes in the email with only slight rewording. Lately, every forecast has been HOT, or near record highs.

I don’t particularly care for the heat, but these are much better than the ones we had just a couple of weeks ago.

Most of those warned of severe storms coming our way.

I have never been good with storms. I hide it well because I am by nature a cool and collected person. Rather suave, too, if you can get past the image of looking like a mole rat which was referred to in my last blog.

In the past, anytime the sirens went off or Fred Baker or Garrett Lewis told us to get to the cellar, I moved at a speed which made Adrian Peterson look like a grandmother recovering from a broken hip.

Fortunately, now I live with this big hill behind the homestead and in a brick house. If a tornado did bear down on me like I was a mobile home park, I believe it would hit the hill behind me and take off like a biker hitting a ramp and wind up somewhere else.

This is probably not wise, but for some reasons when the bad stuff hits, it seems to follow a path to the south of Long Lake Hill, down around Hodgen or to the north part of the county.

I guess that is because of the mountains or rivers, I don’t know and Garrett has never explained it. Because of the choice of his music, I never can listen to Fred or KISR long enough to find out if it has been discussed.

When the first storm hit this year, it had my full attention. The wife went to bed. I asked her if she was worried about the weather. She answered by turning off the bedroom lights and was soon snoozing.

If you recall, that was the one with the softball-sized hail. I had never seen softball-sized hail, nor do I care to see it. After it started in with small hail, Molly was wondering what was going on and went to scratch at the door, which to the uninformed means “Get up off your rear and let me out!”

She lasted approximately two seconds outside before scampering back in.

We had so many storms this year that toward the end, I adopted the “Cry Wolf” attitude. I went to sleep, just like my wife.

This has not been a good year for the weather. We went from ice, to bad storms and now hot. Where was the nice weather, dangit? And how bad is it going to be in July or August.

Let’s find some bug-forecasting old men and find out, shall we?

I write a letter!

2011-06-08T07:47:00.000-05:00

Dear Reader(s),

I haven’t actually done the whole letter thing in a long time.

Now, it is all emails, instant messages and text messages. But this morning, while trying to avoid the latest news on Weiner-gate, I wondered if it was possible to actually write a letter.

I decided to give it a whirl, but hang on a second and let me change the channel as another story about Rep. Anthony Weiner sending an image of his last namesake to women is on the news again.

There, much better.

Okay, where were we? Oh yes, I was writing a letter to my reader(s).

So, it is hot here in LeFlore County.

Duh.

Dang, this letter writing can be tough at times. Better turn off the television as I really don’t want to hear anything else about the subject mentioned above or how Tiger Woods won’t play in the U.S. Open because his knee is hurting.

Well, Tiger, my knees are hurting but I am going to work today, so there. I will tell you why my knees hurt later in the letter!

Let’s see, what is going on in the county. Well, the Runestone will now be operated by the city of Heavener and the Friends of the Runestone. At first, I was worried about the Runestone staying open. At least now it will be operated by somebody who cares.

Hmm, what else is going on?

I draw a blank, which is starting to be a habit.

Let’s see, The Trish decided I should go with her to a wedding on Saturday. Generally, I try to avoid weddings as I have been through enough of my own. This one was unique, at least. It was held at Lake Eufaula, on an island, which required a boat ride to and from the island.

As weddings go, it was okay. Short and sweet and most of us wore shorts, which should be a requirement for all weddings and funerals, except I guess when it is cold. But they should still be fast and should have a timer requiring them to be finished in at least 15 minutes.

Our dog Molly needs her hair cut in a bad way. She once again resembles a black mop and it is hard to see her eyes.

Speaking of haircuts, last night, I mentioned to Trish that I thought she was getting her hair cut. She DID get a hair cut yesterday. Good one, Craigman.

Since it is so hot, over the weekend I decided to shave the old head and remove the goatee for the first time in a couple of years. “Ugh!” said my supportive wife about my new look. A co-worker, Sarah, said I look like a mole rat. Perhaps I am ignorant, but I never heard of a mole rat so I did the whole Google thing. After seeing a picture of one, it was not a flattering description and the hair will be coming back ASAP.

After watching the movie Sanctum last night, I decided it would be a good idea if the local movie stores offered a money-back guarantee if the movie you rented stunk. I wasted two hours of my precious time watching this movie and was so bored that I even talked about my wife’s hair.

The movie also made me wonder how it felt to sink so much time and money into making a movie and then discover it was a stinker, which is probably how most of you feel after reading this letter. But hey, I do offer to refund all the money you spent on reading this if you find it that bad.

Last month, I decided it was time to get back into shape. So I started running again. I quickly got so I could run (or jog, actually) and made it to three miles without stopping. I planned on actually running a 5K later in the summer.

That was about the time my knees sent a message to my brain that 48-year old guys with bad knees should probably reconsider the whole running thing. But I won’t miss the U.S. Open, by gosh. Or work, either. Take that Tiger.

Of course, it might be different if I had Tiger’s cash.

So I truly hope you have a good day.

Craig

My little girl

2011-06-06T07:58:00.001-05:00

My daughter turned 18 on Saturday.

Less than two weeks ago, Michaela stepped up on the stage and accepted her diploma as a graduate of Southside High School in Fort Smith.

I have always been proud of her as she is really a good kid, er, person. When she was announced at the graduation, it was “With Honors, Michaela Hall” and she got a big ovation from our little section of three.

Her name was listed several times in the graduation program and she will attend the University of Arkansas-Fort Smith (that’s UAFS for those of you scoring at home) in the fall with a full ride (THANK GOODNESS!) because of her grades.

She also has a part-time job and gasp, a boyfriend. We got to meet him for the first time about a month ago.

I expected to be disappointed. Like most fathers, I planned on trying to scare him and let him know that if he hurt or disappointed my little girl, the Wrath of Craig would fall on him in a way which would make the Egyptian plagues from the Bible seem like a more favorable choice.

But he was pleasant, dressed nice and acted like a civilized person. No visible tattoos, snarls or eyeball rolls when I tried to be funny. I didn’t even try to stare him down with my Don’t Mess with Craig look, which fails to scare anybody (especially my dog, Molly) and makes Trish laugh.

He did not belch, pass gas at the dinner table or say something like “Woman, get me some grub!”

Actually, that was me.

He even has a job and is going to college. I actually liked him.

Then she graduates and turns 18.

Whoa, this is a little too much. How is this possible?

There is no way she can now be considered a young adult. I expected her to be a little girl forever and come see me every other weekend and complain about my wanting to watch something educational like a football game instead of Lifetime.

But instead, Michaela grew to be a smart and mature person, despite having me as a father.

All the speakers at her graduation talked about how they are going to change the world for the better and the amazing opportunities ahead of them. Well, Michaela has already changed the world for the better, at least my little slice of it.

And yes, she has all these opportunities ahead of her. Unlike her father, who was limited in his academic fields because of laziness and Craig Attention Disorder Syndrome, Michaela can now do whatever she wants in life. I just hope whatever she does brings her joy.

I know that I haven’t been Ward Cleaver or won any Best Father contests. But if there was a Best Daughter contest, Michaela would win hands down.

With Honors.

Gilstrap overcame obstacles to succeed

2011-06-02T07:52:00.001-05:00

Like most people, I am glad to see others succeed.

Especially when those people are young adults. That is especially true when those young adults overcome obstacles to succeed.

Connor Gilstrap is one of those young adults who has overcome a lot to succeed.

Connor Gilstrap slides into third base during a game this past season.

Gilstrap, who just graduated from Poteau High School, signed Wednesday to play baseball and continue his athletic and academic pursuit at Carl Albert State College.

He is not your typical standout athlete, at least in size. Gilstrap is short and stout, to tell the truth. No, he does not stand 6-foot-2 and weigh 200 pounds.

Gilstrap is in the mid five-foot tall territory, give or take an inch or two. But what he lacks in height, Gilstrap makes up for it in heart.

Prior to his junior season, he injured both knees and had to sit out both football and wrestling. This came after he was one of the Pirates’ leading tacklers as a sophomore and qualified for the state tournament in wrestling that year.

He came back and played baseball his junior year, even though his knees were not 100 percent and was a pain inn the rear for most opponents both from his leadoff spot in the batting order and in the outfield, where he roamed far and wide to track down batted balls.

Gilstrap could have used the knee injuries as an excuse to coast or even sit out football this past season, where he was in danger of even more damage to his knees on every play.

But he didn’t. Despite missing his junior year, Gilstrap was once again one of the top tacklers for the Pirates and an inspiration to many.

In wrestling, he was one of the top wrestlers in his class and again made the state tournament.

When he finished wrestling, it was time for baseball. Like the other sports, Gilstrap was a standout. He helped a young Poteau team, which frequently started three or four freshmen, to win a district tournament and advance to the regionals.

For his success on the baseball field and in the classroom, Gilstrap is getting the opportunity to continue playing baseball when he goes to CASC in the fall.

Again, he won’t be the biggest player or even the most talented. But it is doubtful anybody will play harder or show more heart.

Poteau gets state tournament

2011-05-27T06:34:00.000-05:00

Some congratulations are in order today as Poteau was awarded the 2011 Midget State Tournament for July 12-16.

Dr. Steve Smith did the legwork and secured the bid for Poteau with the help of local OK Kids president Jerry Pitchford and other supporters.

The tournament has been held at Weatherford the last few years and getting the tournament is a big coup.

Eight teams along with families, friends and supporters were descend on Poteau that week and as Pitchford said in his statement, stay in our hotels, visit our restaurants and see what the area has to offer.

This should provide a big economic boost to the county. There are no solid numbers on how many visitors will come to the area, but if you consider there are eight teams with at least 10 players on each team, along with coaches, parents and family, and they will need to eat, get refreshments, gas, and need a place to stay, our area should benefit.

This is the first time in recent memory, if not the first time ever, an OK Kids state tournament will be held in the county. Usually, the tournaments are held in more central locations as towns from throughout the state participate in OK Kids.

The Midget group is for youth aged 11-12. Games will be held at the PARC that week.

To get the state tournament, organizers have to bid on the event. Naturally, Poteau is not centrally located and there had to be some reluctance to send teams from clear across the state to southeastern Oklahoma.

But Smith and Pitchford showed Poteau had the facilities and abilities to host the tournament.

In addition, the week before the state tournament, regional tournaments for Coach Pitch will be held at Heavener, a PeeWee regional is scheduled for Spiro and a Prep regional will come to Panama.

So congratulations to all those who worked so hard to bring the state and regional tournaments to our area. We need to roll out the red carpet and welcome our visitors and show them how good this part of the state is and hopefully they will come back again…and again.

Pirates show potential

2011-05-23T06:19:00.000-05:00

Poteau closed out its spring football practice with the Red-White scrimmage Saturday morning at Costner Stadium.

The 2011 version of the Pirates strutted their stuff as the two teams were divided fairly even among the squad, giving all the players an opportunity to strut their stuff for the final time before summer break.

Kendrick Hardaway tries to catch a long pass in the Red-White scrimmage.

After missing the playoffs last year, Poteau is looking to return to post-season play in the 2011 season and unlike last year, the Pirates will get three of their first four games at home.

The Pirates showed plenty of promise in the skill positions in the Red-White scrimmage with quarterbacks Wilson Klutts and Jace Pitchford leading the two teams.

Klutts started at quarterback last year before moving to receiver after suffering a knee injury. He was impressive in the scrimmage, especially running the ball.

Pitchford, who will be a sophomore next season, had several impressive throws for the Red team, although the white defense did apply good pressure.

Nick Donathan, who filled it at quarterback last year, is back at running break and broke away for a long touchdown run for the Red team while Michael Reynolds and Kaydon Evans also had some good runs for the White team.

Blake Roley, who hasn’t played the last couple of years while concentrating on basketball and baseball, is out for football and had a good catch and run from a pass from Pitchford.

Tyler Tustin also caught a long pass for the Red team while Jesse Woodson had a nice run on a reverse for the White squad.

The Pirates will have to fill some spots on both lines, but do have some talent and size looking for playing time. The major question is at inside linebacker as James Dighton and Connor Gilstrap both graduated after excellent seasons.

Again, there is some talent available, although those positions might be filled from younger players or players changing positions.

All these questions and more will be answered on Friday, Sept. 2 when the Pirates open at home against Checotah.

Way to go Wildcats

2011-05-15T09:17:00.001-05:00

A lot of teams deserve to win a state championship.

There are a lot of talented teams in every class. But Wister deserved to win a state championship and the Wildcats did Saturday with a 4-2 win over Dale.

Yes, the Wildcats are talented. Teams don't get to the state tournament without having good players. But as I mentioned in a previous blog, Wister plays baseball the way it should be played.

And maybe this will be a lesson to other teams who think trash talking and trying to rattle the opponent is a vital part of the game.

In the two years I have watched these Wildcats play, I have never seen any of their players or coaches do a single thing to try and disrespect an opponent, even when they have had plenty of reasons to get upset.

In many ways, this is old-school baseball. The Wildcats have good pitching (sorry, great pitching in the postseason), excellent hitting and strong defense. That is the secret to a good team and why Wister has been so successful.

The Wildcats have been on a roll since the 2010 LCT, when they captured the tournament despite not being the favorite. Since then, they have rarely been challenged and have reached the state tournament three straight times.

In the two previous trips (last spring and in the fall), Wister fell to Silo. The Wildcats got another shot at top-ranked Silo in the semifinals this year and didn't let the past defeats bother them. Instead, Wister pounded Silo, 6-1, to erase those past disappointments and move into the finals against second-ranked Dale.

All three pitchers Tyler Gibson, Cody Luman and Clint Crane, who dominated in the state tournament, will be back again. The Wildcats only lose three seniors: Josh Wolfe, Devon Midgley and Scoute Warren, so they will be a powerhouse again.

Wister's win also capped off a successful year of sports for our county teams. The championship was the second for county teams this school year after Talihina won the boys Class 2A state championship in basketball.
Whitesboro also reached the state baseball tournament in the fall. Poteau's girls made the state softball tournaments in the fall and spring. Spiro made it to the quarterfinals in football and the Lady Bulldogs reached the state tournament in basketball. The Bulldogs also won the baseball LCT and came within a game of reaching the state tournament in 3A.

Also, Poteau's boys and girls golf teams made it to the state tournaments this spring.

So to everybody, thanks for the memories and congratulations to Wister on a job well done.

Thanks, Carroll

2011-05-04T07:36:00.002-05:00

Carroll Rogers served as commissioner of Dist. 1 in LeFlore County for several years and was most recently chairman of the commissioners.

He was defeated by Derwin Gist in the 2010 election, but made sure to give the county a gift before leaving office.

Rogers ordered supplies from various venders in his last year, even though the purchases were not approved by the commissioners, as they should have been, and went way over his budget.

He made purchases of some $400,000 from the businesses. When the invoices were presented for payment, county officials quickly figured out these purchases had never been approved.

That left the three current commissioners in a bind. The purchases were not approved in any meeting, plus the funds were not available. Initially, the requests for money were turned down by the commissioners since, of course, the purchases had never been approved.

This wasn’t fair for the various businesses, of course, since they were out a lot of money in filling orders from the county, or to be accurate, a county commissioner.

Some of these orders were rather large and would put the businesses in a bind. So the businesses filed a “friendly lawsuit” against LeFlore County, seeking the money owed.

Now, the commissioners along with other county leaders are deciding what to do. Unfortunately, it looks like the invoices will be paid as the county will have to take care of it or a judgment could be entered against the county.

Actually, it is not technically the county which will have to pay these debts. It will be the tax payers of LeFlore County.

Our taxes will be raised to pay these bills, even though most of the county did not benefit.

This is not right, of course, but apparently is the only option available. Whether anything can be done to Rogers either in a criminal or civil manner is unknown, not that it would bail out the tax payers.

So thanks, Carroll.

Lamb's letter

2011-04-29T07:56:00.004-05:00

Newly elected Lt. Gov. Will Lamb was kind enough to write a press release thanking the hard work of LeFlore County leaders in solving the mess the bureaucrats in Oklahoma City created in closing the Runestone.

You can read the release HERE.

Everybody who has tried to save the Heavener Runestone Park (notice, state is not included and never will be again) deserve a lot of credit. In Lamb’s press release, he cited Lundy Kiger, Traci Barnes, Samantha Hess and Mike Kennerson.

They recently visited Oklahoma City to visit with OTRD leaders and members of the state legislature and yes, they should be thanked.

In Lamb’s press release, he states that there has not been a better time than now to visit our great state. I agree. Visitors bring in a ton of money to our state, especially the eastern part of the state, where six of the seven starts parks that are being closed are located.

He also talked about the recent budget cuts which caused the OTRD to re-visit the financial opportunities of many state parks at the end of the summer and prompted a discussion at home and in the office. Financial opportunities? Uh, something closed will not provide financial opportunities. And discussion? Lamb might have been involved in discussion before the parks were closed, but nobody from LeFlore County had that opportunity.

Instead, it was like the state of Oklahoma, the governor and the OTRD took a roundhouse swing at a bunch of little communities that depend on the state parks to thrive.

Lamb also mentioned the $500 million shortfall and the 5 percent reduction in budgets for state agencies. Good thing the OTRD has $39 million in the bank. And he gives props for the OTRD doing what they had to do, along with LeFlore County!

I almost felt giddy reading this. Almost.

I will probably once again catch some flak since we are supposed to put on our happy face while we work with the OTRD in transferring the operation of the Runestone.

And no, I do not know the Lt. Governor and have nothing against him. I thank him for, uh, thanking our county leaders. Yes, the Runestone will stay open because of the four people he mentioned, but also because of a lot of others such as Rep. James Lockhart, Sen. Mark Allen and many more.

Last but not least, Lamb mentions this true renaissance the state is experiencing. I might be wrong, but I thought a renaissance was something good, not the state leaders we elected allowing a travesty such as the closing of the state parks.

But thanks for the press release.

Looking for my safe place

2011-04-27T06:50:00.001-05:00

To those in charge of ordering the weather, we apologize.

Whatever we did that was not right, WE ARE SORRY. Please, no more. We had the worst winter in recent memory and my shoulder has still not recovered from that dreadful slip and slide trip down the driveway thanks to the ice back in February. Did I mention how steep our driveway is? Think George Washington’s nose on Mt. Rushmore!

So now, every day almost for the last two weeks, radio guys and television dudes have talked in excited voices about vortexes, bulge patterns (should we be discussing this over the air?) and going to my “safe place”.

I have a safe place? Great, where is it? It does bring comfort in these times of woes to retreat to my safe place. Now, if I could just find it.

Garrett and the guys on 40/29, who I don’t know but visit when KFSM gets scrambled, which has strangely happened a couple of times, or switches over to air “Wheel of Fortune” when half of LeFlore County is about to get blown away, have started using “safe place”. I even heard it on the radio.

It used to be “get in the (insert dirty word) storm cellar or bathroom…and duck!” Is that our safe place?

I asked Trish where our “safe place” is, but she was too busy watching the same “Sister Wives” for the 15th time and did not give me directions.

Personally, I trust Garrett. In Garrett we trust, even though he, like every other announcer needs to realize it is R-I-C-H-A-R-T, not R-I-K-E-R-T. We have also been blessed with the butchering of Bokoshe and Pocola, but not by Garrett, by gosh!

Weather technology has come a long way. Now, we know just how big the blasted hail is going to be that is going to dent our heads, hoods and houses.

“See this purple mass!” a weather person announces. “That is hail! Let’s take a look at just how big the hail is!”

When they say “Whoa!” or use hail in another tone, it is not a good sign. Softball size? Please no. I don’t much care for the green pea size, let alone softball.

I do believe some of our weather guys have gotten a little carried away with all the technology available. “Say weather sidekick, let’s check out the vortex of that storm and before anybody figures out what the hail they are looking at, switch to something else right before we tell the good people of some community I have never heard of to duck because we missed that tornado which is about to wipe the community off the map while playing with our weather technology!”

And what makes it even worse is, as some of you are aware, my Clark Kent duties are working at an insurance agent before I put my cape on and become Journal Man.

Let’s just say the downtime around the office has been slim. Claims, claims and more claims.

The people have suffered enough. Heck, Molly turned a year old the other day and couldn’t even celebrate with a game of fetch since every time we tried to go outside, it rained and the wind blew hard enough to even mess my hair up.

Okay, it was nostril hairs, but it was still bad. Fortunately, that same weather technology is predicting good weather for the next few days. So we can all come out of our “safe place” and return to living.

Baseball LCT was a good one

2011-04-11T07:46:00.000-05:00

The 2011 edition of the baseball LeFlore County Tournament ended approximately at 4 p.m. Saturday.

This is one of my favorite events of the season, even though temperatures this past week went from freezing to hot.

Spiro capped off the week with a 4-1 victory over defending champion Wister in the finals behind a gutsy pitching performance by junior Joe T. Ross and some timely hitting.

As Spiro coach Paul Croft said after the win, “Baseball can be a funny game.”

How else can one describe the events over the tournament?

On Friday, Wister pounded Spiro 10-0 and most people probably expected a repeat performance in the championship game.

But it was a different Spiro team on Saturday. The Bulldogs looked nothing like the team that got blown out on Saturday.

You could tell by their enthusiasm level even before the game started. On Friday, the Bulldogs were just there and appeared to be intimidated by Wister.

If there was any intimidation, it disappeared overnight. Facing a team which had dominated county baseball for the last year, Spiro jumped ahead and most of Wister’s hard hits found a defender in the right spot.

True, the Bulldogs did get a little benefit as the wind was blowing in and two Wister hits which might have been a home run the night before, turned into long outs.

But Spiro earned this win behind its junior pitcher, who along with Whitesboro’s Dexter Morgan, showed that indeed, good pitching does beat good hitting.

You also can’t blame the Wildcats if they were a little worn out after winning four straight over the previous two days to force a second championship game. Yes, they are a bunch of teenagers, but the loss to Whitesboro on Wednesday forced Wister to win three times in less than 24 hours to just get into the first championship game.

This was definitely a tournament to remember.

And, it should get better next year. Spiro only loses two seniors. Wister will be missing three seniors, but returns all its pitching. Poteau has most of its players back and Pocola and Cameron will both be better.

So…how can the tournament get better? One idea some of the coaches have discussed is having the last two or three days played at Carl Albert. That would be an excellent idea and hopefully this can be implemented.

Some schools will be against that, but always having the most important games at a central location will increase the size of the crowds, as was evidenced during the games at Wister.

There were good crowds all week, much bigger than the ones that attended the games the previous year at Talihina.

Arkoma is scheduled to be the host next year. Hopefully Arkoma will give this a try, at least for one year. The field at CASC is great and would give the tournament an even bigger atmosphere.

And now, the attention turns to the girls slowpitch LCT, starting Monday at the PARC in Poteau.

Wister, Whitesboro was a classic

2011-04-07T07:27:00.000-05:00

I seldom like to throw around clichés and sound like a cheesy sport’s broadcaster, but pardon me for saying the Wister and Whitesboro game Wednesday evening was indeed a classic.

The game was a winner’s bracket semifinal in the baseball LCT, coming shortly after Spiro defeated Poteau, 10-9, in the earlier game.

Wister is the defending tournament champion and had been virtually unbeatable since winning the LCT last year. The Wildcats’ only loss this season coming into the tournament was by…Whitesboro in the season opener.

But the Wildcats had reversed the previous loss in the Wister Tournament a couple of weeks ago and appeared poised to cruise through this year’s tournament just like they did last year.

However, it was soon evident this was not going to be another Wister slugfest. Typically, opposing pitchers need counseling after undergoing the battering by the Wildcats’ hitters.

On this beautiful spring evening, Whitesboro pitcher Dexter Morgan mixed his pitches well and kept the lethal Wister hitters off balance.

He wound up striking out 13 and allowed only three hits, all to Caleb Hill. Wister pitcher Clint Crane was almost as good.

The two teams battled back and forth, playing the game like it should be played. Neither team ridiculed the other or hollered out any silly chants to try and rattle the opponent. When Crane hit one of the Whitesboro batters, he apologized.

Think that would happen in many other games? I don’t.

After Hill’s solo shot in the bottom of the fourth, Whitesboro rallied for two runs in the top of the fifth on Morgan’s double down the left-field line.

But nobody thought this one was over, not with Wister having at least nine outs. But Morgan stayed calm and the Wildcats’ only chance was a one-out triple by Hill in the bottom of the seventh.

Morgan struck out the next batter and got the final out on a grounder to first.

Many teams would have rushed the mound and celebrated like school had been cancelled for the rest of the year. But while the Bulldogs were pleased with the win, they also realized this tournament is far from over.

Whitesboro, one of the smallest schools in the county, will play longtime power Spiro tonight and Wister is still lurking, not yet ready to give up its championship.

But for at least one night, Whitesboro was at the top of the baseball world in LeFlore County.

This was a surprise, but the win improved Whitesboro to 16-4 overall and the Bulldogs reached the state tournament in the fall, so it is no fluke.

OTRD not broke

2011-03-16T07:43:00.002-05:00

Well, the movement to save the Runestone State Park has developed more into a mud slinging battle between the Democrats and Republicans and comments on how Heavener needs a good spring cleaning.

Thanks to alert reader Cody Smith, it appears like the Oklahoma Tourism and Recreation Department isn’t exactly hurting for money.

According to a recent story by The Daily Oklahoman, the OTRD only has, uh, $39,256,883 set aside in a revolving fund.

In case you missed it, that was $39 million, not thousands. So the OTRD really needs to save that $4,000 it will realize by closing the Runestone.

The OTRD is not mentioned in the story, but if you look to the graph which I just happened to copy and post here, all state agencies are broken down.

And there is a link below the story to check out the individual agencies. Since I am a curious person, I hit the link and was more than surprised to find that the balances for a couple of different funds for the OTRD has increased over the last two years, instead of shrinking, which is what you would expect from a state agency needing to close seven state parks.

In the Oklahoma Tourism and Recreation Fund, there was $2.4 million in the account in December of 2008. In December of 2010, that fund has grown to $5.7 million.

The State Park Improvement fund grew from $423 thousand to $544 thousand. There is $13,911 million in the Oklahoma Tourism Capital Improvement Fund.

In case you missed it, the state closed seven state parks, but got Carl Albert State College to take over operations of the park. But a private organization has been formed to raise what is expected to be somewhere in the neighborhood of $100,000 a year to run the park.

No state funds or money from the bloated OTRD will be used to operate the park. It will come from the good people and businesses from LeFlore County.

Also, as has been mentioned, the state rushed to close the parks before the state governing bodies had a chance to discuss the issue and see if something could be done.

This isn’t about who is democrat or republican, or the condition of a small, rural community in southeastern Oklahoma. Money is available and should be used to save the Runestone along with the other six state parks.

Runestone continued

2011-03-14T07:23:00.000-05:00

Concerning the whole Runestone closing/CASC running the park episode, my blog Friday about the changes and the meeting drew a lot of comments regarding the situation.

Somehow, the situation developed into a fight between the Democrats and Republicans, which was not my goal of the blog. It was to discuss my feelings about the meeting and several questions I had about CASC running the park.

*First off, I did not in any way, shape or form want anybody to think I was critical of Carl Albert State College. I appreciate CASC taking on the additional responsibilities and helping to keep the park open.

But, like I mentioned in the blog, CASC is a college and its goal is to educate students, not run museums or former state parks. I know nothing about how the Kerr Conference Center and Museum are being operated, just repeated a comment at the meeting.

*I am also thankful that Sen. Mark Allen worked hard to try and keep the park open. I just feel, like many others, there should have been meetings held to come up with a better situation instead of rushing into doing something.

*I hope there isn’t a lawsuit concerning the park. That would meddle the situation, but it would not surprise me if this did happen.

*The crowd was unruly at times. I can understand the frustration and appreciate Heavener city manager Mike Kennerson’s handling the meeting. As for the lady who complained about her water...

*Partisan politics! The democrat and republican supporters started slinging comments back and forth in the comments. This should not have happened. We should be spending our efforts in doing what is best for the park. The criticism of Gov. Fallin and Deby Snodgrass seemed to offend supporters of the republicans. They need criticism of the way this was handled. And as I mentioned, I voted for Gov. Fallin because at the time, I thought she was the best candidate. Would I vote for her again? Hmm…

*One writer talked about the criticism of Snodgrass. Yes, she stepped into a bad situation. I do feel her salary needed to be mentioned, along with the fact that she was appointed to the job not because of her work experience (she was Gov. Fallin’s inaugural chairwoman and previously worked for Chesapeake as a lobbyist). But this is probably a problem we have with most state departments. As for the remark about school educators and teachers, the superintendents are hired by the school boards. They must have a certificate and be educators. Snodgrass does not.

*One person commented that the previous tourism director was appointed by the former governor. What I was told was the former director was appointed by the tourism committee, not the governor. Not that it probably matters, just wanted to get that straight.

*Rep. James Lockhart was not notified of the meeting and had to find out from a friend. One writer said he should not have left his office early. The house was not in session Friday. He came to Heavener to meet with people. His cell phone number is widely known and he should have been involved.

*There was also a comment about how the state had planned to close the park two years ago. I asked former Sen. Kenneth Corn about this. He said if it was true, it was an internal memo and was never discussed with him.

*Yes, we do have to tighten our belts and look at all areas of the state government. The Oklahoma Tourism and Recreation Department had to make a five percent cut. How was this done? Not by cutting each park by five percent, which seemed like the logical thing, but by closing seven state parks. Each of the parks is vital to the local, rural communities. I wonder what would have happened if the OTRD tried to close one of the parks in Tulsa or Oklahoma City?

*The park will now be funded by private donations. A non-profit group has been formed, under CASC, to raise funds to keep the park open. It will cost around $80,000 a year. No state money will be used. Instead, our tax money will be spent on parks elsewhere. But the metro areas were spared, don’t want to upset them.

Hopefully the state’s governing body will revisit this issue. The way it is set up is not the answer, in my opinion. Corn said there are funds available for the OTRD to keep all the parks open and that would be the best option for everybody.

Tigers take gold ball

2011-03-13T08:37:00.000-05:00

We can all learn something from the Talihina boys basketball team.

The Tigers had made three straight trips to the state tournament going into this year, and finished second the last two years, losing to Pawnee both times by one point in overtime.

When the OSSAA announced the classes for the state, perennial power Oklahoma City Millwood was dropping into 2A and was given the top ranking.

Also, Pawnee was back and would probably be in Talihina’s way.

But despite the disappointment of coming up short the last two years, the Tigers were focused on winning this time, not satisfied with another second-place finish. Somebody once said it wasn't about winning or losing, but how you played the game.

For this group of players, after all the blood, sweat and tears, it was about winning. And then meant winning state.

Talihina took care of business, losing only two games during the regular season, one to eventual Class 5A state champion Tulsa Washington and the other to Tulsa Edison.

The Tigers won the LeFlore County Tournament and dominated in the postseason, winning all four games to qualify for another trip to Oklahoma City.

In the state tournament, Talihina defeated Chouteau and then Stratford. All that was left was another appearance in the finals, another shot at winning the elusive state championship.

And that is exactly what happened Saturday morning when the Tigers won state with a 42-27 win over Preston, a team which Talihina defeated in the area tournament last week.

Preston sent Pawnee and Millwood packing in reaching the finals. But despite a double-digit win over Preston last week, this was not easy for Talihina.

The Tigers trailed 25-22 in the third quarter. Senior Chris Capsey hit his lone basket of the day, a three pointer to tie the score. Taggart Lockhart followed with a pair of free throws and Talihina had the lead for good.

Things were still tight at 29-27 before Talihina went on a 13-0 run to finish the game and capture the first boys state basketball championship.

The Tigers’ great group of seniors capped off their fabulous career with the win they wanted the most. Lockhart and Jordan EagleRoad were four-year starters. Jace Chancellor and Capsey started the final two seasons.

Michael Bugos played most of the finals while Taylor Hubbard and Garrett Williams also contributed.

It is doubtful we will ever see a group of seniors like this again in LeFlore County and a fitting going away present for coach Chris Gillespie, who has announced he is hanging up his coaching whistle.

This was also Gillespie’s first state championship after 30 years of coaching. He will also be missed.

Announcement raises questions

2011-03-11T21:58:00.002-06:00

You have to hand it to Oklahoma Tourism and Recreation director Deby Snodgrass.

And several people did at a meeting Friday at the Community Center at the Runestone State Park, but not necessarily in a kind and gentle way.

Snodgrass and other members of her staff braved the meeting regarding the closing of the Runestone State Park.

She announced on March 4 that the Runestone State Park along with six other state parks would be closed.

Snodgrass, who was appointed to the position because she was buddies with Gov. Mary Fallin, walked into a hornet’s nest.

Perhaps she hoped the announcement that Carl Albert State College would take over management of the Runestone and keep it open would sooth the overflow crowd.

It did. For approximately three minutes. That is, until Rep. James Lockhart, who is a Heavener resident and has fought hard to save the park, told the crowd he was not invited to the meeting which was held at CASC Friday afternoon and only found out about it from a friend.

Soon, there were more questions than answers. So, a private group, called the Friends of the Runestone would be formed, mainly so no state funds would be used on the park. Instead, the park will be funded by private donations to the newly formed 501c3 group.

Nope, don’t want any of our tax dollars spent on something that brings an estimated 100,000 visitors to our area! Oh yeah, it is expected to cost around $80,000 to run the park.

I was informed before the meeting about CASC taking over management, and also told that the state pressured the school into accepting the decision. During the meeting, it was announced that Dr. Webb consulted the agreement with regents and it was approved.

One regent I talked with after the meeting said he had no communication with the college and only found out about the agreement shortly before the community meeting.

Maybe I am wrong, but it is my opinion that CASC was a junior college that is supposed to educate our students, not run state parks. I am glad and grateful CASC has stepped up to the plate and will keep the park open, but as was pointed out, CASC already as the Kerr Conference Center and Museum and the museum is supposedly seldom open and there are problems at the Conference Center.

There is also a couple of sticky situations that need to be resolved. First off, there is the deed from Herbert Ward which says that if the park is not kept as a state park, the land reverts back to him. Hmm. Also, neither the CASC regents or the tourism committee have ratified the agreement.

Former state senator Kenneth Corn also said there is money available and the decision to close the park should have not been rushed.

As could be expected, Snodgrass did draw some heated questions. Early on, she said a person in the OTPD decided which parks had to be closed.

One Heavener resident asked what her salary was. Snodgrass looked at her staff then replied it was $86,000. After confirming she was told by the staff person which parks needed to be closed, she was asked why the state could not save $86,000 by eliminating her position and using the person who decided.

She was also raked over the coals on the cost estimates. Snodgrass said it costs $108,000 to run the park, with $84,000 of that coming in personnel costs.

The personnel will be transferred to “vacant” positions with other state parks. So the potential savings is the expected upkeep costs of $24,000 and the revenue of $20,000, so there will be a savings of roughly $4,000 by closing the park, not counting lost tax revenue.

When questioned about the state budget, she said part of the budget went to the state movie operations. Asked if they had made any movies, she talked about one that was made about a former state official (duh!) and then asked how the movie did. Uh, not too good, Snodgrass did not say, but did not have to, either.

But there is still hope, as Corn said. The legislatures are still in session and hopefully something can be done. Even though Snodgrass apparently thinks she has flushed away the problem.

Plus, I smell a lawsuit coming down the highway, one that will probably raise even more questions than answers.

Save the Runestone

2011-03-11T07:36:00.000-06:00

There is no way of telling how many people have visited the Runestone State Park over the years.

Visitors from all over the country and the world have taken the time to travel the narrow road up Poteau Mountain to visit the park and see the carvings on the rock.

They also walk the trails, let the kids frolic on the playground equipment, use the campground facilities and enjoy a great view from the overlook.

The park holds many events each year such as the Bluegrass on the Mountain, an event organized by Curtis Howze which raises money for the Alzeheimer’s Association, easter egg hunts put on by the local veterans, along with family and school reunions, weddings, receptions or just a place to get away for a few minutes.

Locals use the road leading up to the park for exercise. Others hike the trails and enjoy the views and scenery, which you don’t get at any of the parks in and around Oklahoma City.

According to officials, over 100,000 people visit the park each year.

Sadly, unless something changes, there will be no more birthday parties, family reunions, weddings, charity events or easter egg hunts as the gate for the park will be closed on Aug. 15.

I have witnessed and seen many dumb things in my life, but closing the Runestone State Park is at the top.

Consider the following:

*The decision was announced last Friday, shortly before 5 p.m.;

*The director, Deby Snodgrass, decided to close the seven state parks;

*She should know, since Snodgrass had been on the job for less than a month and was appointed, not because of her vast experience with the Oklahoma parks, but because she was Gov. Mary Fallin’s inaugural chairwoman;

*Snodgrass touted the savings the state would receive from closing the park. $700,000! But all employees can transfer to other parks, so there will be no savings from personnel, which makes up most of the budget. Not counting personnel, operating expenses for the Runestone were expected to be $24,000 this year and revenue $20,000. That means the so-called savings are $4,000 to close a park which draws over 100,000 people to Heavener, LeFlore County and OKLAHOMA!;

*Sure, some of the visitors are local or from the area, but would we rather they went to Arkansas or Texas and spent their money? That money, incidentally, generates tax revenue and pays for stuff like salaries, such as that of the executive director of the Oklahoma Tourism and Parks Department;

*This is pure speculation, but maybe Snodgrass and her cronies thought the department would receive money from selling the state parks or leasing them out. Uh nope. The state or OTPD will not receive a penny from selling or leasing the Runestone. When the land was deeded over, one of the stipulations was if the state ever stopped using the land as a state park, it would go back to the heirs of Herbert Ward;

*In her press release, Snodgrass said the OTPD was in communication with local communities regarding the continued operation of the parks which will be closed. Ask Heavener officials how many times they have heard from Snodgrass. The answer? None;

*Like many others, I have sent emails to the OTPD and governor’s office. So far, nobody has responded.

Fortunately, our elected officials have been working to save the park. Both Rep. James Lockhart and Sen. Mark Allen have had meetings with Snodgrass and other key state officials. There are a lot of important people working behind the scenes.

So, what will happen at tonight’s meeting? Snodgrass is expected to attend, which will likely be her first visit to the Runestone. Hopefully, she will announce the right decision has been made to keep the Runestone open.

Will she announce the park will stay happen? Who knows. But it should.

Save the Runestone!

2011-03-06T11:14:00.000-06:00

The following is the greeting on the Oklahoma Tourism and Recreation web site:

Tourism is big business for Oklahoma. And it's our job to make it an even bigger, more vital part of our economy. There are three areas of concentration that we're focused on to energize our state's tourism industry:

Enhancing Oklahoma's Image

It's important that we show the country and the world what Oklahomans have always known -- that Oklahoma is a GREAT state, great to live in and great to visit. We must continue building an image that accurately reflects who we are.

Partnering with Oklahoma Tourism Leaders

We must rely on each other to advance tourism in Oklahoma. By joining together, rather than competing, for tourism dollars, both the city and its surrounding towns win. So our role is to continue building partnerships and assisting tourism leaders.

Revitalizing the Oklahoma State Parks System

The state parks system is an integral part of tourism and one of the most significant recreational components for our citizens. State parks will command a significant amount of our attention as we continue to protect and preserve their fragile ecosystems. We look forward to working with you to reach these goals as, together, we strengthen and build Oklahoma tourism.

Hmm. Making tourism bigger and more vital part of our economy? Then why does the department plan to close seven state parks, including the Runestone State Park?

When I first heard the news, it felt like somebody had just kicked me in the privates. It had to be a joke. But it wasn’t.

Oklahoma’s state Tourism and Recreation Department plans to close the Runestone State Park in five months?

The Runestone is a one-of-a-kind attraction. It has been such a big part of my life and that of many others. There is no way to know how many hours I have spent walking the trails, taking pictures and enjoying the natural beauty.

The state park hosts so many events, it is hard to list. But here are a few: the annual Bluegrass Festival, easter egg hunt, reunions, car shows, birthday parties and so much more.

It is a big part of Heavener, too, bringing tourists from near and far. But hey, it is a small town in southeastern Oklahoma and the bureaucrats in Oklahoma City who made this decision probably never even have been to the park, which is clean, friendly and free to visitors.

Plus, you have to be proud of the way the decision was announced. It was sent out by a press release shortly before 5 p.m. on a Friday by director Deby Snodgrass. Well, that is certainly convenient, eh? And it keeps the protests from disturbing a weekend for the head honchos.

By eliminated the seven parks, the state is expected to save $700,000 annually. Well, I’m sure that will save a lot of money. So, each park costs the state approximately $100,000 each?

I wonder how much money the visitors to the seven parks bring in to the state and local communities by visiting the parks? And I might be wrong and intend to find out, but I would hazard a guess that there are state parks that go in the hole by a lot more than $100,000 each year.

Want to bet they are close to Tulsa and Oklahoma City? I would. I also wonder how much we could eliminate by getting rid of the state parks and recreation director?

Sorry, but I could not find that information. However, I did notice that she was appointed to the position by new Gov. Mary Fallin, so all of you who know the governor or contributed to her campaign should give her a call or write and let the governor know this was not a wise decision.

So, what can we do? For starters, call Snograss at (405) 230-8301. You could email her, but she does not have an email address listed. But there is one for her administrative assistant, Cindy Reisman at cindy.reisman@oklatourism.gov. Lets wear that one out, shall we?

You can also write to: Oklahoma Tourism and Recreation Department, 120 N. Robinson, 6th Floor, Oklahoma City, Ok. 73102.

We have started a Save the Runestone cause on Facebook. The link is HERE.

No mas!

2011-02-11T07:36:00.002-06:00

I sincerely hope everybody who has complained over the last few years of our “mild” winters is happy.

This, as you probably know, has not been a “mild” winter. It has been a wild winter.

And I, for one, have had enough. No mas (as former boxer Roberto Duran said to Sugar Ray Leonard)! We give up! No more! I have seen enough snow and ice to last me several years.

It’s not bad enough we have had snow and ice for what seems like the last month, but our school kids are going to be in school until July 4 if this crud keeps up.

So far, I know of one person who has suffered a broken hip and another with broken ribs from falls on the ice.

I considered myself lucky, considering I can’t pull the old “Gene Machine” truck up the drive way when the white crap is on the ground. So…I had successfully made the trek up and down the driveway several times back last week when it was good and icy.

Last Thursday, I had to park again at the end of the driveway and made the perilous climb to safely find the comforts of home. I remembered something in my truck. It wasn’t important, but it was notes for a story I planned to do.

Should I risk it? Ugh, finally, my sometimes strong work ethic prevailed. I must do it! I am guy! I changed out of my dress shoes and put on some tennis shoes with traction.

I had discovered that walking on the snow instead of the ice provided better traction. As I slowly made my way down the STEEP hill, I felt my trusty shoes give way and I about lost it. But no, I got my balance back, only to find out that I was now skiing down the driveway.

I had gotten about halfway down the driveway and had hoped to slide the rest of the way when the feet realized there were no skis on and gave way. Fortunately nobody was watching, especially with a camera.

I landed shoulder first, followed by hip and managed to slide a few feet more. First thing I did was look around to make sure nobody saw this. There was no laughter or gasp so I felt safe, except I wasn’t so sure that my shoulder was not broken and my hip felt like it made contact with the other one.

Forty-seven year old guys don’t handle falls like this very well. I was so sore that I couldn’t sleep that night. Of course, it didn’t help that the next morning when I got to work, I stepped out of the truck and the first step was a doozy. Just so my left elbow would not be left out on the pain, it struck something and got a nasty bump and bruise.

Somebody was driving by and watched my performance. I wasn’t sure, but thought I provided a good laugh.

The pain has finally gone away for the most part, it has been over a week now. It has provided some good conversation pointers. Us guys, since we are guys, talk and compare the number of falls and the severity.

Naturally, we have to describe everything that happened and how brave we were to overcome the falls and continue to battle the snow and ice.

And again, the snow came. No falls this time. But I drove my wife’s Explorer to the video store last night to get her a movie. We had been able to drive her ride all the way up the hill, but not this time.

I got to the top and stalled. No, this is not the first time this has happened. I decided to coast backwards down the driveway and park there.

But noooo. The Explorer started sliding all over the driveway and I managed to get one tire over the edge of the concrete border, which stands several inches high and was stuck. There was a drop off of several feet just a couple of feet away and I really didn’t want her vehicle down there.

Drats. This was not good. I really did not want to call a tow truck out to rescue her vehicle and fortunately her son and a friend happened to show up and we somehow got the vehicle loose. Let’s hope it still works, eh?

Remembering and looking forward

2011-01-25T05:30:00.000-06:00

With the 79th LeFlore County Tournament over, it is time for some reflections and to look forward.

Another great tournament, as should be expected. Congratulations to the Heavener girls and Talihina boys the two-peat. Also, commendations are in order for the Howe girls and Poteau boys.

One of the memories I will remember from this tournament is the sad looks and misty eyes from several of the Howe girls after the finals Saturday night. It is awful hard to win two years in a row, but just as difficult to make the finals two years straight.

But with only one senior getting much playing time, look for Howe to be back again next year and win the 80th version of this tournament.

As for the boys’ winners for next year, you have to look at Poteau as the favorites. The Pirates will have most of their team back and Scott Nelke is building a heck of a program at a school which was down for a while.

A player who deserves a lot of credit is Cameron’s Ryan Carter. He suffered a broken nose in Monday’s first round against LeFlore in what some describe as a flagrant foul. I did not see what happened as it occurred just prior to my arrival.

But Carter came back the following night and played against Heavener, wearing a mask that was not quite Jasonish but awful close.

I have expressed my admiration for the new gym at Spiro before. It is the county’s best and if the LCT is held in the county, this is the best place to play. Spiro did a really good job hosting the tournament, but I have some problems with a school hosting the finals on its own court.

It isn’t really fair to the other team, of course. It should be played on a neutral court. Spiro did make it to the semis but both teams lost in overtime Friday night before winning the third-place games on Saturday.

A couple of areas that need to be addressed: All players playing in the tournament should get passes to all games and if a person pays at one site, they should be allowed to go to a game at another site without having to pay again.

Without the players, the tournament would not exist and we know the tournament makes a bunch of money for the host school, there would not be a tournament without the players.

I also found a written document at the media tournament Saturday night saying the county tournament needs format change. I have no idea who wrote the document or left it at the media table.

But the paper says the tournament should be broken into two tournaments with a large school and small school brackets with the winners of say the small-school girls playing the large-school girls in the finals and the same for the boys.

The large-school boys and girls would be Heavener, Spiro, Poteau, Panama, Talihina and Pocola. Small-school teams would be Howe, Bokoshe, Whitesboro, Wister, LeFlore, Cameron and Arkoma.

This is broken down correctly by enrollment, but Panama, Pocola, Talihina, Wister and Howe are all Class 2A schools this year.

The idea would feature championship games for the large schools and small schools on Friday with the winners of the Friday games playing Saturday for the overall championships.

There is some merit to the argument, of course. The writer pointed out that small-school Arkoma then would not have taken a 52-point loss from big-school Pocola.

That is true, but these things run in cycles. Arkoma’s girls are way down, but their eighth-grade team just won the county tournament earlier in the month. Plus, small-school Bokoshe opened the tournament by beating big-school Pocola.

One thing I have always liked about the tournament is you get to see schools play each other which typically do not play during the season. If the tournament is broken down to two divisions, you will see a bunch of teams playing teams they play during the regular season.

So I don’t see this happening, or at least hope this does not happen. If something isn’t broke, which the LCT isn’t, then there does not need to be any changes

Predicting the 2011 LCT

2011-01-17T07:13:00.000-06:00

It’s time to button up the hatches and lock up the kiddos.

The annual LeFlore County Tournament starts Monday with all 13 county high schools competing.

Games will be held at Spiro, Heavener and Panama before all contests shift to Spiro for Thursday games through the finals.

As always, there will be excitement and despair.

I will get to the boys shortly, but for the girls, Heavener is the defending champions and the top seeds for the tournament. The Lady Wolves and Howe are the favorites to advance to Saturday’s finals by just about everybody.

Both teams have one loss with Heavener losing to 2A power Oktaha in a game Skylar Cooper was injured in and missed most of the game. Howe lost to Arkansas power County Line in the Arkoma tournament.

Heavener and Howe both return several key players from last year. Both those teams and Spiro get a bye in the first round. Here are my predictions on the tournament.

FIRST ROUND

(13) Arkoma vs. (4) Talihina. Talihina in a big way unless Arkoma’s eighth graders play. Arkoma has barely fielded a team lately and Talihina is much improved over last year. TALIHINA 48, ARKOMA 22.

(5) Bokoshe vs. (12) Pocola—Bokoshe should win this game, but I do not think it will be as lopsided as the seeds suggest. BOKOSHE 39, POCOLA 32.

(8) Poteau vs. (9) Panama—Poteau has already defeated Panama once this season, at Panama so the Lady Pirates should win. That game was close in the first half before Poteau pulled away. POTEAU 41, PANAMA 30.

(6) Wister vs. (11) Cameron—Two teams have played twice this season with Wister winning both games. The Lady Wildcats should make it a hat trick here. WISTER 51, CAMERON 26.

(7) Whitesboro vs. (10) LeFlore—Whitesboro could have been seeded higher. LeFlore is struggling and Whitesboro should advance without much problem. WHITESBORO 41, LeFLORE 24.

SECOND ROUND

(1) Heavener vs. (8) Poteau—Heavener beat Poteau bad to start the season but the Lady Pirates are improving. Game is played at Heavener so the Lady Wolves should win but it could be much closer than a lot of people expect. HEAVENER 44, POTEAU 36.

(4) Talihina vs. (5) Bokoshe—Will be an interesting game but the Lady Tigers should advance. TALIHINA 38, BOKOSHE 32.

(3) Spiro vs. (6) Wister—If there is going to be an upset early in the tournament, this could be it. Both teams are better than last year and Spiro was seeded higher than many expected. Game is played at Spiro so the Lady Bulldogs should advance. SPIRO 46, WISTER 41.

(7) Whitesboro vs. (2) Howe—With its record, Whitesboro could have had a much better seed. This is where it hurts the Lady Bulldogs as they run into Howe in the second round. Whitesboro is good but Howe is better. HOWE 51, WHITESBORO 38.

SEMIFINALS

(1) Heavener vs. (4) Talihina—The two teams played last week at Talihina and Heavener won fairly easy. Heavener moves into the finals. HEAVENER 42, TALIHINA 34.

(2) Howe vs. (3) Spiro—Biggest advantage for Spiro is playing at home. Could make the game closer than it would otherwise. HOWE 48, SPIRO 40.

FINALS

(1) Heavener vs. (2) Howe—This one is a tossup. Last year, Heavener won fairly easy. This time, it should be much closer with the Lady Wolves winning a tight one. HEAVENER 41, HOWE 38.

BOYS

In the boys’ side of the bracket, Talihina is the overwhelming favorite after winning the tournament last year and finishing second in state the last two years.

Kind of a bad deal as on most years, Heavener, Poteau and Spiro could easily be county champions. Among the smaller schools, Cameron has the best shot at making a run in the tournament although the Yellow Jackets will probably play Heavener at Heavener in the second round.
Here are my predictions for the boys

FIRST ROUND

(8) Arkoma vs. (9) Howe—Arkoma won at Howe this week. Howe’s leading scorer, Jared Brown has a hurt ankle and could be slowed. Arkoma advances. ARKOMA 48, HOWE 35.

(5) Cameron) vs. (12) LeFlore—Cameron fairly easy. CAMERON 58, LeFLORE 34.

(13) Bokoshe vs. (4) Heavener—Heavener easy in a game against the winless Tigers. HEAVENER 60, BOKOSHE 30.

(6) Panama vs. (11) Pocola—Two old and bitter rivals. Panama advances over the young Indians. PANAMA 38, POCOLA 30.

(7) Wister vs. (10) Whitesboro—Probably the best first-round game. Wister wins but Whitesboro should stay close. WISTER 52, WHITESBORO 41.

SECOND ROUND

(1) Talihina vs. (8) Arkoma—Arkoma has some talent and good athletes but Talihina is too good and experienced. TALIHINA 64, ARKOMA 38.

(4) Heavener vs. (5) Cameron—Best game of the second round. Cameron is a very good team, but has to play the Wolves at Heavener. Heavener advances. HEAVENER 78, CAMERON 69.

(3) Spiro vs. (6) Panama—Panama can stay close for a while but Spiro should be too good for the Razorbacks. SPIRO 50, PANAMA 36.

(7) Wister vs. (2) Poteau—Wister could cause some problems for Poteau, but the Pirates have too much depth, size and talent. POTEAU 66, WISTER 54.

SEMIFINALS

(1) Talihina vs. (4) Heavener-- Heavener was only down by three at halftime last week at Talihina and had a big lead early in last year’s semifinals between the two teams before Brandon Kirkland was hurt. If Heavener is hot and gets some inside scoring, the Wolves could stay close. But Talihina advances. TALIHINA 74, HEAVENER 61.

(2) Poteau vs. (3) Spiro—Spiro has won the last four times these teams have met, including earlier this year at Spiro. But in that game, Poteau played without three starters: Wilson Klutts, Josh Ross and Derek Blake. Plus, the Pirates led late before Spiro rallied. Finally, Poteau wins, even though the game is at Spiro. POTEAU 58, SPIRO 53.

FINALS

(1) Talihina vs. (3) Poteau—I believe Poteau is the only team in the county that could knock off Talihina. The Pirates have the size and guards to face Talihina’s pressure. Poteau is used to playing good teams, but so is Talihina. TALIHINA 65, POTEAU 54.

Rethink possible...or AT&T

2011-01-13T07:03:00.000-06:00

In case you missed it, which you probably did, I moved into the smart phone realm in November.

I had wanted one for a long time. I could talk, text, get on the internet, play games and oh so much more.

Previously, I was with Verizon. But I could get on a plan with my wife on AT&T for a lot cheaper even though I had some worries about AT&T because I heard the customer service was el stinko.

So I researched the heck out of the smart phones and it got to the point where I had brain freeze. The choices were too much. Several of my friends had the iPhone (which in case you have been hidden out in a cave or got struck by the vaunted Poteau Mountain meteor, is now available through Verizon).

I decided to go with the iPhone3, the later version but not the iPhone4 to try and save bucks. That was when I ran into problems. I could have actually bought one at an AT&T store in Fort Smith but the sales person was a tad bit pushy and tried to sell me every known apparatus that would work with the phone.

I am not big on pushy sales people and decided to go somewhere else. Nobody else had them in stock. Drats. So my contract with Verizon was finally over and I could get a new phone!

Since I could not get the iPhone 3, I finally decided to go with a Windows phone, a LG Optima. It seemed fairly easy to operate and despite the outrageous cost, I took the plunge.

I played with the phone fairly often for the first couple of days and loaded up some apps. One of the main reasons I wanted a “smart” phone was so I could get on the internet and update the Journal’s Facebook page.

The first game I went to was at Wister. I quickly figured out that public schools were not exactly cool with people using their wireless connection to get on Facebook. I thought that might just be Wister. Uh, wrong. Plus the service in most gyms is not good, which never seemed to be a problem with Verizon.

I did sign up so that I could text in updates to Facebook for the Journal, which is apparently the only advantage to going with AT&T instead of Verizon.

Also, I quickly figured out that I mainly used the phone for talking and texting, which is what I did with my old phone. I tried to watch a movie on the phone once and although this phone is twice the size (and weight) of my old one, the screen isn’t big enough for my aging eyes and I got a headache.

None of the apps really interested me, aside from the weather one. Prior to getting the phone, I was a little disturbed that I could not have unlimited internet. Now I realized that the $25 option was even more than I use. If I was going to use the internet, I could always use the one at home.

But then, problems hit. Seriously. The phone’s battery, which I had no problem with for the first month and a half, started dying by late afternoon. Each day, it died earlier.

I went by the store where I bought the phone at lunch. I saw the phone I purchased for $200 less than two months ago was now $99. Argh. They couldn’t help me because I did not have the last four numbers of the wife’s social security number.

I came back to the store a couple of days later packing those vital four numbers. It took most of my lunch hour and nothing was accomplished. The next day, I called customer service for AT&T.

I talked to one person I could barely understand for some 20 minutes and he finally decided that I needed a new battery. Really? You think?

He transferred me to the warranty division. After talking to another customer service rep for at least 10 minutes, she decided I needed a new battery also. Great. You can’t slip anything by these people.

But…she said they did not have any batteries in stock. She called LG and several minutes later, came back on the line and said I would need to send in the battery so they can look it over.

Okay, but there was one fairly large problem. I told her that wouldn’t work. “Why?” she asked. I wouldn’t have a phone. She asked if I had a spare AT&T phone to use. Sure, I keep one in my back pocket just for emergencies. I told her no and they either needed to get me a new battery or a new phone.

She couldn’t do that and finally (to get rid of me), said I would need to go to the store where I purchased the phone to get a new battery. Great idea! When I went there before as you may recall, they called customer service and took up my whole lunch hour and couldn’t get anything done.

But I tried again. I was informed by a rep at the store that I would have to get the problem taken care of by calling AT&T. You know, the same company which said the store would have to solve my problem.

Now the battery is dying at approximately 2 p.m. after a full charge. Maybe it is time to call AT&T and get the runaround from somebody who barely speaks English again. AT&T's slogan is "Rethink possible". Maybe it should say "Rethink going with AT&T".

Heads up!

2011-01-12T07:09:00.001-06:00

As if we don’t have enough to worry about…
This morning, I am dreading the thought of going outside to get my newspaper, assuming it was delivered.

There is the Arctic temperatures to deal with and some dreaded “black ice” might be lurking around to try and send my body to the ground in a hurtful way.

Now, we have to worry about falling objects landing on our noggin?

According to news reports a meteor landed near Poteau Mountain last night! Honest! Here is a link to the story on CBS News!

Egad! Reports say the meteor was seen all the way to the Florida coast. The firey ball was plainly seen throughout the area and even captured the attention of a Little Rock television station. Gosh, strange news, huh? Kinda like the Poteau Daily News' lovefest for AES, you ask? Not that strange.

Great! Now, in addition to watching out for black ice, I have to keep my eye out for meteors. One so-called expert said the meteor was about the size of a pebble.

Hmm, a pebble? How can people hundreds of miles away see a flaming pebble descending through the sky?

The expert also said since the meteor was green (?), it was probably filled with copper. Hear that copper thieves around here? Don’t steal any more copper from air conditioners! Just go find the meteor and you can get your copper fill.

Oh yeah, it was only the size of a pebble. Never mind. But I do feel like we should undertake a massive manhunt for the pebble. We can park the meteor at the Runestone State Park and bring in tourists to see a rock with Viking writing on it and a meteor!

Wow. I shiver in excitement. Heck, that might bring in enough tourists and money we could have some kind of lift so the old folks don’t wheeze and tire out on the walk back up the hill.

Hopefully we can get witnesses to verify the claim and point searchers in the right direction. Maybe one of our numerous wildlife cameras stationed out in the boonies actually took a picture of the meteor.

I wonder what kind of noise a pebble-sized meteor makes as it comes to the ground? Is it quiet? I imagine it making a noise like somebody with greasy gas pains.

Also, what is the proper etiquette if one sees a meteor headed toward another person? In golf, one shouts “fore!” if a golf ball is headed toward somebody. But what if it is a meteor? I just don’t see “fore!” doing the job and you can’t say, “Pardon me! But I believe a meteor is about to put a dent in your bohunkus!” I guess “Oh #%$^!” would be the appropriate wordage.

So…all of you can begin the meteor hunt. You know, right now! I will await word of this great undertaking while trying to get up the courage to bring in my paper.

Future looks bright for county basketball

2011-01-10T07:49:00.000-06:00

The future looks bright for LeFlore County basketball if the junior high county tournament is any indication.
Arkoma’s girls and Talihina’s boys won the county tournament with wins over Spiro in the finals Saturday night.
Arkoma, which has struggled at the varsity level over the last few years, has an eighth-grade class that could change that.

The Lady Mustangs are a machine, improving to 14-0 with the win over Spiro and Carleigha Thompson, one of the best eighth-grade players the county has produced.

Arkoma’s first five is solid, well coached and a team that could make a run at the high school LCT if the girls stay together. Kira Shepard was the MVP for Arkoma and stood out in the finals, although she had a lot of help from her talented teammates.

For the boys, it was another example of a team playing together to win over a Spiro team which featured its own version of twin towers in McKinley Whitfield and T.J. Mayes, who both towered over players from other county teams.

The Bulldogs also had a talented guard in Bobo Davis, who scored 24 points in the win over Wister in the semifinals.

But in the finals, Talihina played excellent defense, used balance scoring and got clutch shooting from Alan Lockhart and Zach Baugh to beat the talented Bulldogs.

Lockhart, the younger brother of Talihina standout Taggart Lockhart, was named the tournament MVP and hit the go-ahead three-point basket. But the difference was the team play from the Tigers, who kept their composure and never let Spiro’s pressure push them out of their game.

Poteau also showed the makings of a good team as the Raiders have a standout seventh-grade class that helped them capture third place. Wister, which only started one eighth grader, also shows the makings of a good team with the four seventh-grade starters.

A lot can change between now and four years down the road, but if the players and teams stay together and continue to improve, hopefully these teams will go deep in the county tournament.

The JH LCT and ugh

2011-01-04T06:42:00.001-06:00

Alas, this is a multi-topic blog so please forgive me for my ADT today, or whatever it is called.

First off, the junior high LCT basketball tournament is being held this week at several different locations. Here is the link to the brackets.

The junior high (actually 8th grade tournament) is awesome, in case you have not experienced it. No, it does not get the attention the actual LCT gets, but if you can, check it out. The tournament draws big crowds and the semifinals and finals later this week will draw huge crowds at CASC.

Last year was the first time I watched or covered the event and found it just as fun and almost as exciting as the LCT. I will remember Poteau’s Gabe Neal scoring his first basket probably longer than I will the play in the LCT and wrote a blog about the night.

I just wish we had something like this back when I was playing eighth grade basketball for the might Wolves. We were actually good that year and only lost one game to Doug Stone and Poteau in the semifinals of a tournament at Hodgens. We kind of went down after that, however.

So if you get a chance, go see the tournament. You won’t regret it.

------

Now for the second part of this blog and I apologize if this offends anybody as it is not related to the Journal in any way, shape or form.

This was my last post on my Facebook page on 12-13-2010: I would like to thank everybody for their requests to play farmville, frontierville and takeapoopville, but I do not have the time or interest so please stop with the invitations. Thanks.

I was not trying to be mean or clever, just letting people know that I don’t have the time or want to play all these silly games. If you want to play them, knock yourself out. Just don’t invite me because I will ignore the request and eventually block the app.

But sadly, that did not help. I had seven likes on the topic including comments! Wow! But this morning, I ventured over to my Facebook page and saw I had invites for the following games: Family Feud, ESPN the University, Family Life and…Sorority Life?

Somebody actually thought I would like to play Sorority Life? Egads. So I took a few minutes and tried to block the suckers. This is the comment Facebook responds with when one tries to block the app: Blocking (insert name of stupid game) will prevent others from sending you invitations (YES!) and requests for this app and will prevent the app from getting info about you (GREAT!).

And that is bad? I saw Facebook is now worth over $50 billion. Surely it isn’t from all these stupid games like Millionnaire City, which draws 12.3 million people a day, Happy Pets (I am not making this up) which somehow wastes the time of 5.9 million people a day or Monster World, another 5.5 million.

Just think, if all the people would get together and focus on economic recovery, we would no longer be in a recession. Or…maybe not.

LCT seeds

2010-12-16T10:04:00.001-06:00

The official seeding of the upcoming LeFlore County Tournament was decided in a meeting Wednesday night.

As you may recall, I tried to predict the seedings in a blog yesterday.

For the most part, I did okay. I was pretty close to money on the boys, only missing four seeds. I had Heavener third and Spiro fourth while the coaches flip-flopped those two. I also had Wister sixth and Panama seventh, which was reversed in the official seeding.

On the girls, I was not nearly as good. I expected Howe to get the top seed with Heavener second but the coaches had Heavener on top and Howe second. The big surprise was Spiro’s girls got the third seed while I expected the Lady Bulldogs to be eighth. Talihina also came in at fourth while I thought the Lady Tigers would be fifth.

I thought Bokoshe would be third and Whitesboro fourth based on records and rankings. Bokoshe wound up fifth while Whitesboro is seventh. Wister was sixth in the seedings while I thought the Lady Wildcats would be seventh.

Poteau was eighth (I had the Lady Pirates at sixth). LeFlore and Cameron were ahead of Pocola for the tournament while I had the Lady Indians ahead of those two.

No complaints. The coaches did a good job as usual. As you may know, the finals will be held in Spiro. Other games will be held at Panama and Heavener. CASC will not host any games for the first time in longer than I can remember.

The top three teams get byes during the first round. Here are the first-round matchups for the boys:

Heavener vs. Bokoshe; Cameron vs. LeFlore; Panama vs. Pocola; Wister vs. Whitesboro; and Arkoma against Howe.

Should be some pretty good games. Panama and Pocola will be good, no matter what the seedings or records say. Also, the Arkoma and Howe game should be a good one. Then, in the second round, Talihina faces either Arkoma or Howe; Poteau takes on the Wister/Whitesboro winner; Spiro meets Panama or Pocola while the winner of Heavener/Bokoshe takes on Cameron or LeFlore.

Here are the games for the girls: Talihina vs. Arkoma; Bokoshe vs. Pocola; Wister vs. Cameron; Whitesboro vs. LeFlore; and Poteau vs. Panama.

And in the second round, Heavener will play the winner of Panama/Pocola; Howe faces off against either Whitesboro or LeFlore; Spiro takes on Wister or Cameron; and Talihina plays either Bokoshe or Pocola.

Seeding the county teams

2010-12-15T07:40:00.000-06:00

Tonight is a big night for basketball players, coaches and fans in LeFlore County.

The high school basketball teams will be seeded for the upcoming LeFlore County Tournament to be held Jan. 17 through Jan. 22 with the finals to be held at Spiro.

About the only sure thing about the seeding is Talihina’s boys will be the top seed for the boys. After that, it is a coin flip. Talihina’s boys and Heavener’s girls will be defending their championships.

And out of the goodness of my heart, I will give you what I expect will be the seedings for the LCT.

First off, for the girls.

Heavener and Howe will be the top two seeds, although it could go either way. Both teams have one loss from last week in tournament games.

I think Howe will be awarded the top seed with Heavener second. The next few seeds will be a tough call but based on the records and rankings, Bokoshe will be third and Whitesboro fourth. Talihina is the fifth seed followed by Poteau and Wister.

For the eighth seed, my guess is Spiro with Panama ninth and Pocola 10th. LeFlore is 11th followed by Cameron and Arkoma.

On the boys’ side, Talihina is an easy choice as the top seed followed by Poteau and Heavener. The Pirates handed the Wolves their only loss and deserve a better seeding based on the head-to-head meeting.

Spiro is fourth followed by Cameron in fifth and Wister sixth. Cameron and Wister have split their two meetings with the Jackets winning by a larger margin at home for the difference. An improving Panama team is seventh followed by Arkoma at eight.

The ninth seed will likely be Howe with Whitesboro and Pocola following. LeFlore and Bokoshe will probably be the two bottom seeds.

As a disclaimer, this does not necessarily reflect the best teams in the county, just how I feel they will be seeded. For instance, I believe Poteau's girls are better than some of the teams ranked above them, but the Lady Pirates have only one win. They have also played a difficult schedule, which should help them in the county tournament. Another team which could cause problems is the Spiro girls, which have most of their players back from last year but got a late start because of the football playoffs.

Molly's big day!

2010-12-08T07:50:00.000-06:00

It’s worry day in the house of Craig.

Our puppy Molly is getting her first hair cut! Yes, she is seven months old know and in definite need of a trim.

But still, I wonder…will she be okay? Will she cry? Will she come out of the haircut with some silly bandana or bow in her hair? Will I actually be able to see her eyes after this? And…just how much is this going to set me back?

I am not used to having a dog who needs haircuts. Most of my dogs have typically had short hair. And no, it is not necessary for any of you reading this to say something like “at least they had hair!” Ha ha.

This is a new experience for Molly and me. It’s almost like a child getting the first do...or don’t. Should I ask for a lock of her hair that has been shorn? Probably not, I could always find some in the corner of some room from where she has shed.

I also wonder how she will like her new haircut, or will she notice. Will Molly (like some female people I know who will remain nameless) expect everybody to make a big fuss about her style? Does she expect the grandparents to come over to check out her new style? Are pictures required?

Probably not. Molly does not worry about her hair that much. She is okay with baths, but don’t bring a hairdryer anywhere close to her. Molly does not like the air blowing on her. The brush is not her favorite object either.

Must be something about all the hair tied together, plus she would rather play with the brush.

I feel sorry for the dog groomer. Hopefully I can pay before she takes on Molly. I fear afterwards, the price will double and Molly will be on the dreaded Do Not Groom list.

We have had Molly since August. She has almost doubled in size and not lost any of her attitude. Molly expects everything to revolve around her and she wants to be involved in whatever is happening.

If I go somewhere, by gosh, Molly thinks she should go and pouts and cries if she can’t. This does not apply to my going to work. I have a feeling she goes back to sleep so she will be wide awake when I get home.

I must admit, my work output at home has dropped considerably since the arrival of Molly. She does not feel like I should be sitting in front of the computer. I should be throwing her toy or petting her. If she is being ignored, Molly barks, scratches my leg or finds something that will show her irritation. That reminds me of some…never mind.

Lately, I have been buying her these monster chew sticks to try and keep her at bay while I work. The little ones just don’t work. For Molly, size does matter and…wait, that did not sound right. Let’s just say she loses her little chew toys, okay?

So when I get home from work this evening sometime after 5:30 (you know, after it is dark!), I will get to see a new Molly. Maybe she will come with a new attitude. But I doubt it.

Should be a good year in basketball

2010-11-30T13:33:00.001-06:00

The old oblong-shaped ball has been put away for the season and it is now time to turn our attention to basketball.

This should be another great year of basketball in the county, even better than last year.

Overall, most of the county teams should be better, at least for the boys. Many of the better girls from last year are now gone and the battle for the top girls team is wide open. But more about that shortly.

For the boys, there is once again one big powerhouse in Talihina with FOUR starters back off last year’s team which made it to the state finals before losing to Pawnee by one point in overtime.

I expect the Tigers to be back in Oklahoma City again, but this time it isn’t Pawnee Talihina will have to be worried about. Perennial power OKC Millwood has dropped to 2A and will be the Tigers’ biggest challenger.

In the battle for county’s finest, Talihina (#2 in 2A) will have some competition. Poteau should be better, especially after two of its better players are back. Last year, I expected Poteau to battle Talihina for the county title but the Pirates could never get past Spiro, losing all three times to the Bulldogs.

Spiro will once again be good, as usual, featuring a team once again that has more speed than any other one in the county.

Heavener is expected to be better with Koda Glover, one of the better shooters in the county, along with a standout class of sophomores and a starting lineup that will have three players at least 6-3.

Wister, Cameron and Arkoma are also improved and have a shot at going deep in the county tournament. Pocola lost most of its team from last year, as did Panama. Whitesboro is better while LeFlore and Bokoshe have both struggled.

For the girls, there are no clear-cut favorites. Howe (#16 in 2A) is undefeated and has to be considered the favorite with its deep bench and inside power, but Heavener (17th in 3A) has three starters back from a team which almost made the state tournament.

The Lady Wolves feature one of the best players in the county in Skylar Cooper and enough returners to face up to any team in the county.

Poteau and Spiro will be improved with most of its team back and playing under new coaches. Taylor Martindale is apparently sitting out the season at Pocola, a definite setback to the young Lady Indians.

Panama lost some key players from last year, while among the small schools, Bokoshe is ranked in the top 10 and Whitesboro has only one loss, to top-ranked Red Oak and is 16th in Class B.

Wister and Talihina have most of its team back and should be greatly improved. Cameron, Arkoma and LeFlore have struggled so far, but all three teams should improve throughout the season.

The bigger schools are tipping off this week, so get ready for a long, but good season of basketball in the county

The official TU vs. Rice blog!

2010-11-07T18:58:00.004-06:00

On Saturday, the one and only Coach Andy Perdue and I made our way to Tulsa to watch the Golden Hurricane play Rice.

This was the first college game I have been at in some 15 years as my preferred method of watching college football is sprawled out on the old coach since: 1. I am usually the only obnoxious fan in the vicinity; 2. The bathroom is roughly 10 feet away and never a line to wait in!; 3. No driving and traffic!; 4. I can sit down and watch the game on a comfortable seating place without having to stand the whole game; 5. food and drinks are close and very affordable.

But I found out an old buddy Ron Mears was now on the sports information staff at Rice and got in touch with him. He happened to mention that Rice was coming to Tulsa and Ron got me sideline passes to take pictures for Rice Sports Information.

So the Coach Ed and I made our way out fairly early Saturday morning, packed up with my aging laptop and camera equipment. This trip was our first one since the famous trip to Hennessey last year for a Talihina playoff game. The trip was fairly routine, the biggest surprise was that he could get driving directions on Google Maps once we hit Tulsa and the 3G kicked in.

We found the stadium and drove past a lot of people wanting us to pay to park, as if. We turned right at the stadium and found a spot only about a football field away, in front of some person’s house. I carefully avoided the driveway and made sure there were not any “No Parking, Idiot!” signs and parked.

We made our way to H.A. Chapman Stadium. The last time I was at what used to be called Skelly Stadium, it was a dump. Chapman Stadium was much nicer. Honest. The Chapman family must have been loaded.

Our passes were clear at the other end of the stadium. As we entereed the stadium, the attendant made us open the computer and camera bag, but thankfully passed on the body search and we were in!

Andy and I made it to the press box after a lengthy wait at the elevator, one that was worth it since the press box was four floors up. I was wearing one of my Journal t-shirts and while riding the elevator, a writer from the Tulsa World looked down to read my shirt.

I could tell he wanted to say “Wow, you’re with the LeFlore County Journal!” or “What the _ _ _ _ is the LeFlore County Journal?”

We found my old OSU buddy Ron and since we had not seen each other for some 20 years, endured an awkward man hug.

We talked for a few minutes and found the food. After chowing down, we made our way to the field and tried to get Poteau’s Garrett Klutts to look our way. He is a freshman playing footbal for TU. He didn’t look our way, so we walked around and as I was trying to take a picture of TU’s band, the cheerleaders rudely got in my way and ruined the picture as you can see on the right.

We did get a picture of Garrett as TU was coming out on the field and later on the sidelines.

Rice jumped ahead early and then it was all TU. While standing on the Rice sidelines, we were not exactly entertained by the people behind the visitor's bench. This one fat kid who looked like Bobby from King of the Hill, was more concerned with shouting insults at the Rice players. I thought he needed a good spanking. So did the adults alongside him.

Another scrawny kid who looked like he probably liked to eat boogers, saw me taking a picture of the Rice coach. “Hey, you’re taking a picture of Rice!” like it was a crime.

A mature Craigman would have ignored the statement, of course, instead of saying “better than taking pictures of you.”

There were plenty of other adults being just as rude. I wondered what made a person be this ignorant. I seriously doubt they would dare shout some of the things they did if they were face to face with the players. One obnoxious TU student, who acted rather drunk and looked like he had never stepped foot on a football field, was on the Rice guys hard.

I wanted to mention something to him, but didn’t want Andy and myself to have to take on an entire section of drunk college kids and embarrass them with a whipping.

The weather was great. I kept hoping we would somehow appear on the jumbotron so I could take a picture of us on the jumbotron, but it didn’t happen.

We went back to the pressbox at halftime for more nourishment and to download the pictures and give them to Ron. Still plenty of food and diet pop!

The game continued to be a blowout. We enjoyed the second half from the pressbox and Ron asked if I got a picture of Rice’s best running back, who just happened to be having a career game.

“Uh, no,” I said. Heck, I had plenty of pictures of Tulsa, including the one on the left I was fairly proud of. But the Rice guys just weren’t doing a whole lot. He didn’t seem to be too upset. We said our farewells with a couple of minutes left and actually made it home in time for the OU game.

Sad night for many

2010-11-04T07:48:00.000-05:00

Friday night will be a good night for many LeFlore County seniors.

For others, it will be a sad night.

Some of our seniors from Spiro and Talihina (and maybe Arkoma) will get to play at least one more game in the playoffs next week.

For the seniors from Bokoshe, Heavener, Panama, Pocola and Poteau, this will end the football playing days.

A few seniors might get to play at the next level, but most of them will take off the pads one last time.

These players have played, practiced and prepared for years. Now, all they will have are the memories, both good and bad.

It shouldn’t be this way, but playing high school football will be one of the highlights of their lives, whether they play on a good team or a bad one.

That certainly was the way I felt of it. For 30 years, I have wished for a chance to go back and play one final game (or season!) There is no way that is going to happen, especially when one is close to half a century old.

We were not that good my senior year, finishing 3-7. I still remember who we played and could come up with the scores if I had to. Our final game was at home against Stigler. The Panthers were going to the playoffs, we weren’t.

But we wanted to go out with a bang. The first play of the game, we ran a reverse and Joe Westfall ran down to the Stigler 5. We scored a couple of plays later and actually led.

Stigler came back to take the lead, but we had the chance to score right before halftime, but one quarterback who just happens to be writing this blog, was stopped short of the end zone. Stigler added another touchdown and the end quickly approached.

The game was over and so was my playing days. I was okay until we got in the locker room and started taking off the pads one final time. That was when it hit me. We would never do this again. I didn’t much care for some aspects of football, such as wind sprints or practicing when it was over 100 degrees.

But we were part of something special. Our small group of seniors had been doing this for five years, forming bonds that will last until the day we die. We fought together and celebrated together. Yes, there are times better, but not many.

I remember so well running on to the field before games with everybody on our side of the field standing and clapping and the band playing Allegiance (which was our school song).

I remember the bad times (like getting thumped by Vian that senior year) along with actually taking the lead in our game against Poteau, the first time that had happened in my varsity career.

I also remember one of my best friends, Marty Hinds, tearing up his knee in a pre-season scrimmage and realizing that all those miles we ran in the blazing summer heat and all those weights he had lifted, were all for naught. Number 51 would have to watch it all from the sidelines.

There is no feeling quite like this. So for you seniors playing for the final time tomorrow night, relish the memory and go out like a champion.

Election is finally over

2010-11-03T07:43:00.000-05:00

The long election is over. Finally. Candidates and supporters have spent well over a year getting ready for yesterday’s election.

There were plenty of winners, some that fell short and lots of people who were happy while many others sad.

As the election ended, we have many new faces representing our county and area.

James Lockhart rose from a political newcomer to capture the house seat over Roger Mattox. It was a hard and long journey for the Heavener resident. When he first decided to run, his friends had a good time with his decision.

He showed that hard work still means something, campaigning for some 18 months. He wore out the tires on his truck, visited with as many people as possible and beat a capable opponent in Roger Mattox.

There was a surprise in the senate race as Mark Allen defeated former representative Neil Brannon, relying on his strength in Sequoyah County. Brannon easily won LeFlore County but came up short overall as Allen’s support from up north made the difference.

For district judge, Marion Fry won Latimer County but Jon Sullivan was elected by winning the other two counties.

Kenneth Corn lost in his campaign for Lieutenant Governor, falling to Todd Lamb in a battle between two former senators.

We also have two new county commissioners as Derwin Gist won the Dist. 1 position and Ceb Scott carried Dist. 3.

All the attention was focused on the candidates. But we also need to remember everybody on the election board and the people who worked at the precincts, long hours with little pay.

This was the third time I have sat in on an election at the LeFlore County Election Board. The previous two were busy, but nothing like this election with the local and regional elections, along with state elections.

I started out able to keep up to date but that soon ended when the precincts started coming in, most within a 30-minute time frame. Supporters of the various campaigns were dropping by to get some information and three precincts had trouble with their ballot boxes, making it necessary to do a recount at the election board.

One of the precincts was off by one vote. But the staff still followed procedures to recount all the votes, not that one vote would have mattered.

Now it is a time for us to come together, whether you are a Republican, Democrat, or something in between or on the outside of those parties. The people have spoken. It might not be the result you were looking for, but we still need to support all our representatives.

Oklahoma and LeFlore County are going through a tough time and it is expected to get worse. This is not a good time to be an elected official. I would not want to be a senator or representative, and not just because I would not enjoy the whole kissing baby thing. There are tough decisions that will have to be made. Everybody will be fighting for this and that. Hopefully our elected officials can do the right thing and fight for what is right, not support the groups or individuals that helped get them elected.

So congratulations James Lockhart, Mark Allen, Jon Sullivan, Derwin Gist and Ceb Scott. And thanks to Roger Mattox, Neil Brannon, Marion Fry, Ike Davis and Bobby McKenzie.

Thankfully, election is here

2010-11-01T13:18:00.000-05:00

The home phone rings again!

Ugh. I am busy watching television, eating or working on the computer when the cursed home phone rings. Typically, we don’t answer the home phone because it’s usually somebody trying to sell us some crud we don’t need or want.

Over the last few days, it has been recorded phone calls of politicians asking us to vote for them. Or actual people calling to ask for me to vote for this candidate or another. Double ugh.

It’s bad enough we have to put up with the politician’s pollution campaign ads everywhere we look, but we also have to be bothered at home?

I can just imagine the conversation where the brilliant idea came about to call people at home and ask for their vote.

“Hey, I know!” said one campaign staffer to the other. “We can get a recorded message of our candidate and hammer all the people with phone calls on the answering machines!”

“You sure that is a good idea?” asked the other, more sensible campaign staffer. “Some people probably won’t like it.”

“Oh, they will be fine and feel honored to receive a phone call from a politician!”

Uh, not hardly. I came home from lunch earlier and scratched off two more candidates off the list of people I was considering voting for. I have scratched off all of them except for one local candidate who did the phone nazi thing and left a recorded message. But I did chide him and I will vote for him.

We have also had a bunch of people come by the house with campaign literature asking us to vote for somebody. I always make sure to think green and promptly put the brochure in the recycling bin.

A candidate is much more likely to get my vote by being honest with the people, not promising to do this and that when they are one person, probably a new politician with not even as much power as the person who hands out soap towels in the bathroom.

If it wasn’t so silly, maybe it would not bother me as much. Practically 99.9 percent of the candidates promise NEW and BETTER jobs, lower taxes, better education, etc. Might as well throw in a theme park promise for the greater Bokoshe metropolitan area. All those stand about the same chance of passing.

Yes, we want lower taxes. But like one candidate who I respect said, “Everybody wants less taxes, but what do you want to cut?”

How about aid to people who could work but prefer to sip off the government’s you know what. Typically, most people don’t want to give up anything. Let the great unwashed masses from up north and out west give up stuff. Don’t give me any of this JFK “Don’t ask what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.” Or state, or county, or city.

Finally, the election is here. I must admit that the political ads have been very nice and I don’t have a problem with most of the local candidates.
But still, I wonder why somebody would want to run (see the no power comment above) and spend thousands and thousands of dollars to gain a position that does not pay all that great. Is it ego? Are they power hungry? Or did they make a bet and lose it?

Then again, maybe I am wrong. It won’t be the first time or the last.

Remembering the Heavener Lightning

2010-10-30T08:43:00.003-05:00

Many times, an old picture will pop up on one of the social media sites that you wish had been destroyed many years ago.

That wasn’t the case on a picture that I was tagged in on facebook the other day. The picture was from 1982 and was of the Heavener Lightning, a pee-wee team I helped coach for three summers.

The picture was taken, I believe, in Ada, where the Lightning played in and won the district tournament to become the first Heavener youth team to ever advance to the state tournament.

It was some 28 years ago, but memories of those young boys will never go away.

In the district tournament, we played Preston, Byng (I believe, not sure) and beat Preston in the finals to advance to the state tournament. The state tournament was played at Moore and the Lightning played Coweta in the first round and lost by a couple of runs. Coweta eventually won the state tournament and nobody played them any closer than the Lightning did.

This was the second year I had helped coach the Lightning, along with David Grubbs Sr. and Mike Vickers. And yes, this was a special group of kids, now adults.

Many of them had started playing together in t-ball and then moved up to pee-wee. This was a time when Cameron and Spiro dominated pee-wee baseball in LeFlore County. But these boys quickly showed that was changing.

We had a lot of good players on that team, especially Joey Bradberry. He caught and pitched for us and I have not seen a player that young as good as Joey was. For those who did not remember, he played college ball and was a professional prospect until injuring his throwing arm.

Joey was also a heck of a football player at Talihina and is now coaching, like his brother and father.

Jared Muse was our shortstop and he was like a vacuum. David Grubbs Jr. played second base and was our leadoff hitter, a tough little sucker even then and is now on the Heavener School Board.

Dusty Alexander was the third baseman, a solid player and a good hitter after he was allowed to swing the bat instead of bunting. Dusty was not the swiftest of foot, but was another good player. Todd Vickers manned first base and did some pitching, along with being one of our best hitters.

A future candidate for the state representative position, James “Brother” Lockhart also played for the Lightning, along with Justin Frizzell, Russell Sanders, Cody Terry, Brandon Moody, Weldon Green and Shawn Ward. There were a couple of other players, but sadly I can’t remember their names.

One of my best memories of that year was the district finals. The winner of that game would make it to the state tournament. One problem, we were out of pitchers since we were playing the third game in that many days.

We talked it over and decided to give Shawn Ward a chance, even though he had not pitched for us that season. We worked with him during an earlier practice and found out that Shawn was definitely not overpowering, but could throw strikes.

Shawn threw a bunch of strikes that night and the Lightning won their biggest game ever to advance to the state tournament.

The kids had a blast that week and also at the state tournament, staying at hotels just like the big guys. And many of those same kids also were part of the first Heavener High School football team to win a playoff game since the early 1960s.

No more Thursday games!

2010-10-24T08:29:00.000-05:00

I shall admit it. I don’t like change. High school football games are supposed to be played on Friday nights.

Right? Uh, wrong, at least when it comes to the games during the annual state teacher meeting.

So I have but one small request to post here, one that will probably not make one bit of difference.

That is how most of my requests wind up, in the trash can. This one will probably wind up the same way, but I must voice this simple request: NO MORE THURSDAY NIGHT HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL GAMES!

There, it is off my chest. Actually, it was never on my chest. But it was on my mind, and hopefully on the minds of others.

Now the Thursday night game between Panama and Spiro to open the season was fine. My problem is the Thursday night games the week of the state teacher meetings.

All the county games were played Thursday. I know a lot of people enjoy this change of routine. Most of the coaches do because it gives them an extra day to prepare for the following game. Some of the players probably like it, also. It even gives the fans and supporters extra time for a long weekend.

So what is my problem? If you are going to play these games on Thursday, it should only be between teams that are a short distance apart, like Panama and Spiro.

Valliant played at Spiro and Poteau visited Broken Bow. Most of those schools didn’t have school on Friday. Poteau did. So after getting back from the game well after midnight, Poteau’s players, coaches, band, cheerleaders and students were expected to attend school all day on Friday.

I doubt a whole lot of learning took place Friday. From what I understand, Poteau was the only county school to actually have school on Thursday and Friday. The players were also expected to not miss one second of class on Friday, per the upper echelons of administration.

But that is not the only negative. How about the fans from Poteau and Valliant? Fortunately, Poteau’s game ended early. Valliant’s game at Spiro ended at 10:50 p.m. thanks to the pinball-like scoring and an injury timeout that lasted over 30 minutes.

Those fans, many who likely had jobs, probably did not get home until the wee morning hours. Hopefully some of them had the day off or did not have to report early.

Others did. Friday was not a good day for the old Craigman. After the late night on Thursday, I got up early to work on the Journal (as usual), then worked from 8:30 a.m. until 5:30 p.m. I did it, but it wasn’t easy.

So I hope the school administrators and coaches will take this into consideration before games are scheduled for the 2011 season and realize these Thursday games are not a good idea, especially those featuring long drives.

No way to end a game

2010-10-16T08:02:00.002-05:00

Don’t expect Sallisaw football coach Craig Benson to get a Christmas card from any of the Poteau faithful.

In fact, don’t expect him to get anything but scorn.

Benson was not exactly well liked before Poteau played Sallisaw Friday night. Now, not liked is a huge understatement.

After a hard-fought game with the favored Black Diamonds well in control of the game, leading 24-13, Sallisaw took over deep in Poteau territory with less than a minute remaining.

Game’s over. Show some sportsmanship, right? Wrong. Instead of taking a knee, Sallisaw rushed to the line and ran several plays, scoring on the final play of the game as the horn sounded.

Not a good way to win friends and influence people. The Poteau crowd let out a round of boo’s, the PA announcer congratulated Sallisaw on the poor sportsmanship and the Pirates’ coaches and fans were not happy.

I feared a confrontation. Poteau coach Jeff Broyles did let Benson know the final score was not appreciated.

This was not the way to end a game where the underdog Pirates basically left everything they had on the field. Facing a much bigger Sallisaw team, which dwarfed the Pirates in most of the line positions, Poteau gave an effort which showed how much heart this undersized team has.

The Pirates were bruised and pounded. Quarterback Nick Donathan dislocated his thumb in the second quarter, but came back to play after halftime.

Poteau had earlier battled back from a 14-point deficit to pull within one and would have tied the score in the third quarter except for a penalty washed away a successful PAT kick and there was a bad snap on the next attempt.

Sallisaw came back and scored 10 points, which a good team does. And make no mistake, the Black Diamonds are an excellent team and well coached.

The Black Diamonds can blame the silly OSSAA rule (which seems to discourage good sportsmanship) for giving a team up to 15 points for winning margin as a tiebreaker for the playoffs as a reason they ran up the score. Sallisaw won’t need a tiebreaker for the playoffs, however.

Everybody knows the Black Diamonds will make the playoffs, either as the first or second place team out of the district, depending on how they fare against undefeated Broken Bow.

But sportsmanship should prevail in a situation like this. Game’s over, show some dignity and respect for your opponent. Don’t kick dirt in your opponent’s face. Sports are supposed to be played to teach the players lessons such as discipline and good sportsmanship.

That wasn’t good sportsmanship. And as I overheard after the game ended, what comes around goes around. Poteau plays Broken Bow in its next game. The following week Broken Bow plays Sallisaw and rest assured, the Savages will have a ton of fans supporting them against the Black Diamonds.

LCT returning to county

2010-10-15T07:26:00.003-05:00

Spiro will hold the finals of the annual LeFlore County Tournament in January of 2011.

The LCT returns back to LeFlore County after a two-year stint with the Friday and Saturday games played at UAFS in Fort Smith.

This has been a controversial subject and remains so. County superintendents discussed the issue at a meeting Monday and confirmed that Spiro is the host of the tournament this year.

Spiro had hoped to host the big games of the tournament in its new gymnasium. The gym is easily the nicest in the county, but there are a few problems with the move.

First, the finals have always been played at a neutral site.

Then, there is the attendance factor. During the finals last year at UAFS, a crowd of over 2,600 was in attendance. Spiro officials say they can seat 1,900 in their facility. That means crowds of at least 700 less than attended the games last year.

Also, the facility at UAFS is a big-time atmosphere. Again, Spiro’s gym is excellent, but not as nice as the Stubblefield Center.

There is also a concern about parking, which might necessitate a long walk to shuttle buses to take fans from the high school to the gymnasium.

Those are the cons, but there are plenty of pros. Many people did not like the county tournament leaving the county. Having to go out of state made it worse.

This will keep money in the county instead of going across the state line. With the economy like it is, every dollar kept here instead of being spent in Fort Smith will help.

I am glad the county tournament will be played in the county, like it should. But the biggest problem still is we do not have a facility to compete with the Stubblefield Center.

We need a multi-purpose facility that will hold at least 2,500 people at a central location. It is not fair for the residents in the south part of the county to have to travel all the way to Fort Smith, or even Spiro to play in the finals, although Spiro is not much farther than Poteau.

But that is a problem. There are simply not funds available to build a facility like that. The state does not have the money and I don’t believe the facility could generate enough income to pay for itself, even by hosting the county tournament, other tournaments along with concerts, plays, etc.
It is a shame the new civic center in Poteau was planned before CASC renovated its Mick Thompson Field House, which resulted in the loss of seating and the move of the county tournament to Fort Smith.

If you would like to discuss the LCT move to Spiro, we have a discussion on this at our forum.

Oops and congrats

2010-10-12T07:40:00.000-05:00

Ahoy and welcome to another blog!

Hey, first off, I would like to point out an error in a blog the other day. Actually, two errors. I was writing about breast cancer awareness but instead of using those three words, shortened it to breast awareness.

Oops. Now before somebody mentions that every week is breast awareness week for guys, I would like to apologize for this and no, my mind was not in the gutter. Honest.

I blame the error as I do all my mistakes on my puppy Molly. Ever since we got her back in August, Molly thinks I should be spending time entertaining her instead of working on the Journal.

It is a constant battle. I will do something to distract her for a few minutes so I can actually post something to the Journal, then she will want to play and if I do not respond quick enough, do something she should not be doing or sit and bark at me.

Since you have not heard the Molly bark, it is a shrill, piercing noise that tends to make a person jump when it is not expected.

I currently have Molly scratches all over my arm. She almost gave me a black eye the other night. Molly has decided that chasing cats is a lot of fun. Fortunately she has not caught one yet.

Anyway, enough about the puppy. Congrats are in order to our county softball teams that advanced to the regional tournament. Panama, Poteau and Talihina all made the regional tournament.

Panama and Poteau lost to the eventual state champions in Konawa and Little Axe. Colbert, which beat Talihina in the regional finals, lost in the state semifinals.

Also, congratulations to the two county baseball teams that made it to the state tournament. Wister and Whitesboro represented the county well. Wister lost to eventual champion Silo in the semifinals while Whitesboro lost in the first round to eventual finalist Tupelo.

I would also like to congratulate the county band directors, especially Heavener’s Hank Nichols for organizing and taking part in the first Band Review for all the county bands. The event will take place on Monday at Harvey Stadium in Heavener and feature bands from Heavener, Panama, Pocola, Poteau, Spiro and Talihina.

This will be a great opportunity for residents to see all the county bands in one setting. I hope this is a big success and a great crowd comes out for this event. It is free and refreshments are available. Hopefully this is the first of an annual event.

Finally, my phone contract finally runs out next month. I have had a Razr for some five years and it has worked great. But it is time for a change and I will be moving into the smart phone area for the first time.

I have not had a data plan before and don’t know how much I will use it, but it will be nice to post updates to the Journal’s Facebook page instead of texting to Twitter.

But I need some help in deciding which phone to get. It will be an AT&T phone and just so you know, I am rather cheap. So leave your suggestions in the comments below or send an email to craig@leflorecountyjournal.com.

Adios.

The eight-man experience

2010-10-09T08:44:00.001-05:00

I made my way to the northeast part of the county last night for my first experience in eight-man football.

Maud at Arkoma was the top game in the county last night and I decided this was the time and place to lose my eight-man virginity.

After missing my turn and going around the block, trying to find the entrance, I found a spot close to the gate. Sweet. I must admit that returning to the Arkoma football field brought back some bittersweet memories.

The last time I was on this field was 30 years ago (yes, I am that old despite my youthful appearance!) when the Heavener Wolves played the Arkoma Mustangs in the season opener.

That was a loss for the Wolfies. I had one of my better games as a chubby quarterback for Heavener, but it was a bad way to open the season.

I walked up to the gate and told them I was here to cover the game. The gatekeepers smiled and let me through. I asked if there was a program available. They looked at me like I had just passed a windy. “No, we’re not that fancy,” she said, or something like that.

Now I have been to games where a roster isn’t available for one team and I usually can cope. But both teams? Eek! I walked to the press box and found rosters available. They were handwritten and I had to copy them down, but that was fine.

The first thing I noticed about the field was it was the regulation length, but a lot more narrow. It was 44 yards wide, instead of the typical 53. I introduced myself to the Arkoma coaches and had a short conversation and they are now among my favorite coaches. Easy going, friendly and about everything you can ask for.

Just like the Arkoma people at the game. A couple of Journal readers came up and introduced themselves and I found one of our frequent readers and introduced myself.

I watched the teams during the warm ups and they looked like most other football teams, just without as many players. Maud did have the coolest helmets I have seen in high school, a replica of the Cincinnati Bengals’ black stripes on orange helmets.

Finally, it was time for some football. I noticed all the officials were black and wearing outfits that looked like the NFL attire for officials with black pants instead of the usual white ones. The first kickoff was a regular kickoff, which seemed normal at the time but was surprising later (more about that soon!)

Arkoma promptly scored on a long pass play. Maud came right back and scored. Then Arkoma scored and guess what? Maud scored. That was the theme of the night. The football was well played, the players were excited, as were the fans and cheerleaders, even the Arkoma community band, which was surprisingly good.

The Mustangs scored late in the first half to lead 22-16. I was thinking I could dig this.

As I mentioned previously, the first kickoff was a normal one. From that point on, both teams tried onside kicks. Every kick. Every time. I liked that. Of course, it gave the teams short fields if they recovered, but can you imagine a coach at a bigger high school trying that?

Then, it was time for the second half. I thought there had been a lot of scoring in the first half. El wrongo. Maud scored 38 points in the third quarter alone. The Tigers had two touchdowns within 16 seconds. Seriously. Arkoma added 16 points in the third quarter. That equaled 54 points in one quarter for those of you scoring at home.

It was a quarter that seemed longer than most games. The officials did not help as they were seriously confused at times and the head guy moved at a pace that a crawling baby could top. Maybe they thought they were getting paid by the hour. Beats me.

The Arkoma kids were getting tired. I didn’t blame them. I was tired from my frequent walks back and forth on the sidelines.

As the game got a little out of hand, my attention started to wander a tad bit. I heard the old “Let’s get a little bit rowdy!” cheer, one I had not heard in probably 30 years. That was soon followed by the “Push ‘em back! Push ‘em back! Way back!” cheer. Another oldie, but not necessarily goodie.

The announcer was as good as I have heard all year. He even announced updates to the baseball playoff games. There were some good players. Arkoma’s Tyler Sweeten is as good of a receiver as I have seen this year. Maud’s quarterback was a stud, as were the two bowling ball running backs.

There were good hits, excellent catches, great runs and plenty of excitement. The only difference from other games was there weren’t as many players on the field or the sidelines.

After Maud took a 62-38 lead early in the fourth quarter, I thought maybe the mercy rule would be called and we could all go home before it got to the witching hour. Nope, the mercy rule was only if a team led by 45 points, one of the fans told me.

Ugh. I noticed the stands were departing rapidly. All the little elementary Mustang cheerleaders, who had entertained at halftime, were gone and probably already home in bed sleeping. Or texting.

The announcer kept reminding the crowd that a fifth-quarter would be held after the game. If it ever ended, I thought, but did not say. Heck, it probably wound up as a sleepever and everybody came in their jammies.

I realized about that time that there had not been a single punt all game. It was either score, turn the ball over or fail on fourth down. Mike Leach would love this.

After Maud scored again with 2:26 left in the game to increase the lead to 76-44, one Arkoma fan hollered out “We can do it!” I thought I might have morphed into an Adam Sander and wanted a sip of whatever that fan had been drinking.

In the last minutes, the announcer asked for applause for the officials. Whoa, I thought. I heard a boo from the Maud side and applause from the Arkoma crowd. Were they not watching the same game? I wondered, but did not say.

The clock slowly ticked away! Then there were back-to-back timeouts! I was about to drop. The Bob Marchant scoreboard show was probably over. My phone was dead and my texting finger was about to drop off. I probably have a callous now. I fear arthritis will hit sooner from the use of my texter from this game.

Finally, Maud got the ball back with just over a minute left and the quarterback took a knee! Hey, thank the big guy above. I edged out toward my truck and climbed in as the horn sounded. It was 10:47 p.m.

The final tally? Maud 76, Arkoma 44. FYI! That was 120 points scored in a single game. I was talking to a friend after the game and told him to shoot me if I ever mentioned going to another eight-man game.

But then I talked to Bokoshe coach Chad Ritter on the phone and he mentioned that Bokoshe will host Arkoma in a couple of weeks and I started thinking how that would be a good game.

So don’t shoot me, JP. Not yet.

The PDN&S was wrong

2010-10-08T07:59:00.000-05:00

Typically, I try not to be critical.

But I happened to see something this week that made me cringe.

It was an editorial in the Poteau Daily News & Sun that was critical of the Poteau Chamber of Commerce getting their 2010 Membership Directory printed at the Southwest-Times Record of Fort Smith.

The PDN&S writer, who did not bother to post a name in the editorial, chastised the chamber for its choice of a printer without giving the local paper a chance to bid on the project.

The Poteau Chamber is pushing local citizens to buy local, which it should. But the paper was upset when the Chamber chose to get its printing done out of town.

Okay, let’s look at this a little closer.

First off, Stephens Media (which owns the Southwest-Times Record) has been a member of the Chamber for over 10 years.

Second, this is a true magazine printing job, not a newspaper job. The PDN&S implied that it could handle this type of printing, but had trouble with a previous order from the chamber last year.

Third, the PDN&S boo hoos about this and how it was not awarded to a LOCAL company. Hmm, last time I checked, the paper was owned by Horizon Publications, which is located in Marion, Ill., which looks like it might be an out-of-state company. True, the workers are local, but all profits are sent out of state.

Fourth, the chamber has spent a bunch of money advertising with the paper this year and every year.

Fifth, the Chamber has 7,000 editions printed. Of those, 3,000 are given out in the Fort Smith area while 4,000 are distributed in LeFlore County.

What’s next? Will the PDN&S complain if somebody advertises with another media outlet, especially if it is a Fort Smith newspaper, television or radio station.

A couple of other observations: David Seeley is doing a great job with the sports section at the paper. Also, I was surprised that the paper printed several pages in pink on Thursday. That is to honor breast awareness week, which is good. But then I noticed that there were several advertisements about breast awareness week, which makes me think that this was all an advertising venture, not just trying to raise awareness.

Big weekend for county

2010-09-30T07:49:00.001-05:00

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.