25 Years Ago July 5, 1995
D.A. Raises Charge In Local Shooting
First degree murder charges were filed against 19-year-old Benjamin Harris last week in the Washita County Courthouse.
He is accused of shooting 18-year-old Amory Joe Pearce on April 22nd outside Cordell. Harris, prior to the murder charge, had been charged with first degree manslaughter.
In Friday’s initial appearance, Associate District Judge Joe Burch denied the bond request made by defense counsel Ray Jones. Harris had been free on $25,000 bond after his first appearance in April.
Burch said that if probably cause was not shown at Harris’ July 11th preliminary hearing, he would review the bond issue.
Jones also demanded he be given copies of all law enforcement reports concerning the case.
District Attorney John Wampler said the upgrade of charges stems from the continuing investigation of the case. He said the initial manslaughter charge was based on the information he had in late April. He said it took time to evaluate the evidence gathered. He also said he is “expecting the evidence to support a murder charge.”
Harris, the son of Cordell Police Chief Gary Coburn, allegedly shot Pearce four times with a .38 revolver after a verbal altercation.
Wampler said it appears the two had been drinking together on the night of the incident. First degree murder
First degree murder carries a sentence of life in prison or the death penalty.
Cleanup Unearths Tombstone
O.H. Williams got more than he bargained for when he bought a vacant lot near his home in northwest Cordell.
After purchasing the lot, which had been vacant since a house was torn down ten years ago, he started clearing trees and cleaning up the area, which led to the discovery of a protruding cement slab. Williams thought it was a load of fancy cinder blocks.
He “couldn’t believe it” when the cement turned out to be a headstone belonging to Carrie D. Kitchens, a woman who lived in the county during the turn of the century - 1877 to 1913.
Williams doesn’t know if the woman’s actual grave is on the premises or not. He doesn’t plan to do any earth work or till the ground on the site that was supposed to house his garden until he has a positive answer.
Research at the Washita County Courthouse showed that the land was divided into lots in 1911, two years before the demise of Ms. Kitchens. Williams, purely on speculation, thinks the headstone was stolen years ago and taken to the corner lot.
Williams has been able to track down a living heir - Richard Kitchens of Weatherford.
Kitchens said he was “dumbfounded” when he got word about the tombstone. He had always thought his grandmother was buried in Sentinel and now he doesn’t know where her final resting place is.
50 Years Ago July 2, 1970
FAA Signs Lease Agreement, Begins Operating C-S Airport
The Federal Aviation Administration assumed the operation of the airport at Clinton-Sherman air base Wednesday morning following a public contract signing ceremony at the control tower.
Chris Walk, Oklahoma City FAA director, signed for the federal agency after Frank F. Kliewer, Jr., chairman of Midwestern Oklahoma Development Authority, signed for the new state trust.
Mayor Lanny Ross, of Clinton, affixed that city’s seal to the document, and Elmer Simpson of Hobart, secretary-treasurer of MODA, completed the signing. Kliewer opened the ceremonies by welcoming a crowd of about 150 persons and calling “this a great day” for western Oklahoma.
He introduced Walk, who said FAA is happy to have the Clinton-Sherman airport as a training facility in conjunction with its Oklahoma City complex.
A number of other FAA representatives, air force representatives, state and federal officials’ representatives, and municipal officials and civic leaders of Cordell, Clinton, Elk City, Hobart, Burns Flat, and Sayre witnessed the contract signing ceremony. David Russell attended the ceremony as the representative of Gov. Dewey Bartlett. John Nelson represented Congressman Tom Steed, and Jim Hampten represented U.S. Senator Henry Bellmon.
The agreement pledges the FAA to operate the Clinton-Sherman airport 12 hours a day, 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Friday and from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday. The airport will be closed on Sundays and all legal holidays.
Six tower operators and six technicians were on duty already Wednesday morning manning the airport.
The first plane they directed to a landing was a C141 from Altus Air Force Base, which brought Col. Vere Short, deputy commander of air operations of the Altus base, as the official representative of the base commander.
Capt. Pyle On New POW List
Another peace group back from Hanoi confirmed late last week that Capt. Thomas Pyle of Cordell is a prisoner of war in North Vietnam. The peace group brought a list of 334 American service men reported as prisoners of war.
Last year Hanoi revealed through other channels that Capt. Pyle was being held as a prisoner.
Mrs. Pyle is visiting in Modesto, Calif.
Jimmie McMahan, a cousin, talked by phone with Mrs. Pyle Sunday night. She told him that she had heard nothing about her husband except the listing by the peace group back from Hanoi.
She plans to return to Cordell late in July.
Cycle Hits Car, City Youth Hurt
Larry Dale Henderson, 14, son of Mr. and Mrs. Jack Henderson of Cordell, suffered a broken leg in a motorcycle-car accident on East Main Street here last Saturday night, June 27. Policeman Harvey Stal
Policeman Harvey Stalcup, who investigated, said the youth’s motorcycle struck the rear bumper of a car driven by Donna Beth McDaniel, who had stopped to make a left turn.
The officer quoted the youth as saying his motorcycle brakes failed to hold. He swerved the avoid an accident, but hit the edge of the bumper
Young Henderson was taken to the Cordell Memorial Hospital where it was reported a fracture of the left leg between the knee and hip.
Policeman Stalcup reported only minor damage to the vehicles.