Consequences for killing cranes
Four Oklahoma men have been sentenced for killing four federally protected whooping cranes. There are fewer than 600 whooping cranes in the wild.
Crane crimes carry considerable costs.Some of these rare, stately birds pass through Oklahoma on their way from nests in Canada to their winter homes in the southern United States.
Four of these birds met untimely deaths at Tom Steed Reservoir near Altus in 2021. Four Southwest Oklahoma men pleaded guilty to the crane killings after a joint investigation between the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation identified them as the culprits.
Last week, a federal judge ordered the men to pay $17,000 apiece to the International Crane Foundation, had them surrender their shotguns and stripped them of their hunting privileges in all 50 states for the next five years.
District judge in trouble
The chief justice of the state Supreme Court is calling for the removal of a district judge. According to the Oklahoman newspaper, Lincoln County District Judge Traci Soderstrom faces accusations of mocking attorneys, jurors and witnesses in texts to her bailiff during a murder trial.
An investigation found Soderstrom and the female bailiff made inappropriate jokes about the prosecutor, called the key witness a liar and admired the looks of a testifying police officer. The 50-year-old who has been on the bench for less than a year has temporarily suspended her duties as the Oklahoma Court on the Judiciary is hearing the request for removal from Chief Justice John Kane.
Illegal trash dumping
Illegal dumping damages the environment, affects human health and generally creates problems in rural Oklahoma. The Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality, Oklahoma State University Extension Service and USDA are hosting an environmental enforcement training for those battling the practice.
Open burning and illegal dumping are crimes impacting soil, water and air quality. And they are an ongoing issue in Oklahoma. DEQ removed enough illegally disposed of waste in 2022 to cover almost 900 football fields in three feet of trash.
Some companies or people illegally dump garbage to avoid disposal fees or simply just because it’s convenient.
Chad Keller, a sergeant in DEQ’s criminal investigation unit, says law enforcement needs to stay vigilant on the lookout for the crime.
"It's also like a safety issue because a lot of times they're not really focused on the environment that they're around because they've got a lot of real dangerous job with some individuals," Keller said.
Keller said the training is an educational opportunity for law enforcement to learn how DEQ can assist in investigations and the environmental impacts of illegal dumping.
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