Retiring
Zoo gala
Clay Bennett, Tim O’Toole and Randy Beutler celebrate O’Toole’s retirement from the State Fair Park.
The Oklahoma Zoological Society hosted its first gala, Under the African Skies. At right are: OKC Zoo Chief Marketing Officer Greg Heanue, the Zoo’s Dr. Rebecca Snyder and her husband, Dr. Dwight Lawson, the Zoo’s executive director/CEO. Page 15
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OKC FRIDAY $1 per copy
Vol. 56 No. 6 • One Section • 16 pages • June 17, 2022
www.okcfriday.com facebook.com/okcfriday OKC’s only locally-owned legal newspaper with all local news Serving Oklahoma City, Nichols Hills, The Village, Quail Creek, The Greens and Gaillardia for 48 years
OKC plans for holiday
Happy Birthday George!
By Rachel Dallalio Student Intern Special events are planned and OKC offices and venues are set to be closed Monday in observance of Juneteenth. The holiday of Juneteenth National Independence Day is actually Sunday, but is observed this year on Monday. Juneteenth was first recognized in Austin, Texas on June 19, 1866 when Abraham Lincoln sent men to Galveston, Texas to announce the freedom from slavery Beginning as a barelyrecognized holiday only celebrated in the state of Texas, Juneteenth is now honored in 49 states as a national holiday. In OKC, all city offices are closed Monday, but public transportation is continuing on its regular See OKC, Page 4
Village mayor interrupts NHills traffic stop with verbal altercation By Eric Oesch Staff Writer
- Photo by Vicki Gourley
Governor George Nigh celebrates his 95th birthday with family and friends. Nigh served as the 17th and the 22nd governor of Oklahoma and as the eighth and 10th lieutenant governor of Oklahoma. He was the first Oklahoma governor to be re-elected and the first to win all 77 counties in the state.
City puts the brakes on Embark proposal By Eric Oesch Staff Writer Members of The Village City Council agreed the $200,000 per year proposal from Embark to provide public transportation was not what the city needs as they continue to contemplate transportation issues.
A presentation from Embark during the council’s May 16 meeting proposed a $200,000 per year agreement which included the purchase of a new city bus and an expanded bus route to include The Village. The council also learned bus ridership is down 50 percent post pandemic which caused Councilman Sean
FRIDAY’s Rescue
Cummings to ask, “Are we bailing out a company that’s going to fail?” “That’s $1 million over five years,” he said. “Once we buy in it’s hard to get out. “We cannot buy in for 211k per year,” he said. “We have to
Dog of the Week Here I am, waiting on you to come rescue me. Will you be the one to give me that forever home? Romeo is 36 pounds, seems housetrained, has made a canine friend at The Village shelter, is great on a leash and just a young guy. His adoption fee is waived. Contact Theresa at The Village animal welfare, (405) 751-9518, for more information. The shelter is open Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
This sponsorship is available! Call (405) 755-3311 for details.
See VILLAGE, Page 11
Village Mayor Adam Graham was involved in a verbal altercation with Nichols Hills police officers during a May 28 routine traffic stop. The incident was recorded on police body camera and is detailed in a May 28 email to Nichols Hills Police Chief Steve Cox. At 8:30 p.m., Nichols Hills police initiated a traffic stop on a vehicle traveling north in the 8400 block of Pennsylvania at 43 mph in a 25-mph zone. The report says the vehicle did not come to a stop until it reached Carlisle Road located three blocks outside the Nichols Hills city limits and inside The Village city limits. Nichols Hills Officer Brandon Edwards reports that during the stop he and another officer were speaking with the traffic violator when a vehicle pulled alongside and “began yelling at us through his open windows.” “The man was telling me that we were in the wrong city and that ‘this is The Village, not Nichols Hills’ and that we can’t stop people in The Village,” the email states. Police and fire departments in both Nichols Hills and The Village have had mutual aid agreements with each other for over 50 years. Officers reported the man identified himself as the mayor of The Village and that later after reviewing The Village website learned the man was, in fact, mayor of The Village. The email report says, “His presence directly agitated an already uncooperative driver during the stop and put our safety at risk when it didn’t need to be.” Adam Graham, 29, was elected by his peers to serve as mayor of The Village at the May 2 council meeting. Graham is one of the youngest to serve as a mayor in Oklahoma and the youngest in the 72year history of The Village. He was elected to represent residents of Ward 3 in 2018. It is his first elected office. Nichols Hills police said they have no plans to pursue the case.
OKC FRIDAY first in digital media OKC FRIDAY brought home the first place award in the weekly division of Digital Media at last weekend’s Oklahoma Press Association Convention. “Okcfriday.com was designed by our Production Manager Jason Jewell,” Rose Lane, deputy publisher and editor, said. “It is so easy to navigate and very userfriendly. “Our online edition includes most of the stories and photos from our weekly print edition, as well as each week’s print replica.” The newspaper also maintains a Facebook page and is ramping up
its Instagram and Twitter presence, thanks to OPA student intern, Rachel Dallalio, Lane said. In competition for the Sequoyah Award, OKC FRIDAY placed second or third in four categories: News Content, Advertising, Sales Promotion and Sports Coverage. Individuals had the opportunity to receive awards in 14 categories. OKC FRIDAY staff members Lane, Publisher Vicki Gourley and Jewell were recognized with second and third place honors in Front Page Design, Photo Essay/Picture Page, Personal Column and Sports Story.