25 Years Ago June 21, 1995
Girl Charged With Negligent Homicide
Crystal Lauer, a 16-year-old girl from Cordell, was recently charged with negligent homicide, a misdemeanor charge that stems from a May 13th automobile accident in which C.H.S. school mate Jamie Bennight, also 16, was killed.
A “not guilty” plea was filed on June 9th in the Washita County Courthouse. She is being represented by Ray Jones, a Cordell attorney.
In a written affidavit, Oklahoma Highway Patrol Trooper J.D. Fisher, the investigating officer on the car accident, said Lauer, driver of the 1993 Chevrolet Lumina, smelled of alcohol on the night of May 13th.
Fisher said a Lauer blood sample was sent to OSBI headquarters in Oklahoma City for a Blood Alcohol Content test. The results showed a test.08.
1995 Wheat Harvest Near End; Considered To Be A Down Year
Area farmers and grain elevator managers say 1995 will not be remembered as a great year for wheat harvest numbers.
Bob Lindsey, manager of Bessie’s Farmers Coop, said he took in about 342 bushels so far and he is about 75 percent finished.
He said the wheat is “good and golden, but it’s just shriveled.” He said the test weights he has taken have ranged from 56 pounds to 62 pounds per bushel.
He said the heavy rains in May and early June didn’t hurt that much since the wheat wasn’t mature yet. Lindsey said the whole state is down this year. The United States Agriculture Department forecasted 160 million bushels to be produced in Oklahoma earlier this year, but that number has been revised to 140 million.
Lindsey also said the late planted wheat, put in the ground in November, is producing the same yield as the wheat planted in September.
Wheeler Brothers Inc. Manager Jim Balzer said he expects to be completely done receiving wheat by week’s end.
He graded the ‘95 harvest as “poor” and said it was worse than he originally anticipated. He said he would rate it a C-.
Balzer takes in 800,000 bushels in a normal year, so far this year he has taken in 480,000 bushels of wheat.
He said the average yield was 22 to 24 bushels per acre.
Council Officially Approves “Community Square” Project - City Now Owns Theater
Members of the Cordell City Council formally accepted the “Community Square” building project Monday night when they unanimously voted “yes” to the renovation and construction project.
In accepting “Community Square,” the council voted to: accept the $1 per year lease offered to the city by First National Bank for the property on Market Street that will house the downtown pocket park; approve the $24,000 purchase of the Washita Theater from Okmulgee’s John McConnell; set up a Theater Board to oversee the governing of the theater and its uses; and approve the implementation and construction plans as laid out by the Main Street Inc. Design Team.
The park, which will cost less than $25,000 to build, will house the commemorative bricks being sold by Main Street and the city as part of the Streetscape sidewalk project. The bricks, which were developed to help the city pay back its $80,000 investment in attracting a larger grant, needed to be put somewhere as they could not be in the actual sidewalk due to ISTEA grant regulations. The current council has opted to reinvest the $80,000 in the park and theater project.
Councilmen Steve Craig, Cary Cunningham and Jim Price approved a three year theater purchase plan, which would pay McConnell $8,000 per year. The title and ownership will change plans with the first payment.
Mayor Phil Kliewer said the park and especially the theater, which will be transformed into a community center, will be “user friendly” projects.
“The City of Cordell holds the title on behalf of the citzens. It’s an opportunity our children need. If we can save one life with this project then it is certainly worth it,” he said.
50 Years Ago June 18, 1970
Cordell Banks Make Only Bid On Industry Building Bond Issue
The three Cordell banks submitted the only bid for $280,000 of Washita County industrial revenue bonds at the bid opening last Monday morning by the board of county commissioners.
The First National Bank, Cordell National Bank, and Farmers National Bank submitted a joint bid of $278,100 total interest charge, figured as six percent simple interest.
The bond issue will provide funds to finance an industrial building for Robertson Factories, Inc., which plans to locate a cut-and-sew plant on the Cordell city industrial tract.
The three banks will take one-third of the bond issue.
A second bond issue of $280,000 was not sold after bids were opened on construction of a building for another firm, International Shelters, Inc.
The building bids were all under $100,000.
Commonwealth Construction Co. of Oklahoma City, which was the low bidder on the Robertson factory building, was also the apparent low bidder on the second industrial structure. The bid was $97,300 for the building and an assembly line track inside.
Simmons Resigns As Basketball Coach
Lloyd R. Simmons, Cordell High School basketball coach for the past year, has resigned his position effective immediately. Raymond Garrison, superintendent of schools, says he received a letter of resignation from Simmons Wednesday morning.
Simmons, in his letter of resignation, says he is leaving his Cordell position due to personal and family affairs which need his utmost and immediate attention.
He stated to Garrison that he is going in the dairy business with his father-in-law in Union City.
“We hate to see Simmons go,” Garrison said. “He has done a fine job in Cordell. We wish him the greatest success in his new line of work.”
City Sales Tax Is Above $5,000
Cordell received a check for $5,143.63 this week from the state tax commission as its share of city sales tax collections.
This represented the one-cent city tax paid by Cordell business firms in May on business done in April.
The check reflected an increase in retail business in Cordell. The city’s check for March business was $4,790.72 and for February it was $4,670.16.
Municipal sales tax revenue for the entire state increased 7.1 percent over the same month last year. Cordell voted its sales tax last August and was not included in the percentage gain group.
The tax commission disbursed a total of $2,825,295 this month to 215 cities and towns.