April 22, 2020 Issue, Page 1 of 20

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yy Serving :& Western Oklahoma Since 1901 Wednesday, April 22, 2020 Weekday Edition OKC bombing 4 = By Manda Smith, Contributing writer Sunday marked the 25th anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing. A couple of Elk City residents discussed where they were that day and how it affected their lives. On that April day, a rental truck filled with explosives was detonated outside the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Build- ing. The considerable blast destroyed one-third of the build- ing and destroyed or damaged 324 other buildings causing an estimated $652 million worth of damage. The bombing killed 168 people and injured more than 680 others. ‘The attack remains the deadliest occurrence of domestic terrorism in our country’s history, and the gravity of the event was a massive weight on the hearts of all Americans, none more so than Oklahomans. Ahose temporarily serving as a line pumps sewage from the manhole across the creek into Dale Royal was minister at Pioneer and Bell Church another manhole near a creek in Elk City. Staff photo by Don Munsch. of Christ for 40 years before recently retiring. A former member of the U.S. Navy, he was 65 years old when the explosion happened and belonged to the Oklahoma State Reserve Force. The Reserve Force was a nonprofit organi- Commissioners approve Select zation that started in 1993 that pledged total allegiance to their country and voluntarily provided support in the event of a natural disaster or other emergencies in the state of Energy to fix sewage problem Oklahoma. See Bombing page 2. By Don Munsch, Editor flow,” Litterell said, when asked what the city did to address Elk City City Commissioners in an emergency meeting the problem after it had been found. “We were able to run a Municipal court Thursday approved Select Energy of Elk City to take reme- pump into the manhole, pumped [the flow] into a pipe and dial steps to stop a sewage flow that had gotten into a creek ran it into another manhole, keeping the sewage out of the early last week. announces schedule The commissioners approved $3,250 per day not to ex- creek.” City officials do not know how the sewage seepage oc- Elk City Municipal Court sessions have been canceled ceed 14 days, said City Manager Lee Litterell. The sewer curred, Litterell said. He did not know how long Select En- line break was discovered April 13 at the creek near 20th since March 19 because of the coronavirus pandemic. If the Street and Pioneer Road. ergy personnel would be at the site. emergency declarations are not extended, Municipal Court “We will revisit the contract in 14 days,” he said. sessions will resume on May 7, at the time of day the cases “The flow has been stopped,” Litterell said. Litterell said Department of Environmental Quality per- On Friday, at another emergency commissioner meeting, were originally set. sonnel visited the site and did not indicate any damage had commissioners approved giving Litterell the authority to If the emergency declarations are extended, this date been done. spend up to $7,000 per day if needed to to take immediate would also be extended, the court stated in a news release. “We tried to place a bladder in the manhole to prevent the remedial steps to correct the sewer line break. If any person on a docket requests, the clerk will resched- MHS names top grads ule any hearing for one or two weeks. If there is no request, all persons on any docket since March 19 will be required to be in Court on May 7. The clerk may be contacted by telephone at 580-225- 4653. The clerk will be out of the office until May 4, 2020. ball, student council and yearbook and she was the football These requests should be made on or after May 4. trainer for three years. She has been honored with the 2019 Cattle industry losing and 2020 5-County Academic All-Star and she made the 2018 All-District Fast Pitch team. After high school, she plans to attend the University of billions to coronavirus Central Oklahoma to study kinesiology. She is daughter of Steven and Rachel Johnson, as well as Jodi and Dayson Fox. She has three siblings: Hayden, Rus- Dyer Steward sell and Rowan. Jocelyn is the granddaughter of Jeff and Emily Johnson and Roy and Sonya Judd. By Don Munsch, Editor Mackenzie C. Dyer, 18. is a salutatorian. She has been a Merritt High School held its graduation Tuesday, with se- part of Art Club, FCCLA, Academic Team and The Merritt niors having a ceremony at 6 p.m. May 8 in which people News Network. She plans to attend Southwestern Oklahoma may drive to the high school and pay tribute top the class of State University and major in engineering physics. Her aca- 2020. demic interests are aerospace and astronomy. Seniors that night will be in their caps and gowns. Dyer enjoys theater, drawing and painting, ice skating, On Tuesday, the school’s valedictorian and two salutato- video games and playing cards with friends and family. This group of cows was photographed on rians gave their speeches and senior class photos were done. She is daughter of Christopher and Teresa Dyer of Carter. top of a hill. Photo courtesy of Oklahoma State Here are profiles of the school’s valedictorian and salutato- She has a younger brother, W. Thomas Dyer. Mackenzie is University. rians, with information supplied by the school: the granddaughter of J.T. Dyer and the late Rosalind Dyer Jocelyn Thomas, 19, is the class valedictorian. She has at- of Carter and Thomas and Karen Darlage of Brownstown, By Brian Brus, Oklahoma State University tended Merritt since the fourth grade. Indiana. STILLWATER - The U.S. cattle industry lost an estimated During high school, she has been active in softball, basket- See Merritt page 2. $13.6 billion by early April this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and more economic damages to agriculture are likely, according to a study commissioned by the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association released this week. Conservation district: Funds are available for cost share assistance The research conducted by Oklahoma State University identified revenue losses of $3.7 billion so far this year in the cow-calf sector alone, the equivalent of $112 per head for each breeding animal in the country. The North Fork of Red River Conservation District an- Conservation practices available for cost-share assistance If that impact is not offset, long-term damages to produc- nounced last week that funds are available for cost share as- include: livestock pipeline and watering facility, water wells ers are projected to rise by another $4.5 billion, or total loss sistance on select conservation practices. The state of Okla- and ponds, forage and biomass planting, range plant, and of about $247 per head, according to Derrell S. Peel, Breed- homa has provided limited funds to the conservation district brush management. The cost-share rate is 50 percent for love Professor of Agribusiness and OSU Extension to help landowners implement measures that address their qualifying practices up to a maximum payment of $2,500. See Cattle page 2. resources concerns. See Conservation page 2. 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