One of only 79 grants awarded nationwide, only one in

NO. 47: JUNE 2018

Read about Roxannand Jerry Yates jour-ney to Ireland onPage 11.

Big Read grant awarded to LGAA

(Story continues on Page 2)

The Locust Grove ArtsAlliance (LGAA) is a re-cipient of a grant of$14,475 to host the NEABig Read in Locust Grove.A national initiative of theNational Endowment forthe Arts in partnership withArts Midwest, the NEA BigRead broadens our under-standing of our world, ourcommunities, and ourselvesthrough the joy of sharing

One of only 79 grants awarded nationwide, only one in Oklahoma

AUTHOR JOY HARJO’sbook How We Became Hu-man will be the focus of thegrant.

a good book.The LGAA is one of 79

nonprofit organizations toreceive an NEA Big Readgrant to host a communityreading program betweenSeptember 2018 and June2019.

The NEA Big Read inLocust Grove will focus on“How We Became Hu-man” by Joy Harjo. Activi-ties will take place duringthe month of April 2019,and will conclude with avisit from Harjo on April26-27, 2019.

“This is an amazing op-portunity for a small com-munity, and we look for-ward to engaging as manypeople as possible from all

walks of life and all ages incoming together to enjoythis experience,” said Jenni-fer Henson, President of theLGAA.

“The National Endow-ment for the Arts is proudto support opportunitiesfor communities across thenation, both small andlarge, to take part in theNEA Big Read,” said NEAActing Chairman MaryAnne Carter. “This pro-gram encourages peopleto not only discuss a booktogether, but be intro-duced to new perspec-tives, discuss the issues atthe forefront of our ownlives, and connect with oneanother at events.”

The NEA BigRead showcases a diverserange of contemporarytitles that reflect many dif-

ting contests, musical en-tertainment, vendors, andmore.

The festivities will beginat 9:00 a.m., with thehorseshoe tournament be-ginning at 10: 00 a.m. Mu-sical guests (not yet deter-mined) will begin playing at11:00 a.m. The Rural Okla-homa Museum of Poetry

will host a patriotic poemcontest with prizes for all en-tries.

The Ms and Mr. Libertycontest winners will be an-nounced at noon. This con-test is a way for area youthto develop their social skills,win prizes, and support thecommunity, particularly the

Chamber hosts Independence Day fest July 7

(Continues on Page 4)

The LG OK Area Cham-ber of Commerce will hostthe 2nd annual Indepen-dence Day Celebration onJuly 7, Saturday, at the LGFlea Market & Sale Barn.

Festivities include aBBQ rib cook-off, Ms andMr. Liberty contest, horse-shoe tournament, water-melon eating and seed-spit-

LIBERTY. . . Kylee Tugmonand Sydney Schwichtenberg.

Page 2 What’s Happening in LG June 2018

--Big Read--

EDITOR’S NOTE: While this newsletter is producedby the LGAA and will contain that organization’s news, wealso want to publish information about any activities in Lo-cust Grove that our community might be interested in.

If you have news on LG events, places, or people, orwant to place an ad in the newsletter, please contact BettyPerkins at [email protected] or 918-479-5617 (leavea message if no answer). The newsletter can also be viewedat lgartsalliance.com. As LGAA is a nonprofit organizationand the newsletter is provided free to everyone, advertisingmust support the publication of this newsletter. Your sup-port is greatly appreciated.

About What’s Happening in LG

ferent voices and perspec-tives, aiming to inspire con-versation and discovery.The main feature of the ini-tiative is a grants program,managed by Arts Midwest,which annually supportsdynamic community read-ing programs, each de-signed around a singleNEA Big Read selection.

The LGAA will beworking in partnershipwith the LG PublicSchools, the Rural Okla-homa Museum of Poetry(ROMP), the LG PublicLibrary and the LG Cham-ber of Commerce to ex-pand the project’s reach inApril 2019.

Activities will includebook discussions at schoolsand in the community, artand literature activities in-spired by the book, a bigcommunity event at the LGPirate Arena and muchmore.

For more informationabout the NEA Big Read,please visit arts.gov/neabigread.

Details for all of theevents will be posted at theLGAA website:LGArtsAlliance.com. Ev-eryone in the community ofLocust Grove is invited toparticipate.

NEA Big Read is a pro-gram of the National En-dowment for the Arts inpartnership with Arts Mid-west.

(Continued from Page 1)

“Joy Harjo is a phenomenal poet, and she isfrom this area, so it will be great to study andenjoy her work, get to meet her and see whatkind of impact her poetry can make in our com-munity.”

--Shaun Perkins

The grant writer ShaunPerkins, ROMP director,will oversee much of theactivities for the program,which is taking place dur-ing National Poetry Month.

“Joy Harjo is a phenom-enal poet, and she is fromthis area, so it will be greatto study and enjoy herwork, get to meet her, andsee what kind of impact herpoetry can make in ourcommunity,” said Perkins.

Since 2006, the NationalEndowment for the Artshas funded more than 1,400NEA Big Read programs,providing more than $19million to organizations na-

tionwide.In addition, Big Read

activities have reached ev-ery Congressional districtin the country. Over thepast eleven years, granteeshave leveraged more than$44 million in local fundingto support their NEA BigRead programs.

More than 4.9 millionAmericans have attendedan NEA Big Read event,approximately 82,000 vol-unteers have participated atthe local level, and 39,000community organizationshave partnered to makeNEA Big Read activitiespossible.

COVEY MASONIC LODGE #460 recently presented CoachBrad Cowan and the junior high archery team with a checkfor $3,000. This match brought the total proceeds of thespaghetti dinner/auction to $17,000. Proceeds helped theteam travel to the national tournament in May.

June 2018 What’s Happening in LG Page 3

Turner’s Laundry&

Stash & Dash Mini Storage105 N. Wyandotte -- West Edge of Locust Grove

918-479-5759 or 918-479-5296Lighted, Fenced & Video Surveillance

Owner: Movita Turner

Zoo Safari kicks off summer readingThe Locust Grove Pub-

lic Library kicked off sum-mer reading this monthwith a visit from John andMaria Jinks of Zoo SafariUSA, an animal rescue fa-cility near Locust Grove.

It was an honor to havethem here and talk to thekids about some of the ani-mals they have at their zoo.

The kids enjoyed get-ting to see the animals upclose and touch them aswell.

More than 40 people at-tended the kick off. Weended the evening eating

ice cream under the shadetrees of the beautifullymanicured lawn of the li-brary. Thank you, ScottOgilvie for taking care ofour lawn.

The Locust Grove Pub-lic Library has recentlyjoined a consortia of librar-ies in Oklahoma known asthe OK Virtual Library.

OK Virtual Library is

powered by OverDrive, adistributor that provides thee-books and audio booksfor patrons to borrow.

Using OverDrive worksthe same as borrowingfrom the brick and mortarlibrary. Borrowers are al-lowed a set amount of time

to enjoy the books and thenthey are retrieved.

Patrons can use devices,such as Kindle, I-Pad, smartphone, a laptop or desktopcomputer to read or listento books.

All that is required is theOverDrive App be installedon the device. An an-nouncement will be madepublic as soon as everythingis in place.

Financial assistance forthis special project is madepossible with Federal fundsfrom the Institute of Mu-seum and Library Servicesadministered through theOklahoma Department ofLibraries.--Marea Breedlove, librarian

ZOO SAFARI FRIEND. . . Jeffrey Adams holds Rosie theSnake during a visit from the Zoo Safari to the library thatkicked off the summer reading program. AT LEFT, some ofthe 40 youngsters at the kick-off party enjoy ice cream.

--Photographs by Marea Breedlove, Librarian

DJ’SPhone: 479-5877 Hours: M-F10:45 a.m. - 7 p.m.

Free Desserts Wednesdays!When purchased with meal

Good Food. Good Service.Good People.


VFW, which will receivehalf of the proceeds of thetickets the contestants sell.

Ms and Mr. Liberty con-testants will be selling raffletickets throughout June,and the raffle prizes willalso be given away duringthe celebration. The contes-tants who sell the most tick-ets win the contest.

BBQ Rib Cook-Off con-testants need to sign up byJuly 5 and be on location at9:00 a.m. Judging will be at11:30 a.m., and the publiccan purchase a rib dinnerbeginning at noon for$6.00.

Vendors need to sign upby July 5 also and can doso at Junk Justified, Won-der City Coffee, or theChamber office. Forms areavailable there and also atthe Chamber website atLocustGroveOklahoma.com.

For more information,contact Chamber PresidentAdele Collette, at Junk Jus-tified or call her at 918-530-8132.


CONTESTS . . . One of thepopular contests from lastyear’s Independence DayCelebration was the water-melon eating and seed spit-ting contest which is alsoplanned for this year.

--Independence Day--

Rowland’sQuick Shop

“Your HometownConvenience Store”

Open: 4 a.m.-10 p.m.

Smoked BolognaPulled Pork

Chamber elections June 19On June 19, the Locust Grove Chamber will have an

election for the following positions: vice-president, sec-retary, treasurer, and for three board member.

The chamber encourages anyone interested in com-munity service and to help the town of Locust Groveprosper and thrive to apply. For a candidate form or in-formation, see Marsha Evans at Builder’s Wholesale oremail her at [email protected].

LAST YEAR’S celebrationfeatured music and a chillicookoff. At right VFW Com-mander Grant Mennecke andhis mother TheresaMennecke enjoy the shade.


Quantie Auto SupplyHarold Jr. & Georgeann Quantie - Owners

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Hwy 82 South, P.O. Box 428Locust Grove, OK 74352

Sanford named LG Teacher of Year

Rural OklahomaMuseum of Poetry

6603 S. 438 - Locust Grove

Visit us atrompoetry.com


“Once a Pirate, always aPirate.”

These are words thatring true for one LocustGrove teacher and a 1995LG alumna. JenniferSanford, a veteran teacherof the Locust Grove UpperElementary, was named the2017-2018 LGUE Teacherof the Year. She was latercrowned Locust GrovePublic School DistrictTeacher of the Year.Sanford was filled withemotion when she was firstheard the news.

“Tears of joy filled myeyes when the announce-ment on the intercom wasmade that I receivedTeacher of the Year at theLocust Grove Upper El-ementary,” said Sanford. “Ihave been a teacher at Lo-cust Grove Schools for 17years and this was the firsttime I have received this. Iwas overjoyed, excited andso happy that my col-leagues, that also deserveit as well, had selected me.”

TEACHER OF THE YEAR . . . Reading and physical edu-cation teacher Jennifer Sanford was named the LocustGrove School System Teacher of the year for 2017-18.

Sanford who had educa-tion coursing through herveins, is the daughter ofRoy and Carolyn Flanary.Roy was a teacher and ad-ministrator for many yearsin Locust Grove.

“From the time I can re-member I have alwayswanted to be a teacher. Ibelieve my inspiration anddesire began with my dadbeing a teacher and later anadministrator. He loved his

students … he had a pas-sion to inspire kids and helpthe ones that needed it themost, the struggling stu-dents,” Sanford said.

She remembers playingschool in her bedroom as achild and feels that is whenher dream to be a teacherbegan.

“As I got older, I neverchanged my mind. All Iwanted to do was grow-upand be a teacher and helpkids. I wanted to help kidslearn and influence theirlives in a positive way,”Sanford said. “I began tobelieve this is what I wasdestined to do and the onlything I was certain of. I be-lieve this was a true callingin my life.”

Sanford’s teaching ca-reer began in 2001 aftergraduating from Northeast-ern State University,Tahlequah. Her first jobwas teaching kindergarten.

“I loved being creativeand teaching the little

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(Continued from Page 5)people,” Sanford said.

After a few years ofteaching, Sanford felt herdream changing. Shewanted more of a challengeand decided to move up andteach older students. Shewent on to teach third gradeand then second grade.

In the summer of 2017,an opportunity arose forSanford to move out of thetraditional classroom. Shewas offered a positionwhere she would be a Read-ing Intervention Teacherhalf of the day and a Physi-cal Education Teacher theother half.

“God had opened a doorfor me. I was very excitedbecause I had lost 35pounds over the summertime and I knew all the goalsI had set for myself couldnow be shared with my stu-dents. I would be helpingthem in a positive way,Sanford said. “I am learn-ing as I teach them in P.E.about nutrition, hygiene and

safety. I love watching asthey see the connection be-tween our learning goalseach week and the game orfitness circuit we are do-ing.”

Sanford went on to sayshe sees many childrenstruggle with healthy eat-ing habits and she hopesthey can relate when theywater her struggle with ethsame challenges they have.

The challenges continuewith the reading interven-tion position. Sanford wholoves teaching kids to read,feels that this was a goodfit for her.

“The Reading Interven-tion job couldn’t be moreof a blessing to me. Thisyear has been an amazingjourney,” said Sanford. Theschool year ended on May18 but Sanford is alreadythinking about next year. “Ialways hope I am inspiringmy students to reach theirpotential and believe inthemselves.”

New ExhibitLocal artist Stuart Horton is featured in this month’s Lo-cust Grove Arts Alliance Gallery with his artwork, “Expand-ing Horizons.” The display presents color visuals and blackand white drawings for a full dimension depicting peopleand earth. History and future abound in the story of theartwork. A special meet and greet event was held June 8,and the exhibit will be on display throughout the month ofJune.


BLACK DRUGCompounding Pharmacy

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Locust Grove, OK

74352

918-479-5223918-479-6510 fax

Moore Family ChiropracticTherapeutic Massage

(918) 479-2827 Phone/FaxMon., Wed. & Fri. 9-1 & 2-6Tuesday 10-1 & 2-6Biofreeze, Essential Oil Blends, Whole Food Supplements available

Dr. Clinton Moore - Chiropractor

Stacy Moore - Massage Therapist

413 E. Main StreetP.O. Box 1471Locust Grove,

OK 74352

Locust Grove Animal Clinic

707 E. Main StreetLocust Grove, OK 74352918-479-5496918-479-8543 FAXDavid Fleming, [email protected]

Office Hours:Mon.-Fri.

7:30 am- 5:30 pmSat. 8-Noon

Mystery, Poetry becomes permanent exhibit

In April 2018, the LGAAcelebrated National PoetryMonth with a month-longexhibit Mystery and Poetry,based on the work of Ru-ral Oklahoma Museum ofPoetry director ShaunPerkins.

The exhibit focused onPerkins’s 2017 detectivestory in verse The Bookwith the Beacon Lights,published by Indian Univer-sity Press.

The book is a mysterywritten in poetry form andillustrated with photogra-phy from Betty Perkins anddrawings by Ray Grass.

The exhibit ran thewhole month of April,

PERRY’S JURY . . . Safie McClure becomes a part of thejury in a special photo-op at the Mystery and Poetry Ex-hibit at the Rural Oklahoma Museum of Poetry. The ex-hibit is currently located in the ROMP Rummage Store af-ter a month-long showing at the LGAA Art Gallery. View-ers are welcome to come to the store Wednesday throughSaturday to see the exhibit and also to visit an unusual bath-room extention of the poetry museum. Be warned the bath-room is an art display like you’ve never seen before.

2018, and was then takendown. It is currently a per-manent exhibit inside theROMP Rummage Store,105 E. Main, where youcan see it when the store isopen Wed-Sat, 10-4 p.m.

Shoppers and visitorscan also participate in thepoetry scavenger hunt thatwas part of the exhibit.Those who complete thehunt and figure out thepuzzle get $5 worth of freemerchandise from thestore.

Don’t miss the hauntedbathroom/museum annexwhen you visit the store,too. For more information,visit ROMPoetry.com.

Haunted bathroom tour a must


Locals take trip to Emerald Isle

ATOP FINN MCCOOL’S STEPS . . . Jerry and RoxannYates sit on an Irish legend. According to the story, FinnMcCool is the Irish giant who supposedly placed the rocksas steps to Scotland to fight the Scottish giant Benandonner,but when he saw how big he was, he came back home. Hiswife disguised him as a baby. When Benandonner saw howbig the baby was (It was really Finn.), he ran back to Scot-land because he thought Finn would be bigger than him.The rocks have a unique shape, like steps.

By Roxann Perkins YatesJerry and I are project-

possessed and don’t trulyrelax unless we “get outtatown. So we went big andtraveled to Ireland to jour-ney down the lush narrowroads of the wee greencountry. We weren’t inter-ested in tourist snags andlongish lines or queuing upto kiss a rock or whatever.

Even though we didn’tkiss the Blarney stone orsport a selfie stick, we havea photographic memory ofthe experience of the east-ern side of the isle, north tosouth.

Dublin-born Oscar Wildesaid, “being natural is just apose.” On our first two daysin Dublin we tried to poseas “urban gladiators” be-cause our Swiss Gear back-packs said that’s what wewould be when toting them.We were gladiators withorthopedic shoes, a bunionbuddy, compression socks,and no sense of where thearena was. We did get a die-sel car that stopped running

Summer’s Just Around the Corner.Time for Air Conditioner Tune Up. Special $90


every time we stopped. Wetried to get in the parkinggarage, but we didn’t havea code. The barista nextdoor came out and gave itto us. Baristas are soknowledgeable! We gotstuck between the two bar-riers, and a nice man freedus. So we have had ourbattles, but we were twothumbs up so far. Dublinhas 1.8 million people. I’msure we saw most of them,in those first two days,wearing their sensible shoesand talking funny, just likeus.

Though we didn’t wantto be herded onto a tourbus, a kind Connecticutcouple gave us passes thatthey would no longer need.We toured the Irish Whis-key Museum and did thetasting. It’s not like winetasting. You don’t spit it outin a bucket. Your belly isyour bucket. Our bucketswere filled, and the tour buswas an easy off-on-no-you’re-not-trapped experi-


ence. Our guide was enter-taining and cursed a fewtimes but he said he wasn’tbeing rude, just cursing foremphasis.

We journeyed south onehour on the wrong side ofthe narrow road to the vil-lage of Kiltegan in WicklowCounty. Mick in Talk of theTown pub greeted us withrugged hands and a gentleheart. We got two free pints.Our Airbnb hosts weresplendid folks. The 200-year-old gated, castle homewas built by an architect tolive in while he renovatedon nearby HumewoodCastle.

We dodged cars, rocks,and sheep on our windingtrip to Glendalough, a mo-nastic settlement founded inthe 6th century, dotted withold tombstones, and sur-

Bay smooths the rocks. AtWicklow jail (prison) estab-lished in 1702 chained pris-oners were made to walkthe treadmill for five hours.Does this change your mindabout treadmills? We wentto a fish market in Arklowand bought books at Carpe

Diem Books. Seize the day!And we did!

We visited the cast ofTyrrell in Tyrrellspass. In1597 Richard Tyrrell andhis Irish army defeated theEnglish. Tyrrells are ances-tors of my family. It was



--Emerald Isle--rounding by waters andearth’s blooms. It thrivedas a community for hun-dreds of years. For dinner,Jerry paid tribute to thelittle, trotting lamb by eat-ing lamb steak.

Dunmore East is a fish-ing village in SE Ireland. Itreminds me of DocMartin’s quaint village.Jerry ate a hillock of mus-sels as we looked out at theIrish Sea. In New Ross wetoured a famine ship—acargo ship used to sailmostly poor and starvingIrish to America during themid 19th century potatofamine. They were oftencalled coffin ships becauseas many as 80 percent ofthem died. They were al-lowed 30 minutes a day tobe in the sun and on deckto cook food.

Farther south, Brittas

ERRANT LAMB . . . This Irish youngster had crossed thefence and took to the road. The green dye on his back iden-tifies him as a certain farmer’s lamb. The Wicklow Moun-tains are in the background.


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(Continued from Page 9)closed for touring, but weate in the restaurant on thebottom floor. Jerry’s littlemound looked like barf, buthe said it was tasty barf.People eat with a utensil ineach hand. We are skilledeaters because we can con-sume without the extrahand. Roundabouts (trafficcircles) are everywhere!Jerry was just telling ourbrother-in-law Mark, re-cently, how safe they are,but we had a fender benderin one. The Irish called itan “accident.” Such sen-sible souls. Be sure you buythe super insurance if yourent a car, so that you don’tsubtract your euros orpounds.

Gorse in its glory dotsthe landscape in yellow. It’sthorny and works as a fencefor shepherds and farmers.We took a forest bath to-day! We went to Victor’sWay in Roundwood andbathed in nature. The 22-acre forest is filled withhand-carved granite sculp-tures done by craftsmen in

India who replaced theirchisels every two minutes.It was a relaxing bath andan A+ on our list of quirkydestinations.

Brownshill Dolmen, aburial tomb stone structure,weighs 150 tons and wascreated 5,000 years ago. Ofthe 190 in Ireland, this oneat Carlow is the largest. Wewere amazed.

Next, we took a pasturebath by climbing over gatesand dodging cow patties inthe pasture to seeHaroldstown Dolmen. Itwas allegedly built by giants5,000 years ago, and a fam-ily of the potato faminelived in it in the 1840s. AtRathgall Hillfort we trav-eled down the narrow roadto a man pulling out of hisdrive and asked to park init. He said, “Sure. I’ll tellmy mother. Goodbye.” Wewalked to the rock fort thathas four concentric ram-parts from the Stone Age.We climbed a fence andwere there alone with Irishhistory.

--Emerald Isle--


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Patthana Garden is in ourhome base, Kiltegan. It’sone man’s flowering art inhis back yard. The colorfulblooms paint the garden.Jeremy the turtle is 14 yearsold and lives among theflowers. We have not met adisgruntled Irishman,woman yet! They must feedtheir souls in the pastures,rivers, gardens, and forests.

“Game of Thrones” fansmust visit The DarkHedges! These birch treesare more than 200 years old,and they were planted togrow into a grand entranceto a home on the hill inBallymoney, Northern Ire-land. You are free to roamamong the shady giants.

The Giant’s Causeway infolk lore was created byFinn McCool throwingthese rocks into the sea, cre-ating a path to a rival Scot-tish giant. We visitedBallintoy Harbor next. Thispicturesque place is also asetting for “Game ofThrones” episodes. Nearby,

a ruin by the sea is DunluceCastle built in the 15th cen-tury and lived in for hun-dreds of years until thescullery fell into the sea.

Bective Abbey inKilmessan was built in1146 on the Boyne River.Just down the road, is TheStation House Hotel, for-merly a train station, wherewe stayed in the two-storySignal House.

Jerry and I made giantsteps across this wee greenisland. We visited the StoneAge burial tombs ofKnowth and Dowth. Andwatched Allison spin woolat her 5th generation sheepfarm. We crossed theBoyne River and saw therocky pit where monksmade whiskey from driedgrain. We viewed the Hillof Tara, home to Irishkings. We were caressed bythe people and their place.

Then it was time for usto go home to family in thehills and valleys of ourgreen country. We’re soglad the English decided

hundreds of years ago notto industrialize Ireland, butto use it as a playground for

SPINNING LESSON . . . Jerry Yates watches closely asAllison works at her craft shop where she makes sweaters,scarves, and other items by using this old spinning wheel.She also lives on a fifth-generation family farm that raisessheep and cattle.

(Continued from Page 10) nobility. For two weeks andtwo days, we commonOkies played here too.

Yateses return home with Irish memories


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On June 11, at 10:30a.m., Sarah Spurrier will behosting her very popularJuice Box Jams, for pre-school kids who love sto-ries, music and fun. This isa great free half-hour ofentertainment.

On June 15, RashelleVaughn will be makingSmoothie Bowls with kidsages 5-10. This is free, funand educational, but spacesare limited so call the cof-fee shop to make sure yourkid is registered. The eventis at 10:30 a.m.

Popular local band Com-mon Ground will be play-ing again at Wonder CityCoffee Friday night, June22, from 6-7:30 p.m. The

entertainment is free andWONDERful, so come en-joy a great blend of blue-grass, country, folk andgospel with Clinton andStacey Moore, RobertO’Rear, and others.

We are proud that youare reading this column inthe paper put out free ofcharge by the Locust GroveArts Alliance, but you canalso get a free drink if youpick up a copy of the localcounty paper “The Paper”anytime in June, cut out theWonder City Week columnby Shaun Perkins, and bringit to the coffee shop.

One column per weekper person gets you a freedrink of your choice!

Wonder City Coffeeupcoming events

PICTURE TIME. . .Josephand Jane Rogers pose for apicture at a recent dinner/dance held at the Senior Citi-zens Nutrition Center.

Seniors setfree musicevening

The next senior dance, aPatriotic Dance, at the Se-nior Center Nutrition Cen-ter will be July 7 with theHole in the Wall Gang pro-viding the music.

Dinner at $6 will includepulled-pork sandwiches,cole slaw, fried okra anddesserts made by the Lo-cust Grove Ladies.

Food is served at 5:30p.m., and the dance will beheld from 6:30-9 p.m.

Only July 21, the centerwill offer a free evening ofmusic with the group Com-mon Ground playing blue-

grass, country, gospel andfolk music.

Food will be sold from aconcession as a fundraiserfor senior projects. Hotdogs and sandwiches anddesserts will be available.

Joe Bob Cunningham is being honored on his retire-ment from Locust Grove School with the school agri-culture farm being named after him.

Cunningham has taught ag-related subjects for morethan 40 years and has brought attention to the schooland community through his expertise in guilding horseand cattle judging team to state and national titles.

FFA Farm named for adviser

Mayor Brandon Hawkins moves;Superintendent Lisa Helton leaves

Two noted community leaders have resigned and willmove to neighboring communities.

Mayor Brandon Hawkins and his family are in the pro-cess of moving to Pryor. Vice Mayor Heath Holman, whois a former mayor, will replace Hawkins on the city coun-cil.

Superintendent of Schools Lisa Helton has resignedto take the superintendent’s job at Chouteau Schools.Helton is married to Kenny Helton, an LGHS graduatewho is employed by the Locust Grove System.

Documents

One of only 79 grants awarded nationwide, only one in