Jimcy McGirt Headed Back To Court
The man behind the landmark McGirt v. Oklahoma Supreme Court decision faces three charges, including a felony.
Jimcy McGirt is scheduled to be in court Tuesday.
McGirt is set to appear before a Seminole Nation District Court judge in Wewoka.
The 75-year-old man has been charged with three counts relating to his sex offender status, including one felony charge for residing within two-thousand feet of an area frequented by children, and two misdemeanors relating to his offender registration.
McGirt was initially arrested last week after he approached two children on a playground, and the responding officer discovered he was residing outside of the county he was registered in.
His Supreme Court victory re-defined Indian Country in Oklahoma after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Muscogee Nation’s reservation had never been disestablished.
Tulsa Mayor Set To Testify In Trial Stemming From 2020 Trump Rally
A trial was set to start today for a woman arrested in connection with Former President Donald Trump’s 2020 rally in Tulsa.
And, the city’s top public official is set to testify.
Sheila Buck was arrested and later charged with misdemeanor obstruction after she refused to leave a fenced-off area outside the BOK center in downtown Tulsa, where the rally was being held.
A security guard testified that he told Buck she couldn’t wear her shirt that said “I Can’t Breathe” inside the rally, and that she refused to change or leave.
Buck’s attorney, Dan Smolen, has argued the fenced-off area didn’t have a city event permit, but prosecutors argue state law requires citizens to comply with police officers, even if their orders end up being unconstitutional.
A judge has allowed Smolen to cross-examine Tulsa Mayor G.T. Bynum during the trial.
The attorney claims the mayor’s communication with other officials about Buck’s arrest is pertinent to the case.
Oklahoma Nonprofit Hosts Grief Counseling Sessions In Jail, Women’s Prison
A new grief counseling program is helping people cope with loss in their lives at an Oklahoma prison.
Calm Waters is a nonprofit that provides free grief support groups in Oklahoma schools. This year, the nonprofit expanded its services to include women incarcerated at Mabel Bassett Correctional Center. During a nine to ten-week program, facilitators will hold group sessions inside the prison walls for an hour each week.
Their team is led by Bailey Maxey, who, along with a recovery support specialist from TEEM and the prison’s chaplain, will lead participants through a grief support curriculum designed for incarcerated people.
Maxey said most detainees have a story of grief. Many have never had the opportunity to work through their pain.
“We still have not addressed all of the grief that landed them there in the first place,” Maxey said. “And now we’re compounding with the separation from their family and their support system while they are detained and that is not being addressed either.”
The Calm Waters program is the only of its kind in Oklahoma. A spokesperson for the nonprofit, Abby Dimond, said people behind bars are often overlooked when it comes to mental health care. She said it’s a population that’s sometimes considered “invisible.”
Maxey said the goal is to help lower rates of recidivism, stopping women from getting trapped in a cycle of incarceration.
“Hopefully our programming will help them address the grief that they've experienced that led to the choices that brought them here,” she said. “Then wherever they go from this point on, they'll at least [have] the coping mechanisms, better skills and [a] better understanding of what's going on when they are feeling grief and struggling mentally and emotionally.”
The free grief counseling program at Mabel Bassett is modeled on Calm Waters' work at the Oklahoma County Detention Center for both men and women detainees. With funding from a United Way Wayfinder Innovation Grant, Calm Waters was able to set up the curriculum they now use for both programs. Staff at Mabel Bassett, including previous warden Tamika White, reached out to Calm Waters about initiating the program there after seeing success at the county detention center.
Maxey said inmates at the detention center will take what they learn in the grief groups and bring it back to the people in their “pods," fostering a broader mental health discussion throughout the jail.
Bronze Statue At OSU Honors Real Life “Pistol Pete”
There’s a new statue on Oklahoma State University’s Stillwater campus.
It honors Frank Eaton, the real-life inspiration for the school’s mascot, Pistol Pete.
Two legacies are now honored in bronze in Stillwater.
Frank Eaton was the inspiration for OSU mascot Pistol Pete, and Harold Holden was a famed artist and sculptor who died while finishing up this very sculpture.
Two of his artist friends stepped in to finish the work after Holden died in 2023.
The statue was dedicated late last week.
Holden’s friends and family said it’s a great way to honor his legacy.
Holden’s wife, Edna Mae, said the man, known as “H” to his friends, would be proud of the finished work.
“To the Eaton family, I hope that you will be pleased with the rendering that H did and that it will hold fond memories of the legend who was Frank Eaton,” Holden said.
The bronze sculpture is located near Cowgirl Stadium on the northeast side of campus.
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