County hospital construction set

—Sequoyah County Times, Sept. 24, 1948

From the files of Your Sequoyah County Times

25 Years Ago

(From the Sept. 20, 1998, issue of the Sequoyah County Times) —Officials at Carl Albert State College (CASC) in Poteau, which has an extension campus in Sallisaw, said Wednesday they may ask county residents to pass a bond issue to fund expansion of the county campus.

The 5,500-foot-square building in Sallisaw which is now the CASC Sequoyah County facility was full to overflowing by the time the building was constructed, finished and opened, college officials have said in the past. Because of the yearly increase in student enrollment at the Sequoyah County campus, CASC officials asked for and were given permission to conduct classes at the Indian Capital Area Vo-Tech, also located in Sallisaw’s industrial park.

Dr. Jim Jinkins, CASC vice president for academic affairs, said that over the past 10 years the growth has been dramatic at the Sequoyah County campus.

College officials hope to increase the size of the present building to 25,000 square feet. The expanded building would cost about $2.6 million, Gary Ivey, director of the CASC Development Foundation, said.

The new facility would include one more interactive television classroom, a book store and lounge for students.

50 Years Ago

(From the Sept. 20, 1973, issue of the Sequoyah County Times) —A group of four Sallisaw men met with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Tulsa Monday to hear a report on site selection for a port for the city. The four expressed disappointment over the site tentatively selected by the corps, citing high costs to the city for road and utility improvement and difficulty in bringing railroad facilities to the site.

Attending the two-hour meeting from Sallisaw were Mayor Perry Wheeler, City Manager Lloyd Haskins, Port Authority Chairman Calvin Remy and Jim Mayo, Your TIMES general manager and member of the local chamber of commerce board of directors.

Also present was C.O. Harrison, Sallisaw, who spoke in favor of a site on Big Sallisaw Creek north of the other sites studied.

The corps has been working for the past several months evaluating ten possible sites for the port.

75 Years Ago

(From the Sept. 24, 1948, issue of the Sequoyah County Times) —Construction of Sequoyah County’s $90,000 hospital Friday was awaiting only the final approval of the United States health department to see actual reconstruction work begin.

Beckman and Word, Fort Smith building contractors, was apparent low bidder with the base bid of $80,325. Bids were read in the county commissioner’s office Wednesday with members of the county hospital board present.

Construction work must await approval of the bids by the U.S. health department. Federal funds added to monies raised through a bond issue provide a total of $90,000 for building and equipping the hospital.

George D. Kester, construction engineer of the hospital division of the state department of health, present for the bid reading, was to prepare proper forms and send them to federal departments for their investigation.

County businessmen were raising a $2,500 contribution this week to provide total amount of monies needed to push the project through. This amount would replace monies from the bond issue used for attorney’s fees and for the purchase of equipment, and for alternate plans, it was learned.

Reconstruction of the community building at the fairgrounds location will provide the hospital.

—Lester Sparks, operator of a café west of Sallisaw on Highway 64 is free on $1,000 bond after state highway patrolmen and county officers raided his place Saturday night and confiscated two car-loads of whiskey and gambling paraphernalia.

Fred Payne, Muskogee, pleaded guilty to owning the gambling devices, including a dice table, and was fined $50 in county court. Sparks was charged with possession of whiskey with intent to sell.

Harry Davis and K.O. Rayburn, highway patrolmen stationed in Sallisaw, were joined with five other patrolmen and Geo. Farmer, Sequoyah County field deputy sheriff. Lieut. C.T. Raley, McAlester district patrol head was in charge.

—Northeast Oklahoma officers converged in the Lapland section of Oklahoma Wednesday night in what unsubstantiated reports said was an attempt to take George Kimes, bank robber, officer slayer, and prison fugitive.

Officers were attempting caputre of fleeing burglars who Monday night cracked a Webbers Falls hardware company safe and took $1,900.

City officers had given chase early Tuesday morning as the bandit car went through Sallisaw headed east on Highway 64. They were outdistanced and lost the chase.

Kimes, who was convicted of murder in Sequoyah County in 1926 in the slaying of Deputy Perry Chuculate, escaped this summer from the state penitentiary. Information here early this week linked him with the Webbers Falls burglary.

100 years ago

(From the Sept. 21, 1923, issue of the Sequoyah County Democrat) —The football team of the high school seeks your patronage for the show at the Wonderland this evening. Mr. Bugher of the theater is allowing the team a percentage of the receipts to be used in purchasing necessary equipment. Tonight a feature “The Crimson Challenge” a Paramount production and two reel comedy will be shown.

—Jim Jones gave the guards of the road gang the slip this week and made good his escape. Jones was serving a sentence of 83 days on the road for disturbing religious meeting. At the time of his escape, he was working on the Albert Pike Highway.

—Practically all of the rural schools have just completed their summer term of school and will not convene for the winter term until early in November. Schools at Gore, Muldrow, Marble City, Gans, Vian, Roland and Sallisaw opened last Monday for a term of nine months. The rural schools are out because it will give the students opportunity to assist in gathering the cotton crop.