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Monday, 04 January 2010 19:25 |
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Henry Wallace knows firsthand the profound pain of losing his mother in an incident of domestic violence. When he learned that two young boys in his community of Hugo had experienced the same tragic loss, he reached out to them by becoming their mentor through the Passport to the Future Mentoring Program.
Wallace, who has been matched with the boys for over a year, has been named recipient of the 2010 David and Molly Boren Mentoring Award, which recognizes an outstanding mentor in Oklahoma. The award will be presented in conjunction with National Mentoring Month in January and is sponsored by the Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence and its David and Molly Boren Mentoring Initiative.
Wallace and his mentees will be featured in a television commercial airing statewide. The television spots are made possible with support from Cox Communications and can be seen on YouTube at www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLAIGSEmvkI.
Wallace will be honored on national Thank Your Mentor Day, Jan. 21, at the State Capitol. The Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence will present Wallace with a plaque and will donate $500 in his honor to benefit the Passport to the Future Mentoring Program. The mentoring program, which is administered by Hugo’s Little Dixie Community Action Agency, serves youths ages 4 to 18 who have an incarcerated parent. The program serves more than 300 children in a three-county area in southeast Oklahoma.
“When Henry was young, his mother was murdered by her boyfriend,” said Tonya Finley, who matched Wallace with 9-year-old Charles and 8-year-old Marquelle. “Henry was the first person we thought of to mentor these boys. He’s a really caring person and can understand and sympathize with all these boys are going through.”
Wallace said he enjoys taking the boys to the park or playing games at the Boys & Girls Club, where he works part time running the game room. He also talks to them about school work and encourages them to apply themselves in school. Wallace’s favorite memory is taking the boys to the county fair, where they played on tractors. “Most kids would want to ride the rides, but they wanted to play on the tractors. They love machines,” he said. Read the whole story, subscribe to the online edition: http://www.hugonews.com/transitionHDN.html |
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Monday, 28 December 2009 20:01 |
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HUGO — Holiday shoppers nationwide spent more in 2009 than the previous year according to national credit card companies, which track spending trends.
Shopping results in Hugo and Choctaw County were mixed according to area retailers.
Russell Baker, manager of Sharpe’s Department Store in downtown Hugo, had glowing reports about his Christmas sales.
In a word, Baker said his Christmas sales were, “fantastic.”
“It was the wildest Christmas season I’ve ever had,” the veteran retailer said today. “It was the biggest two weeks I’ve ever had and it was the biggest December our store has ever had.” Read the whole story, subscribe to the online edition: http://www.hugonews.com/transitionHDN.html |
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Thursday, 31 December 2009 16:37 |
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By Amber Hanneken
Staff Writer
On the last day of 2009, we look back at the news stories that shaped Choctaw County over the last year. This was a year of opportunities — new businesses opened and construction began on major projects. It was also a year of drug busts as the law cracked down on drug users and producers in the community. The top stories were, as follows:
• Jeffrey Pierce arrested on drug charges and 16 area residents busted in a drug sting.
• Choctaw Casino Resort opens in Grant bringing numerous jobs to county residents and offering new dining and entertainment options.
• Choctaw Wellness Center begins construction. The project was given the OK this year and construction is well under way with the walls and roof installed. The new center will offer health care to members of the Choctaw Nation.
• The majority of the Old Glove Factory was demolished to make room for a set of new community pools and the Boys & Girls Club recreation facility. The project is to be completed by May 2010.
• Some Messer area residents brought deannexation to the polls this year in a Hugo Schools special election. The district voted no on the issue of converting Messer lands into Rattan School District.
• Both Soper Schools and Fort Towson Schools faced Title IX lawsuits in 2009. Soper had to pay $13,000 in legal fees and made changes to its program so girls would not be discriminated against. Official settlement details have not yet been released in the Fort Towson case.
Read the whole story, subscribe to the online edition: http://www.hugonews.com/transitionHDN.html
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Thursday, 24 December 2009 16:22 |
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By Amber Hanneken
Staff Writer
HUGO — The love of music brought Bill Burkhalter and Crystal Rushin together, she loves to sing and he writes songs and plays instruments.
Burkhalter met Rushin through Hugo High School music teacher Carla Rabon. Burkhalter was a coach and teacher at the school. Rabon said Rushin, her student, had a lot of talent and he remembered hearing her sing in past performances.
“When I started to get back into music after I retired, I called her and said, ‘hey you want to sing?’ She said, ‘yes’ and we’ve been doing it off and on ever since — about four or five years now,” Burkhalter said.
Burkhalter has his own music studio next to his house where he can record and produce CDs. He started playing in bands at 12 years old and writing lyrics in college.
Rushin, 26, began singing at the age of 5 in church and school. She grew up around music, as her grandfather, aunt and mother are also singers and had their own gospel band that traveled and performed. Rock music is what she really enjoys singing, but she said she is able to sing any kind of music and she also plays guitar.
“I want to get my music career going and be able to travel and sing,” she said.
Right now, Rushin and Burkhalter are working with a professional in music production to get their talents noticed. Stan Manning, of Houston, is currently pushing her demo CD in New Hampshire, Houston and Colorado. Burkhalter, who has written more than 200 songs, wrote seven of the songs on the demo and plays the instruments. The song titled, “The Other Side” was written by Rushin and there is a cover of “Unchained Melody” by The Righteous Brothers. The entire CD was created in Burkhalter’s studio. Their music can be listened to on their MySpace site at www.myspace.com/makburk or people can get a copy of the CD by calling Burkhalter at 317.3082.
“(Manning) has the connections that we don’t have,” Burkhalter said. “Of course, living in Hugo, it’s hard to get connected with anybody that can do anything for you. A couple of years ago, I went to Nashville with a bunch of songs and there are so many talented people there that unless you have an inside foothold in something, you’re probably not going to be recognized.”
They’ve sent out hundreds of copies of their CD but are mostly relying on Manning to be their connection in the music industry. One local radio station, K95.5, has agreed to play their music between 4 and 5 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 27.
“I have no aspirations of becoming a rock star or anything like that. I love to write music and I love to record and play music,” Burkhalter said. “Crystal is an excellent singer and that’s what I would like to see come out of anything I do. She is young enough and talented enough that someone should know about it.”
The two recently performed at Burkhalter’s Christmas family reunion and Rushin said they will perform for anyone who asks.
Twice, Rushin auditioned for American Idol, once in Memphis, Tenn., and the other time in Dallas. Read the whole story, subscribe to the online edition: http://www.hugonews.com/transitionHDN.html |
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