The COVID-19 pandemic put a halt to the early phases of producing, “Killers of the Flower Moon,” across Osage County. At last check, the hope is to have the film released in 2021, but in the meantime Chamber of Commerce Director for the City of Pawhuska, Joni Nash, is doing all she can to make the town attractive for other producers that may want to film in the area.
Killers of the Flower Moon is a film based on the real-life story of the Osage Murders and the birth of the FBI. The movie is set to feature the likes of Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro. One of the fire trucks in Pawhuska has a fracture on the frame of the ladder. They are currently unable to use that ladder. It would be cheaper to total the truck then it would be to attempt to fix it. City Manager Tonya Bright explains the situation the city is currently in.
City Attorney John Heskett explained that the truck could continue to be used for the time being in certain situations. The council motioned to total the truck and re-purchase the truck when the time comes. Pawhuska Code Enforcer Steve Hughes has been working hard to keep the city in good working order. At a recent city council meeting,Hughes discussed what has been going on across town.
Hughes says the City has been taking care of some abated property. Notices have been sent out, but there have been no responses. He added that they are working on cleaning up other properties in town as well. Hughes also said he has written several citations in association with utility thefts recently. The Board of Osage County Commissioners will meet for a regularly scheduled meeting at the fairgrounds Monday morning and get updates from several leaders in the community.
Free Fair Board President Macy Strom will be on hand discussing the possibility of proceeding with or even the cancelation of the Osage County Free Fair in September. Terry Loftis of JL & Associates will be at the meeting to give an update on the demolition of the Bighill Furniture Store in Fairfax. Executive Director of Osage County Tourism, Kelly Bland will be on hand giving a tourism report. She will be requesting funding for the Visit Widget contract renewal. This is the website they currently use and there is no price change. The commissioners will consider making further procedure changes for those entering the Osage County Courthouse and other county-owned buildings. This is an item the commissioners review on a weekly basis. The meeting is scheduled to start at 10 a.m. for those interested in attending. Nightly musical performances have started up at Cavalcade and proper safety precautions are being taken so that everyone can attend. Generally, they put 4,000 tickets up for sale, but this year they are only offering up 1,000 advanced tickets. Chairman of the event,Jeff Bute talks about past crowds.
Bute says based off of general admission space of where the concert will be taking place, up to 22,000 people could fit in that area. Bute welcomes everybody to come out and have a good time. Musical performances begin at 10:30 nightly with Bo Phillips performing on Thursday, Jason Boland and the Stragglers playing on Friday and Shane Smith and the Saints playing on Saturday. An Osage County Sheriff’s deputy suffered a broken leg after he was ran over by a suspect when attempting to make a traffic stop in early May. Things could have been much worse if not for the heroic actions taken by Pawhuska Police Officer Bobby Sappington. Sappington was recently recognized for his actions at a Pawhuska City Council meeting.
The defendant, Cameron Enox, was struck by one of the bullets, but has since been taken to jail. Heading into the 74th annual Cavalcade, board members made the decision to have owners of any horse entering the fairgrounds show a health certificate of veterinarian inspection within the past week because of a disease affecting numerous animals. Chairman of the board, Jeff Bute said despite the last minute decision, this process has been very smooth.
Bute said one individual showed up without proper paperwork, but a veterinarian was able to show up and inspect the horse to issue the certificate. Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt has tested positive for COVID-19.
Our news partners with the News on 6 report that Stitt was tested yesterday and that result came back positive. Stitt made the announcement earlier today from his home in a joint press conference with Interim Commissioner of Health, Lance Frye. In the statement, Stitt says he “feels fine” and does not exhibit any COVID-19 symptoms at this time other than feeling “achy.” Every year, the Board of Osage County Commissioners select an engineering firm to be placed on call so that if something happens after hours, they can come fix it. As long as the commissioners choose a firm off of the pre-approved list from ODOT, they don't have to conduct interviews to determine who they would like to choose this year. Guy Engineering sent the commissioners a contract, but they chose to go with Kellogg Engineering last year and all three commissioners felt it would be best to do so again.
All three commissioners have used Kellogg Engineering for several projects in the past, which is a firm located in Talala. A survey was released at Monday evening's school board meeting in Pawhuska showing what parents prefer in regards to sending students back to school. Highlights of the survey show that 72 percent of respondents prefer in-person learning with the traditional school calendar. Only 23 percent of those responding said they would not consider in-person learning as the school year begins and nearly two out of every three people would like to see a virtual day built into the calendar week so that school facilities could get cleaned. Three out of every four people who responded to the survey weren't concerned with the ability to provide internet for their children.
Superintendent David Cash explains some of the policies they will be implementing this coming year. Pawhuska will be offering three different models of learning this year, rather it be a traditional in-person model, a blended model where students take some classes on campus and others at home and a third option includes distance learning where students study from home all week. Cash says it has been difficult trying to find what the best learning environment is for the students. Cash says if a student or staff member tests positive for COVID-19, school will be shutdown for two days. If a second test is reported, the school will be shutdown for 14 days. The school will be doing all they can to prevent that from happening, though. Cash says heading into the school year, the school district has more than enough google chromebooks for students and plenty of hot spots as well. |
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