At Monday's Board of Osage County Commissioner meeting, District Obe Commissioner, Randall Jones made a proposal to make a change to the county e-mail system.


The system would cost $400 plus a fee for each person who had an account. Osage County Court Clerk Sheila Bellamy said if the system only accepts credit cards the county wouldn't be able to use the system because the county doesn't have a credit card. Bellamy added that e-mails addressed to the person who held her position previously are finally disappearing.


Osage County Assessor Ed Quinton Jr. let Bellamy know that there is a new automated system that will let senders of emails know when they send it to the wrong person. The Commissioners decided to table the item so that they could get more information on how to possibly pay for the system. 

Osage County Commissioner for District One, Randall Jones, has been wanting to make a few policy changes as to how things are ran at the fairgrounds in Pawhuska. Jones presented a rough draft of those proposed changes at Tuesday's commissioner meeting and it was decided that it would be best if everyone had time to look over those changes before taking any action. District Three Commissioner Darren McKinney says there are still too many unanswered questions.


Jones has explored what other counties do in that situation.


The Commissioners ultimately decided to table this agenda item to next Monday. 

A schedule of events for the 85th annual Osage County cattlemen’s Convention has been released. The event starts on Tuesday, June 11 and runs through Sunday, June 16th.
Tuesday will be highlighted with the grand opening of the Ben Johnson Cowboy Museum, which will be located at 201 E. 6th Street in Pawhuska.
The kickoff party to the convention will take place on Thursday at the Pioneer Woman Event Center. Tickets for that event can be purchased at the Pawhuska Chamber of Commerce.
Friday will feature a trade show at the Osage County Fairgrounds beginning at 10 in the morning. A Cattlemen’s Luncheon will follow the trade show. A BBQ dinner will take place at 6:30 that evening and a dance featuring the Rick Cook Band will take place at 9. Gates open at 8 and tickets cost $10 at the gate.
Breakfast will be served at 8 on Saturday with a rodeo to take place at 6 in the evening.
A Cowboy Church Service will take place at 9 in the morning on Sunday with the 65th annual Ben Johnson Memorial Steer Roping event to take place at 1 in the afternoon.
For more information and to purchase tickets in advance, go to visittheosage.com. You can also call Jeanne Strom at 918-287-4170. We will have more on the Osage County Cattlemen’s Convention as the event draws near. 

Tri County Tech has canceled its graduation ceremony for this evening, which was scheduled to take place at the Bartlesville Community Center. 
A threat of more flooding rains and severe weather in Washington, Osage and Nowata counties prompted the cancelation. 
Superintendent and CEO Lindel Fields said: "We are proud of our graduates and their accomplishments this year. Our thoughts and prayers are with those that continue to be affected by the tragic weather in our area."

It has been a busy time for Osage County Emergency Manager Jerry Roberts and he is doing everything that needs to be done to make sure the county gets all of the proper resources it can with the recent heavy rainfall.


At Monday's Board of Osage County Commissioner meeting, Roberts had the commissioners sign an emergency proclamation to aid in funding.


Roberts added that there is a temporary dump site set up in Avant where people can bring items that have been destroyed by the storm.


Jones said the flooding will affect other parts of the county, such as many road maintenance projects getting delayed.


There is still a shelter set up in Avant. The American Red Cross from Buffalo New York is helping the county. Several church groups and organizations are in the area helping out. Two organizations from Louisiana who were affected by Hurricane Katrina are hoping to come up and help. Gov. Kevin Stitt has been to the county twice. After Monday's meeting, Roberts was going to the County Health Department to ask that temporary clinics be set up so that people who had been in the flood waters could get a tetanus shot.

he Board of Osage County Commissioners met at the courthouse in Pawhuska Monday morning and everyone was there to talk about the flooding rains that have impacted the county over the last several days.


An emergency proclamation was passed at the meeting to make sure the county gets all available resources to recover from the storm. That proclamation will ensure that Osage County is covered when it comes to infrastructure and individual homes.


Osage County Emergency Manager Jerry Roberts said if residents have more than four feet of water in their home, it is considered destroyed. Thus far, he has seen 120 homes fall into this category. This doesn't take into account infrastructure such as city hall buildings and police stations. Roberts did add that there aren't many power outages to report at this time.


The American Red Cross from Buffalo New York is helping the county in any way they can. There is a temporary dump set up in Avant where people can take items that have been destroyed by the recent rainfall. The county might have to pay for that initially, but they should get reimbursed by FEMA.


Also at the meeting, District one Commissioner Randall Jones proposed a rough draft to the other commissioners on new policies and procedures to be implemented at the Osage County Fairgrounds. This item got tabled so that they could have more time to look at the new proposals.


Jones also brought up the idea of having a new email system for the county. No action was taken on this agenda item.


A remodel to the bathrooms at the Clarence Brantley Indoor Arena will be coming soon, as the commissioners awarded the bid to J and L Associates for $78,700. They expect it will take 60 working days to complete the project.


The next regular scheduled Board of Osage County Commissioners meeting is scheduled for next Monday at 10 o' clock in the morning.

We are learning more about the death of an Osage County woman who died Sunday evening after falling from a cliff.
At around 10 o' clock that evening, the Osage County Sheriff's Office was called out to County Road 5511 and County Road 5407 near Hominy. Deputies say 51-year old Glenda Dee Olson of Hominy had fallen 40 to 50 feet while searching for arrowheads.She was believed to have mis-stepped when the fall occured. Deputies say no foul play was involved.

Two are transported to the St. John Medical Center following a weekend accident in Osage County.
The Osage Hill EMS transported 59-year-old Patricia Chilsen and her 63-year-old passenger Kristine Chilsen to Tulsa. According to reports, their vehicle was rear ended Sunday afternoon on US-60 as they were trying to turn onto County Road 2145.
25-year-old Zane Washington was driving the vehicle that allegedly rear ended the Chilsen vehicle. He sustained no injuries in the accident. His three-year-old passenger was not injured in the collision as well.
Patricia Chislen has been treated and has been released from the St. John Medical Center. Kristine Chislen is admitted in stable condition with trunk internal and head injuries.

The 66th annual Big Heart Days in Barnsdall is taking place this weekend. Because of construction, there are a few changes to the three day festival, which starts tomorrow, but Claude Rosendale with the county tourism board, says there will be plenty to do, especiallyearly in the morning on Saturday.


On Saturday, one of the things festival-goers will be able to partake inis a fishing tournament.


There will also be multiple vendors downtown Barnsdall throughout the day, along with a classic car drive in. There will be a Memorial Day parade and the grand marshals are three brothers who are all World War II Veterans. There will also be a fireworks display to close out the day. 

Parts of Osage County received up to three and a half inches of rain Wednesday evening, but after getting as much as eight inches of rain Monday evening, this shower was nothing the county couldn't handle.


Roberts hasn't had any damage reports, but he can confirm that there have been multiple reports of spotters viewing tornadoes around the Hominy and Skiatook areas.


Roberts has been in contact with Oklahoma Emergency Management, along with FEMA to begin looking at flood damage across the county. A fire station and city hall in Avant had two feet of water creep into the building. The town of Hominy also suffered some infrastructure damage from the flooding.