Gov. Stitt called on several McCurtain County officials to resign after they allegedly made racist, violent and unprofessional remarks, but it was unclear Monday if they had done so.
At a March 6 meeting, the four county officials were allegedly recorded saying they miss when racist violence in law enforcement was acceptable, threatening to kill two journalist and making fun of a burn victim.
In the recordings, county commissioner Mark Jennings can be heard telling sheriff Kevin Clardy he would run for sheriff if violence toward Black people was still acceptable.
We must note, the clip contains descriptions of racist violence that some may find disturbing.
"Well it's not like that anymore," said Clardy.
"I know. Take them down to Mud Creek and hang them up with a [expletive] rope, but you can't do that. They've got more rights than we've got," said Jennings.
Stitt called for the immediate resignation of Jennings, Clardy, investigator Alicia Manning and jail administrator Larry Hendrix, but media outlets could not confirm after the commission’s Monday morning meeting if they had resigned. None of them were present at the meeting, which lasted only a few minutes and consisted of routine county business.
The meeting drew a crowd of demonstrators outside the building and in the meeting room. Before the meeting, Idabel mayor Craig Young called for the four officials’ resignations.
"The governor has asked them to resign. We are waiting on results," said Young.
The state attorney general's office has confirmed it is looking into the matter.
Oklahoma has reportedly signed a contract with Panasonic to build an electric vehicle battery plant in Pryor. But there may be some complications with the agreement.
Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt says the state has inked a contract to open a battery plant at the MidAmerica Industrial Park in Pryor. It’s been widely reported to be with Japanese manufacturer Panasonic.
The company would employ thousands.
“When you have a manufacturing facility with 3,500 employees, it leads to like 20,000 indirect jobs that are around supporting that. So it’s just an amazing opportunity for us." Stitt said.
But it’s unclear who will pay for the hundreds of millions in infrastructure improvements at the park. Lawmakers have shown some hesitation to do so. House Speaker Charles McCall told the Tulsa World the deal does not meet all the qualifications for Panasonic to receive almost $700 million allocated for economic development by the legislature last year.
Stitt says the project would bring a $5 billion investment to the state.
Logan County faced another wildfire on Monday afternoon as emergency officials responded to the rapidly spreading blaze.
The fire, which started southwest of Meridian and north of Arcadia, prompted evacuations.
This comes just weeks after a previous wildfire outbreak scorched tens of homes and thousands of acres in Edmond and Guthrie. Meteorologists have warned of elevated to critical "fire weather" conditions later in the week for western and central Oklahoma, especially on Wednesday.
The National Weather Service says drought conditions have exacerbated the risk of wildfires, and outdoor burning and other activities that could start fires should be avoided.
Over the weekend, Chairman of the Quapaw Nation Joseph Byrd resigned.
Citing death threats and continued criticism over his character and integrity, Joseph Byrd, resigned.
"The reality is that I can no longer do what is necessary because it requires me to stay on the warpath. And even though it's something I am good at, it's a path I'm unwilling to continue down, especially while I help my partner raise our two daughters," said Byrd.
Byrd was elected in 2020 after ousting longtime chairman John Berrey, who was accused of financial management and embezzlement.
Last week Byrd received notice that a recall petition had met the required amount of signatures necessary to call a special election for his position. He had drawn criticism for his decision to run for District 3 of the Cherokee Nation tribal council.
It's unclear who will take over a chairman of the business committee before a special election happens to replace Byrd. Tribal nation rules say an election must be held within 90 calendar days of Byrd’s resignation.
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