Latest news with #ChoctawNation
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
Commerce man sentenced in death of 10-week old baby
TULSA, Okla. — A Commerce man was sentenced to 20 years in a federal prison for the beating death of a 10-week-old girl. Michael David Gregory, 30, pleaded guilty in March to reduced charges of voluntary manslaughter and assault resulting in serious bodily injury, in the death of 10-week-old Amaya Mae Robison and the assault of her twin sister, both in Indian Country. Robison, of Vinita, died Dec. 3, 2022, from blunt force trauma to her head, according to her autopsy. The other twin sister also had a small brain bleed; however, she has made a full recovery, court documents show. U.S. District Judge Sara E. Hill sentenced Gregory to three years of supervised probation following his release. The girls were two of four children whose mother had abandoned them. Child Protective Services took one daughter, according to court records, the other girls were left with a neighbor and Gregory's girlfriend at the time, Shanna Kimbro. The twins were just 10 days old when the mother left them with Gregory and Kimbro, court records show. Court records show Gregory 'had no idea how to care for a baby, much less two of them.' In his plea agreement, Gregory said he was responsible for the twin infants while his girlfriend went to work. Gregory confessed, 'I was often forceful when I picked up or laid down' the twin girls, 'which is not proper care for newborn infants.' On Dec. 1, 2022, he called his girlfriend, saying one of the infants had stopped breathing. Gregory is not a member of a federally recognized tribe. However, the apartment in which Gregory cared for the twins is located on the Quapaw Nation reservation, and both infants are considered 'Indian persons' because they are eligible for membership in the Choctaw Nation. Gregory will report to the United States Bureau of Prisons facility on July 22, court records show. Online court records show the biological mother has not been charged. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
16-04-2025
- General
- Yahoo
These are 5 of the oldest church buildings in Oklahoma. Here's where you can see them
A significant part of any community's history, churches are often one of the first buildings erected when a new area is settled. The same is true for Oklahoma, and many of these historical buildings are still standing today. Here are five of Oklahoma's oldest churches, their histories and where you can find them. Considered the oldest church still standing in Oklahoma, Wheelock Church was built in 1846, just east of where State Highway 98 and U.S. 70 intersect near Millerton, Oklahoma. Built by a Choctaw Presbyterian congregation, which arrived in Oklahoma via the Trail of Tears in 1833, the building replaced a log building first built by the group at the direction of missionary the Rev. Alfred Wright, according to the Choctaw Nation newspaper Biskinik. The one-story building was constructed in a simplified Greek-revival style and local, hand-carved stone make up its 20-inch-thick walls. The roof, steeple and interior finishes were replaced in 1882, and metal roofing has since been added. But the building largely appears the same as it did when it was built 178 years ago. Though no longer a meeting place for a congregation — the building has changed hands several times over the years, and was donated in 2023 to the Choctaw Nation by the Wheelock Cemetery Association — it offers a look into the Choctaw Nation's past. "It is a place where people can go to connect with the first generation of Christian Choctaws in Oklahoma," reads a Choctaw Nation Tribal Council bill accepting the donation of the church building. The church is adjacent to the Wheelock Academy, a boarding school for youths that operated from 1832 to 1955. Tours of the Academy museum and grounds are available upon request. Just north of Westville, Oklahoma, off of U.S. 59 on Old Mission Mountain Road sits the Old Baptist Mission Church, built in 1888 at the site of the mission and church established in the early 1840s. The church was established by Baptist missionary Evan Jones for a group of Cherokee people who had been forcibly removed from their ancestral homelands. Jones traveled with the Cherokee on the Trail of Tears, according to the Cherokee Phoenix. The original brick church building was destroyed in the Civil War, and the wood-framed building still standing today was built thanks to a $615 loan from the American Baptist Home Mission Society of New York. A sign atop the front doors, which still welcomes church members into the sanctuary each Sunday, notes that the original Cherokee congregation traveled to Oklahoma via the Trail of Tears during 1838 and 1839. Directly across from the Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum stands St. Joseph Old Cathedral, home to a Catholic congregation that arrived in Oklahoma Territory in 1889. As the congregation grew, the building was dedicated in 1904 and became the first cathedral in Oklahoma when Pope Pius X raised the Vicariate of the Oklahoma Territory to a diocese in 1905. While the church has endured for more than a century, the building experienced significant damage in the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. The church was closed for almost two years during restoration and reopened Dec. 1, 1996. Visitors to the Oklahoma City memorial often visit the cathedral at 307 NW 4, or attend its Mass services, which are held at noon on weekdays, at 4 p.m. Saturday, and at 8 a.m., 10 a.m., noon (en Espanol) and 4 p.m. Sunday. Built in 1911, the ornate limestone building stands out on the edge of Automobile Alley where it is now home to the Frontline Church's downtown congregation. The congregation of Oklahoma City's First Christian Church was the first to call it home, however, in those early years after statehood. The building at 1104 N Robinson was deemed historically significant thanks to its Neo-Classical Revival architectural style, and is the best example of an ecclesiastical building in that style in Oklahoma City, according to the application to place it on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983. Once a beacon and haven for Oklahoma City's Black community, both during and after the civil rights sit-in movement, Calvary Baptist Church is now home to the Dan Davis Law Firm. Built in 1923, the three-story red-brick building sits on the corner of NE 2 and Walnut Avenue in downtown Oklahoma City, making it the perfect starting point for many days of sit-ins at downtown restaurants and businesses during the fight to desegregate. The original Calvary Baptist congregation's founders moved to Oklahoma Territory from Tennessee in 1890 and met at three different locations before the current building was erected. The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. applied to be the church's pastor in 1953 but was turned down because of his young age, The Oklahoman reported previously. However, he returned to the church in 1960 for a Freedom Rally, three years before his historic "I Have a Dream" speech at the Lincoln Memorial. Much of the building has been preserved or restored to its original condition, with the sanctuary separated by glass walls from the offices of law firm employees. The firm opens the doors to community events such as Christmas shows and Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebrations. This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: These are 5 of the oldest church buildings still standing in Oklahoma
Yahoo
11-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
AG Drummond praises halt of controversial hydroelectric plant in southeast Oklahoma
A electric power plant, originally set to be located in southeast Oklahoma near Talihina and straddling the Kiamichi River has been stalled, once again by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Last week, officials from the FERC found the updated Proposed Study Plan for the project insufficient to proceed and sent a letter the plant's operator. The plant, a $3.1 billion project, is being pushed by the Southeast Oklahoma Power Corp., a company incorporated in Nevada and based in Dallas. The project would require construction of three reservoirs — an upper lake created by impounding Long Creek, a lower lake created by an earthen dam, and a 40-acre reservoir. According to documents filed with federal regulators, the hydropower plant would generate electricity through a 100-mile-long power line extending through Pushmataha and western McCurtain counties in Oklahoma and through Lamar and Red River counties in Texas. The facility would be located on private land about five miles south of Talihina. Power generated from the plant would most likely go to Texas. Officials with the company could not be reached for comment. Documents filed with the FERC said the project was necessary. "This project would provide a stable source of cost-effective renewable energy, carbon-free peaking capacity, dispatchable load to balance renewable energy sources and ancillary services for grid operators, while also conserving the water resources of the Kiamichi River," an introduction in the company's filing noted. The FERC's latest action means the company must file a second updated Proposed Study Plan with the FERC that includes the required explanations by March 22. 'This is welcome news for Oklahomans who treasure the Kiamichi River and how this proposal would adversely impact property owners, wildlife and the river itself,' said Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond, one of several state and tribal officials who are opposed to the project. For more than a year, Drummond, several state lawmakers and leaders of the Choctaw Nation, have opposed the project. In an August 2024 letter to the FERC, Drummond urged rejection of the application, noting that Southeast Oklahoma Power Corp. provided only limited information to the commission and had not requested the proper state licenses or permits for the project. Drummond argued that the project appeared to be inconsistent with numerous mechanisms in the state's Water Settlement Agreement with the Choctaw Nation and the Chickasaw Nation that are intended to preserve the flow of the Kiamichi River and protect the region. 'As the chief law officer of the State of Oklahoma, I will not tolerate violation of Oklahoma law or flagrant disregard for the sovereignty or federal law, protected rights of a tribal nation and similarly situated property owners,' the attorney general wrote. 'Most of the proud Oklahomans who call the Kiamichi region home have lived there for generations. I intend, as Oklahoma's Attorney General, to ensure that their private property rights are safeguarded to the full extent of the law.' Drummond isn't the only state official opposed to the project. Last year, state Rep. J.J. Humphrey, a Republican from Lane, and Rep. Eddy Dempsey, R-Valliant, held an interim hearing about the project. Both lawmakers said they were concerned about the way land would be obtained for the project. "Southeast Oklahoma Power Corporation is alleged to have threatened over 500 landowners with eminent domain and plans to remove these landowners to complete their project," Humphrey said. "The study reviewed potential effects of this project on the river, wildlife and landowners and revealed why there is such incredible opposition to this project." In July 2024, the Choctaw Nation's tribal council passed a resolution opposing the hydropower project. The tribe sent a formal letter about the issue to the FERC, which outlined the tribe's concerns about potential harm from the project and the importance of tribal participation in the approval process. 'One of our tribe's top priorities is defending our sovereignty, which includes protecting our culture and community. These efforts include being good stewards of our land and natural resources,' Choctaw Chief Gary Batton said. 'Fortunately, FERC has recognized it must not issue preliminary permits for projects on tribal land if a project is opposed by a tribe, and we call on the agency to adhere to that policy.' This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: AG Drummond halt of controversial hydroelectric plant on Kiamichi River
