Safe cracking burglar hits 3 food establishments
—Sequoyah County Times, May 2, 1974
From the files of Your Sequoyah County Times
25 Years Ago
(From the May 6, 1999, issue of the Sequoyah County Times) —When Mother Nature tossed tornadoes at Oklahoma Monday and Tuesday, at least one of them landed in Sequoyah County.
No injuries were reported, but property damage was reported in Gans, in the Central School area and at Elohim City near Nicut north of Roland.
Dean Pratt, principal at Central Schools, said the tornado hit the school at about 12:40 p.m. Tuesday.
Pratt said the tornado toppled numerous trees on the school campus and the goals on the football field, and took the roof off a well building. Trees were downed within 20 feet east of the high school building.
More damage was reported at Elohim City and in the Nicut area north of Roland.
50 Years Ago
(From the May 2, 1974, issue of the Sequoyah County Times) —Nearly $4,000 in bills, cash and checks was stolen sometime Monday morning at three different food service establishments in Sallisaw, officials have reported.
Break-ins were reported at the Sonic Drive-In, Kentucky Fried Chicken and Jay’s Pizza, all located at the eastern edge of Sallisaw.
At the Sonic Drive-in, owner Chuck Sainer reported that entry was gained to his facility through the back door. Apparently the intruder used a sledge hammer to break the lock on the door.
Sainer said a 125 cc Suzuki motorcycle owned by his son was apparently hotwired and taken from the back part of the facility.
At the Kentucky Fried Chicken Res- taurant, entry was again gained by breaking in the back door with a sledge hammer or a crowbar.
A small safe located in the manager Gary King’s office was completely destroyed with the door being smashed in.
Jay’s Pizza was the worst hit in the break-in spree with an estimated $3,300 in bills, change and checks taken from a small floor safe.
75 Years Ago
(From the May 6, 1949, issue of the Sequoyah County Times) —Watts and Farmer, owners of the building occupied by Spide’s Snooker Parlor, are putting in a new front and making other improvements to their property.
Several other property owners have expressed their intention to make improvements to their buildings in the near future.
—Fred Farmer and Woodrow Lillard, purchasers of the Stewart Furniture Store said today that even though bargain hunting Sequoyah Countians swarmed the opening of their new store last Saturday they still have a house full of bargain furniture.
Lillard said that they bought the stock of the Stewart Furniture Company for an unbelievably low price, and they are offering these savings to the public through drastically reduced prices. He said that he hoped everyone would come in and look at their stock.
—Tom’s Café has just had its face lifted. This well-known establishment has been completely redecorated and a new stove has been installed.
Although work is still in progress in the installation of a new air conditioning unit, the café is now open for business.
—Brockman’s Store, general merchandise at Vian, Wednesday turned on their new air conditioning unit for the first time other than during the test run made some time back.
Louis Brockman said Wednesday that he was well pleased with the result of the first days trial. In commenting on the installation of the unit he said, “The time is here where a merchant’s customers in the smaller towns expect the same shopping conditions and the same type of merchandise that is found in the larger city stores, and knowing this, we decided that an air conditioning unit would be one of the best investments we could make.
The unit is a ten-ton Worthington air conditioning unit which is more than sufficient for the hottest months to keep the building cool for their customers comfort.
100 Years Ago
(From the May 2, 1924, issue of the Sequoyah County Democrat) —Two thousand people witnessed the dedication exercises Sunday afternoon at Dwight Mission Indian Training School eight miles north of this city. More than a century in age the ceremonies mark the ascension of Dwight Mission to a new foundation.
Sponsored since 1885 by the Presbyterian church, U.S.A. Dwight was founded in Arkansas in 1820 near the present town of Russellville, county seat of Pope County.
—Congressman W.W. Hastings of this district is backing a bill recently introduced in Congress which would increase the revenue received by the State of Oklahoma from the United States Government, for road building purposes. He appeared before the Committee on Post Offices and Post Roads this week and urged enactment of the law. The bill is designed to pass all nontaxable Indian lands to the road law, and which would place all such lands in the same class as unappropriated public lands.
