Theatre to have special ‘Fern’ matinee today

— Sequoyah County Times, June 8, 1974

25 Years Ago

—Sallisaw’s monthly rubbish pickup was trashed again when the Sallisaw City Board of Commissioners met for their budget retreat in May.

The commissioners voted to stop the program last winter, and instituted annual spring and fall cleanups instead.

Mayor George Glenn, at April’s commission meeting, said he received complaints from residents about the loss of the monthly large-trash pickups, and the monthly pickups were discussed again at the budget meeting.

Glenn said the monthly trash pickup “was a lot more popular program than I thought.” He said he had received many complaints about the cancellation of the program.

50 Years Ago

—A major new motion picture, part of which was filmed in Vian, will be showing at the Sequoyah Theatre in Sallisaw June 5-11.

“Where The Red Fern Grows” was released recently, and as an added feature, the local theatre will present a special matinee Thursday June 6 at 1 p.m., Leon Holder, theatre manager said Monday.

Several Vian residents are in the film. The movie is the true story of a boy growing up in eastern Oklahoma during the depression years. It is based on the novel by Wilson Rawls and stars James Whitmore, Beverly Garland, Jack Ging, Lonny Chapman and introduces Stewart Petersen as Bill Coleman.

—People who apparently have little feeling have been taking wreaths, vases and other memorial items from area cemeteries. Items that do not belong to them.

Sallisaw Police Chief Sam Lockhart said Tuesday numerous reports have been made of persons taking items from graves at the Sallisaw City Cemetery that were placed there by loved ones on Memorial Day.

75 Years Ago

—John de Oliveira, who lives west of Sallisaw, established the first Grade A Dairy Barn in Sequoyah County. De Oliveira began his project in the latter part of 1946, and through careful planning and hard work he has been very successful in pioneering the dairy industry in this county.

Since that time, mainly in the past year and a half, at least nine other Grade A barns have been built, and at least seven other farmers are either in the process of building or are seriously considering building Grade A barns at this time.

C.C. Stanley, county dairyman, pointed out that although the price of Grade A milk is lower now than it has been for a number of years, the ration between the price received for milk and the price paid for feed remains about the same.

It is an established fact now, Stanley said, that a herd of 16 good milk cows will pay for a Grade A barn over a period of two years and support the average family at the same time.

100 Years Ago

—The lid is coming down on Moffett, alleged wet spot of the county, according to County Attorney Harry D. Pitchford in an interview Wednesday.

“You can tell anyone that the orders are now out from my office and we intend to deal summarily with every individual guilty of violations of the prohibition laws, said the county attorney and he proceeded to outline his instructions.

Each automobile in which any liquor is found will be confiscated under the state law and the driver will be charged with transporting. If the driver is drinking he will be under a felony charge of the state law which carries a minimum punishment of one year in the state penitentiary, according to Mr. Pitchford.

“During the last two weeks I have held numerous conferences with the officers relative to complaints I have received concerning the operations of bootleggers in Moffett. The result is that we intend to administer strict punishment to the customers, at the same time attempting to wipe out the vendors,” he said.

During the last few months charges and counter-charges have been made concerning the hamlet across the river from Fort Smith usually termed Juarez, since the alleged operation of a public gambling house last winter.

The houses that were said to be notorious during the last few months, however, have been closed. Joyland Park, said to have housed the gambling den, has not been peopled since a recent visit of the sheriff in search of booze.

The “Skull and Eye Ball,” “Spike’s Place,” “The Dirty Rag,” or other similar names applied to the dance hall near the Missouri Pacific tracks which was the first opened across the river, is now a temple of justice where Justice of the Peace Ferguson holds weekly sessions of court trying misdemeanor cases.

According to Prosecutor Pitchford, however, other joints have opened while the law was closing the originals so that the condition is still a source of complaint.

The support of Fort Smith’s night life to the joints is said by the attorney to be the real cause of the nuisance, so he intends, by prosecuting all violators to the full extent of the law, to undermine this support and kill the traffic.