Boley News

All-black Oklahoma town tour set for Saturday Take a trip back to a time when segregation forced African-Americans to establish their own towns to maintain a peaceful existence in early Oklahoma.

“Then we wouldn't have to try to convince impaired drivers not to take the road. We could use the technology to prevent them from doing so.”

Virgil L. Green wants Oklahomans to envision a state that has eliminated drunken driving and deaths from alcohol-related crashes. via NewsOK.com

“Unfortunately, at statehood, the first piece of legislation was to segregate rail cars and waiting facilities”

In the late 1800s, the red-dirt territory that was to become Oklahoma was the land of exile and hope. via NewsOK.com

“I don't have a problem with private prisons”

Auditors found $3.1 million in major repairs needed at Big Mac, but it wasn't the only prison with infrastructure problems. via NewsOK.com

“It is, rather, a powerful development tool for promoting sustainable communities and economies and for controlling the rising costs and environmental disruptions or urban sprawl.”

An historically black town and an American Indian school are among Preservation Oklahoma's most endangered historic places in the state. via TulsaWorld.com - State

“As state executive director of M.A.D.D. Oklahoma, I want drunk drivers to start thinking of the choices they are about to make, and the lives they are about to affect, and that's not just their lives”

A firm knock on your front door is delivered by a somber-looking law enforcement officer whose presence on your porch likely means something terrible has happened. via NewsOK.com

“I believe it gives them the chance they need when they get out to support themselves and their families”

Having spent all of his adult life in prison, 28-year-old Roy Cardoso never had a chance to finish high school. via KJRH-TV Tulsa

AT&T is providing $26,700 to Rose State College in Midwest City so it can expand a program offering college classes and degrees to state prison inmates. via KTUL

BLACKJACK MISSIONARY, Old Taft Road and 94th St. North, will host the Rev. Jerry Roy Morrison during its revival at 7 p.m. Dec. via Muskogee Phoenix

“Would a month in Spandau Prison really be any more hellish than a Spandau Ballet 12in remix?”

LISTS, shmists. There was another one last week: 1,000 Albums To Hear Before You Die. via Scotsman.com Living

“We have an aging fleet that we cannot afford to replace”

Tuesday, November 20, 2007; Posted 6:14 p.m. Prisons are busting at the seams even with funding just under half a billion dollars a year, but officials say they need at least three-quarters of a billion ... via KSBI Oklahoma City

Police are searching for two men who escaped from an Oklahoma prison on Tuesday, authorities said. via KOCO-TV Oklahoma City

Updated 11/13/2007 11:06 AM Local and state authorities are looking for two prison escapees in the Pittsburg County area. via KOTV Tulsa News

Two fugitives who had been on the run in Okfuskee County since Tuesday were captured after tracking dogs got on their scent. via NewsOK.com

Authorities are searching for a pair of inmates who escaped from the John Lilley Correctional Center in Boley. via KTUL-TV Tulsa

“He said his grandmother, which was a slave born in 1847, was my great-great-great grandmother, Amanda Montgomery.”

Pierson Craig likes telling old-time tales, his grand-nephew said. "I love him. He's real accurate and to be at 101; he's got a sharp mind," said Elmer Milton III, a construction worker living in Arcadia. via The Edmond Sun, Edmond, OK

“There's a lot of black people who need credit for what they did”

BOOK CHRONICLES BOLEY, OKLA.

What started as a project to chronicle the life and people of Boley, Okla., has become an obsession for local author and artist Janice Thacker and a lesson in pride for the high school students helping her.

'I thought it was going to be a short project, like maybe six months long,' said Thacker, who was initially interested in the history behind the town's annual rodeo, celebrated Memorial Day weekend. 'It's been three years.'

She decided to capture the town's history in conjunction with original artwork and poetry in a book she's calling 'Black-Owned Land Equally Yours.' The book remains in its early stages, but is already captivating town residents and high school students working on the project. Read more

Two Prague teenagers and an 8-year-old old girl, also of Prague, were killed Wednesday afternoon in a three-vehicle accident west of Paden. via The Shawnee News-Star