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.
Friday, May 27, 2011
Monday, May 23, 2011
Pirates show potential
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.
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| 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.
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Way to go Wildcats
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.
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.
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Thanks, Carroll
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.
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.
Friday, April 29, 2011
Lamb's letter
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.
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.
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Looking for my safe place
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.
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.
Monday, April 11, 2011
Baseball LCT was a good one
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.
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.
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