CYAN
MAGENTA
PAGE 2A
YELLOW
BLACK
COMING IN PRINT
TAKING THE SPOTLIGHT
• City commission Look this weekend for a preview of next week’s city commission meeting. ONLY ONLINE
SEE A PICTURE OF ANOTHER ICE BUCKET CHALLENGE.
• K-9 training See video of officers training K-9s.
Help Rotary Meet The Challenge www.rotary.org/EndPolio
Covering the Tri-County Area Since 1894
THE SHAWNEE NEWS-STAR 75 cents
FRIDAY, AUGUST 29, 2014
COLUMN
COMMUNITY
Inner wealth
I can only imagine
First poverty initiative program participants graduate By Lindsey Allen lindsey.allen@news-star.com
BROOKE JONES brooke.jones@news-star.com
E
arlier this week I had to take my dog (Stark) into the vet to get neutered. I didn’t want him to have part in making more puppies, because I know I’ll want to keep one and I don’t have the time to take care of another dog. I don’t have kids of my own, so Stark is my fury child. The entire day my nerves were bad. All I could do was worry about him, thinking the worst of course. I didn’t get any bad phone calls. Everything turned out great! There were no complications. He’s running around like nothing happened. Every now and then I will have to give him his pain medicine. I’m having no trouble getting him to take his pills (which is rare for most dogs.) This experience started to get me thinking though… I’m raising an animal, what am I going to be like when I have kids of my own? Well, I imagine my nerves will be 100 times worse. If I am anything like my mother or grandmother, it’s going to be a long, torturous ride for my children. My mom drove me crazy, and still does sometimes, with the worrying. Constantly checking up on me. Wanting to know what I’m doing and where I’m doing it. I know she does this because she cares. I just hope I won’t drive my children as crazy as my mom drives me. From what I have been told, I will. It’s a “mother’s instinct.” I do not plan on having kids any time soon, and I know kids can be entertaining, fun, lovable, and can even make your heart burst with joy. I’m definitely not in a place where I would have the patience to raise a human being, but someday, it’s in my dreams to have a couple of kids, and even possibly adopt. So for now I will continue to be a mother to my dog, and when I have developed the patience I need to raise a human being, I’ll start having children of my own. ——— Brooke Jones is a graphic artist for The Shawnee News-Star.
Supporters of a local poverty program sat captivated as seven individuals graduated from the 20-week, hands-on educational course Thursday evening. The event honoring pilot enrollees of “Getting Ahead in a Just Gettin’-by World,” a collaborative effort of The Salvation Army, The Neighboring 101 Steering Committee and the Bridges Out of Poverty initiative, began with a welcoming of
community advocates. “We’re not here only to celebrate the hard work of the pilot class participants, which is a really big deal,” The Salvation Army’s Capt. Philip Canning explained of the multipurpose event. “We’re also here tonight to celebrate our future story as a community, as we pursue this initiative.” The packed room of event attendees conversed over dinner before Deborah Price, The Salvation Army Divisional Director
of Social Services, detailed program curriculum. She said graduates had executed hard work to build self-confidence and set the stage for life changes. One of those hard-working graduates is Tiffany Walker, a single mother of two children. She told the audience she once believed poverty would never affect her life. Then, one day, she acknowledged her lack of savings. A pregnant Walker, living month-tomonth, sought temporary
Tiffany Walker ED BLOCHOWIAK STAFF PHO-
PROGRAM, Page 5A TOGRAPHER
UPDATE
Stabbing suspect makes first court appearance By Kim Morava Kimberly.morava@news-star. com
The suspect who turned himself in and was jailed Wednesday night on a firstdegree murder complaint in connection with a Shawnee man’s stabbing death made his initial court appearance Thursday. Raymond Dewayne Harjo Jr., 24, of Seminole, was booked into the Seminole County jail Wednesday night. He was transported to the Pottawatomie County courthouse Thursday morning, where he made the initial court appearance. Harjo was then taken to the Pottawatomie County Public Safety Center, where he remains jailed without bond. Formal charges have not been filed. Shawnee Police Detective Jason Crouch said police had been looking for Harjo following a weekend stabbing at a Shawnee residence that left Ronald Boley Jr., 32, hospitalized. UPDATE, Page 5A
Stabbing suspect Raymond Dewayne Harjo Jr., 24, is escorted into the Pottawatomie County courthouse Thursday morning by Sheriff’s Lt. Joe McGirt, left, and Undersheriff Travis Palmer, right. Harjo remains jailed on a first-degree murder complaint. ED BLOCHOWIAK STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
SHAWNEE
Suspect in Pflash Stop robberies faces new charge By Kim Morava
in Shawnee. Michael Lynn Ballard, 18, is now charged in Pottawatomie County District Court with a third count of robbery with a weapon. Court documents show in this latest case that he is accused in the April 11 armed
robbery at the Sinclair, 822 N. Harrison. Ballard was previously arrested for two armed robberies at the Pflash Stop, 623 W. Farrall. Those incidents were reported on April 29 and May 3. Ballard, after being ar-
Kambree Argrow Wanda Armstrong Rhetta Hudson Ruth Kinnamon Wendell York Lori Terry Rondy Arms Justin Payne Kristen Walker Rose Lee Rush Jamie Allensworth
Ruth Franklin Rook Wilson Fr. Adrian Vorderlandwehr, O.S.B. Linda Goodson Bailey (Johnston) Startley Sarah Pryor Janice Hinesley Letha Evans Jimi Hill Jim Fair Ruth Franklin Brenda Gentry Maxine New Kenzi Tosh
Lisa Robinson Mary Moats Jennifer Grace Rodriquez Jimenez Wendell York Lori White Sierra Price Richard “Bear” Skinner
Weather. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2A Tri-County Calendar. . . . . 3A
Obituaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4A Opinion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6A
Local News. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2A Lifestyles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7A
Kimberly.morava@news-star. com
A Shawnee man previously charged in connection with two armed robberies at the Pflash Stop now faces a new charge relating to another robbery
BIRTHDAYS
Today is the birthday of ...
878-4850
1570 S. Gordon Cooper Dr. • Shawnee
$ 69
1
rested by Oklahoma City police for another robbery in that city, was identified as the suspect in the Pflash Stop incidents. When interviewed by Shawnee Police Detective Jason Crouch, Ballard allegedly confessed to a rob-
OBITUARIES
lb.
bery at the Kwick Stop at Independence and Center Streets, which occurred April 29, the same night at the first Pflash Stop incident, and also allegedly admitted to the April 11 SUSPECT, Page 5A
WEATHER
• Christy Ann Baldwin • Kevin Jones • Donald Ray Alldredge Jr. • Nadine Bass 4A
Storms H: 88 L: 70 Forecast, 2A
LOTTERIES
——— To submit a local birthday, e-mail the month, day and name to reita.easley@ news-star.com or call 214-3939, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Family Pack Bone-In Pork Sirloin Chops
Vol. 120 No. 115
financial help. “I came to learn quickly that my perception of public assistance was far from reality,” she said, adding she started to conduct 15 job searches a day. “It seemed like just in a moment I went from trying to decide where to go for dinner to standing in a store, wanting to cry, because I couldn’t buy shampoo and detergent.” Walker explained the
Cash 5 14-16-27-29-35 Pick 3 1-3-9
Puzzles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3B Classified . . . . . . . . . . . 4B-8B
Chicken Leg Quarters
$
4 99
10lb bag
Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1B Scoreboard . . . . . . . . . . . . 2B
Wonder Hot Dog or Hamburger Buns
$ 39
1
8ct.