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A long trip to Meeker last Friday brought the Alva Goldbugs a 39-15 victory and a lock-in for second place in the district. The Goldbugs now have a 7-2 season record and are 5-1 in the district. Alva will be hosting a football playoff game for the first time since 2017. Alva scored on their first ball possession and led 7-0 at the end of the first quarter. By halftime, the Goldbugs had increased their lead to 25-7. At the end of the third quarter, Alva led 39-7. Starting toward the end of the...
A Halloween luncheon was held at Bill Johnson Correctional Center in Alva on Oct. 31. Staff members, the Citizens Advisory Board and guests enjoyed freaky foods with strange colors and spooky names. There were eyeballs floating in the iced tea dispenser and deviled eggs had green centers with purple veins extending into the surrounding egg whites. A bowl of green swamp slime was actually green-colored cheese sauce. BJCC staff went all out on the food and décor. Warden Becky Guffy introduced...
A public hearing will be held Tuesday, Nov. 12, at 6 p.m. on an application for a variance at 116 Flynn St. in Alva. The regular Alva Board of Adjustments meeting will be held in the city council chambers at City Hall. Currently, the property is zoned residential general 8 (RG8) and does not have the allotted amount of space for the requested coverage. The owner is requesting a variance in the property lot coverage. Property owner Richard Knoll filed the application for a variance, collecting signatures of 37 people in support of his request....
On Oct. 38, the Alva Planning Commission met for the first time in three years to hear two requests for rezoning of property. Commission members voted to recommend to the city council that the rezoning be approved. On Wednesday, Nov. 6, a special meeting of the Alva City Council was held at 5:30 p.m. With five members present, both rezoning requests were quickly approved. The first action changed the Share Convalescent Home property at 730 Share Drive from residential general 8 (RG8) to general commercial (CG). This action will facilitate the...
Although election results are preliminary until 5 p.m. today, Nov. 8, Republican candidate Randy McCullough is the winner in the election for Woods County sheriff by a sizeable majority over Independent Keith Dale. McCullough received 3,012 votes (83.18 percent) while Dale had 609 (16.82 percent). The election drew an unusual number of early voters with 1,261 voting early, 123 absentee and 2,213 on Nov. 5 in the sheriff's race. After over 25 years with the Oklahoma Highway Patrol and a total of...
A Piedmont man is charged with four felony counts in the aftermath of a verbal disagreement with his Alva girlfriend that left her house trashed, her vehicle damaged and her workplace damaged. Justin Brent Jordan, 39, has been charged with protective order violation, stalking and two counts of malicious injury to property – over $1,000. Stalking carries a penalty of up to three years imprisonment and/or a fine of up to $5,000. The protective order violation is punishable by imprisonment of one to three years and/or a $2,000 to $10,000 fine. E...
A Waynoka man has been charged after law enforcement followed up on a cyber tip. Court documents filed by District Attorney’s Investigator Steve Tanio show he was assigned a National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) Cybertip file. Dropbox Inc. reported the uploading to a customer’s account of an image/video-clip that appeared to depict child sexual abuse material (CSAM). Dropbox is a file hosting service operated by a company headquartered in California that offers cloud storage, file synchronization, personal cloud and cli...
The Alva Arena Authority (AAA) met Tuesday noon to make plans for the arena groundbreaking ceremony to be held next Wednesday, Nov. 13, at 11:30 a.m. The public is invited to attend. The entry gate is on the east side of the site located at 27251 County Road 460. City, county and state representatives who have been involved in the project have been sent special invitations. AAA trustees discussed the list of people to invite and how the brief ceremony will be conducted. The occasion marks the culmination of more than five years of planning....
In this issue of the Newsgram is an ad recognizing the upcoming 90th birthday of Ladonna Benningfield who taught art to a multitude of elementary students in Alva. When I saw the ad, a memory immediately surfaced. My daughter was one of the lucky students who experienced her art classes, and she always looked forward to Mrs. Benningfield’s presence in her classroom. One year at Christmas, we were considering what to give my daughter’s teachers as gifts, an elementary school tradition. We cam...
Two county EMS departments sent REAP grant applications after the Monday meeting of the Woods County Commissioners. The deadline for the grants to be submitted was Oct. 31 so the commissioners held a special meeting on Thursday, Oct. 31, to possibly approve the applications. All three commissioners – David Hamil for District 1, Randy McMurphy for District 2 and John Smiley for District 3 – were present. County Clerk Shelley Reed and District 2 commissioner-elect Shane Vore were also in attendance. After approving minutes of the last mee...
Last week, the Woods County Commissioners delayed opening bids for the courthouse camera system because one potential bidder couldn’t make the deadline. Their receipt of bid specs didn’t arrive until just before the bid opening time. The opening was on the agenda again Monday, but Commissioner Randy McMurphy said due to unforeseen circumstances, he recommended no action. He said the one bid received will remain unopened. In addition to McMurphy, Commissioners David Hamil and John Smiley were present. County Clerk Shelley Reed was also at the...
Vice President Karen Koehn presided over Monday’s Alva Board of Education meeting Monday in the absence of Jane McDermott. Other board members present were Paul Barton, Kevin Pingelton and Shane Hansen. In the communications portion of his report, Superintendent Jeremy Brashears gave updates on some student activities and accomplishments. High school softball finished their season at super regionals after a loss to Chandler. AHS football is 7-2 for the season and currently ranked second in the district. This secures them the opportunity to h...
A woman from Oklahoma City is facing four felony charges in Alfalfa County after she allegedly passed drugs to an inmate at James Crabtree Correctional Center (JCCC) in Helena. Chandra Denise Anderson, 50, of Oklahoma City, has been charged with (1) conspiracy, (2) bringing contraband (drugs) into a penal institution, (3) bringing contraband (drugs) into a penal institution (marijuana) and (4) bringing contraband (drugs) into a penal institution (methamphetamine.) The conspiracy charge is punishable by imprisonment for up to 10 years or a fine...
Sometimes homecoming festivities can be distracting, taking the focus of football players away from the game. It wasn't a problem for the Alva Goldbugs last Friday as they hosted Kelleyville. The Goldbugs dominated the game, coming away with a 56-0 victory. At the end of a very long first quarter, Alva led 28-0. The Goldbugs scored twice in the second quarter to lead 42-0 at halftime. After Alva's first possession to start the second half ended in a touchdown, the coaches subbed in players from...
It's been three years since the Alva Planning Commission met, and Monday's meeting got off to a slow start. Three commission members were present at the 6 p.m. start time, but one more was needed for a quorum of the six members. Present were Chairman Christie Kornele and members Charles Murrow and Matt Adair. After some phone messages, it was learned that Tyler Crawford thought the meeting was a half hour later. He arrived at 6:25 p.m. with apologies, and the meeting began. Before getting to...
Chairman Bo Hannaford opened the Alva Hospital Authority meeting Tuesday with trustees Dr. Kenneth Brown, Greg Bowman, Connor Martin, Dr. Scott Burk and Dr. Callie Mosburg present. Share Medical Center CEO Kandice Allen reported, “Senior Life Solutions, our adult mental health program, is going great guns.” She said they are seeing seven people, and the program has a maximum of ten. “We’re excited about that. There’s been a lot of interest.” A nurse who formerly worked in Urgent Care returned to fill the final staff opening in the Senior Life S...
According to a recent email from Ballot Ready, America’s political candidates are getting younger. The findings are based on a database of 250,000 unique candidates. The median age of candidates is falling. Looking at the last seven years, the median age in 2018 was 61. It dropped to 60 in 2019 and 2020. The median age for 2021 and 2022 was 57. In 2023 and 2024 it was 56. The age of candidates is lowest at the federal level. The average age of federal candidates is 56, the same as for states. I... Full story
The Woods County Commissioners welcomed Commissioner David Hamil to Monday's meeting. Hamil has been absent for several months due to surgery and rehab. Hamil thanked everyone for their prayers and calls. He said he was proud and appreciative of Foreman Damian Starks for taking care of everything and also the crew for District 1. "It's good to be back," Hamil said. Chairman Randy McMurphy opened the meeting with Hamil and Commissioner John Smiley present. Also at the meeting were County Clerk...
An Alfalfa County bench warrant has been issued for a man from Colby, Kansas, on two misdemeanor charges filed Oct. 23. Damen Eugene Cox, 47, has been charged with two counts of threatening to perform an act of violence. This crime is punishable by imprisonment for up to six months. The first count is for threats made to Laneta Schwerdtfeger (county clerk) that he would “take out her whole family” and “take action personally.” The second count is for threats made to Sheriff Gary Mast that “when I get to Alfalfa County I am going to blow it u...
Kenneth Pharis spoke to the Alva City Council Monday night during the citizen remarks part of the agenda. Last month, he talked to the council about receiving an unusually high water bill. He said the high water usage occurred while he was out of state and asked if the city could forgive some of bill. Monday night, Pharis said the mayor (who was not present) decided the city could not change the bill. He was told he could appeal. Pharis said he learned that the city has no appeal process. He the...
Seven properties were declared dilapidated and constituting a detriment or hazard and therefore a nuisance during the Alva City Council meeting Monday night. Six of the seven councilmembers voted in favor of the action with Troy Brooks voting no. Prior to the action, a public hearing was held. No one appeared to speak on behalf of the property owners. Alva Code Enforcement Officer Adam Grimsley said most of the properties belonged to the Prophet estate and one was the home of the late Bennie Benson. He spoke to a family member about the...
Finance Chairman Garrett Lahr presented a brief report on city finances during Monday's Alva City Council meeting. Councilmembers receive a detailed report in their meeting packets. On Sept. 30 the cash balances for all city cash accounts were $3,156,320.65 and investments totaled $3,995,010.12. The city continues to place five percent of sales tax collections into a savings account to provide for a capital equipment account. Three months into the fiscal year, the city's General Fund has...
John Holland with Enterprise Fleet Services returned Monday to answer any questions about Enterprise Fleet Services from the Alva City Council. He made a presentation about the service last month. In the absence of Mayor Kelly Parker, Greg Bowman, president of the council, was in charge of the meeting. Other council members present were Joe Parsons, Troy Brooks, Matt Adair, Gail Swallow, Garrett Lahr and James Hoffman. Holland said the greatest benefits to the city in using the fleet service would be moving the rotation of vehicles from 15...
A man from Willow, Oklahoma, has been charged with child sexual abuse that took place between Dec. 1, 2021, and July 7, 2022, when he was living in Freedom. Matthew Triston Meredith aka Triston, 23, of Willow, has been charged with two counts of child sexual abuse involving a 14-year-old female. Each felony count is punishable by imprisonment not exceeding life, or by a fine of $500 to $5,000, or both such fine and imprisonment. Court records show on Aug. 15, Department of Human Services (DHS) Child Welfare Specialist Kay Hull reported she was...
In a Thursday night Fall Break game, the Alva Goldbugs beat Luther 33-18. With the win, Alva is 5-2 for the season and 3-1 in district play. The Associated Press' Oklahoma high school football poll that came out Tuesday lists Alva in sixth place in Class 2A-II in the state, up two from the previous week. Here are the rankings with first place votes in parentheses, records, points and ranking in last week's poll, records through Sept. 10. Class 2A-II 1. Stroud (4) (7-0) 75 1 2. Vian (2) (7-0) 69...
