T H E O ’ C O L LY
special issue
O C O L LY. C O m o c t. 2 4 , 2 0 1 6
stillwater stronger ILLUSTRATION BY SIERRA WINROW/O’COLLY
homecoming Crash Anniversary Issue
# ST ILLWATERSTRON GER
s pe ci a l is s u e
editorial: A year later, we are stillwater stronger BY t h e o’c ol ly editor ial b oa r d
T
ragedy does not define us. It does not define our university. It does not define our community. Resiliency does. In the times when we have needed to most, Stillwater, Oklahoma State University, and its students, faculty and staff have proven no form of unity is stronger than
one among those whose hearts pump orange. It is within those hearts where we find the love and compassion that guides us and binds us. We do not live in a land of individuals. Stillwater stands united. Stillwater is strong. And one year after a car drove through the Sea of Orange Parade and killed four, one year after the pride of what we represent was
ruptured, we are stronger. We proved in the days after last year’s homecoming parade that we might trip, but we continue to walk, our heads held high, our hands wrapped in one another’s. There is no amount of love and strength that will bring Nash Lucas, Nikita Nakal, and Bonnie and Marvin Stone back to the families and friends who loved them, nor can we restore the
lives of those last year’s tragedy so gravely affected. But we can honor them today, this week, in our lifetimes. Our editions this week are not only to remember and reflect on the heartbreak of those days and weeks that followed, but also to immortalize the strength and love the Cowboy family and Stillwater community showed during that time.
We held hands. We sang. We cried. We loved. We cherished. We showed, in unison, we cannot be stopped. Attending the homecoming parade this year makes that message loud and clear. The purpose of the annual homecoming parade is to fuse the community and university together and celebrate organizations, family and our neighbors.
The same can be said for the annual football game, in which the student body, alumni and community members give their support to the Cowboy football team. This week is the definition of what OSU is about: tradition, community, pride, loyalty, truth. But more than anything, it is about resiliency. One year later, we are Stillwater Stronger.
The O’Colly Editorial Board is composed of Nathan Ruiz, editor-in-chief; Sierra Winrow, digital editor; Marshall Scott, copy chief; Hayden Barber, news editor; Nuria Martinez-Keel, features/entertainment editor; Chandler Vessels, sports editor; Dekota Gregory, digital sports editor; Sam Grubenhoff, assistant sports editor; Kaelynn Knoernschild, investigations editor; Franco Buhay, opinion editor; Devin Wilber, photo editor; Brady Moore, multimedia editor; and Jordan Bishop, design editor. You can reach them at editor@ocolly.com.
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MONDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2016
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# st i l lwaterstron ger
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Wednesday: in Remembrance
Marvin Stone Bonnie Stone Weekly Article by
Dale Barnes
OUR CALLING - NOT TO LIVE FOR OURSELVES! Be imitators of God...and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.” (Eph.5:12 NIV) ”For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.” (2 Co.5:1415 NIV) “...for love is as strong as death, its jealousy unyielding as the grave. It burns like blazing fire, like a mighty flame. Many waters cannot quench love; rivers cannot wash it away.
If one were to give all the wealth of his house for love, it would be utterly scorned.” (S. of S. 8:67 NIV) The apostle tell us; “And now I will show you the most excellent way.” Then we read the 13th chapter of I Corinthians; all about love. Then he tells us; “Follow the way of love...” Love is as strong as death; very few have come back from the dead. Love is tenacious; it does not quit, yet it can be very gentle. It gives its all, even gives itself for the objective of its love. God so loved that he gave his Son!! Jesus loved us and gave himself for us!! (Eph.5:2) As we choose this way, we have help. We have been given from God, the Spirit of love. (2 Tim.1:7) Love is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. He will help us move into this “most excellent way” as we trust God with our lives. If we lose our life, we find it. The fruit of the Holy Spirit is love, joy, peace...etc.(Gal.5:2223) God has set the example in showing us the way, and will help us to walk in the way of God.
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LEO SCHM ITZ
s pe ci a l is s u e
HADLEY AND MR. LEO: friendship rises from struggle BY STETSO N PAYN E
S
INVE STIGAT I V E RE P O RT E R
KIATOOK — Apart from Leo Schmitz’s Dixon zero-turn mower and its motor, the hills above Skiatook Lake are quiet, still waking up as the sun dries the morning dew. The mower turns toward the house on this Saturday morning, churning through the unruly Bermuda grass. When cut and dried, the grass makes a tasty treat for the miniature horses in the barn. Leo and his wife, Sharon, built the house when it was the only one on the street. They spent weeks clearing the four acres of boulders and blackjack trees with heavy equipment. “We built this place when we could both do all the work around here,” Leo said. “Now, with this, I don’t know.” Leo, 55, is careful to put his prosthetic leg forward when he steps off the mower. Even after months, he is still learning how to walk on his computer-assisted prosthetic where his left leg used to be. When he’s not walking on it, he will draw audiences of intrigued children when he rotates the prosthetic around and touches the heel of his shoe to his chin. The rain is coming around nightfall, and the Schmitz property has to
kurt steiss/O’COLLY
Leo Schmitz mows the lawn on a zero-turn mower at his Skiatook home. This is one of the jobs Leo and his wife, Sharon, need to do around their property. They also tend to their miniature horses and do maintenance around their land.
be ready. The suffocating humidity is setting in above the streams leading to Skiatook Lake. Miniature horses have to keep their feet dry, and that means preparation for when a hard Oklahoma rain storm moves through. Looking up the hill, Leo sees Sharon, already at work feeding the horses and shoveling the stalls in the barn. He used to walk up this hill. Now he takes the golf cart. “This used to wear me out working up here,” Leo said. “Without a leg, it just wears me out a lot sooner.” Until a few months ago, doctors couldn’t guarantee Leo would ever see the property he built again. He is trying to move forward from the crash — the one that killed four
MONDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2016
people and injured more than 40 others, the one that almost ended his life. At his home in Skiatook, across the living room, there’s a shelf of cards carrying notes. Most of the cards from survivors and supporters aren’t opened yet, the details too raw and emotional for Leo to handle even months later. There are times he thinks about them and starts to cry. Two cans of Life Savers candy sit on top of the shelf with a card from a girl named Hadley. Leo Schmitz is the reason she’s alive.
Horror story
Sharon spent three months in a hospital chair, in limbo between fitful sleep and anxiously awaiting news from the doctors
watching over Leo. On Oct. 24, 2015, Adacia Chambers, then 25, reportedly sped past a barrier and through a crowd at the end of the Oklahoma State University homecoming parade. Police say Chambers’ Hyundai hit a parked Stillwater Police Department motorcycle before the intersection of Hall of Fame and Main. The motorcycle launched off the Hyundai’s bumper and into the crowd, reports said. The flying motorcycle flattened Leo, who was standing in the northwest corner of the intersection. When the helicopter carrying Leo landed at OU Medical Center in Oklahoma City, doctors first needed to stabilize his brain. The impact to
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his head did significant damage. For most of his stay, Leo had to be propped at a 35-degree angle to keep pressure down inside his bashed skull. Doctors could focus on his legs when his brain stabilized. When the motorcycle hit Leo, his legs took the brunt of the impact. That motorcycle had nearly hit a little girl, but instead, it hit him. His right femur was snapped, and Leo’s left leg was dying, its arteries pinched, ripped and broken. Doctors tried in a ninehour surgery to replace an artery in Leo’s left leg a few days after the crash. At the halfway point, the surgeon came out of the operating room to give Sharon an update.
“I think we’ve got it. We’re about to put in the artery. But I think we’ve got it,” the surgeon said. Four hours later, the surgeon returned. Sharon feared the worst when she saw his exhausted expression. “I don’t know what happened or why, but his leg won’t accept the new artery,” the surgeon said. “It’s either Leo or the leg.” Sharon had to make the call. If Leo made it through at all, it would be without his left leg. “Let’s cut it off.” The decisions came one after another, day after day. Every procedure carried a potentially fatal consequence. None of the doctors said Leo was in the clear, but none of them knew whether he would make it to sunrise the next day, or the next or the day after. For weeks after the crash, Sharon got calls in the middle of the night. Once, the pressure rose in Leo’s brain. Doctors wanted to do an MRI to find the cause of the swelling. Then they wanted to paralyze her husband, knowing it could be permanent. Each time, Sharon said yes. She wanted Leo back. After two months in a coma, Leo started to move and talk, but he did not wake up. Although he wasn’t conscious, his brain was trying to figure out what was wrong. STORY CONTINUES ON PAGE 5
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Leo doesn’t remember any of his initial conversations with Sharon, all of it a darkened blur from the shock and trauma to his head. “Sharon, mhhm, Sharon,” Leo said, groaning to his wife in the chair next to his bed. “Come here, will you?” “What can I get you, Leo?” “There’s a flower shop just down the street from here,” Leo said, talking about a shop that didn’t exist. “Go on down there and get yourself a nice bouquet of flowers, and I bet they’ll have a pair of scissors, too.” Sharon sighed and had to explain to Leo why she couldn’t go. His brain convinced him he was trapped. It was inventing ways to cut the restraints free. Leo got mad. Claustrophobia drove his anxiety wild as he lay in the hospital bed. He yelled, fought and wailed in incoherent terror, trying to free himself. Leo’s brain was trapped in a broken body, and regardless of whether he liked it, the brain wanted out of that hospital. “That (first) month there was like a horror story,” Sharon said. “He was mad, screaming, crying, kicking, but he doesn’t remember any of it.”
Consciousness
Leo doesn’t remember the month in limbo, but he remembers the moment he woke up.
kurt steiss/O’COLLY
Leo Schmitz puts on his prostetic leg at his home. His prosthetic is computerized, which makes it possible for him to do his job at American Airlines and around his property.
stetson payne/O’COLLY
Hadley Wyatt, 7, walks in the sweet corn field at her house outside Lawton. Her parents grow sorghum and raise cattle on the family ranch west of Interstate 35.
Above him was the same bland section of ceiling tiles his comatose eyes had gazed upon for three months. Alone in a hospital room, Leo looked into a mirror and saw his face. He wasn’t wearing the new orange shirt he had bought for homecoming. He was truly awake for the first time. “I could see myself, but I didn’t think it was me because my face was
MONDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2016
saggy,” Leo said. “My muscles were like an old man flopping in the wind. “Then I started talking to the Lord and had a nice conversation. I thanked him for whatever reason I’m here, thanked him for the people that take care of me.” Leo had no energy and continued to drift in and out of consciousness. He neither knew where he was nor understood why his leg was gone.
Phantom pains tormented him, with cut nerve endings above his knee tricking his brain into believing the rest of his leg was still there. Even now Leo tries to focus his brain elsewhere when the pains return, hoping one day his brain will learn he has no left leg. Sharon watched her husband come back. He began looking over his own body, trying to put the pieces together. His leg had been gone for weeks, but he didn’t entirely understand how or why. Leo vainly tried to move his right leg, still in pain and needing repair for a fracture above the knee. Then he moved what remained of his left leg. Leo would stare at his lower extremities, not un-
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derstanding the flattened hospital bedsheets where his left leg would be, nor why his left toes were gone when they felt as if they were throbbing. Sharon knew the time was coming. She had to explain the decision she made. “Do you want to talk about it?” Sharon asked, trying to ease her husband into reality. All Leo managed to do was nod. He didn’t remember anything after impact that Saturday in October. “Your leg saved a little girl,” Sharon said.
The connection
In southwest Oklahoma, Hadley Wyatt, 7, is growing up. She scrambles up the ladder on the metal slide in her backyard and
slides down over and over again, her blonde hair, black-rimmed glasses and bright orange bow barely hanging on. The Wyatt family ranch is south of Lawton, more than two hours from Stillwater and three from Skiatook, where Leo lives. The back porch looks out to the empty horizon over the family’s fields while the front door looks on at the Wichita Mountains looming north of the city. Hadley’s parents, Sara and Adam, finished the house two months before the crash. Hadley and her sister, Mia, 9, raise pigs for 4-H. Their two pigs are named Mason Rudolph and Barry Sanders. Although they don’t have a third one yet, it’s already named after STORY CONTINUES ON PAGE 6
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OSU receiver James Washington. Five generations of the Wyatt family have farmed these fields. The ranch is past where the worn, weathered and baked pavement gives way to dusty dirt roads. Every other fence line has a “Right to Farm” banner whipping in the gusting south winds while red-tailed hawks make tight circles overhead looking for mice and rabbits. Hadley has a few small scars, but their visibility fades as she smiles at the sight of her 3-monthold puppy, Sunny, or the pigs outside. A year ago she struggled to smile through the pain, her face scarred, stained and bloodied from the parade crash. Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook helped her in that regard. “They came to see me in the hospital,” Hadley said. She holds the picture of her and Durant proudly, grinning through the scars down the left side of her face. Durant, Westbrook and members of the OSU football team who visited brought her smile back. She and Leo don’t remember the impact, and Hadley doesn’t fully know the extent of what happened. Hadley doesn’t talk much about her time in the hospital, whether it’s about seeing Leo or her own recovery. When she does, it’s
kurt steiss/O’COLLY
Leo and Sharon Schmitz smile as they speak to Hadley Wyatt on speakerphone. Leo asked Hadley whether she’ll be wearing OSU orange when he sees her at the parade Saturday. Earlier during the call, Hadley’s sister, Mia, told them about their pigs, named after Mason Rudolph and Barry Sanders.
barely above a whisper.
Visiting hours
Monitors and machines beeped incessantly, each whirr, click and tone forecasting Leo’s future. His left leg was gone, and doctors were fighting to save the right one from the same fate. A week after the crash, Leo had a visitor. Sharon met the Wyatt family in the lobby with a tough but battered girl who wanted to see Leo. “He’s not really in a condition to talk,” Sharon
MONDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2016
said. It didn’t matter to Hadley. “I want to see Mr. Leo,” Hadley said. Her wounds hadn’t healed yet, showing where the skin had scraped away on the asphalt. Hadley stood in front of Leo in the intersection. They had never met or talked. A picture on Leo’s phone shows Hadley and Mia standing in front of him in the foreground, only minutes before the crash. Hadley’s parents and Sharon said they think
Leo grabbed Hadley a split-second before the motorcycle leveled him. The impact nearly killed Leo, but Hadley’s only injuries were from hitting the asphalt. Leo’s body absorbed the bike’s impact, acting as a cushion between Hadley and the motorcycle’s weight. First responders found them lying side by side, Leo in grave condition and Hadley unconscious with a head injury. The pair ended up at OU Medical Center. Hadley’s mother, Sara, said she
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doesn’t think her daughter would be alive without Leo. “For what happened to him, she lived,” Sara said. “There’s no way she could have withstood that. There’s no possible way. “It’s a miracle either of them lived.” Under the hospital room’s dimmed lights, Hadley and her family walked inside. Her face scraped and badly bruised, Hadley approached the bed quietly. She knew Leo couldn’t hear her, talk to her or
feel her presence, but Hadley wanted to see the man who had saved her life. It might have been her only chance. Hadley saw the wrapped and bandaged stub where Leo’s left leg used to be, the breathing tube protruding from his neck. The braces held Leo’s head and neck at 35 degrees, his damaged skull and brain carefully covered but exposed by most standards. She wasn’t scared. “It was a special moSTORY CONTINUES ON PAGE 7
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ment for her to see who saved her,” Sara said. “You worry about her seeing him like that. That’s not a state for a 6-year-old to see someone in. “It was hard. … It was really hard for us to see him like that. This person that saved your child is fighting for his life.” After Leo woke up, Hadley returned. Leo didn’t know who she was other than a girl with a few healing wounds. Hadley and Mia walked up to Leo’s bed with a card and two cans of Lifesavers candy. The sisters saw him again on Christmas Day in the hospital. They talk on the phone often about the miniature horses and what’s going on at school or church. Leo has talked with plenty of people since the crash, everyone wishing him a speedy and successful recovery. When he first talked to Hadley’s parents, Leo had something to say as he held back tears. “I don’t mind recovering from the injuries I have,” Leo said, “because I was able to save lives and kept other people from being drastically injured or killed. “Go ahead and be happy. It’s not easy going from where I was to where I am now, but I’m OK with it.”
kurt steiss/O’COLLY
Leo Schmitz looks down and puts his hand on the bathroom wall as he first stands up after putting on his prosthetic in the morning as he gets ready for the day. He lost his left leg and broke his right femur in last year’s homecoming crash.
rainwater will collect and flow into the barn instead of down the hill. Swinging a heavy iron sledge pole, Leo keeps his balance and thrusts the pole into the clay and rock. Once the sand rock is freed from the clay, he helps Sharon toss it into the back of their farm truck. Damage from his breathing tube left substantial scar tissue, and now Leo’s Going back, raspy voice is a constant looking forward reminder when he tells the Now up at the barn, Leo horses to get out of the grabs a couple of rakes and way. shovels for the job ahead. Normally, he uses the The rocks by the barn golf cart and its smaller have to go and be replaced buckets to haul the rock, with rubber mats or dirty but with the loads they’re MONDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2016
working with today, it will take 10 trips in the golf cart. Loading the truck bed, Leo presses on as the sun gets higher. Leo doesn’t like the high steps in and out of the truck. It is much more difficult on his recovering body. Although work outside is tougher, a few things remain the same through the pain and recovery. Sharon said Leo’s still a “big kid” who never lost his sense of humor. “I’m not quite ‘The Six Million Dollar Man’ yet,” Leo said. “But I’m getting there.” Before the crash, Leo weighed 207 pounds. Now,
he weighs only 150. “I went on a crash diet,” Leo said. “I don’t really recommend it, though. It kind of hurts a little.” After the rocks have been moved and horse manure collected and put in compost, Leo and Sharon head inside to cool off and get ready for lunch in Skiatook. Anywhere they go, the employees know Sharon and Leo. The reminders of the crash linger in ways big and small, but they do not stop the harsh progression of time. In Stillwater, gas station signs show discounts on beer and food. The
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“Stillwater Strong” signs that dominated the town in the days after the crash are gone. The aftermath pops up in the headlines of newspapers on those gas station racks every now and then. Chambers is awaiting trial in early 2017. Even at the Hastings store a few feet from where Chambers’ car finally stopped, time marches on. The signs and orange mementos are gone, and the store is closing after filing bankruptcy, another casualty of passing time. After lunch, Leo sits back in his chair and tends to his dogs, T-bear and
Benet. He puts the football game on TV and tries to lean back and relax before he has to shower and get ready for Saturday night church. There are more than the physical injuries he has experienced. Leo thinks about others, the students and families who watched in horror as people, debris and car parts exploded into a blur of destruction. He thinks about those who can’t sleep at night, because he knows those painful, vivid images linger in their minds. It’s why, on Saturday, Leo Schmitz plans to be back. Back to the homecoming parade, back to the intersection, back to where a Hyundai sped through the crowd, killed four and injured more than 40. He wants to show he’s OK and moving forward. This year, Leo, Sharon and the Wyatts will go to Main Street again. And this time, Hadley said, she wants to see the whole parade. Stetson Payne is a multimedia journalism junior from Broken Arrow. He can be reached at stetson. payne@okstate.edu. Follow Stetson: @ s t e t s o n _ _ P ay n e
MORE ONLINE: A photo essay about Leo and Sharon will be on ocolly.com on Saturday. PAGE 7
Wednesday, as part of our one-year anniversary coverage of the homecoming
Marvin Stone
Bonnie Stone
parade crash, the O’Colly will remember those who died.
T H E O ’ C O L LY
Nikita Nakal MONDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2016
Nash Lucas
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first respon ders
sp e ci a l is s u e
first responders have healing effect in community BY R i l e y med ill an d N u r i a Ma rt in e z- K e e l
I
t has been one year since the longest day in Capt. Kyle Gibbs’ tenure with the Stillwater Police Department. He sits behind his desk, wearing an orange polo with the Oklahoma State University logo over his heart. His SPD lanyard hangs around his neck, and a small orange and blue ribbon is pinned to it. The ribbon represents an idea, one an entire community embraced. The idea that a town can move forward, that it can move past adversity without forgetting the pain. It’s the belief that this town is “Stillwater Strong.” Two weeks ago, the OSU Alumni Association announced the grand marshals for the 2016 Sea of Orange Parade, one piece of “America’s Greatest Homecoming Celebration.” This year, Stillwater’s first responders will lead the parade. This year, a community will try to find closure. It’s a gesture Gibbs doesn’t take lightly. “I’m very honored to be a part of this celebration,” Gibbs said. “It’s a little uncomfortable because typically we tend to serve quietly, but hopefully this can allow the victims and this community to move forward.” On Oct. 24, 2015, Gibbs, who is also the
kurt steiss/O’COLLY File photo
Two police officers create a boundary around Hall of Fame and Main after a crash at the Sea of Orange Parade. This year, first responders will be honored as the grand marshals.
public information officer for SPD, was forced to make sense of a senseless occurrence. At 12:30 p.m., Gibbs, alongside OSU President Burns Hargis and Stillwater Mayor Gina Noble, told the public what happened. He explained how a vehicle plowed into the homecoming parade and how it tore through bodies and lives before slamming to a halt. Four people were killed in the crash at the intersection of Hall of Fame and Main. Dozens more suffered injuries. Forty-five minutes after the incident, Gibbs arrived at the intersection. He couldn’t believe what he saw. “It’s the biggest event
MONDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2016
I’ve ever taken part of in my 33 years in law enforcement,” Gibbs said. “Nothing has come close to that situation. Just the size and scope, it was huge. “For me, at least, it was just surreal.” First responders and civilians alike had taken action to help those around them. He saw firefighters and police officers performing first aid. He saw paramedics and soldiers of the National Guard transporting victims to ambulances. He saw a community come together to save lives. Capt. Greg Connelly, of the Stillwater Fire Department, was one of the responders managing the scene. Serving as the
incident commander that day, Connelly had to decide all of the firefighters’ procedures for response at the crash. He had worked at Fire Station 1 on Main Street, about a mile and a half south of the crash site, and left for the intersection immediately after receiving a call from one of the four firefighters walking in the parade. Once he arrived, he began organizing the big picture of the situation to help the injured victims as efficiently as possible. “Being in charge of the incident, I’m thinking on a broader scale of how am I going to get these people out of here, how many people do I have, how many resources do
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I need to get coming to the scene,” Connelly said. “That’s the big deal now is getting people to the correct facility for their injury.” Some victims went in ambulances to hospitals while helicopters flew others to Tulsa or Oklahoma City. The location of the incident was an advantage, Connelly said. Unlike with tornado damage response, the first responders were confined to an intersection rather than being spread miles apart. They could closely monitor the state of the victims and communicate with each other. Stillwater Fire and the other first responder organizations are hardly strangers, training for different emergency situations with entities such as the SPD, Oklahoma Highway Patrol and other cities’ fire departments, among others. The homecoming parade crash was the ultimate collaborative effort. Emergency training kicked in, and the responders went to work. On-the-job personnel weren’t the only ones making an impact, Connelly said. Doctors and nurses attending the parade broke off from the crowd to give first aid. Responding to the scene of the crash became a community effort. “I was very proud of the response that we had and the interagency coopera-
tion … and the citizens and even if they weren’t citizens, people that were in town that day to come and help their fellow humans,” Connelly said. “I was very proud of the way the incident was handled.” Connelly realized soon after arriving there weren’t enough ambulances and medical personnel to transport the wounded to hospitals. Stillwater Fire called on firefighter units from Pawnee, Perry and other nearby cities to assist in taking patients to hospitals. Before out-of-town units arrived, though, LifeNet ambulances were already at Hall of Fame and Main. Zach Harris, the director of operations for LifeNet in Stillwater, had become the de facto medical supervisor. He orchestrated an operation of several first responder agencies. The day of the parade, Harris was a senior operations manager for LifeNet. It was his typical game day position. His job was to supervise in the event of an emergency — to put his staff in the position to save lives. When he got the call, Harris hadn’t been told what to expect on site. But he knew it was bad. Harris scrambled for clues. He needed information, and he needed it quickly. “When you first get STORY CONTINUES ON PAGE 11
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there, it’s just a moment of self-assessment,” Harris said. “It’s one of those times in my life where everything seems to slow down.” In the parade crowd was one of Harris’ former employees. He became Harris’ source for answers. The man described the scene, and Harris knew his staff couldn’t handle the situation alone. His first step was to ask for more assistance. “I knew immediately that this is the type of situation that needs more resources than what we had,” Harris said. As medical personnel tended to the wounded, 1st Sgt. Brent Pearce, of the National Guard, handled crowd control. Curious parade attendees surrounded the intersection to see what had happened. National Guardsmen kept them at bay to keep the area clear for the other first responders to do their work. Before Pearce and his command of 20 soldiers became responders themselves, they were participants in the parade. Members of the National Guard have marched in the event each year for the past three or four years, Pearce said. He stood by their bus parked by the shopping center north of Hall of Fame Avenue as the parade came to a close. Their march had finished 15 minutes before the vehicle hit the intersection. A man came up to the soldiers and told them
kurt steiss/O’COLLY File Photo
Members of the National Guard had the task of enforcing the perimeter of the scene to keep the intersection clear and allow first responders to tend to injured civilians.
there had been an accident at Hall of Fame and Main. “When it happened, I thought it was just a fender bender or something like that, so I told the guys … ‘Hey, let’s walk over there and see if we can help,’” Pearce said. “By the time I got to the back side of the restaurant there, the Red Lobster, you could hear people screaming.” Once the intersection came in view, he saw mass chaos. He went to the center of the scene and asked a police officer what he and the soldiers could do to help. The officer instructed them to establish a perimeter for the crowd. Other soldiers gave first aid, using the medical training they received in the National Guard. Pearce had told them to do whatever they could to help. While some managed the crowd, others assisted
MONDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2016
EMTs to establish the triage zones, load patients into ambulances and take people to the hospital themselves. Other officers guarded the bodies lying on the street. One soldier simply sat with an injured child and the family, reassuring them that everything would be OK. “I just told (the soldiers), ‘Hey, be proud of what you did, proud of the organization,’” he said. “They did what was asked of them whether it was the Guard, the police, the fire department, any of the people that came out of the crowd. “That was the one piece that I was hanging on to is that the community, everybody came together and was just trying to help.” For Lt. Colt Chandler, Saturdays in Stillwater will never be the same. “Some things you never
forget,” Chandler said. “Some things you try to forget, but you just won’t.” When he got word of the accident, he and his fellow OSU police officers were to establish a landing zone for helicopters on the east side of Gallagher-Iba Arena, about 1 1/2 blocks up the road from the crash. But when Chandler heard that the landing zone was too far from the intersection, he knew the situation was worse than they could have expected. Chandler needed to help in any way he could. He was told to work his way to the intersection and offer whatever aid was possible. By the time he arrived, civilians and first responders on site were trying to act, but the intersection was in a frenzy. His primary goal: control the situation. Debris was strewn
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throughout the street, and people were frantic, trying to find an answer for what happened. Chandler knew he had to do whatever he could. If that meant transporting victims, he did it. If it meant assisting with triage, so be it. His first response was to step in and save lives, but it was difficult to put his emotions aside. “As a human, I think you always have that emotional appeal, so it does affect you,” Chandler said. “But training does kick in because you understand that your goal is to be there to help.” Earlier that morning, though, Chandler remembers being excited. Before the crash and the pain it caused, before the paramedics had arrived, before the helicopters flew the injured to hospitals across the state and before Stillwater was forced to be strong, Oct. 24, 2015, was a celebration. It was Chandler’s first chance to be a part of the homecoming parade. He earned an assignment on parade patrol. His job was to ride his bike alongside the floats, to keep a watchful eye on the situation. He had no reason to expect anything bad. As the parade worked its way toward Hall of Fame Avenue, Chandler watched the faces. Faces of alumni, happy to be home. Faces of families spending a day together, celebrating a university — celebrating a town. The parade was nearly over, and Chandler enjoyed his time being a part of it.
The festivities were winding down, so he pedaled off to his next assignment. It was a game day after all, and he had other work to do. This year, when the homecoming parade rolls down Main Street, Gibbs will be there. He’ll be at the front of the pack, a representative for SPD. Alongside him will be officers of the OSUPD, Pearce and National Guardsmen and Connelly and the Stillwater Fire Department. There will be officers from the Payne County Sherriff’s Office and Oklahoma Highway Patrol, paramedics from LifeNet and workers from Stillwater Emergency Management. Leading the parade will be the same men and women who worked together to transport victims, to comfort the wounded and to save as many lives as they could. As the parade nears Hall of Fame Avenue, the first responders will be together again, standing in the same spot bodies and lives were shattered. In the same spot they started to help put them back together. Nuria Martinez-Keel can be reached at entertainment.ed@ocolly.com. Riley Medill can be reached at rmedill@okstate.edu. F o l l o w t h e o ’ c o l ly : @ O ’ c o l ly
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Homecomin g parad e
sp e ci a l is s u e
Police departmentS deploy proactive tactics BY vi cto r ia dodge staff reporter
Oklahoma State University and Stillwater police departments immediately applied new tactics after last year’s homecoming parade crash that killed four people and injured dozens more. Neither police forces’ updated precautions were specific, but both stated they have been working on making game days safer since the crash. OSUPD Lt. Mark Shearer said small alterations on game days started instantly; however, they have had to wait a year to apply bigger changes. Even with a year of plan-
ning, Shearer said the unthinkable could happen. “It’s hard to plan for what may or may not happen,” Shearer said. “We try to be proactive. We try to anticipate potential problems, and then we try to have things in position, so that way if something starts to develop, we’re able to respond to it without being dumbfounded.” Stillwater Mayor Gina Noble said in a press release the parade has been planned and prepared as usual. In the release, City Manager Norman McNickle said the city examined the situation after the homecoming crash. “We apply any lessons
O’COLLY File photo
Police departments have increased security for the Sea of Orange Parade after four died at the event last year.
learned to improve safety for any upcoming events,” McNickle said. OSUPD oversees tailgating and the football stadium on game days and focuses on traffic control after the game while SPD heads the parade and other issues outside of
campus. They will work together to control traffic and assist each other during the Walkaround and whenever necessary throughout the week. The parade will start at 8 a.m. Saturday at Ninth Avenue and move north
on Main Street to Hall of Fame Avenue. OSUPD Capt. Leon Jones said OSUPD, SPD and other agencies have frequently met leading up to homecoming weekend. Some of the other agencies that will be involved in managing the safety of homecoming weekend are the Stillwater Fire Department and emergency management officials, LifeNet, Oklahoma Highway Patrol, OSU ROTC, Payne County Health Department, Payne County Sheriff’s Office, National Guard and Stillwater Medical Center. Lt. Shearer said homecoming weekend will be
properly covered. “People who are planning on coming to the game or coming to the parade or even coming to Walkaround should at least have some comfort knowing that we are anticipating potential issues, and we’re looking at how we can resolve those before they even get started,” Shearer said.
Victoria Dodge is a sports media senior from Sebastopol, California. She can be reached at vickiy. dodge@okstate.edu. Follow victoria: @victoria_dodge
Timeline: Adacia Chambers in the past year About 10:30 a.m., Adacia Chambers reportedly crashes into the Oklahoma State University homecoming parade at Hall of Fame Avenue and Main Street.
Oct. 24, 2015
Chambers enters a plea of not guilty at her arraignment in Payne County court.
Oct. 26, 2015
May 4, 2016
Chambers is charged with four counts of second-degree murder and driving under the influence. Her bond was set at $1 million.
MONDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2016
National Transportation Safety Board report states Chambers said she was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder and bipolar-type in May 2012.
Oct. 4, 2016
Oct. 16, 2016
Chambers requests change of venue for trial because of concerns of unfair trial from Payne County residents’ preconceived opinions on the events. OCOLLY.COM
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coun selin g
sp e ci a l is s u e
crash has major impact on counseling services BY aub r ie bow l a n
T
Sta ff reporter
revor Richardson was one of the first counselors to respond to one of Oklahoma State University’s worst tragedies. He remembers getting a phone call urging him to come to the emergency room, and what he witnessed there was nothing less than shocking. Monday marks one year since the homecoming parade crash, and counseling services are preparing for a difficult anniversary. Suzanne Burks, then-director of University Counseling Services, was on the other end of Richardson’s call. She worked with various families and victims in the E.R. that morning. “I’ve learned that it doesn’t matter what you say as long as you express that you care and that you’re sorry,” Burks said. “Everything else can come from that.” After the tragedy, Burks, who retired in July, led the response effort, which included Richardson and fellow counselor Cindy Washington. Richardson, now the assistant director of University Counseling Services, sat with families and friends in the waiting room, including Bhardwaj Varma, the boyfriend of Nikita Nakal. Nakal was a University of Central Oklahoma student who died in the crash. Burks and Washington were on staff at OSU during the 2001 and 2011
kurt steiss/O’COLLY File Photo
A student pets Pete’s Pet Posse threapy dog Disco on campus. The Pete’s Pet Posse dogs were around campus after the parade crash to help comfort the students and faculty.
plane crashes, and they led counseling efforts in the aftermath. The response to the 2011 tragedy was “more directed” because of the training, pamphlets and experience the center had received, Richardson said. The Remember the Ten Run, which honors the 10 victims of the 2001 plane crash, donates proceeds to University Counseling Services for grief resources. “We’ve taken these tragedies and tried to learn from them and respond in a more appropriate way with each one,” Richardson said. “Out of this pain and suffering has definitely come some growth,
MONDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2016
and we’re still becoming a better university because of it.” In the weeks after the homecoming tragedy, Richardson and Pete’s Pet Posse members met with four offices directly impacted, including Parking and Transportation Services, where Niki Strauch, the mother of 2-year-old victim Nash Lucas, worked as a student employee. “Just when you think you’re prepared is when you realize that you’re not,” said Steve Spradling, director of OSU Parking and Transportation Services in an interview for a documentary about Pete’s
Pet Posse. “I don’t think you can ever be prepared for the loss of a 2-year-old child.” Spradling said it was fortunate Ann Hargis, wife of OSU President Burns Hargis, contacted him about visiting the department with Pete’s Pet Posse, and her dog, Scruff, was the first of the visitors. “The employees of this department were suffering very badly, and they wanted to help,” Hargis said in the documentary. “Some were mad, some were in denial and some didn’t know how to feel.” OSU Career Services closed its offices temporarily to set up station for
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counseling and pet therapy with the Pet Posse to aid the response effort. “They just seem to seek out and see who needs love,” Richardson said. “Sometimes people will come in not wanting to talk with anyone, but they’ll spend time with the dogs and slowly begin to open up.” Richardson said the Student Counseling Center saw an “enormous increase in numbers” directly after the crash. Other departments involved included Psychology Services of the Department of Psychology, School Psychology Center of the College of Education and Center for Family Services of the Department of Human Development and Family Science, as well as Bill Gentry, a psychologist for OSU’s Employee Assistance Program. Other counseling included Stillwater Mental Health Professionals’ Larry Burns and Kathy Thomas, as well as therapists from the Warren Alexander Group. However, the main source of counseling remained at OSU as students and faculty were encouraged to meet with the various departments on campus. University Counseling Services and Career Services station saw Stillwater community members directly after the tragedy. “We have to be careful in situations like this not to just assume that everyone needs counseling,”
Richardson said. “There was a steady stream of students directly after, and we were running at capacity. That’s when OSU and Stillwater showed their true colors because we had area psychologists and counselors from centers across campus coming in, and we were operating as one cohesive unit. It was definitely utilized extensively.” Richardson and Lee Bird, vice president of Student Affairs, sent letters to affected departments about grief counseling for the upcoming anniversary. “It’s important to go ahead and be proactive,” Richardson said. “This isn’t something we need to hide; in fact, it’s quite the opposite. It’s OK to talk about it if you’re struggling. I think it’s important to know that it’s OK to be happy, too. Some people will think, ‘This is the first homecoming parade since the tragedy. Should I go? Do I need to be somber? What if I catch myself smiling, clapping or cheering?’ Everyone needs to know that it’s OK. There’s no right or wrong way to experience grief.” Aubrie Bowlan is a strategic communications junior from Edmond. She can be reached at aubrie. bowlan@okstate.edu. Follow aubrie: @aubrie_bowlan
PAGE 13
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FOR RELEASE OCTOBER 24, 2016
Los Angeles Times Daily Crossword Puzzle Edited by Rich Norris and Joyce Lewis
ACROSS 1 “Handle __ care” 5 Burns with hot liquid 11 Ex-Florida governor Bush 14 “__ Ben Adhem” 15 Reacts facially to a bad joke, say 16 Chopping tool 17 What snowbirds seek in winter 19 “Mamma __!” 20 Mecca’s peninsula 21 Heat in a microwave 22 Indy service areas 23 “Do __ others ... ” 25 Most doubtful 27 Ready-to-send correspondence 31 Network with regular pledge drives 32 D-Day French city 33 Steak orders 37 Calm under pressure 39 Since Jan. 1, in accounting 41 Folksy account 42 “Bewitched” witch 45 Buster Brown’s dog 48 Jamaican music genre 49 Liqueur holder 52 Last word of a verbally cited passage 55 “Doctor Zhivago” heroine 56 Potpie veggies 57 Hydroelectric facility 59 Quik maker 63 Dad, to grandpa 64 Ideal party thrower described by the first words of 17-, 27- and 49-Across 66 Cutoff point 67 C to C, in music 68 Richard of “A Summer Place” 69 Org. with a PreCheck Program 70 Sets free 71 Facts and figures DOWN 1 Electric guitar effect
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10/24/16
By Gail Grabowski and Bruce Venzke
2 Letter-shaped beam 3 __ Bora: Afghan region 4 Scrooge’s “Nonsense!” 5 Worry about something, slangily 6 Cloak-anddagger org. 7 Animated bug film 8 Bar mitzvah toast 9 What fries are fried in 10 Ukr. or Lith., once 11 Actor Foxx 12 Freeway offramps 13 Savage sort 18 Tipplers 22 Cockpit figure 24 “I’m __ human” 26 Little lie 27 First fairy tale word 28 Second fairy tale word 29 Trampled (on) 30 ’80s-’90s crime boss John 34 Mission Control org. 35 Benevolent fraternal group 36 Salty expanses
Saturday’s Puzzle Solved
©2016 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
38 Center of power 40 Bygone phone feature 43 Pal of Piglet 44 Radio City Music Hall design style 46 Cursory looks 47 Long-legged wader 50 “... near and __ my heart” 51 Assailed verbally, with “out”
10/24/16
52 Surprise win 53 Bright signs 54 Press conference format, briefly 58 Degs. for choreographers 60 Old Roman robe 61 Future D.A.’s exam 62 Sicilian volcano 64 D.C. big shot 65 Morn’s counterpart PAGE 14
h o ros cop e
Daily Horoscope oklahoma state
STUDENT MEDIA STUDENT MEDIA AT OKLAHOMA STATE UNIVERSITY 106 Paul Miller Building • OSU • Stillwater, OK 74078 Phone: 405-744-6363 • studentmedia@okstate.edu
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SOLUTION TO SATURDAY’S PUZZLE
10/24/16
Complete the grid so each row, column and 3-by-3 box (in bold borders) contains every digit, 1 to 9. For strategies on how to solve Sudoku, visit
www.sudoku.org.uk © 2016 The Mepham Group. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency. All rights reserved.
MONDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2016
To place an ad, call 405-744-7371 or email ads@ocolly.com To place a classified ad, call 405-744-7355 or email lori@ocolly.com To pitch a story idea, call 405-744-6365 or email news.ed@ocolly.com For information on working here, stop by Monday through Friday 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. or email editorinchief@ocolly.com If you want to reach our investigative journalists, email investigations@ocolly.com To report an error, complaint or other issue, email editorinchief@ocolly.com To report an issue with newspaper delivery, email barbara.allen@okstate.edu or call 405-744-8369
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By Nancy Black Tribune Content Agency Today’s Birthday (10/24/16). What do you want this year? Consider possibilities. Plan and budget for long-term goals. Ritual and symbolism satisfy. One door closes as another opens with your career this spring, before romance flowers anew. Domestic changes next autumn lead to exciting professional opportunities. Reflect on love. To get the advantage, check the day’s rating: 10 is the easiest day, 0 the most challenging. Aries (March 21-April 19) -- Today is an 8 -- Focus on financial planning over the next three weeks, with Mercury in Scorpio. Talk about family funds. Collaborate to manage extra work today and tomorrow. Share with love. Taurus (April 20-May 20) -- Today is an 8 -- Communication thrives with your partner over the next three weeks, with Mercury in Scorpio. Listen and compromise. Stay in close contact. Romance blossoms, especially today and tomorrow. Gemini (May 21-June 20) -- Today is a 6 -- Discuss your work, health and fitness with experts to grow stronger over the next three, weeks with Mercury in Scorpio. Enjoy domestic pleasures today and tomorrow. Cancer (June 21-July 22) -- Today is an 8 -- Your thoughts turn toward fun and romance, with Mercury in Scorpio. For about three weeks, it’s easier to express your feelings, and you’re exceptionally creative, especially today and tomorrow. Leo (July 23-Aug. 22) -- Today is an 8 -- Over the next three weeks, fix up your place with Mercury in Scorpio. You’re inspired; revise the budget today and tomorrow. Get creative with color, form and function. Virgo (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) -- Today is an 8 -- Writing, recording and publishing projects come together over the next three weeks, with Mercury and the Sun in Scorpio. Push for a personal goal over the next two days. Libra (Sept. 23-Oct. 22) -- Today is a 6 -- Use creativity to boost income over the next three weeks, with Mercury in Scorpio. Profit from communications. Consider strategies today and tomorrow. Stay in the conversation. Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 21) -- Today is a 9 -- It’s easier to make personal decisions, with Mercury in your sign for about three weeks. Reinvent and share your vision. Inspire your team, especially over the next two days. Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 21) -- Today is a 7 -- Complete old projects and plan what’s next over the next three weeks, with Mercury in Scorpio. Professional opportunities have your attention today and tomorrow. Commune with your inner muse. Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) -- Today is a 6 -- For about three weeks, with Mercury in Scorpio, team projects coalesce. Communication oils the machinery. Plan a trip over the next few days. If you can get away, go. Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 18) -- Today is a 7 -- Plan your next career move. Make bold professional choices over the next three weeks, with Mercury in Scorpio. Do numbers with your partner, especially today and tomorrow. Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20) -- Today is an 8 -- Invite someone special on an adventure over the next two days. For about three weeks, with Mercury in Scorpio, travel and discovery beckons. Strengthen loving bonds.
PAGE 15
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