November 5, 2019 Issue, Page 1 of 10

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Serving Western Oklahoma Since190 Tuesday, November 5, 2019 “Weekday Edition Merritt High School This area on Business 40/Route 66 student hurt in car crash will be under construction beginning By Don Munsch, Editor next week. Staff photo by Don Munsch. A Merritt High School student was in good condition Monday after being injured in a Halloween night car crash and being sent to Oklahoma City from the scene. Austin Filyaw, 15, was sent to OU Presbyterian Hospital in Oklahoma City, according to the Oklahoma Highway Patrol. He previously had been in critical condition. The wreck occurred just before 10 p.m. on Falcon Road and County Road East/West 1120, 2 miles west of Elk City, OHP reports. ; : Two vehicles were involved in the wreck: a 2002 Ford F-350, driven by 17-year-old unnamed male of Elk City, and a 2015 Chevy Silverado, driven by Dillon Wayne Bar- nett, a 24-year-old man from Elk City. Both drivers went to Great Plains Regional Medical Center in Elk City and were treated and released. Filyaw was a passenger in the Ford F-350. Barnett had three passenger in his vehicle: Bailee Nicole Barnett, 22, of Elk City, who was transported by personal vehicle to GPRMC and was treated and released, and boy, 5, and a girl, 3, whose names were not released. Business 40 work to begin next week The children were not injured, The wreck’s cause is still under investigation. The 17-year-old driver in the wreck was ejected an unknown By Don Munsch, Editor right up close to the existing bridge. And then we will back- distance from. Bridge work on Route 66 east of the Elk City Convention fill dirt over that box and median to fill the median up. We See Merritt student page 2. Center will be start next Monday. will construct temporary westbound lanes to kind of veer The $1.8 million, state/federally funded project will occur over, in the median and back over. Once we get traffic there, Lucas opposes over the fall and winter, said Buck Caswell of Caswell Con- we'll tear the bridge out, extend the box through where the struction, based in Elk City. bridge is currently, finish the dirt work there and then recon- House resolution on Eastbound lanes of Route 66, or Business 40, go over a re- struct westbound lanes over the box.” inforced concrete box and westbound lanes of that roadway go over a bridge. Traffic will still flow east and west during His company has a contract time of 150 calendar days, and his company can request the time be stopped on the project impeachment inquiry construction time. between Dec. 21 and Feb. 15. By Don Munsch, Editor “It’s just time to replace that bridge, an aging bridge,” “Whenever the weather gets so bad that you can’t work, The office of Congressman Frank Lucas, who represents Caswell said about the project. “It’s time get rid of it.” ODOT has a provision in there that they'll on some projects. District 3 in Oklahoma, released a statement in response to Caswell described some project essentials. agree to suspend your time, your calendar days, in that pe- the Thursday passage of House Resolution 660, which au- “The concrete box on the eastbound side is in good shape, riod,” he said. thorized the House to conduct a presidential impeachment Caswell said. “We’re going to tie onto it and extend it north See Business 40 page 2. inquiry. The resolution passed in a mostly party-line vote, 232- Ag barn gets a facelift 196. Lucas joined all of his GOP colleagues who voted to op- pose the resolution. Just two Democrats voted against the measure. As widely reported, the resolution will draw up the rules for the impeachment process. The inquiry centers Nick Gillespie, stand- on President Donald Trump’s dealings with Ukraine. ing on ladder, and “The process before the House should have been based Brian Taylor of Pa- on three pillars: facts, truth, and accountability,” Lucas triot Roofing and said in his statement. “The impeachment process is one of Windows work ona the most impactful responsibilities a Member of Congress sheet of siding at the shares with his or her colleagues. As an institution of, by, ag barn. Staff photo by and for the people, the House should always strive to be Don Munsch. inherently factual and objectively truthful. Yet sadly, the spirit at which this process has been conducted is far from what it should be. “Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Chairman Adam Schiff have broken with their congressional predecessors by disregard- ing regular order, consequently leaving the American peo- ple in the dark. The process which Democrats have long called transparent and formal has been anything but that. “This process isn’t fair. And the procedures adopted to- By Don Munsch, Editor Dillinger credited the district administration and Superin- day do nothing to correct that. The process the House has Siding for the Elk City High School ag barn in Elk City tendent Rick Garrison for making the ag barn renovation a laid out with the passage of this resolution fails to preserve was finished last week, and it was a project long in the mak- reality. Garrison has a prioritized need list, Dillinger said, the right of the minority, it fails to ensure the right of due ing, said ECHS ag teacher Rick Dillinger. and the ag barn constituted a priority. process for the President, and it fails to guarantee that the Wind storms damaged property, including barns, on the “So this is a big priority that our ag kids, our FFA students, alleged evidence be published for the American people to ECHD ag farm in 2016. One of the barns remains. After a have the opportunity to have a good facility if they want to judge for themselves. This investigation and those partici- school bond for ag and athletic facilities failed in 2017, Dill- have a project,” Dillinger said. pating should have been factual, truthful, and accountable inger said educators put a plan B into effect, which called When the district lost two barns, the district received some to the American people from the beginning, yet instead the for taking the current barn building down to the frame, re- insurance money - $43,000 - so that some pens were pur- House is proceeding with a process that is just another par- working the frame and rebuilding the structure to make it chased in anticipation of the district having this kind of facil- tisan exercise - one House Democrats have been pushing suitable. ity. The current ag barn houses animals for students who are since the day President Trump was sworn in.” “When it’s all said and done, it'll be one of the nicest proj- not just at ECHS. Public polling reveals a divided country on whether ect centers in the area,” he said. “Any kid that lives in the city of Elk City, whether 4-H or Trump should be impeached and removed, as a Washing- The barn holds sheep and pigs, and students drop by the FFA, can have a pen right here for a small animal,” Dillinger ton Post-ABC News poll shows 49 percent of people sup- facility to work with their animals to prepare them for show. said as he gave a tour of the building one day last week as port impeachment and removal and 47 percent do not, a Inside the facility, a portion of the building will be gutted acacophony of pig squeals created such a din that Dillinger Friday story from the Washington Post reported. Among and redone in the next year and a half, as funds come avail- had to remind them it was not feeding time. those with specific political leanings — either Republican or able to do it. That part of the building will house a feed room At the barn, the school provides the pens and water, and Democratic — the poll shows a strong support or opposition, and a supply closet. See Barn page 2. See Impeachment page 2. Weather Vol. 117, No. 89 Mail delivery View online . Lt Il I I Ul ll | ‘ tomorrow al 36 / a 75 cents, 10 pgs. 580.225.3000 elkcityoknews.com