Family sells café after 31 years in business

— Sequoyah County Times, Aug. 3

From the files of Your Sequoyah County Times 25 Years Ago

(From the Aug. 31, 1997, issue of the Sequoyah County Times)

–Dodson‚s Café, 212 N. Elm in Sallisaw, closed it‚s doors Friday.

The café, which was owned and operated by Johnny and Lucille Dodson, was sold and will reopen in the next few weeks under the ownership of Tom and Marilou Lance.

“The decision to sell the café was hard on us, but we knew it needed to be done,” said Lucille Dodson.

Johnny and Lucille Dodson purchased the café 31 years ago while on vacation. They purchased the café, which was then known as Terry‚s Café, from Elmer and Evie Terry.

Dodson‚s Café opened it‚s doors on Aug. 19, 1966.

50 Years Ago

(From the September, 1972, issue of the Sequoyah County Times)

—Files for this time period cannot be read.

75 Years Ago

(From the Sept. 5, 1947, issue of the Sequoyah County Times)

—Claud Curry, Tulsa cigar store operator, was charged with assault with a deadly weapon in justice of the peace court Tuesday afternoon after he allegedly fired four pistol shots into the home of Bill Brockman, Vian. He is being held in the county jail at Sallisaw.

It was reported that the shooting occurred early Tuesday evening. An investigation was conducted by Sheriff E.S. Stewart, County Attorney, R.O. Ingle, Patrolmen K.O. Rayburn and Harry Davis and Vian Police Chief Homer Lollis.

It is believed the shooting occurred over some family trouble between Brockman and Curry. Curry is the ex-husband of Mrs. Brockman.

Investigators reported that Curry had probably fired the four shots while standing at the rear of the house. It was reported that Brockman had fired once with a shotgun after the pistol shots were fired.

No one was injured in the shooting Fracas.

—O.T. Fears, Jr., who has operated the Conoco station in Vian for the past 18 months, announced this week the purchase of the station from J.H. Anderson.

Fears has moved his residence to the house formerly occupied by Tully Bynum. Bynum is now living in the Earl Estep residence.

—Bassham and Wheeler, Fort Smith architects, who have the architectural contract with the Sequoyah County hospital board for drawing up plans for the Veterans Memorial Hospital, report plans and specifications are rapidly taking form. They will be submitted to the State Board of Health in the near future.

The county hospital has been made possible through a $60,000 bond issue. The community building in the north section of Sallisaw will be converted into a 30-bed hospital. It will have 20 beds for white persons and a four-bed ward for colored persons on the north end.

The hospital will have a modern operating room, x-ray facilities and modern laboratory. It will also include nurses‚ quarters and a kitchen.

100 years ago

(From the Sept. 1, 1922, issue of the Sequoyah County Democrat)

—Last Sunday afternoon 2,500 people lined the banks of the Big Skin Bayou creek to witness the baptizing of 75 converts of the Baptist Church of Hanson. This revival has been going on for the past week and is being conducted by Rev. O.W. White and his brother.

Being unable to finish baptizing Sunday afternoon, eight more converts were baptized Monday which made the number of converts at this meeting probably the largest in the county.

—Auto thieves hit this city Wednesday night, and as a result Max Reager Ford dealer, is minus a Ford roadster, several casings, tubes and probably other accessories. The stolen roadster was practically new, as it had been run only a few hundred miles, and had just been traded in from Mr. W.C. Ward, local K.C.S. railway agent, for a new Ford coupe. The thief or thieves, evidently entered the Ford agency building before it was closed for the night and hid somewhere in the building, as the back doors of the building were found open Thursday morning without any marks of being forced.

—The Frye building at the corner of Oak and Choctaw streets, in the heart of the business district of this city, came near being destroyed by fire last Sunday night.

The fire originated in the basement of the building where the furnace is installed for heating the building and coal is stored, and was confined there by the quick work of the city fire department and extinguished before any material damage was done. Heavy volumes of smoke were discovered coming out of the flues of the building at about 10:30 o‚clock and when the entrance doors to the second floor, where offices are located, were opened the building was enveloped with heavy gaseous smoke that prevented the firemen from entering the upper story.

The firemen flooded the basement from the sidewalk and later put a hose line down the stairway, completely flooding the entire basement and subduing the flames.