25 Years Ago May 10, 1995
Hamilton Recalls Days In Oklahoma City After Bomb
Being a funeral director, Cordell’s Lynn Hamilton deals with grief on a daily basis, but nothing could have prepared him for the 12 days he spent working with the families of victims in the April 19th bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah federal building in Oklahoma City.
Hamilton is vice president of the Oklahoma Funeral Directors Association and a member of the organization’s disaster team. He was called the morning the bomb went off and was in Oklahoma City by noon.Hamilton and 35 funeral directors are members of the team, the largest trained group in the country.
“I always thought we would get called out for a tornado or something at one of the big airports, but nothing like this,” he said. “The scale of the whole thing is overwhelming.”
Burns Flat Board Wants Juvenile Curfew Enforced
The Burns Flat Town Board discussed the enforcement of the town’s juvenile curfew ordinance during its May meeting held last week.
Board members agreed that the town had become lackadaisical in enforcing the city ordinance and would instruct city personnel to notify residents this would not be tolerated any more.
The gist of the curfew states that minors under the age of 16 years old may not be allowed outside on city streets, inside the town limits of Burns Flat, after 11 p.m. any day of the week.
Cordell School Board Approves Resurfacing Gymnasium Floor
The Cordell School Board voted to approve a $17,200 bid to add 1/8 inch of polyurethane to the school’s gymnasium floor Monday night.
Sports Plus of Harrisburg, Kansas, will do the work on the gym floor June 19th.
The procedure calls for the floor to be sanded, patched, and re-painted.
A Tulsa company bid $17,857 for the job.
Since 1985, when a 1/8 inch layer of polyurethane was added, the gym floor has only required spot work.
50 Years Ago May 7, 1970
Two Men Are Killed In County Car Accident
Two young men lost their lives early Sunday morning, May 3, when the car in which they were traveling smashed against an embankment east of Cordell and overturned.
Killed in the accident were George R. Hunter, 24, Weatherford, and Charles E. Coverdale, 22, Colony.
Their deaths bring Washita County traffic fatalities for 1970 to four and double the number marked up exactly two weeks previously when a Clinton-Sherman sergeant driving a motorcycle and a young woman passenger died in a flaming car-motorcycle crash at Burns Flat.
Last Sunday’s accident occurred at 2 a.m. 16 miles east of Cordell on Highway 152.
Louis E. Speck, Cordell highway patrol trooper, says that Hunter and Coverdale were traveling east in a 1962 Dodge two-door.
County Approves Wheat Checkoff
Washita County farmers joines those over Oklahoma Tuesday of this week in extending the life of the Oklahoma Wheat Commission.
Only 43 wheat growers voted in this county. Of that number, 29 voted “yes” and 14 “no.”
Although total figures for the entire state were not available Wednesday, it was reported that a majority of farmers voting were in favor of continuing the wheat commission program of research and market development.
The program is financed by a compulsory checkoff of 2.5 mills per bushel on wheat when it is sold. The state Farm Bureau
The state Farm Bureau has announced it will seek legislation to remove the exemption on the first 400 bushels of wheat sold by a producer.
Officers Cite Laws On Dogs
Attention of residents of Cordell is called to regulations governing dogs in the city.
Tom Crider, mayor, and Eby Don Walters, city marshal, point out that a city ordinance provides that any dog, whether tagged or untagged, found running at large off the premises of the owner or trespassing on the property of another person shall not be under the protection of the law and may be destroyed by the city marshal immediately.
Annual tax of $1 on each male dog and $2 on each female dog was due on the last day of April. If not paid, payment of this tax should be made at the city marshal’s office.
A license cannot be issued for any dog unless the owner has a receipt or certificate showing that the animal has been vaccinated against rabies within the previous year.
Sheriff Reports Farm Burglaries
Clifford Hines, Washita County Sheriff, reports two burglaries which occurred in the Rocky area during last Friday night, May 1.
At the Teeter farm 6-1/2 miles east of Rocky entrance to an unoccupied house was made by kicking in a door. A pry bar was also used.
Hines reports that articles stolen include picture frames, an antique cedar closet, an old television set, a cake stand, some clothing, and an antique Singer sewing machine.
At that Carrol Burson farm 3 miles east of Rocky a new electric well pump with a 30-gallon pressure tank was stolen. The pump and tank which were painted green had been set on top of the well in preparation for installing.
Both burglaries were investigated by Hines.