Grand Field Letter 01

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 15, 2009

WHAT’S INSIDE SPORTS

Hate mail,powder fuel Grandfield fear THE SOURCE FOR INFORMATION IN SOUTHWEST OKLAHOMA

BY ZEKE CAMPFIELD

STAFF WRITER [email protected]

Ike and LHS

The Eagles and Wolverines clashed on the diamond at Ike. See story, 1C

LOCAL

Eyes on the pies

What’s your favorite pie? What’s the best way to make it? OSU Foods Specialist Barbara Brown serves up slices of wisdom.

GRANDFIELD — A white powder found in a letter sent to the school in Grandfield triggered an emergency quarantine of some school and law enforcement personnel on Monday. The substance, found tucked in a threat letter to the school’s superintendent, Ed Turlington, turned out to be baby powder — but for more than three hours school administrators, deputies from the Tillman County Sheriff’s Department, and the county sheriff, Bobby Whittington, were iso-

lated in the school’s teachers lounge while investigators with the Dallas/Fort Worth branch of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service determined the nature of the substance. Students at the school were not affected by Monday’s incident, Turlington said. “This was just in an isolated area, so we turned off the air conditioning and locked the doors,” Turlington said. “The sheriff immediately responded and started calling to try and get help.” Whittington said the white powder spilled onto the desk of the school’s secretary Monday morning as she was opening the mail.

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www.swoknews.com

Bible spat may have triggered homicide

The letter — which was mailed from an unspecified state in the western United States — was hate mail directed at the superintendent, Whittington said. Turlington said he has received a number of letters since he suspended the teacher of the high school ethic’s course last month because of the content of an inclass production of “The Laramie Project,” which tells the story of a gay teenager in Wyoming who was the victim of a violent hate crime. “I still get a few every week that want to tell me how sorry I am over this deal,” Turlington said.

BY SCOTT RAINS

STAFF WRITER [email protected]

WALTERS — A couple’s “rocky relationship” came to an explosive end outside of Walters Monday afternoon. A 66-year-old woman was arrested for killing her husband, Harry Williams, 74; she is in county custody, according to the Cotton County Sheriff’s Office. She is scheduled to be arraigned at 2 p.m. today in Cotton County District Court. Sheriff Paul Jeffery said the suspect called his office and said she’d shot and killed her husband, Williams, at about 2:30 p.m. Monday outside their home on Shooters Hill Road, about three miles north of Oklahoma 5 and two miles west of Walters. “We were out there real quick, within a matter of minutes,” Jeffery said. “She called the office and, basically, confessed to us.” Investigators found Williams laying in the yard outside the home — dead. “He was shot in the upper torso, neck and face from about 20-feet away with a 12-gauge shotgun,” Jeffery said. “That pretty well did him in.” Investigators from Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation were quickly called in for support, the sheriff said. Jeffery believes the couple began arguing inside the house, then moved to the backyard where she shot him. Investigators interviewed the woman’s father, who was also at the house at the time of the shooting. Jeffery said the couple had altercations and arguments in the past but nothing that needed law enforcement intervention. “They had a rocky relationship,” Jeffery said. “This time, they were arguing about the Bible; I think they dreamed up stuff to fight about.” It’s the general policy of The Lawton Constitution not to identify crime suspects until they have been formally charged.

SEE GRANDFIELD, 3A

SUNSET STROLL

Exhibit is just ducky

Junior Duck Stamp entries from across the state are on display in the gallery of the Visitor Center at the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge. See stories, 6A

ELGIN

Learning about 911

Kindergarten students at Elgin Elementary have been learning to be unafraid under fearful conditions when calling 911 in an emergency.

See story, 3A

POLITICS

Cole’s townhall

Rep. Tom Cole and constituents touched on a variety of hot topics in a townhall meeting held in Lawton. See story, 5A

ENTERTAINMENT

Celebs in the news

Simon Cowell wants to look on the bright side concerning his future and “American Idol.” Kanye West faces charges related to a scuffle with a paparazzo at Los Angeles International Airport. See stories, 3B

FOOD

Casserole comeback Recipes, 1B

JEFF DIXON/STAFF

A couple enjoy the end of a mild day Tuesday at Lawton’s Elmer Thomas Park. Mild days and cool nights are forecast across the state with rain expected to return to Oklahoma later in the week.

Beer sales revocation policy reviewed BY KIM MCCONNELL STAFF WRITER [email protected]

The City Council wants to remove itself from the appeal process, when the municipal judge revokes a retailer’s license for selling alcohol to minors. Council members didn’t make that decision Tuesday — it wasn’t listed as an action item — but the consensus of all but one member was that retailers who face suspension or revocation of their lowpoint beer license need to focus their appeals on the district court level, not the council. City Attorney Frank Jensen was directed to return to a future council meeting with an ordinance revising the appeal process. The discussion, sought by Ward 5 Councilman Bob Shanklin, came in response to the council’s decision in March to rescind Municipal Judge Michael Corrales’ ruling on a 90-day suspension for Donovan Woodburn, for his Cache Road Hop & Sack. Three of Woodburn’s employees were convicted of selling low-point beer to minors in June, July and August of 2008, and Corrales, working under city code, issued the suspension of Woodburn’s license at that location. The same code that sets the suspension and revocation rules also allows a license holder to appeal the judge’s decision to the council, which is what Woodburn did.

BY MALINDA RUST

JEFF DIXON/STAFF

STAFF WRITER [email protected]

The City Council selected Horn Sanitation Tuesday to establish two recycling centers in Lawton. C o u n c i l members voted 4-3, AGENDA ITEMS with one VOTE BY VOTE, 3A councilman abstaining, to rescind Corrales’ decision. Shanklin, one of the four who voted yes, asked during that March debate whether the issue shouldn’t be forwarded to district court. He reiterated that argument Tuesday, noting Lawton “is not a court of record” and saying the council shouldn’t be involved in the decision to remove a retailer’s license. “Let the court decide that,” he said. Ward 1 Councilman Bill Shoe-

INSIDE

mate agreed, saying the appeal “should never have come to us.” While several council members said it would be difficult to vote against some retailers who might end up before the council, they also said they didn’t support under-age drinking. Mayor John Purcell said the council had three options: Letting the ordinance stand as written (giving the retailer the option of appealing to the council); rewriting the ordinance to remove the council from the appeal process; or adding an administrative appeal process as a step before coming to the council. Ward 2 Councilman Jim Hanna said the council

Some two weeks after 6-year-old Hikeem Lambirth was killed in a drive-by shooting in southwest Lawton, shots rang out Tuesday on the same street, about five blocks away from the house where Lambirth lost his life. LPD Lt. Tom Crawford said he and several officers spent several hours of Wednesday gathering statements from possible witnesses or anyone who might know what’s going on in Lawton View. He said Tuesday’s incident happened sometime between 1-2 p.m. in the 1700 block of Southwest McKinley Avenue, not far from Lambirth’s mother’s boyfriend’s house, where Lambirth and his mother were staying when he was shot last

SEE CITY, 3A

SEE SHOOTING, 7A

Forecast calls for Roker to speak at Cameron commencement Al Roker, America’s favorite weatherman, will regale Cameron University’s Class of 2009 during the CU Centennial Commencement ceremony at 7:30 p.m. May 8 at Cameron Stadium. The ceremony will honor approximately 1,000 graduates, and the public is invited to attend. As weatherman and host of NBC’s “Today,” Al Roker greets more than

WEATHER

4 SECTIONS

Street hit again in drive-by

ROKER

30 million viewers each week as America prepares for work. His daily encounters with visitors from across America on the sidewalks outside the Today studio are a highlight of the program. A

MARKETS

Vol. 107 No. 221

Breezy

Dow

Crude

2009 Lawton Publishing Co. Inc.

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10-time Emmy Award winner, Roker conducts celebrity interviews, cooking segments, technology updates, and a continuing series called “Today’s Dad,” featuring parenting tips for fathers. The fan favorite has also presided over his own talk show on CNBC and hosted MSNBC’s information quiz show, “Remember This?” in addition to serving as host of the Macy’s

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Thanksgiving Day Parade, the Rose Bowl Parade, and the Christmas Tree Lighting at Rockefeller center. Raised in Queens, N.Y., Roker earned a bachelor’s in communications and was later awarded an honorary doctorate from the State University in Oswego. He is also a best-selling author and has appeared on various other television shows.

INSIDE American Digest Bridge Business Classified Comics

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Crossword 5C, 3D Dear Abby 3B Horoscope 3B Lottery 7A Movie listings 4B

Obituaries Opinion Sports Styles TV Listings

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