The Oklahoma Publisher Official Publication of the Oklahoma Press Association
Vol. 88, No. 12 12 Pages • December 2017
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INSIDE CHRISTMAS SPIRIT: Oklahoma newspapers are showing their Christmas spirit by helping those in need.
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Newkirk Herald Journal breaks story When Cody Griesel read the legal notice from the Department of Homeland Security, he immediately decided to run it on page one of The Newkirk Herald Journal. The notice announced plans to conduct outdoor testing – including a low-level release of chemical and biological simulant materials — at the now closed Chilocco Indian School campus. The tests are scheduled for early 2018 and later that summer. Griesel, editor of the weekly newspaper in Kay County, said he talked to someone from Homeland Security about a week before the notice was emailed to the newspaper. When the caller referred to the notice as an “environmental
essay,” it brought out Griesel’s reporter instincts. “I thought it might be interesting,” Griesel said. Putting it on the front page was a “no brainer,” he said. “It was news.” Newkirk City Manager Jane Thomas told The Oklahoman that the city learned about plans for the testing after reading it in The Herald Journal. Griesel said he was surprised to learn that the city was not notified. “I figured they would notify local authorities, especially emergency management folks,” he said. The news quickly spread and the City of Newkirk posted a call to action on its Facebook page urging residents to send com-
ments not to allow the testing to Homeland Security. Several town meetings to discuss the tests have been held and a petition, “Stop chemical testing at Chilocco!” now has nearly 9,000 signatures. Griesel is a veteran journalist who worked at the daily Cowley Courier Traveler in various news positions since 1999 and only became editor of The Herald Journal a few months ago. This is the first time in his career that he’s put a public notice on the front page, he said. “There’s a lot of news out there, it’s just that a person has to have the time to go dig for it,” Griesel said. “They threw this one at me. It was kind of a ‘gimme.’ I lucked out.”
CODY GRIESEL, editor of The Newkirk Herald Journal, ran a legal notice on page one announcing plans to use an abandoned Indian school for bioterror testing.
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