Early in 2005, Cellofoam North America Inc. plant managers announced an expansion plan for the Sallisaw facility, a plan that was finalized by the end of the year and is expected to improve the county's economy.
Later in the year, Sequoyah County residents reached outside the county to assist victims of hurricanes which hit the Gulf Coast, forcing coast residents to flee. Some of those found shelter in Sequoyah County.
In between the beginning and the end of 2005, other stories which impacted county residents could be found, including voters' approval of enhanced 9-1-1 services, expansion of the Carl Albert State College Sequoyah County Campus in Sallisaw, the expansion of gaming by the state and the Cherokee and Choctaw Nations, and the apparent cease fire in the battle between the county commissioners and the county excise board.
Not all the news was good. Residents throughout the county face higher utility costs and the county lost two soldiers in Iraq. The year also ended on a dry note, as the state and the county continued to fight wildfires as drought conditions continued and worsened into 2006.
Expanding
Steven Gardiner, Cellofoam vice president, told a crowd at the Dec. 7 groundbreaking for the new Cellofoam plant, "Cellofoam is very happy to grow in Sallisaw."
The new plant will be at 500 E. George Glenn Blvd. in the Roy Frye Jr. Industrial Park in Sallisaw. City Manager Bill Baker said the expansion of Cellofoam, which has been in Sallisaw for about 30 years, means between 23 and 34 new jobs for Sallisaw within a year, and "it could mean 70 good jobs within the next three years."
Cellofoam manufactures foam for building materials such as insulation; makes Permafloats which are foam blocks used to float docks; and manufactures Fabpac which is packaging materials.
Cellofoam had a smaller facility just north of West Cherokee Avenue. Company officials came to the city in early 2005 with a plan for a larger building. The city, with the help of the Oklahoma Department of Commerce, was able to fund construction of the new industrial plant for which Cellofoam will pay rent to the city.
Gardiner told the crowd, "We are investing more in this plant than in any other plants we have in the country.'
Cellofoam has plants in Conyers, Ga., Falmouth, Va., Orlando, Fla., Whiteland, Ind., and Sallisaw.
In addition to Cellofoam, another manufacturer is also planning a move to Sallisaw it was announced in 2005.
United Manufacturing Co. of Haskell, an aircraft component manufacturer, is planning on moving to Sallisaw, Baker announced Aug. 8..
Baker said the company will employ between 70 and 75 within three years after relocation. Company officials, Baker said, report they have a contract with The Boeing Co. for components for military aircraft.
Baker said the city was told that the company hopes to be moved to Sallisaw by the first quarter of 2006, and needs a building with about 20,000 square feet.
Sequoyah County government had a budget as of Oct. 11.
At a meeting between the county commissioners and excise board on Oct. 11, the Sequoyah County Excise Board voted two to one to accept the "county commissioners' budget as presented to the excise board."
The agreement settled an argument over the county budget that had raged for three fiscal years, beginning with the 2003-4 budget. At the center of the conflict was a question about who had final control over the county budget.
The commissioners argued they, as the highest authority in county government, had final say on the budget, while excise board members argued they had final say on the budget because the excise board is the watch dog over county commissioners.
The conflict resulted in several lawsuits, in one of which a district judge told the members of the two boards to come up with a budget or spend time in jail. It also resulted in the removal of two excise board members and two new excise board appointments, which finally resolved the conflict.
The approved 2005-6 budget cut county offices about 35 percent. District 1 Commissioner Bruce Tabor noted that county officials had sought over $3 million in total funding, while the county only had about $1.8 million available.
Sheriff Johnny Philpot, who has continually opposed the cut, said he would have to lay off employees to operate within the amount budgeted by the county commissioners. The sheriff's budget went from over $535,000 allotted by the excise board to about $369,000 in the commissioners' budget, an amount which Philpot said would not be enough to provide sufficient law enforcement for the county.
Charles Sloan of Vian, who has since resigned from the excise board, argued throughout the budget controversy that the excise board's duty is to fund constitutional - elected - offices first. Those offices include the sheriff, county clerk, county treasurer, court clerk, county assessor, district attorney (who receives only office expenses from the county budget) and county commissioners.
The county commissioners work mostly with road funds. But the commissioners argued that all county offices should be funded, which includes the county election board, OSU Extension Service, and county emergency management. The election board, extension service, and court clerk also receive state funds.
During the past three years the commissioners have struggled to find funding for Sequoyah County 9-1-1 and the county jail. The jail was under the direction of the sheriff, but when the county's new jail was built, county commissioners organized a trust authority to oversee jail operations. When that was done the excise board took all funding from the jail, since it was no longer under direction of the sheriff's office, or a constitutional office.
Tabor said he was happy the county finally had a budget, and could move forward with the tax rolls.
The budget controversy delayed payment of ad valorem taxes in 2004.
District 3 Commissioner Cleon Harrell said after the budget was approved, "We are pleased and hopeful this matter is resolved,"
Harrell has since resigned from his commissioner post to take a position as director of the Cookson Hills Community Action Foundation. His post will be filled in an election in 2006.
The rising cost of utilities, most particularly electricity, was news throughout 2005, with nearly everyone facing higher utility bills.
Both the utility itself and delivering the utility drove the costs up, utility officials said.
The Gore Public Works Authority (GPWA) voted in January to increase water, sewer, and trash rates because city officials said the utilities have lost thousands of dollars over the years.
After a three-month study done by Phil Ross, development management specialist with Community Resource Group Inc., the GPWA adopted a new rate structure. Gore had not had a rate increase in almost 20 years.
Rural electric customers also had a rate increase. Kendall Beck, Cookson Hills Electric Cooperative manager, announced the 6.3 percent rate increase in February.
The Farm and Home Rate increased customers bills about $5 per month in the summer and about $7 per month in the winter. The residential customer charge rose from $8.50 to $15. "This increase is necessary because we have not changed rates since 1986," Beck said.
The new rates were implemented in May and were on customers' June bills.
"Although we never want to increase rates to the members, continual changes in the electric industry impel us to make these changes. While we strive to keep costs in the customers' favor, we realize that the environmental aspect of generating electricity is a cost that will have to be shared by all, as well as the increased cost of delivering electricity efficiently and reliably to homes and businesses."
Sallisaw City Commissioners approved increases in sewer rates at their meeting June 13.
City Manager Bill Baker said, "We lost about $350,000 last year on our wastewater system. We can't make that up in one year. The increase will make up about $93,000 a year.
"Nobody likes to raise utility rates," Baker said. "This city is very generous to its citizens."
Local residents who are residential customers of Oklahoma Gas & Electric (OG&E) will be seeing a higher January electric bill after a $42.3 million rate increase was approved by the Oklahoma Corporation Commission Dec. 12.
OG&E residential customers, which in Sequoyah County includes residents in Roland, Muldrow, Gans, Moffett, Vian, Webbers Falls, and Gore, will now be paying $3 more per month on their electric bills, according to OG&E.
According to OG&E, this is the first rate increase for OG&E electricity customers in almost 20 years.
Finally, after an electric rate increase last year, Sallisaw residents may face another raise in 2006.
The Grand River Dam Authority (GRDA), based in Vinita, is seeking a better bond rating in order to expand its generating capabilities. The expansion could mean a renewed contract between the GRDA and City of Sallisaw, which purchases wholesale electric power from the authority.
While the ability to purchase GRDA power has kept the cost of the city's utilities among the lowest in the state, the planned GRDA expansion could cause the city to enter into at least a 40-year contract for power and the price of the power to increase next year.
City Manager Bill Baker said, "It's my understanding that they (GRDA) will be seeking 40-year contracts, may have an increase in cost of 6.8 percent in the spring, and are looking to build or buy both coal and natural gas generation plants."
The city's current contract with GRDA expires in 2011, Baker noted, which gives the city time to consider an alternate power supplier if the city chooses that course.
About 14 of the municipalities which purchase power from GRDA have banded together to try and maintain low power costs. They have approached GRDA officials about being included in future plans for the publicly-owned utility, and have indicted the municipalities may seek other power sources if their concerns are not taken into consideration.
When the expansion of Carl Albert State College's (CASC) Sallisaw campus is complete, the college will nearly double in size.
Sallisaw voters showed their support for the college by passing a half-cent sales tax Dec. 13 to assist with a $4.5 million expansion of the college. According to election results, 385 Sallisaw voters were in favor of the tax, while 301 were against the proposition.
The funds generated from the sales tax will be used for the construction of a two-story, 33,000-square-foot building that will allow for an additional 800 students. The building will include a high-tech library, additional classrooms and labs just west of the present facility.
The Sallisaw sales tax will begin on April 1, 2006, with indebtedness not to exceed $2,865,000. The tax will remain on the rolls for five years or until all debts are paid off. The total sales tax in Sallisaw will be nine and a half cents on the dollar.
The local sales tax money will be combined with money that the college is receiving from the state through a higher education bond package.
CASC officials have said that the college is expected to receive over $8 million of the higher education bond package. Part of that money will be used to build a three-story classroom facility at the main campus in Poteau, while the other part, about $2.1 million, will be used to help fund the Sallisaw expansion.
This is not the first time Sallisaw voters have shown their support for the college.
In 2001, voters approved a half-cent sales tax to fund the construction of the existing $1.7 million campus. The tax was approved for five years, but it was paid off in three and a half years.
CASC predicts an enrollment of 1,800 by 2012 at the Sallisaw campus when the campus is expanded.
Buddy Spencer of Sallisaw, trustee and chairman of the college's Committee For Excellence, said after the election that the school officials hope to have the expansion ready for use in 2007.
Spencer noted that part of the expansion is a high-tech library for college students. He said the public will be able to get a membership to the library by possibly paying a certain amount to utilize the library.
Lower lake levels, a burn ban across the state, and farming problems are just a few of the dilemmas residents and officials faced in 2005 and continue to face as the drought across the state continues.
Gov. Brad Henry proclaimed a burn ban for all 77 counties in the state on Nov. 15 because of the continued dry weather and lack of rainfall. That burn ban remains in effect.
In mid-November, Henry said wildfires had burned nearly 11,000 acres in Oklahoma, noting the burn ban was necessary to help ensure the protection of lives and property.
Bob Harrel, district forester at the Sallisaw forestry office, said in November a burn ban differs from a Red Flag alert, in that a ban must be issued by the governor. Prohibited activities include lighting fireworks, burning trash or other material, building a bonfire, and setting fire to grass, forest, woods, wild lands or marshes. Under the burn ban, a campfire cannot be unattended. Gas and charcoal grilling are excluded from the ban.
Violations of the ban are misdemeanors punishable by as much as a $500 fine and one year in prison.
Because of the drought, as of Nov. 25, the county was over 12 inches below average in rainfall.
The Oklahoma Mesonet Web site reports that 2005 is the seventh driest year (as of Nov. 21) since 1921 in east central Oklahoma. Total rainfall for the area is reported at 29.55 inches for the year as of Nov. 21, which is 12.27 inches below normal.
Mesonet reports the driest year on record for the area was in 1936 when only 20.91 inches of rain fell.
Tony Yates, OSU agent for Sequoyah County, said in November that the lack of rainfall is causing problems for farmers and ranchers, and most particularly cattlemen.
Yates reported in November that cattlemen had begun feeding hay to their cattle, which is at least a month before they normally feed hay.
Those who plant rye grass and wheat for winter pasture have nothing to show for their efforts, Yates added. The seeds have not sprouted due to the lack of rain, and if the seeds did sprout, the young plants "are just sitting there."
The wheat and rye grass is three months behind what it usually is, and the production of other crops was about half this year what it is with the normal amount of rainfall.
Charles Sloan of Vian, who grew soybeans and corn this year in the Arkansas River bottoms in the Sequoyah National Wildlife Refuge south of Vian, said in November that he harvested about half the usual crop.
Sloan said that at a meeting of the Sequoyah County Farm Bureau in November, the cattlemen attending reported their ponds are drying up right along with their pastures.
Sloan said the cattlemen report they are having to either haul water into their cattle or haul their cattle to other areas where they have water. Cattle are also having to be rotated from pasture to pasture for more grass and forage, he said.
Local lakes have also felt and continue to feel the effects from the 2005 drought.
In Muldrow in December, the lake elevation dropped so much that the lake's boat ramp was on dry land by a few feet and unusable. The decreasing lake level also prompted Muldrow city officials to ask residents to start conserving.
David Taylor, Muldrow city manager, said in December that while the situation is not yet critical in Muldrow, they are asking residents to cut outdoor watering and be more conscientious when it comes to water usage.
In Muldrow, according to rainfall measurements taken at their water treatment plant, the town received 37.5 inches of rainfall from January through the end of November, compared to 2004's total rainfall of 63.3 inches.
Built in 1964 northeast of Muldrow, the lake supplies water to about 1,200 water customers, officials said.
The town of Roland also reported in December that they may limit usage if the area doesn't get rain.
David Redden, Roland town administrator, said in August that if the lack of rainfall continues, the city could go to rationing water, which would be done in stages for its 1,145 water customers.
On Dec. 13 Sequoyah County voters approved a 50-cent fee for all cell phones in the county.
Charles "Chuck" Wyckoff of the Sequoyah County 9-1-1 board said the fee will help the Sequoyah County 9-1-1 service survive.
Wyckoff said the cell-phone fee will bring in about $4,000 a month in Sequoyah County. Not only will that money enhance 9-1-1 service to cell-phone customers, but will help the 9-1-1 service, which serves central and western Sequoyah County, survive.
In the past Sequoyah County 9-1-1 was having a difficult time surviving because a 5 percent fee on landline phone services did not bring in enough money to pay for equipment and calltakers' salaries. A request for money from the county budget was denied by the Sequoyah County Excise Board.
As residents switched from landlines to cell phones over the years, the service's income dropped even further.
At the request of the 9-1-1 board, the county commissioners raised the 5 percent landline fee to the maximum 15 percent, which they are allowed to do by law. The commissioners raised the landline percentage fee with the stipulation that, if the cell-phone fee was approved and brought in sufficient funds, the landline fee would be reduced an according amount. The commissioners said they will audit the 9-1-1 service to determine how much income is needed from both the landline and cell phone tariffs to operate.
Wyckoff said the cell-phone fee will save Sequoyah County 9-1-1 services. The cell-phone fee is dedicated to enhancing the cell-phone service only, but that money frees up the landline tariff to pay for other expenses.
The new equipment to enhance cell phone service will cost about $90,000 Wyckoff said.
Two Roland High School graduates who were soldiers serving in Iraq were killed in 2005, prompting the naming of part of a highway in honor of one of the men. Another local soldier, who survived after being wounded in Iraq, received recognition in March for his actions and the blood he shed.
On Jan. 28, 2005, Spc. Lyle Wyman Rymer II, a 1999 graduate of Roland High School, was the first soldier from the county to be killed in Iraq. The Department of Defense said that Rymer, 24, died in Baghdad, Iraq, when he was shot by an enemy sniper.
Rymer's Arkansas Army National Guard brigade was mobilized in October 2003, and he was shipped to Iraq in March 2004. His brigade was due back in mid-March 2005.
Rymer was born Oct. 19, 1980, in Fort Smith, Ark.
He left behind a wife and two children. He was a recipient of the Purple Heart, the Bronze Star, National Defense Service Medal, Army Service Ribbon and Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Armed Forces Reserve Medal W/M Device, Army Good Conduct Medal and the Arkansas Federal Service Ribbon.
To honor Rymer, a stretch of U.S. Highway 64 in Roland was named after him in November. A two-mile stretch of U.S. Highway 64 between Cottonwood Road and Paw Paw Road in Roland was named Lyle Rymer Highway.
The second Roland graduate to be killed in Iraq was Cpl. Joshua J. Ware of Apache, a 2003 Roland High School graduate who was killed on Nov. 16, 2005, in Iraq.
The former Roland man was one of four Marines who died while conducting combat operations against enemy forces during Operation Steel Curtain in Ubaydi, Iraq, according to the U.S. Department of Defense's Web site.
Ware was one of two Oklahoma men who died. Cpl. Jeffry A. Rogers, 21, of Oklahoma City was also killed.
The men died as a result of enemy small arms fire. All four Marines were assigned to Battalion Landing Team 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, Calif. During Operation Iraqi Freedom, their unit was attached to 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force.
Ware enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps five days after graduating from high school. He graduated from the 13-week recruit training at the U.S. Marine Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego and completed the U.S. Marine Corps eight-week School of Infantry at Camp Pendleton, Calif. He was deployed to Iraq in 2004.
At the time of his burial, his decorations, medals, badges, citations and campaign ribbons included the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Navy Sea Service Deployment Ribbon with two bronze service stars, the Purple Heart Medal, and the Combat Action Ribbon with one gold service star.
In March a former Sallisaw man, now a staff sergeant in the U.S. Army, was awarded a Purple Heart Medal by President George W. Bush for his actions in Iraq.
Staff Sgt. Paul Jones, 39, and fellow soldiers were the targets of an improvised explosive device, otherwise known as a homemade bomb. Defusing bombs and other devices is Jones' job as a member of the 588th Engineer Battalion, stationed at Fort Hood, Texas.
Jones said in June that he was on his first tour in Iraq, from April 2003 to April 2004, when his team spotted a bomb along side a road in Baquoba in February.
During the operation to defuse the bomb, one of Jones' team members lost both arms and one leg. Jones recalls that they stabilized the soldier and prepared to evacuate him from the area when a second device detonated, blowing Jones off the truck.
Everyone survived, Jones said, and everyone was recognized for what they left behind in Iraq. Now recovered, Jones wears several scars down his left side.
Jones also served in Operation Desert Shield and Storm and spent a three-year tour in Europe.
He is the son of Shirley A. Jones of Tulsa and on the news release information form he lists Jerry and Mary McMahon of Sallisaw as his family.
A 1985 graduate of Sallisaw High School, Jones and his wife, Teresa, have been married for 12 years and have six daughters: Adrienne, 20 (Jones' step-daughter); Halle, 12; Hannah, 10; Alexandria, 9; and twins, Allison and Ashten, 5.
The family lives in Killeen, Texas, where Fort Hood is located. Teresa's mother, Doris Polly, is a resident of Muldrow.
In 2005, several Sequoyah County natives were working and succeeding to make names for themselves in the entertainment world.
DeLanna Studi, formerly of Muldrow now of Hollywood, was one of those former residents taking aim at stardom.
Studi won the 2003 Best Supporting Actress award from the American Indian Film Institute for her portrayal of the woman Talks A Lot in Hallmark Entertainment's "Dreamkeeper," broadcast on ABC in December 2003. For that role, she also won best supporting actress award at the First Americans in the Arts, and the Los Angeles Native Film and Television Review.
In February 2005, Studi also won the Best Actress award from the institute for her role in "Edge of America" which was featured as a Showtime original movie on Nov. 21.
"Edge of America" was premiered at Robert Redford's Sundance Film Festival where Studi met Redford. Studi was a special guest of Robert De Niro when the film was shown at a New York film festival.
In the film, Studi played the part of Carla McKinney, a half-Ute girl who is at odds with her widowed white father in the movie, which is set in the Three Nations consolidated Reservation in Utah.
Starring in the movie with DeLanna Studi was her uncle, Wes Studi, an award-winning Native American actor from Tahlequah. In "Edge of America," Wes Studi played the part of Cuch, a local mechanic intent on enticing the movie's central character, Kenny Williams, played by James McDaniel, to become the basketball coach for the local basketball team. DeLanna Studi's character is a member of that team.
Studi began her acting career while growing up in Sequoyah County, performing in regional and community theaters in Arkansas and in her hometown, Liberty.
Since moving to Los Angeles in 1998, Studi has worked with the Native Voices theater company and she also stars in a one-woman stage play, "Kick," which she said educates audiences on Native American issues. Studi, who developed the play, said she often performs the play for schools, elected officials and civic organizations.
Studi also mentors young Native American playwrights.
Voted one of the Top Ten Most Beautiful Native Actresses in 2004 and 2005, Studi is the daughter of Thomas and Carolyn Studie and the granddaughter of Ruby Weaver.
While Studi was working her way up the ladder in the film industry in 2005, a Sallisaw man got the chance to make it up on the screen while working to make his directing dreams a reality.
In early 2005, James "Jay" Cotton, originally from Sallisaw, worked as a casting director and actor in a movie, called "Come Early Morning," filmed earlier this year in Little Rock, Ark., and starring Ashley Judd.
Cotten's part in the movie was opposite Judd and he appeared as a former flame who has a run-in with Judd's character and her new boyfriend at a bar.
When Your TIMES spoke to Cotten in April, he said the movie was about a woman, played by Judd, who can't commit to a relationship. Cotten said at the end it's about finding herself, with the premise being that a person can't find love without finding him or herself first.
He said in April that he hoped this film would open doors for his directing dreams, which he stumbled upon during the process of being an actor. Cotten said he has written 10 screenplays and has over 60 ideas for films.
In April, he was working on raising money for his own picture "Sugar Creek."
Cotten got into the movie business at 18 or 19 years old when he was cast in a role in "The Tuskegee Airman," which was shot in Fort Smith in 1995. From there, he took to the actor's trail, living in New York and Los Angeles.
He is a graduate of the L.A. Film School, and was chosen to direct a Roger Corman film called "Demon Slayer." Corman is known as the king of the B movie. Cotten admitted that it was not a great film, but he only had an $80,000 budget and 15 days to film it. That movie made $3 million, and with that experience, he saw the business side of filmmaking and decided he wanted to do it himself.
See the Jan. 5 edition of Your TIMES for a story about another Sallisaw man, Richard Farmer, who has made a name for himself in the Hollywood film industry.
Other Sequoyah Countians seen on the small screen, or the television screen, in 2005 included two Oklahoma gardening experts, both from Sequoyah County.
In August, Steve Dobbs of McKey, former host of the Oklahoma Education Television Authority (OETA) show "Oklahoma Gardening," welcomed the show's current host, Steve Owens, a native of Vian, to the campus of the University of Arkansas - Fort Smith for a filming.
The campus was featured on "Oklahoma Gardening" on OETA Sept. 3 and 4. Owens interviewed Dobbs for the segment filmed at UA Fort Smith.
Dobbs is director of grounds and landscape and was producer and host of "Oklahoma Gardening" from 1990 until 1995.
Dobbs is also the author of 12 books, with the most recent one a revised edition of the "Oklahoma Gardener's Guide." Dobbs is an award-winning horticulturist, garden writer and lecturer. He started UA Fort Smith's Gardening with the Experts lecture series, now in its third year.
In addition to his books, Dobbs has also written gardening columns for various papers in Oklahoma, Florida, Texas and Arkansas.
Program host Owens has gardened professionally and earned both his bachelor's and master's degrees from OSU. He has been the host of the show since May 2001.
"Oklahoma Gardening" is produced by the Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service through OSU's Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture and Agricultural Communication Services.
"Oklahoma Gardening" is seen on channel 3 in eastern Oklahoma.
A statewide lottery, more gaming, and a new casino are some of the gambling opportunities county residents encountered in 2005.
Instant scratch-off lottery tickets went on sale to the public at retailers across the state and county for the first time on Oct. 12, while Oklahoma's participation in the multi-state PowerBall game is expected to begin Jan. 14.
On Nov. 10 the online lottery or "Pick 3" game began. In that game, three numbers are drawn daily from a field of balls.
The scratch-off tickets come less than a year after the lottery measure was passed statewide by voters on Nov. 2, 2004. Voters in Sequoyah County overwhelming passed the measure, with 62.28 percent approving the two state questions, which establish a state lottery and a lottery trust fund that earmarks proceeds for education.
Retailers who sell lottery tickets receive 6 percent of all ticket sales, and .75 percent for paying tickets.
The revenue generated from Oklahoma's lottery is projected to be $150 million, and all net proceeds of the lottery are earmarked for public education. Of the money from the lottery, lottery officials said 45 percent will go to common education and early childhood education, 45 percent will go to higher education and career technology, 5 percent will go to a voluntary school consolidation fund, and 5 percent will go to teacher retirement.
Other gaming that began in 2005 included the Choctaw Racino at Blue Ribbon Downs. A racino is a combination of a racetrack and casino.
The Choctaw Nation's Blue Ribbon Downs in Sallisaw was the first racino in the state, after voters approved electronic gaming machines at three of the state's horseracing tracks in early 2005.
The gambling operations are overseen by the Oklahoma Horse Racing Commission (OHRC) because they are at the state's racetracks.
At Blue Ribbon Downs, the former Sports Building was refurbished and in it are 250 electronic gaming machines, a simulcasting center, and a refreshment center.
Horsemen hope the electronic gaming will help boost the racing industry in the state, which has seen less and less income since voters approved pari-mutuel racing in the 1980s. A portion of the electronic gaming proceeds is designated for horsemen's purses and other racing programs.
In the meantime, the Cherokee Nation has begun construction of a new casino at the corner of Kerr Boulevard and Ruth Street in Sallisaw. The casino is expected to be open in the spring and will be the second Cherokee Nation casino to open its doors in the county.
Mike Miller, Cherokee Nation spokesman, said in December that the 22,000-square-foot building, located at the intersection of U.S. Highway 59 and Interstate 40, will have 220 electronic gaming machines, six blackjack tables, a bar and grill and a stage for live entertainment.
The facility will create more than 100 jobs upon completion, and should prove to be a needed boost for the local economy.
The casino is expected to open in May 2006.
Sequoyah County residents rushed to aid, then opened their arms to evacuees who had to flee Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
Sequoyah County Red Cross workers rushed to aid victims, and staffers with the State Forestry Division rushed to hurricane-devastated areas to help with the clean up. The men of the U.S. Coast Guard Muskingum on Kerr Lake also steamed south to help with hurricane recovery and help re-open shipping lanes on the Mississippi.
On the home front, volunteers accepted donations and made arrangements to ship needed supplies to the Gulf Coast.
Darren Girdner of Professional Home Health in Sallisaw rented and set up a semi-trailer at Marvin's Food Warehouse in Sallisaw, expecting to get one load to haul to New Orleans and the Gulf Coast in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Girdner said, "Within 10 hours we had a truck load full. We sent eight truckloads and one semi-trailer full."
Sequoyah Memorial Hospital in Sallisaw treated hurricane victims.
"This community has been magnificent," Charles "Chuck" Wade, hospital administrator, said. He said the hospital saw and treated 19 patients.
Members of a Vian church opened church doors to evacuees. Canterbury Chapel in Vian housed about nine evacuees from the New Orleans area. Ronda Gentry, church member, said church members picked up the evacuees from Fort Smith, Ark., and housed them at the church youth building. Dwight Mission northwest of Sallisaw also welcomed 19 evacuees.
Carl Albert State College in Sallisaw and Poteau opened its doors and its classes to student evacuees.
Residents also opened their homes and their hearts to the displaced, both family members and strangers.
But perhaps the best story of the year was the reunion of a New Orleans mother who lost contact with her 2-year-old daughter and her granddaughter as they hurried to shelter.
With outstretched arms Diedre Pierre of Vian reached for her daughter, Stephanie, 2, on Oct. 5. Stephanie was found after she had wandered away from her family at the New Orleans Convention Center in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
Mother, daughter, and grandmother were reunited Oct. 5 at the Tenkiller Air Park at Cookson after Donna Carroll, administrative assistant for the Cookson Hills United Methodist Mission, saw a photo of Pierre on television Oct. 1.
The Pierre family became separated at the New Orleans Convention Center. "We got outside of the convention center and I put my babies and bag down. Stephanie patted me on the side of my leg and wanted her pacifier," she said.
"I got the pacifier out of my pocket and looked down and she was gone," Pierre said. The family searched the convention center as best they could, but they could not find Stephanie.
Pierre and her two other children were eventually evacuated and taken to the mission on Sept. 11.
Carroll said she was watching NBC's "Today" when she saw Pierre's grandmother, Stella, who said she were still looking for her daughter and showed a photo of her. Carroll set the wheels in motion, and Stephanie and Stella were soon on the way to a reunion with daughter and mother, Diedre.
Candy Burkett, a retired commercial pilot from Cookson, agreed to fly her private airplane to the Louisiana Regional Airport in Gonzales to pick up the grandmother and Stephanie.
"It really makes you feel great to help reunite a mother and daughter," Burkett said.
And a great feeling is what all Sequoyah County residents should have about their efforts for the victims of Hurricane Katrina, a storm that is now called one of the greatest natural disasters to hit the United States.
