September 21, 2018

By Paragon News Director Paul Joseph –

SWOSU’s theater season opens soon on the Weatherford campus with a comedy.

The bittersweet comedy, Almost, Maine, runs Saturday through Tuesday of next week with curtain at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday’s matinee at 2 p.m. in the SWOSU Hilltop Theatre.

It’s being presented by the Southwestern Oklahoma State University’s Department of Art, Communication and Theatre.

According to a news release, Almost, Maine follows nine different sets of people through the same 10 minutes when the northern lights fill the sky above a quaint community that is so far north in Maine that it is almost in Canada. The magic of the sky is as explosive as the relationships that form or fall apart between these intriguing people.

The SWOSU Hilltop Theatre Box Office will begin taking reservations on Monday.

The SWOSU students are under the supervision of Assistant Professor/ Technical Director Jessica Salmans and Assistant Professor/Director Steve P. Strickler.

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September 28, 2018

By Paragon News Director Paul Joseph –

Reduced-cost eye care is available in Western Oklahoma to those that meet the requirements.

According to Tangela Henry, who is in charge of SWODA’s Information and Assistance for the various programs at the organization, reduced-cost eye exams and eyeglasses are available again. It’s one of South Western Oklahoma Development Authority’s programs to benefit regional residents.

She says the program is through SWODA’s Aging Services as the authority helps make possible care for those that can’t afford treatment. She says its an ongoing program that usually begins each year around September 1 and runs through May 31.

She says its for Western Oklahoma residents in the seven county area of Beckham, Custer, Greer, Harmon, Jackson, Kiowa, Roger Mills and Washita Counties.

She says it’s an easy process.

Henry says residents that are elderly and/or are a disabled “Advantage” applicant, can’t already be case managed by any other agency other than SWODA’s Aging Case Management.

Henry says she and SWODA are grateful to the regional optometrists who have been working together to help find solutions to problems and concerns of the aging and disabled in the Western Oklahoma area.

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September 28, 2018

By Paragon News Director Paul Joseph –

Three people involved in a 2017 Weatherford stabbing and kidnapping case will be tried together in November.

Initially, four people, two men and two women, were thought to be involved in the aggravated domestic situation at a residence in the 300 block of Reed Road in Weatherford.

According to a probable cause affidavit, the victim, 33-year-old Michael Price of Weatherford, was found by an OHP Trooper in the intersection of North 7^th Street and West Davis just after 1 am on February 18, 2017. Price was observed to have blood on his clothing an face and his hands were zip tied together behind his back with blue zip ties.

A number of people were identified in the probable cause affidavit who had appeared during the night leading up to the stabbing incident and more than one person was stabbed during the fight.

Besides Price – who had stabbing injuries to his lower leg, to his upper leg, his back and both arms with more cuts on the top and back portions of his head – two others received stab wounds.

40-year-old Jimmy Ray Dudgeon of Bessie was stabbed twice in the right shoulder and twice in the back.

The third person receiving stab wounds is 66-year-old Carey John Dudgeon, also of Bessie.

The court document charges assault, battery or assault and battery with a dangerous weapon against both Jimmy and Carey Dudgeon as well as two females, 38-year-old Leslie Ann Doshier of Weatherford and 41-year-old Chara Dannelle Lewis of Hydro.

Neither of the two women, however, appear to have wielded a knife, though they shared the same charge as the men.

All of the testimonies taken from the individuals at the time of the incident indicate that Doshier – who had been in a boyfriend/girlfriend living arrangement with Price – had told him that evening she was moving out which caused a new round of arguments that turned physical.

The court document says witnesses told investigators that Price had allegedly threatened to kill Doshier on previous occasions.

The trial date for Jimmy Ray Dudgeon, Carey John Dudgeon and Leslie Ann Doshier is set for November 27 in Custer County District Court.

Chara Lewis pleaded guilty in April and was given a suspended sentence, however, her sentence was revoked in May after the court found that she violated the terms of the sentence.

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September 26, 2018

By Paragon News Director Paul Joseph –

The man wanted in connection to a July shooting has been arrested on a warrant in Oklahoma City.

19-year-old Christopher Winston was arrested last week on a $100-thousand-dollar bond after a judge charged him a week-and-a-half ago with assault and battery with means likely to produce death.

He’s suspected of shooting a 50-year-old man at Joe Baker Park early one Saturday morning during a party.

According to reports at the time of the incident, the victim, James Kirkendoll of Albuquerque, drove himself to a local hospital where he passed out after arrival due to the injury. He has since recovered. He had been shot in the back of his upper left leg and lost enough blood to have doctors worried that the wound was life threatening.

Winston was only recently charged after two videos of him surfaced and were provided to police detectives.

According to the probable cause affidavit, one video shows a man in tan pants with a white tank top and sporting a large tattoo on the side of his face dancing inside a residence. This subject was later identified by police as being Christopher Winston.

The second video shows who police believe is Winston and two other people fighting with the victim at Joe Baker Park. Winston is seen extending his arm out as if he was holding and pointing a hand gun at the victim, but the video ends. At least two witnesses report seeing the same incident followed by a gun shot.

During an interview with police, Kirkendoll, the victim told police that he had gotten into a fight with a man at the party. During the fight, two other subjects jumped in to the fight. One pulled a gun and began waiving it around. Kirkendoll said he turned to walk away and that was when he was shot in the back of his leg. He described the shooter as having something on his face.

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October 1, 2018

By Paragon News Director Paul Joseph –

The City of Clinton is joining the two other largest cities in Western Oklahoma along the I-40 corridor which have an economic developer whose specific responsibility is to grow the town’s economic base.

Rowland Mower official starts in Clinton on January 2.

His selection follows a several month discussion and decision by city leaders to bring a professional dedicated to economic growth and was chosen by a committee comprised of the Clinton community’s business leaders. Mower will report to the economic development committee called the Clinton Development Authority, not the city manager.

He’s currently the president/CEO of Port San Antonio making three times the salary of what he will be making in Clinton. But, he feels it’s time to make a change and is looking forward to the opportunity in Western Oklahoma.

He says there will be a number of important and justifiable different directions he could be pulled into once he gets his feet wet in Clinton, but knows that growing the economic base and bringing in high paying jobs is the main role of any good economic developer.

The idea of a dedicated economic developer began in earnest with Clinton Mayor David Berrong and in May, the council appropriated $500-thousand dollars for a new body, the Economic Development Authority. That half-a-million dollars would get the authority off to a good, five-year start, paid one-fifth of the total each year and paid out of the city’s E.D Fund.

Mower has worked in four different states and six different communities and has found that citizens are much more critical of their home-town than those outside the community. They fail to see their own potential. Mower says the good qualities of Clinton are easy to see.

Mower is married to Charlotte Yochem who will join him in the move to Clinton. She is currently an attorney in private practice in Texas.

With his varied background, Mower sees the benefit of nearby communities working together on a regional basis. Though competitive for every job possible, there’s still a great opportunity working regionally with nearby sister cities.

His annual salary is expected to be $105-thousand dollars a year plus benefits.

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October 1, 2018

By Paragon News Director Paul Joseph –

A Beckham County man is being held without bond after allegedly beating an elderly woman then stealing her car in a get-away.

According to a probable cause affidavit, the victim and homeowner opened up the barn on her property and a male subject jumped her and beat her with a square-tipped shovel, striking her several times in the head. When she attempted to shield herself from the blows, she received two large cuts on her arm.

Following the attack, she saw the man run to the back of her house only to see her car soon exit her garage and drive away.

The next day, Sheriff”s deputies arrested 25-year-old Michael Wayne Louis from Elk City at a home in the 100 block of Currell in Elk City.

The victim was later transported to a hospital in Oklahoma City for treatment.

Deputies discovered that a revolver pistol had also been stolen from a back bedroom of the victim’s residence.

On the same date, August 11, someone thought by investigators to have been Louis had posted comments on his Facebook messenger that read, “I didn’t mean to do that to her. I was hi and I needed guns. I’m planning on having a shoot out before the day’s over.”

He’s been charged with burglary in the second degree, assault and battery with intent to kill and larceny of an automobile.

Louis appeared in Beckham County District Court Monday morning for a preliminary hearing conference that has been continued for two weeks.

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October 2, 2018

By Paragon News Director Paul Joseph –

SWOSU’s Pharmacy Alumni Foundation in Weatherford has been active.

The Southwestern Oklahoma State University Pharmacy Alumni Foundation has elected Colby Brewster of Elk City and Richard Covington of Chandler to serve as members of the Board of Directors, and a long-time board member—Bryan Potter of Elk City—was honored for 43 years of service.

Brewster, a Weatherford High School graduate and SWOSU pharmacy graduate (2011), is the owner of Grandview Pharmacy in Elk City and serves the District 4 area for the Oklahoma Pharmacists Association. He also coordinates a Health Express Group Scholarship that is awarded to SWOSU pharmacy students.

Covington, a SWOSU pharmacy graduate from 1980, is chief pharmacist and co-owner of Hite Drug. In 2017, he was awarded Citizen of the Year in Chandler and, in 2016, he was selected to receive the SWOSU Pharmacy Alumni Association’s Humanitarian Award.

The Pharmacy Foundation also announced that Bryan Potter retired from the Board of Directors. Potter, a 1957 SWOSU pharmacy graduate, was the last-remaining founding member of the board, serving from 1974-2017.

The SWOSU Pharmacy Alumni Foundation was incorporated in 1974 for the overall purpose of supporting the educational endeavors of the Southwestern Oklahoma State University College of Pharmacy.

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October 2, 2018

By Paragon News Director Paul Joseph –

Beckham County Commissioners bit the AT&T bullet and entered into another contract with the communication’s giant on another fiber-optic system. This time, they think it’ll actually come to fruition. The last one didn’t.

About a week and a half ago, commissioners entertained an AT&T partner, American Telecom and Technology out of Oklahoma City, a company that works with AT&T to install the fiber-optic communication lines inside all of the county offices. The last time the county entered into a contract to have this done, it stalled out and left a bad taste in everyone’s mouth.

American Telecom and Technology President Michael Harber made the pitch for his company to install and back the AT&T system and promises to be “at the ready” if there are any problems.

The decision was difficult even though the installation is free because when it was pitched to the county back in February of 2016, it was free, then, too. The problem was that the salesmen that sold it couldn’t get the AT&T technicians to install it. Equipment laid around for months. Some installed, most not. And then the bills came, thousands of dollars in invoices for a system that didn’t work.

Harber says his company will install it this time.

Harber also says that once it’s installed, its easy to upgrade with the next technological advancement that’s sure to come.

Harber answered all the commissioners questions on Monday and the motion to approve the system was passed. Next is the installation.

At the first meeting where Harber was present, several of the county’s elected officials were present at the meeting, warily listening and asking a few questions. Those same officials were not present at Monday’s meeting leading one reporter to believe that they were giving their approval, too, for Harber’s company to get going.

The communication’s expert says everyone should be happy with the new system, especially if there’s an outage. The lines simply roll-over.

Harber says his company will get started right away, but will schedule the change overs at a time when the courthouse is quiet and empty so as not to interfere with daily business.

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October 2, 2018

By Paragon News Director Paul Joseph –

A Weatherford man with a lengthy criminal history is due in court this week on a charge of soliciting sexual conduct with a minor by use of technology.

32-year-old Anthony Dorsett Thomas is in the Custer County Jail on a $30-thousand dollar bond for the felony as well as a second felony charge of showing obscene material to a minor.

According to a probable cause affidavit, the victim, a Weatherford teenager, accepted a Facebook friend request in June and by late July had begun to receive what investigators call lewd messages from the new Facebook friend.

When the messages were brought to the attention the youth’s father, Weatherford police were called. Police say a number of messages are explicit and vulgar.

Thomas allegedly left his phone number in two of the Facebook messages, telling the youth to call him. The affidavit says that Weatherford police has dealt with the defendant on several previous occasions and the phone number Thomas allegedly left for the teen is the same number that had been left on previous occasions. Additionally, police says that he defendant’s face is shown in several photographs on the Facebook pages and police believe that Thomas was aware that the victim was a minor.

According to the defendant’s criminal history, Thomas pleaded guilty to a “peeping tom” charge, an assault and battery, and first degree burglary in 2015. In 2014, Thomas was charged with trespassing and resisting an executive order as well as other charges that are mostly theft related.

He’s due in Custer County District Court on Friday for a preliminary hearing conference.

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October 3, 2018

By Paragon News Director Paul Joseph –

An Elk City woman is recuperating in a Blaine County hospital following a morning wreck near Watonga.

26-year-old Katherine Victoria Currell will be kept overnight in Mercy Hospital in Watonga following an accident on US Highway 270, about 4.5 miles west of Watonga. She was admitted in stable condition with internal, head, arm and leg injuries.

The accident is believed to have happened about 7:50 Wednesday morning.

The Oklahoma Highway Patrol report says that Currell was driving eastbound in a 2011 Nissan Juke when she came upon a semi in the outside lane entered the inside lane, forcing her into the center median. Currell lost control, crossed both westbound lanes where she left the roadway and struck a drainage ditch.

The cause of the collision is listed as unsafe speed – other.

Her pet, a dog, was shaken up, slightly confused, according to a family member, but the animal will be all right. There were no other passengers.

Currell was, reportedly, not wearing a seat belt.

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October 3, 2018

By Paragon News Director Paul Joseph –

A couple “first-evers” will be held this weekend in Cordell in conjunction with the Red River Shootout going on at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas.

Playing off the already popular “Red River Shootout,” the Cordell Beacon newspaper is hosting it’s first ever Red River Shootout festival all day on Saturday in Cordell.

Newspaper General Manager Christine Pena says she wanted to start a nice, big event that’s good for the community as it boosts the popularity of the newspaper.

But, Pena says, it’ll also be a first-ever event that follows the new Oklahoma alcohol laws. She says its the first time that alcohol by the drink can be served. This makes the Red River Shootout in Cordell the first ever event.

Pena says Saturday morning starts out with a community pep rally at 10 am and cheerleaders will lead team cheers. Then New Beginnings Church and The Way Church will each be actively involved in the day long celebration that leads up to the big OU/Texas game that will be shown, live on a big screen TV on the square.

She hopes there’s a huge turnout, but is hesitant to make a crowd turn-out prediction.

She adds that there will be a special beer garden provided by a local restaurant and flea market vendors will be surrounding the square with special treasures and great buys.

She says it’s hard to suggest any one, “must see” event for the day unless it’d be the name-sake event itself.

Pena says even the Cordell Animal Shelter will be involved in the day’s activities as they’ll be bringing adoptable pets dressed in appropriate attire for the celebration.

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October 3, 2018

By Paragon News Director Paul Joseph –

Two child care-givers from Clinton have been recently charged with drugs and child neglect after being arrested in a vehicle in a bank parking lot.

27-year-old Seth Lee Scott and 27-year-old Mariah Jill Livingston bonded out of jail the next day, September 26 after being charged with felonies.

Scott was charged with child endangerment by driving under the influence. He bonded out of the Custer County Jail on a $75-hundred dollar bond. The mother of the 4-year-old child that was found in the vehicle, Livingston bonded out of jail on a $10-thousand dollar bond. Livingston was charged with child neglect, a felony, and possession of a controlled, dangerous substance, a misdemeanor.

According to the probable cause affidavit, the two were in a vehicle at a Clinton bank when one of the bank employees notified police that there were two people that appeared to be under the influence of drugs with a small child in their vehicle.

When an officer arrived, he suspected both adults to be under the influence. He placed Scott under arrest for being in actual physical control of the vehicle while under the influence and observed Livingston, who is thought to additionally be known by Mariah Bowman, to exhibit rapid eyelid tremors, body tremors, constantly moving her arms and hands around her body. He wrote in the affidavit that she was unable to remain still.

Later, police allegedly found a piece of paper inside her wallet that contained a white, crystal-like substance that tested positive for methamphetamine.

Livingston was charged two weeks earlier with felony driving under the influence of drugs, 2^nd and subsequent, possession of marijuana and driving with a suspended license. She’s due in court in a week from Friday on that charge and both are due in court for a preliminary hearing on November 16 for the latest felony charges.

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October 4, 2018

By Paragon News Director Paul Joseph –

The voter registration deadline is next week.

According to Custer County’s Election Board Secretary Ann Brown, Friday, October 12, is the last day to apply for voter registration in order to be eligible to vote in the November 6 General Election and in the City of Clinton Ward 2 Election.

Beckham County’s Election Board Secretary Alex Joseph says persons who are United States citizens, residents of Oklahoma, and at least 18 years old on Election Day may apply to become registered voters. He says Oklahoma state law allows for 17-year-old residents to register if they will be 18 on or before Election Day.

Those who aren’t registered or need to change their registration may apply by filling out and mailing an Oklahoma Voter Registration Application form in time for it to be postmarked no later than midnight October 12th.

Brown said applications postmarked after that time will be accepted and processed, but not until after November 6th.

Joseph notes that every Oklahoman that submits a voter registration application will receive a written response from the voters’ local County Election Board which will include either an Oklahoma Voter ID Card listing that voter’s information or a letter that details why an application couldn’t be approved.

The County Election Board responds in writing to every person who submits an application for voter registration. The response is either a voter identification card listing the new voter’s precinct number and polling place location or a letter that explains the reason or reasons the application for voter registration was not approved. Brown said any person who has submitted a voter registration application and who has not received a response within 30 days should contact the County Election Board office.

Oklahoma Voter Registration Application forms are available at any County Election Board office and at most post offices, tag agencies and public libraries in the county.

Online Voter Registration Applications can be made if a voter is currently registered in Custer County, but only needs to change his address or political affiliation at www.ok.gov/elections.

Applications for a name change or for a new registration also are available at www.elections.ok.gov.

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October 4, 2018

By Paragon News Director Paul Joseph –

City leaders in Mangum are pleased to have their top staff spot filled so soon. Tuesday night, the city offered the position of city manager to their current interim manager who accepted the position a mere four weeks following the resignation of the last city manager.

The action comes on the heels of another event in the city, a tragic one. The hiring of J. David Andren as city manager follows the on-the-job death of a city worker, Charles “Charlie” McLaughlin.

Following a four hour city commission meeting exactly one month earlier, on September 4, with two executive sessions and the termination of a payroll clerk, Mangum’s previous “new” city manager turned in her resignation and cleared out her desk. Leisa Haynes had only been on the job about two months, but Mayor Mary Jane Scott says there were some things that needed attention. Those things ended Haynes employment with the city.

Enter: Interim City Manager, Andren, one sent from the Oklahoma Municipal Management Services. His first day was Thursday, September 20, two weeks ago today, but everyone seemingly took to him quickly, including Mayor Scott who feels as though they’ve got the right one as city manager.

Scott says Andren has 22 years of progressive, operational-level leadership with a diverse background in management and in strategic workforce planning. Additionally, he was the assistant city manager in Crescent, Oklahoma where he was well liked. Before that, he spent 21 years in the military.

Mayor Scott says Andren has a degree in business administration and municipal government. She adds that Andren is married and everyone is excited about he and his wife moving to Mangum very soon.

Scott says – as for McLaughlin, the city worker working in the street department – he was removing a roll-off box off and the top of his equipment got into an overhead power line electrocuting McLaughlin. Scott says it was, sadly, a first at Mangum where no other employee has died on the job, at least in her memory.

She says it was a horrible, tragic event for McLaughlin’s family and for the City of Mangum.

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October 4, 2018

By Paragon News Director Paul Joseph –

A Clinton man has bonded out of jail after a Custer County Sheriff’s Deputy allegedly found him with over 40 grams of Methamphetamine.

38-year-old Eric Maurice Harper is free on a $15-thousand dollar bond and is due back in Custer County District Court on the charge in three weeks.

According to a probable cause affidavit, Harper was found in the passenger seat of a vehicle in the parking lot of the Lucky Star Casino about 2 am on September 11.

Law enforcement had been contacted earlier on the report of a suspicious vehicle in the area with the idea that several people were allegedly involved in a drug transaction. Video of the activity led to the arrest of Harper.

The court document says that Harper was arrested based on the fact that a bag of a crystal-like substance was found under the seat where he was siting. A number of people were in the vehicle, but no one – including Harper – claimed ownership of the bag.

Harper was initially allowed to leave the scene of the alleged crime, but a warrant for his arrest was issued soon afterward and he was later jailed.

The substance was tested with a field test kit which indicated a positive reading for meth, weighing in at 40.7 grams.

Harper is due in court on October 25 for a preliminary hearing conference.

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October 5, 2018

By Paragon News Director Paul Joseph

A Perryton woman has died while walking along a Texas state highway near Perryton.

According to the preliminary investigation, 56-year-old Ludivina Martin was walking in the lane of travel along State Loop 143 in Ochiltree County Thursday morning about 9:40 when she was struck by an unknown vehicle traveling west.

The unknown vehicle fled the scene, but the initial impact threw Martin into the eastbound lane where she was run over by a Dodge pickup. That driver stopped and called 911.

Martin was pronounced dead at the scene by a local justice of the peace.

The driver of the pickup was not injured.

The accident happened about a mile northeast of Perryton.

The crash and fatality remain under investigation.

The Texas Department of Public Safety is asking that anyone with information leading to the vehicle that fled the scene contact the Pampa DPS office.

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October 5, 2018

By Paragon News Director Paul Joseph –

By far, the largest fundraiser is around the corner for a Western Oklahoma spiritual non-profit organization that supports the area’s working poor.

The goal for this year’s fundraising gala and banquet for the Western Oklahoma Family Care Center is $80-thousand dollars.

Executive Director Belinda Graham says the care center operates the Hope Medical and Dental Clinics and it’s also the servicing unit for the Salvation Army for a four-county area in Western Oklahoma, Beckham, Custer, Roger Mills and Washita Counties.

The services that the care center provides to those without insurance as well as the dental services to veterans is funded by private donations. Graham says – at any given time – there are between 200 to 300 people on the clinic’s waiting list.

The gala this year is called “Boots and Bling” and will be held on Tuesday, October 16 at 6 p m at the Elk City Convention Center.

The fundraising gala, Graham says, is vital to being able to continue providing the services to as many as possible.

She says the care center makes a difference in people’s lives.

The keynote address at this year’s gala will be presented by Elk Citian’s Chad and Shelle Roper and Elk City’s own Trish Harris will perform with song.

Every year the center has the fundraising gala in the fall where the majority of the money for the organization is raised.

Tickets are available at the Family Care Center at $25 each while table sponsorships are available too, ranging from $250 to $10-thousand dollars.

Graham says donations are 100% tax deductible.

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October 5, 2018

By Paragon News Director Paul Joseph –

A Western Oklahoma preacher is in the Beckham County Detention Facility after being arrested on two felony complaints, sexual battery and kidnapping.

88-year-old Jessie Marion Ashley of Sweetwater is being held on two bonds of $25-thousand dollars each and is awaiting formal charges to be filed.

According to a probable cause affidavit, Ashley has been interviewed at other times regarding possible inappropriate behavior dating back to 2015.

The latest allegation says that on Tuesday, Ashley entered an Elk City home while looking for a female friend of his, but she wasn’t home. The female that answered the door says Ashley asked her for a hug, but she pushed him away after she felt it lasted too long. As she tried to push him, she said he then began kissing her face attempting to put his tongue in her mouth.

Later she said he grabbed her breasts and fondled her crotch area.

In a later interview at the Elk City police department, Ashley said he’d been pastoring a church in Sweetwater for 32 years and had lost his wife about four years ago. He denied the accusations, but did admit that he’s “not innocent by no means.” He also told investigators that he owns a number of rent houses and that female renters sometimes complain about him because he doesn’t loan them money or by them cars.

Officials say Ashley will probably be placed on house arrest once he makes bond and will be ordered to have no contact with the victims.

No court dates have yet been set for Ashley who was arrested on Wednesday.

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October 8, 2018

By Paragon News Director Paul Joseph –

A South Carolina man, arrested at Foss Lake, is due in court next week on drug and firearm charges.

33-year-old Wille Lee Bellamy ,Junior bonded out of jail recently on a $15-thousand dollar bond after being charged with possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, possession of a controlled drug with intent to distribute and knowingly concealing stolen property.

According to a probable cause affidavit, one of the Foss State Park Rangers spotted three individuals sitting in a Palapa hut next to the lake near the parking lot area at Sunset Beach. The three adults appeared to be – what the ranger described as – smoking marijuana. When the three were later confronted, one male, two females and a child, they allegedly admitted to smoking a blunt.

A search of their vehicle allegedly turned up three large bags of a green leafy substance, an ammunition case containing .22 caliber ammunition, a .22-caliber pistol, a vacuum sealer, a digital scale and a number of small baggies. The pistol, holding live rounds of ammunition in it, returned as stolen out of South Carolina.

When asked if he was selling marijuana as that he was possessing a large quantity along with a vacuum sealer, he responded that it was all just for him, grinning while saying so. Asked how much it cost, he replied, “enough.”

At one point, the officer saw out of the corner of his eye, Bellamy hand the child what appeared to be a wad of cash to give to one of the females.

Bellamy is due back in Custer County District Court on Friday, October 19 for a preliminary hearing conference with the judge and his attorney.

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October 8, 2018

By Paragon News Director Paul Joseph –

Babies unfortunately displaced from their families through Beckham County DHS Court proceedings will at least have newly made, warm blankets to take with them to their new families.

Friday afternoon, around 75 Sayre High School Family and Consumer Science (or FCS) students presented the local court with 40 home made blankets, actually student made blankets.

The Sayre FCS teacher Krista Hickey says she heard that Associate District Judge Michelle Roper, often, provides toys or keepsakes to the young children and babies to help make their rough transition to new or temporary homes somewhat easier.

Roper says the idea to give blankets to the DHS children was all Hickey’s. She, in turn, took the idea to her class where students made the idea into a reality.

Hickey says she spends a lot of time trying to take real world needs into her classroom to use as learning tools.

All together there’s about 120 students in the class, but 70 worked on the blankets that were presented to Roper on Friday afternoon between court cases.

Roper loved the idea.

Roper says, besides warmth, the blanket will – hopefully – make for a keepsake for the children who are removed from their parents of a happier time – a reminder of their parents.

The 40 blankets were presented an d laid on the judges’ bench almost reaching the ceiling of the courtroom.

Roper says she wasted little time giving out the first ones.

Judge Roper says that on occasion blankets may be given when the DHS case is successfully closed.

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