If you're looking for a certain article I wrote in a past issue of "This & That" you might find it faster by doing a "search" with your browser. With Netscape just click your mouse at the top at EDIT and then FIND and type in the word or words you're looking for. Since I don't use Internet Explorer, I'm not sure exactly how you do a search there, but I'm sure you can.
Below is October 4, 1997 to December 27, 1997.
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From: butchbridges@oklahomahistory.net (Butch Bridges)
Saturday, October 4, 1997 Vol 1 Issue 24
Fifteen or more pages a day. That's how bad it's been. I truly hope your week has gone better. If it wasn't for me locking myself away in the evenings, listening to some Celine Dion, I'd lose what sanity I have left. Last week I spoke a few lines about the power of email. I won't go into detail right now, but about two years ago, I experienced something that surpasses imagination. After calls to every phone VIP in Oklahoma without help, it took an email to Washington DC to bring it all to a halt. In three hours I got help that the telephone people in Oklahoma either couldn't or wouldn't do. So believe me, I know, the pen (email) is mightier then the sword. In a couple of weeks, I'll sit down and tell everyone all about it.
PLEASE BE SEATED
The Carter County Courthouse has some new furnishings this week. Dalton Cain, Chief of Maintenance, has been busy making some very nice benches for the rotunda so people can sit while waiting for court to start, etc. Dalton used 2 X 12s, some metal brackets, and dark stain to create some very practical and needed seating. They almost look as if they have been a part of the courthouse for many years. I'm sure the elderly and people with medical problems are going to appreciate not having to stand or lean against the walls for long periods of time. I've been watching, and on all three floors, people have been making use of the small, short, wood benches. I've over heard several visitors to the courthouse commend the Commissioners for making it possible.
A NEW LOOK, A NEW BEGINNING
The Sulphur, OKlahoma Bulldog Website is up and running. It's completely re-designed, and has some great new pictures. The scores, stats, and district standings Pages are up-to-date and I hope you will all enjoy looking through them.
The Page can be accessed through either http://www.brightok.net/~fox or now through http://sulphurbulldogs.home.ml.org
WAIT, WAIT, WAIT, HURRY UP AND WAIT
I wonder how many hours a week we spend waiting for Windows 95 to start back up after a shutdown? I know I spend lots, waiting on Windows 95 to come back up after I made a setting change, shutdown, then restart it. Here is a little trick to save some time.
To restart Windows only, not your entire computer:
1.From Windows 95. click the START button
2.Select Shutdown
3.From the 'Shut Down Windows' box, select Restart the computer
4.Hold down the SHIFT key. While holding down SHIFT, click the
YES button.
5.When the 'Shut Down Windows' box clears, release SHIFT
DO AS I SAY NOT AS I DO
Years ago a well known Ardmoreite called me at home. He said he wanted me to call him back at home. I asked why? He said he couldn't find his portable phone and need to "just let it ring". Okay, I'm game. He finally answered it, he left it in his Chest of Drawers. Man, I thought.... I'd never do anything that dumb. So, what did I do last Tuesday night? Left my portable phone in the backyard FACE UP, and then it rained. The next day I found it wet, and as you can guess, it didn't work. But I let it sit a couple of days, and now it works just fine. Moral: Don't laugh at another man's idiosyncracies.
A GLIMPSE INTO THE PAST
Around 1971 a young couple was getting married about 25 miles east of Ardmore in Madill, Oklahoma. At that time the "new highway" between Madill and Ardmore only went about 5 miles west of Madill and abrutly came to an end. We in this area all called it "the highway to nowhere". It was suppose to go on to Ardmore, but the money stopped and so did the highway, at the county line. There were barricades and barrels to stop drivers from continuing on west. A car would have to almost come to a complete stop and turn south into a narrow, crooked county road to continue on to Ardmore. It was Friday night, the young bride and groom just repeated their wedding vows, left the church, and headed out on their honeymoon and new life. They were traveling at a pretty fast clip (in 1971 the speed limit in Oklahoma was 70), probably sneaking a few kisses, traveling west toward a deadend highway, not realizing they were on the wrong highway. Wham. Crash. Bam. Highway signs, plastic barrels, and reflectors went everywhere. I happened to be on ambulance duty that night. Those newlyweds were in tears, scared to death, and probably wondering if they made a big mistake getting married. But God was with them, they only had scrapes and scratches, treated at the E.R. and released. But one thing I'm sure of.... their honeymoon and night of wedding bliss was not going to take place that night. I never heard from them again. But I hope they stuck it out, loved each other more then ever, and are still together, looking back to that year and fateful night with great big laughs and smiles :)
I guess I better close..... talked a lot more then I realized. Do something good for someone you love. Take care..... see you all next weekend.
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From: butchbridges@oklahomahistory.net (Butch Bridges)
Saturday, October 11, 1997 Vol 1 Issue 25
Time flies when you're having fun. Or at least that is what some say. Personally I'm glad a LONG weekend is here. Three days of glory (and some surfing). I'm going to take advantage of it, I assure you. Here in Oklahoma, it's been very dry, but the last few days, we have been receiving some much needed rain. I've got a number of things to pass along to everyone. So, how about a little this and that......
IN THE BEGINNING......
New York City was the melting pot of America. In the early beginnings of this country, many people came from Europe to New York, and then to all points west. I know my ancestors came to NY first before moving on the PA. I have found a pretty neat Page dedicated just to New York City. It has a little info for everyone. Visit New York City anytime by setting your browers to http://www.newsday.com
I'M FROM MISSOURI - THE SHOW ME STATE
Well, not exactly. I'm Okie born and bred. But I do have to be shown some times. You've heard not to get magnets around diskettes or computers? The other day I received my mailorder of a computer component including 50 diskettes. Inside the box, the company had given me a small advertising magnet. The kind made of "rubber" with their 800 number on it, etc. I thought, hummmm.... is this a good idea? Placing a magnet inside the box with the order? So, you know me, the wheels starting turning. I decided to do a scientific study. I took the "rubber magnet" and a diskette to which I had just copied around 50 files to. I rubbed the magnet all over the diskette, both sides. No damage done. I could copy the files from the diskette to my hard drive fine. So, I left the magnet sitting on top of the diskette all night. Still no damage. But... and remember there is always that but, when I opened the little sliding door of the diskette and stuck one corner of the magnet into the opening, then the data was damaged. I could access the diskette, read the files, but could not copy the files from the diskette back to the hard drive. I think I'm going to send some email to that company about sending magnets along with their mailorders.
GET OFF THAT PHONE!
Every try to call and call someone, only to find they are surfing the Net and only have one phone line? There is a solution. Have them get Pagoo, install it, and then friends can send them messages via an 800 number. No computer needed by your friends. Very interesting concept, and it's totally free. But I did encounter one problem. The 800 number your friends call when your line is busy, it too is busy! So, what good is it????? But check out all the details at http://www.pagoo.com
SHARE THAT MODEM WITH THE REST OF 'EM
If you are on a network (LAN) of several computers, and want to share a modem that one computer has with the rest, what program do you use? Sharing a modem with other computers can get VERY complicated on a network. But http://www.wingate.net has the answer. Their shareware program allows you to do just that. This means if one computer has a modem and Internet access, by using Wingate, all the other modemless workstations on the network can surf the net!
A GLIMPSE INTO THE PAST
On Monday, Setember 27, 1915 Martial Law was declared in Ardmore Oklahoma by Ardmore Chief of Police Bob Hutchins as a result of what would from that day forward be known as the "big explosion". A railroad worker caused some kind of spark while working on a 250 gallon gasoline tanker near East Main and the Santa Fe Railroad tracks. The explosion was so great that it nearly demolished the entire downtown business district of Ardmore. Dozens of people were killed and many more injured by falling stone walls and flying glass. People and even mule teams were buried by the rubble. Local authorities sent out by telegraph a cry for help. Oklahoma City would respond with doctors, nurses and medical supplies. They dispatched the needed people and supplies on a special train to Ardmore. It was said that Engine 1108 traveled the 100 miles in record time. The actual locomotive that made that "run of mercy" was finally placed on display here in Ardmore at the coliseum and is still there as a reminder of that 1915 disaster. You can read about the "great explosion" and see a photo of the locomotive on the Carter County Government Website under "The Looking Glass" at http://www.brightok.net/chickasaw/ardmore/county/locomo.html
I hesitate to tell you all this, but I'm going to get a bowl of Blue Bell Dutch Chocolate ice cream, then hit the SEND button, and see if all 150+ emails go out this morning, while I'm enjoying the ice cream. It is better then a sausage biscuit. We are even sending "This & That" to a displaced Healdton resident and his family now living in Australia. Everyone take care, remember three little words can change your life forever. I'll see you all next weekend.
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From: butchbridges@oklahomahistory.net (Butch Bridges)
Saturday, October 18, 1997 Vol 1 Issue 26
Cooler weather here has me sprucing up my "new" Chevy pickup. I've added some chrome fender wells, touched the wheel hubs with silver paint, put some touch-up paint to the bed, rubbed a special finish all over it, and it is looking and running great! I'll post a pic on my Home Page soon. It was an $800 "steal" I couldn't turn down, even if it is 25 years old. Several things to pass along to everyone, so here we go......
THE WONDER OF EMAIL
Several of you wrote the past week with more info to add to the article I wrote about the "Great Explosion of 1915". The newspaper article only said it was a "gasoline tank" which caused the blast. It has been brought to my attention what was in that tank was no ordinary gasoline. It was Drip Gas, a much, more volitale gas then plain gasoline like we use in our cars.
COURT CLERK RECEIVES PROGRAM UPDATE
The Carter County Court Clerk received a surpise in the mail this week. Kellpro of Duncan sent her two diskettes for updating the court clerk program. I held my breath during the file transfer, but everything went beautifully. And the revised program has several great features that's been added. Needless to say, everyone is happy to be able to do things they couldn't before. Last April when the court clerk went with the KellPro program, I think we were the only county using the program in south central Oklahoma. Now I believe there is only one court clerk in our area not using it. I know the program has taken us from writing by hand in "big red books", and moved us forward into the 21st century, almost overnight.
SEARCHING THE WORLD OVER
The past few years I've tried a lot of search engines looking for certan things in particular. I like InfoSeek, Webcrawler, Lycos and some others. But lately I've found that HotBot does a great job finding obscure Pages. Items I looked for with the others turned up very new Hits. HotBot seemed to find much more, most of the time. For instance "drip gas" was extremely hard to find any info on. So, any of you "drip gas" experts out there, if you send me some detail on just where and what drip gas is, I'll put it on my Home Page. To do searches with HotBot just go to http://www.hotbot.com But don't rely entirely on one search engine. I do lots of "testing" and differnt search engines seem to produce different results, depending on the topic.
DRIVERS WHEN YOU NEED THEM
For really great Windows 95 help, visit Frank Condron's Website at http://www.conitech.com/windows/ He's got something for everyone. He has one Page with over 810 computer companies along with their product's Drivers i.e ethernet cards, CDROMS, Sound Cards, and much much more. And let's not forget the Public Forum's you can Post messages in... help of all kinds. It's almost unbelievable what is there for the asking.
IN THE BEGINNING GOD
If you're looking for a Win95 program to study the bible with all the fancy screens and frills, you can get a FREE bible program at http://www.theophilos.sk/ It does searches in 1 second, lets you create your own notes, has Matthew Henry's Commentary, and Easton's Bible Dictionary included. The EXE file is over 7 megs!
A GLIMPSE INTO THE PAST
In 1925 the elected Sheriff of Carter county, Ewing London, was indicted by a Grand Jury. London was temporaily removed from office and a new sheriff appointed by the name of James Cruce. Cruce would only be sheriff for 30 days. A Purcell, Oklahoma Judge would overrule the removal and order Sheriff London reinstated to office. London would serve out the rest of his term unchallenged. You can read the entire story on the Carter County Sheriffs Website at http://www.brightok.net/chickasaw/ardmore/county/cruce.html If anyone has info on James "Jim" Cruce, we would like to hear from you. We would very much like to have a photo of Cruce and talk with any surviving kin. We think we have located James Cruce's burial site in Rosehill Cemetery here in Ardmore. Cruce was a dairyman living north of Ardmore on Mt Washington Road in 1925. Any help is appreciated in finding out more about this "forgotten Sheriff".
Food for Fodder: Columbus discovered the New World in 1492. I was driving down a county road last Thursday and found a new home.
So much for this week's This & That. I appreciate all the emails you send back. I may be a little slow in answering, but I will write everyone a reply. Enjoy a wonderful site, take someone you love outside tonight, look at that beautiful full moon, and tell them how much they mean to you, and I'll see everyone next weekend.
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From: butchbridges@oklahomahistory.net (Butch Bridges)
Saturday, October 25, 1997 Vol 1 Issue 27
This week has been at full throttle. There's been several things moving forward, after months of waiting, and maybe soon I can tell you much more about some things to come. I did have some mystery. My speakers on my computer desk fell off twice. After some research I figured out it was from the vibration of the music being too loud. It's a wonder my neighbors did turn me in. I guess I'm reverting back to my teens? Oh I hope not. Anyway, here are some things to pass along to everyone.......
DRIP, DRIP, DRIP
I appreciate all the emails coming back to me, telling more about what "drip gas" is and where it comes from. The following is from one friend who probably best described it. I'm going to put it on my Home Page since very little is available on "drip gas".
"In response to your inquiry of "drip gas"..... it is "white" gas that separates from raw oil. As the raw crude is being pumped to a storage tank, every "X" amount of feet there is a separator tank in the pipe where the "drip" gas is collected. It is very volatile because it is, for all practical purposes, condensation from raw crude. I have been told that it is this "white" or "drip" gas that is refined into unleaded fuel. Many "pumpers" that watch over the pump jacks of Oklahoma's oil fields, use this unrefined drip gas in their personal vehicles (which is illegal)."
THE SOUTH IS GOING TO RISE AGAIN
Well, not exactly, but I did received the following email of an up coming event that's held at Ft. Washita- a re-inactment so to speak. Ft Washita is 18 miles east of Madill, Oklahoma on Highway 199. Here is his message:
"Something you might be interested in; Nov 7-8 at Ft Washita there will be a '1863 Candle Light Tours'. I picked up a flyer on it yesterday while I was at the Fort. It reads "A Program you'll never forget. Experience Fort Washita after 21/2 bloody years of Civil War. Confererate Solders & Refugees facing the realities of war". The tours are $5.00 a person (Reservation Required) call 405-924-6502. I went last year and highly recommend these tours for young and old. The characters dress and speak in the time period. Each tour last about 30-45 minutes.
COMPUTER TRAINING ONLINE
Choose from over 50 classes in programming, design, databases, popular software applications, basic Internet skills, and more. All ZDU classes are taught by a distinguished faculty of leading industry experts and best-selling book authors. But best of all, you won't need a student loan to attend: Take as many classes as you want for *only* $4.95 a month. Here's just a sample of the online classes being offered right now at ZDU:
* Java for Programmers
* Implementing Intranets
* Visual Basic for Programmers
* Intro to HTML 4.0
* DHTML
* Intro and Advanced C++
* Windows NT
* Exploring Extranets
* Using Netscape Communicator 4.0
* Intro and Advanced Web Site Design
* Intro and Advanced Photoshop
* Internet Advertising
* Microsoft Word and Excel
* And many more!
Visit the ZDU Online Campus at http://www.zdu.com
THE TECH CORNER
BCM Diagnostics lets you test almost any area of your Windows 95 system. It includes the following modules: System Info, Processor Test, Memory Test, Audio Test, Video Test, Modem Test, Graphics Test, Hard Disk Test, Floppy Test, CD-ROM Test, and Stress Test. It also has a Resource Monitor and shortcuts to Microsoft Mouse, Joystick, and ScanDisk. DOSDIAG.EXE, the DOS based diagnostics utility, is also included. BCM Diagnostics is Freeware! Go get it at- http://www.bcmcom.com/cust.htm
A GLIMPSE INTO THE PAST
In 1910 builders placed on top of the Carter County courthouse a "little dome". But many years later it starting crumbling, so about 30 years ago, maintenance had to remove it. Unless you were around before the removel of the "little dome", you probably have no idea what it looked like, sitting up on top. Here is a rare glimpse at that "little dome" from a 1915 photo that is on display in the courthouse here in Ardmore, Oklahoma- http://www.brightok.net/chickasaw/ardmore/county/photos/courttop.jpg
I know a lot of people in this county, myself included, would hope that some day, some way, that "little dome" can be put back on top of the courthouse, for everyone to admire, as they did 87 years ago.
I'll close now, hit the SEND button in Autosponder, and hope the Net doesn't fail me. I know the day is coming when something will not be right, and "This & That" will be unable to go out on schedule. But I will send it. Many of you have written in months gone by, saying how you look forward to this little bit of news. I appreciate all of you who write and also for allowing me each Saturday to come into your home. Everyone take care.... see you next Saturday.
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From: butchbridges@oklahomahistory.net (Butch Bridges)
Saturday, November 1, 1997 Vol 1 Issue 28
Not a whole lot going on here. Just glad the weekend is here. Today is the day the mandatory seatbelt law goes into effect here in Oklahoma. It's for the best too. In my 14 years on the ambulance, I went to thousands of auto accidents. Many of those would still be alive today, had they buckled up. When we saw that busted windshield, most of the time it was bad news for the victim. I just have a few things to pass along, so let's get started.
EMAIL ADDRESS FOR CARTER COUNTY OSU EXTENSION OFFICE
The OSU Extension Office in Ardmore has had their computer up and running on a T1 line for several weeks now. But only this week did they actually get their "official" email address. You can write them at osuard@ardmorepublic.lib.ok.us I mentioned in an earlier T&T that dowloading from a T1 line is an experience everyone should get a taste of at least once. FAST, FASTER, and DEARLY BELOVED, is the only way to describe it.
BACK ISSUES OF "THIS & THAT" ONLINE
Several of you asked if I would place my back issues of "This & That" on my Home Page. It took some time, changing the text files to HTML format, but they are now available. In March of this year when I started my "This & That", I never imagined it would grow into the circulation it is today. Several of you asked the old issues be made available so you can refer back to something I mentioned. Just look at the bottom of my Home Page for the old issues.
THE EAST CLOCK NOW SHINES
For many, many years the Clock Face on the east side of the Carter County Courthouse did not light up, like the other three did. But thanks to the county commissioners and the labor of Dalton Cain, Maintenence at the courthouse, it now shines brightly. If you get the chance, go to the courthouse some evening, and look at the beauty that is there. There are flood lamps at each of the four corners under the dome, shining up, putting the dome in a soft white light. Listen to that 2,000 pound bell ring out the time. I have lived all my life in Ardmore, and I can not think of anything so beautiful here as that courthouse at night. It stands so majestic, almost like a beacon under the glow of the floodlights, as a person looks up 7 stories. I do not have the camera nor the expertise to take a photo at night. But hopefully soon, someone will do just that, and I can show you the splendor of that 1910 structure, and you will see why it is the most magnificent sight in Ardmore at night.
DRIP GAS IS INCRIMINATING
When I looked for info on Drip Gas, and found none on the Net, several of you wrote back. I know have some good descriptions of it. One man told me he hesitated to write, because "it might look incriminating". He used Drip Gas in his car as a teen. Illegal to say the least. But many farmers and the like used it years ago. Oh well, I guess I shot myself in the foot.
CHICKASAW LIBRARY TO CO-SPONSOR HEALTH SEMINAR
On Monday, November 3rd at 7:00pm the Chickasaw Library, along with USU Extension Office, and Mercy Memorial Hospital will sponsor a Health Seminar in Sulphur, Oklahoma. For more info call the library in Sulphur at 580-622-2046. The meeting will be held at the library.
CARTER COUNTY COURT CLERK HIRES NEW EMPLOYEE
Starting Monday, the Court Clerk here will have an employee whose job it will be to keep track of all those partial payments made for Fines & Costs ordered by the court. He will be charged with tracking on computer the Fines & Costs people pay and the remaining balance at all times. He will be using the new feature that is in the KellPro Court System program that is designed just for that purpose. Anyone who fails to make the payments as set forth by the Court, the Minutes will be typed for the Judge to sign, and a Bench Warrant issued. So, a word to the wise, make those payments as agreed, or a person could end up in deep doo doo.
A GLIMPSE INTO THE PAST
Ellis Island is right next to the Statue of Liberty. Since the year 1892, millions of people coming from Europe to start a new beginning here, were processed at Ellis Island before entering the United States. Before it's closure in 1956, over 12 Million people were processed at Ellis Island. There is a wealth of information about Ellis Island and the names of many who pass through her, available on the Net. You can even do a search for people's names back in those times. Just visit http://www.wallofhonor.com for a step back in time. To get a summary of Ellis Island by one man along with many fine photos dating back to the 1960's, visit http://www.tifft.com/tifft3.htm Ellis Island was a sallyport to a new world and a new beginning.
Speaking of a step back in time, if you visit the History Channel you can find many famous speeches there for the listening. I listened to several, including F.D. Roosevelt's speech establishing the Boys Scouts of American in 1931. He said this country's motto should be the same as the Boy Scouts, "Be Prepared". To listen to the recorded speeches, you will need RealAudio installed on your computer. Step back in time at http://www.historychannel.com
So much for this week. I better get out of here, got several things to do today before sunset. Give someone you love a hug and show them how much they mean to you. We never know what tomorrow will bring. See you all next Saturday.
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From: butchbridges@oklahomahistory.net (Butch Bridges)
Saturday, November 8, 1997 Vol 1 Issue 29
Cooler weather is creeping in to Oklahoma. Each day it seems to be just a little bit colder. Winter is near. I bought some Ovaltine Mix for the cold mornings. Course, hot tea sounds good too. Several things to pass along...........
OKLAHOMA HISTORY SITES IS ON THE MOVE
Thanks to a lady in Alva, Oklahoma, we now have a "Oklahoma History Ring". It's intent is to bring to all you surfers out there, websites with a common cause, bringing Oklahoma history to the Net. I'm officially a member of the Oklahoma History Ring. If you know any other websites in Oklahoma that has info pertaining to Oklahoma history, let me know. Soon anyone in the world who is looking for history that took place in Oklahoma, will be able to be linked to all Oklahoma websites through the Oklahoma History Ring. If for no other reason, visit the Oklahoma History Ring Page and listen for a few minutes to the music, it will take you back in time. http://pw1.netcom.com/~lkwagner/okring.html
NOT ANOTHER TYPING TUTOR
With so many typing tutors out there for the asking, you'd think no programmer in their right mind would create another one. Well, that is exactly what has happened. It's called Letter Chase. What makes it different from other typing tutors? It is geared toward the experienced typist. As the letters flash across the screen, the typist has to type faster and faster to "catchup" with the letters. And Letter Chase is FREEWARE! Available for DOS, Windows 3.1 and Windows 95 at http://pages.prodigy.net/d33f44/
THE YEAR 2000 - WHAT WILL HAPPEN?
January 1, 2000 is fastly approaching. We hear and read all kinds of things.... programs will stop working, birthdates will not calculate correctly, jets will drop from the skies, bank accounts will just vanish into cyberspace, records will go south, and the list goes on and on, limited only by one's imagination. What is going to happen as far as computers? How do I get past all the sensationalism and get to the real truth? A good place to start is- http://www.software.digital.com/year2000/ When you are on Digital's website, click on BACKGROUND for some really good information.
COLLEGE ADMITTANCE GOES HIGH TECH
It's called Apply 98. And it's a high tech approach to an age old problem. Applying to universities and colleges for entrance. Apple offers a free CD, with everything on it, that an aspiring student will need to apply to a college. The CD has hundreds of admission forms and information, even info on obtaining student loans, and much much more. You can even download a particular college's admission form right online. Find out more at http://www.weapply.com
RINGLE JINGLE, COINS WHEN THEY TINGLE
A friend gave me another casino house token from Las Vegas. I personally do not gamble (I'm sure I'd lose everything) but I do like all those House Tokens. The last one I received features a picture on one side of Bugsy Segiel, founder of the Flamingo Casino in Las Vegas. You can find jpg files of Bugsy and several others at http://www.brightok.net/~bridges/tokens.html
A GLIMPSE INTO THE PAST
Coleman "Cole" Younger and his brothers were members of Quantrill's Raiders during the Civil War. After the war, he and his brothers moved to Texas, trying to start over, and live a life of peace. It is said a fight took place over in Lousiana, a shooting, a death, and Cole Younger from then on would live a life of an outlaw. Cole had a friend who lived in Madill, Oklahoma named George Washington Riggs. Mr. Riggs was the Great-Grandfather of fellow Ardmoreite Kenneth Keith. In 1906 Cole Younger would visit his friend Riggs in Madill (25 miles east of Ardmore) and a photo would be taken of the two men together. Ken Keith let me borrow the 1906 photo for scanning. Here is a glimpse of that rare 1906 photo of Cole Younger http://www.brightok.net/~bridges/cyounger.jpg or you can visit my Home Page and look under "Glimpse Into the Past". To find out more Cole Younger and his brothers, their biliographies can be found at http://www.ukans.edu/heritage/families/younger.html The Quantrill Raiders were a band of no more then a dozen Confederate sympathizers, conducting raids against the Union Army of the North during the Civil War years. For more info about William Clark Quantrill, and his lawless bandits, just step back in time to http://www3.pbs.org/weta/thewest/wpages/wpgs400/w4quantr.htm
One more thing, a reader suggested I tell everyone that if they want to save the "This & Thats", they can create a FOLDLER and move them to the new Folder for future reference. Also, I am placing them on my Home Page each week. Hope everyone is okay, and thankful for health. Once our health is gone, we will pay anything to get it back. See you next weekend.
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From: butchbridges@oklahomahistory.net (Butch Bridges)
Saturday, November 15, 1997 Vol 1 Issue 30
Old Man Winter has come to Oklahoma. Snow across the NW and northern parts. I hope he doesn't send any south of the Arbuckle Mountains. This has been a fruitful week. So much accomplished, and I'll tell you more in a future issue. We have added several new email addresses to our AutoSponder. Today we will be sending out to almost 250 people. As one lady wrote me, by readers using email forwarding, "This & That" is probably reaching well over 10,000 people. I never dreamed that would be the case last March when I started my little newsletter. I do welcome any suggestions or comments. My incoming email keeps growing, but I do answer them all. Just give me a little time. I have stumbled across some pretty neat stuff, so here goes...... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~
DO PERSIMMON SEEDS FORECAST THE WEATHER
I received the following email the other day. I have never heard of it, but maybe some of you have. Let me know if you've looked into the future through the lowly persimmon seed.
"Well as the winter approaches, people start wondering how bad a winter is coming. The old way of forecasting it was to cut open a persimmon seed and see if a 'knife', 'fork' or 'spoon' was inside. The knife meant it was to a cold, wet winter. The fork meant that the winter was to be a wet, mild winter. The spoon meant that the winter would be dry and mild."
"With all the talk about El Nino making a disaster of this winter, I wonder if any of the prognosticators have looked at the persimmon seed. I checked last week and the seed had a spoon indicating that we should have a dry mild winter. All the forecasters have predicted that the winter here (Oklahoma) would be a wooly one."
HOW MANY SNOW SHOVELS IN STOCK
Claris has produced an excellent Windows 95 Inventory Control Program. It's got all the bells and whisels. Now you can keep track of how many items you still have left in stock. And the best part of all, it is FREEWARE!! Learn more about FileMaker Pro and download your copy at http://www.filemaker.com/solutions/
LONE GROVE, OKLAHOMA ESTABLISHES IT'S PRESENCE
Lone Grove is 7 miles west of Ardmore. It is a small community, covering about 5 sq miles, but it is one of the most active communities of it's size in Oklahoma. Lone Grove has pretty much everything to offer to a person, except the "big city" problems. And Lone Grove now has a presence on the Internet. You can visit any time at: http://www.brightok.net/chickasaw/lonegrove/
"THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL"
Remember that old movie? The alien spacecraft decided to stop everything in the world that ran on electicty for one minute at precisely high noon as a show of power. Or how about the old Dennis the Menace series? Or maybe Ozzie and Harriett? If you remember the "a little dab will do you" commercial, then you do go way back. For some flash backs to the 50s and 60s, take a peek at http://home.texoma.net/~kgreg
DISPOSE OF OLD GLORY PROPERLY
The U.S. Flag and the Oklahoma Flag at the courthouse at started to look ragged and torn from age and the elements. We had new ones to raise, but I was uncertain as to exactly what to do with the old flags. I knew they should be disposed of properly, and to toss them in the dumpster was certainly not an option. I turned to the Internet for help. I found that since 1937 only a handful of organizations had been designated by the President to officialy dispose of no longer usable flags. One of those organizations is the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW). You can contact the VFW at their website for more info on disposing of old flags. So, next time you or someone you know, such as a school, a post office, a public building, or a government building, etc., decides to replace their worn flags with new ones, be sure they know the proper way to dispose of the old flags. http://www.vfw.org
A GLIMPSE INTO THE PAST
Nine miles north of Ardmore, Oklahoma is the small town of Springer. It had been a town long before statehood in 1907. In 1910 this little bustling city almost became a town in name only. On a Friday evening in September, a fire broke out in the Post Office. Before the fire could be stopped, many Main street businesses would be destroyed, including the Post Office, D.M Sellers General Store, Eskew Drug Store, Kuntz Bros Blacksmith Shop, the building used by the Masons, Woodmen of the World, and the Oddfellows. Also several buildings owned by Robert Scivally would be destroyed. (Mr. Scivally was the first County Commmissioner of Carter county.) When townspeople and firefighters saw their town was about to be totally destroyed by the raging fire, they resorted to dynamite to stop the flames. You can read the entire account by visiting "The Looking Glass" on the Carter County Government Website. The URL is: http://www.brightok.net/chickasaw/ardmore/county/thelook.html
So much for another week gone by. Soon Thanksgiving Day will be here. We need to sit down, count our blessings, and be thankful for the good things that have come our way. Family, and friends, and health, and love, they all mean so much in our lives. Take care and I'll see you all next Saturday.
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From: butchbridges@oklahomahistory.net (Butch Bridges)
Saturday, November 22, 1997 Vol 1 Issue 31
I've steadily been adding names to our This & That mailing list. So many of you wrote me this past week about my post about disposing of old flags, I decided to mention it again, along with the response I received from the Veterans of Foreign Wars. Nice weather here in Oklahoma this week, hope it continues. Now a little This & That....
RESPONDING TO FLAG DISPOSAL
Last week I mentioned about replacing the worn out flags at the courthouse. So many of you wrote back, asking questions and more info, I'm inserting the response I had from the National VFW:
"The Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States has always adhered to the practice of disposing of worn out U.S. flags by BURNING in PRIVATE, and WITHOUT CEREMONY.
We feel individuals are responsible for maintaining the U.S. Flag in their possession, however, as a public service some VFW Posts have special details assigned to gathering and privately disposing* of discarded national emblems.
*Suggested procedure for individuals to use in privately disposing of a torn, soiled or badly faded flag.
1. The Flag should be folded in its customary manner.
2. It is important that the fire be sizeable and of sufficient>br> intensity to ensure complete burning of the Flag.
3. Place the Flag on the fire.
4. The individual(s) can come to attention, salute the Flag, recite
the Pledge of Allegiance and have a brief period of silent reflection.
5. After the Flag is completely consumed, the fire should then be
safely extinguished and the ashes buried."
COURTHOUSE RECEIVING A FACE LIFT
A tuckpoint crew is came down from Iowa, re-working the outside of the Carter County courthouse. They are using several methods- chemicals, powerwash, and the like. Maybe I can get a pic of it when they're through to show everyone the difference.
HOTBOT AND NORTHERNLIGHT A CLOSE TIE
A friend in FL told me about a new search engine she uses. I am partial to http://www.hotbot.com but http://www.northernlight.com turns out to be an excellent search engine for finding obscure things on the Web.
WEBMASTER, GIVE YOUR SITE A 5-POINT CHECKUP
If you are a webmaster, you can let an expert analyze your Page and give you a report card. Just visit http://www.websitegarage.com
THIS WEEK'S MAILBAG
"A few weeks ago you mentioned the "big explosion of 1915" in This & That. In 1964, while a student at the University of Oklahoma and taking a course in Oklahoma history, I had the occasion to write a paper for the course. I had heard my family talk about the big explosion often...... I did finish my paper..... received an "A". Sadly though, copiers weren't everywhere in 1964 like they are today, so I didn't copy it, and my professor, rest her kind soul, did not choose to return the paper to me. I have thought of those articles in The Daily Ardmorite often since then and have wondered if they were ever preserved. Thanks to This & That I know they were. Thanks for letting me share this memory."
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"Thanks for the references to Lone Grove and Springer. Mom has an atlas at home that lists some of the small towns around Ardmore. I think you'll recognize some of them; Spranger, Long Grove, and Hilton. (no kidding - those are the names on the map! they must have called someone down here on the phone or something!)"
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"Your story about forecasting the weather brought back memories of my Grandfather..... he told me that he was going to show me something. He proceeded to show me the "persimmon trick" to which you have alluded. I so much enjoyed those times with that old white-haired man! Thanks for a walk down memory lane."
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"Thanks for all the good info you put out. It must really take up a lot of your time. It's very nice of you to take the time to collect and put out all the good info. As for the flag, a lady called me yesterday asking how to properly dispose of the U.S. Flag. We looked it up in the regulation and faxed a copy of it to her. I have never disposed of one myself, although I have a couple that need to be. There is nothing that ticks me off more than to see a ragged U.S. Flag flying. If you hear anymore info on the disposal of Old Glory, please let me know."
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"Read your newsletter, and for some, this might be just "their cup of tea", however, we are on several dailys, list-serves for Akitas and chat-lines. The last thing we need is another automated weekly e-mail at this time.... please, remove us from your list.... This is not to say, yours is, however, with the growth you anticipate, it could very well, bog-down our system again. So, with that, we are thanking you in advance but saying "no thanks" to your newsletter. Success to you and those who have the time & room for this."
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"Just thought I'd let you know I checked out the 2 sites Butch Bridges mentioned this week- Lone Grove and the one from Texoma area with flash backs to 50's and 60's. Enjoying his letters and again thanks for getting me on the list. I even looked at the one from Ardmore for the old Courthouse with the special dome top which is no longer there. Saw it on screen."
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"I enjoy your news every week and don't let you know that often enough. I especially enjoyed the link to the "Patio" in this week's issue!"
GLIMPSE INTO THE PAST
In September 1906, one of the worst train accidents ever in the history of this country, took place just south of a small town named Dover, Oklahoma. Heavy rains had washed away the bridge that night as the Rock Island train from Texas north bound for Kansas came through, all but one car plunged into the Cimarron River. Reports were sketchy, but of the 225 passengers on board, over 100 would lose their lives that night. One early report said that only one man, Floyd Zeist, survived the disaster. One thing is for certain, it would be one of the most deadly train accidents in this country's history. For the complete story visit The Looking Glass on the Carter County Government Website http://www.brightok.net/chickasaw/ardmore/county/dover.html
Thursday is Thanksgiving. We should all take a few mintues and reflect on all the good that has come our way the past year, and enjoy the food and family and friends. Take care, don't over eat (too much). Now I'm going to sit back and sip on some hot tea, hit the SEND button and see if my Autosponder works okay. See everyone next weekend.
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Saturday, November 29, 1997 Vol 1 Issue 32
Thanksgiving is now over. But memories of family and friends will stay with us. I've had so much to be thankful for this year, and I'm certain you feel the same. This year is quickly coming to a close. I can tell winter is near, the leaves in Oklahoma have started turning beautiful colors and beginning to fall. There is this one tree, across the street from my house in a park, that has turned every color of the rainbow. I will take a pic and show everyone. In eastern Oklahoma is the senic Talimena Drive. It will soon be breathtaking, with all it's colors. To take a peek at the beauty of Talimena Drive and the million plus acres of gorgeous mountain scenery visit http://www.mena-ark.com/talimena/talimena.htm So much for Oklahoma's nature, I do have a little this and that to pass along.
THE LOWLY PERSIMMON TREE REVISITED
A couple of issues back, I spoke about the persimmon tree seed being used to forecast the weather. Many of you wrote me back and adding to the story. Well guess what? The other day I was driving down the street and low and behold, there was a persimmon tree right in the middle of this yard. And you know me, I had to stop, and take a few pics. The persimmon tree is located in the front yard of a residence here in Ardmore at 1001 West Main (not W. Broadway) behind McDonalds. Soon I'll get Ardmore's "secret persimmon tree" pic developed. For info on the persimmon visit http://www.whro.org/bl/wpc/persimon.html
THE TECH CORNER
A friend of mine mentioned the other day about why should he partition his hard drive into several drives. It' been a long time since I talked about this. I really don't feel qualified to even discuss it. But for what it's worth here goes. Much of big hard drives, like the 1 gig or 2 gig and so forth, are wasted if they are partitioned as one big drive. As much as 40% of the total hard drive space can be wasted. That would equal about 480 megs of a 1.2 gig drive! Reason? This is very hard to explain, but I will try. Simply put... a cluster holds a certain amount of information. When you format a hard drive, the larger it is, the larger each cluster will be and the more info each cluster will hold. Problem: if you are storing info that takes up three full clusters and only a small part of the forth cluster, then the remaining part of that forth cluster is wasted. This waste occurs many times during the saving of info to the hard drive. So, if one can keep the clusters small, then the wasted parts of clusters is minimized. Hence the reason to NOT have one huge hard drive, but rather two or three smaller ones. There are two ways to partition a hard drive into smaller drives. By using the FDISK and FORMAT commands of DOS. This method works fine, but it should not be tried by the faint-hearted, and any data you already have on the hard drive will be lost. But there are programs available that do the same thing WITHOUT loss of data. The only one that comes to my mind is Partition Magic for about 50 bucks. To learn much more visit- http://www.zdnet.com/cshopper/content/9704/cshp0035.html
AN AWESOME LAW ENFORCEMENT RELATED WEBSITE
Wes Edens of Ada, Oklahoma has developed probably the most remarkable website in the country geared toward law enforcement. His LawSearch Website contains links to all agencies' websites, officer's home pages, associations, missing persons, wanted persons, memorial pages, history and much, much more. Wes also has on his website Online Accident Calculator, Blood Alcohol Level Calculator, and Password Cracking Probability Calculator among other things of interest. You can visit this most extraordinary law enforcement website at http://www.chickasaw.com/~waedens
THIS WEEK'S MAILBAG
"...found this URL for the weather, and it's the best I've seen. You might want to take a look at it. It is..... http://www.wunderground.com I think you'll like it."
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"One of my listservs recommended a new search engine, the writer stating he's never been disappointed. So, I tried it and viola!. Neither was I. The engine found a definition of tuckpoint, from the ON-line Encyclopedia Britannica, which it apparently searches routinely." Inference Find at: http://www.inference.com/ifind/
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"Thanks for getting me on your list, enjoyed the newsletter. One thing I would like to see addressed in your newsletter is the need for a permanent christmas tree in Ardmore's central park. The story in The Ardmoreite on 11-21-97 stated it took approximately five months this year to find the right tree. It would seem with the city having a tree spade, they could find a great pine tree, dig it up and then add it to central park for year round beauty, and stop wasting resources (if you can call a ceder a resource)."
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"Would it be possible to add my name to your mailing list.... I live in OKC and found it most interesting.... especially your information on disposal of the flag. I am a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution and we are very big on patriotic things like that and thought you did a very good job of explaining disposal. Thanks...."
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GLIMPSE INTO THE PAST
From The Ardmore Statesman
Ardmore, Oklahoma
Thursday, September 9, 1920
Chief of Police Chancellor has finally procured a motorcycle cop whose chief duty will be to catch and bring before the city court the "speeders" on the city streets. The new man is Mr. Jack Miller. As soon as the motorcycle for his use arrives, he will use his best effort to put a stop to the all too common practice of stepping on the gas on either downtown or the suburban streets. Such an officer has been badly needed in Ardmore for a long time.
And just a note.....the world's largest computer sidewalk sale is held the first Saturday of each month in downtown Dallas just off Ross Street.... and the Chickasaw Regional Library in Ardmore is hosting a Holiday Open House from 11:30am to 3:00pm on Friday December 5th. There will be music, holiday readings by Ardmore High School students, the Lone Grove Choral Department, and much more. Hope you can make it.
Another week is gone forever, but a new week is ahead of us, and what we do with it is up to each of us. Make it count, life seems so short sometimes. Take care and I'll see everyone next weekend.
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From: butchbridges@oklahomahistory.net (Butch Bridges)
Saturday, December 6, 1997 Vol 1 Issue 33
Weather here is much colder. And I really don't like the cold. But if the ice and snow stays away, I can manage. We have had many requests for "This & That" the past week, we now go out to nearly 350 people! One lady wrote me from Hawaii this week. Said, "you know me... I used to live in Ardmore." What a surprise. You just never know where email will end up, by people forwarding it on. It now takes over an hour for Autosponder to send out the mail each Saturday. But it works great. And thanks for all your replys......
TUCKPOINT CREW HARD AT WORK
The tuckpoint company from Iowa has been working hard the past two weeks, reworking the outside of the courthouse here. They have been filling cracks with some high powered caulk that never hardens, and replacing some morter in a lot of joints, and getting ready to chemically wash the outside surface to take away all the old mildew and alge that's accumulated the past 25 years or so. It's looking at lot better, but they still have a lot to do. They said they hope to be through for Christmas. I have a pic I'll let everyone see next week.
IF IT AIN'T BROKE, DON'T FIX IT
That is the advice I sometimes give, but didn't follow last Saturday. A friend sent me that URL on a great weather site. He had it right, with the "w" before underground. The next day, I was looking at it, saw the "w" and thought I had a typo, and removed it. That is why a lot of you couldn't click your way to it. Sorry. The correct URL for the weather info is http://www.wunderground.com
CLEANING 87 YEAR OLD MARBLE
A month ago or so, a friend of mine and his wife went to Las Vegas. When they arrived at the casino, there were crews, cleaning 28 floors of marble. They thought, this may be something they need to know at the courthouse for cleaning their marble. When they got home, he gave me an 800 number to call and inquire. I did, and found they made a poltice where the primary ingredient is bleach. We did some testing and have found bleach mixed with ordinary lime and water, does an excellent job of cleaning 87 years of dirt, smoke, and yellowing from the walls! The poltice is left on for 24 hours, then removed. I remember lime as a child. My great grandmother had an outhouse. She took handfuls of lime, and just threw it around the inside of the outhouse. It kept the smell down and the flies away. Then I remember as a teen, in my grandfather, Stanley Carmon's, lumberyard, a coonhunter coming by and getting a sack of lime late one Friday night. His mule had tangled up in some barbwire, and he was going to use the lime to put on the wounds. Sometimes it is amazing how something from long ago, can still work wonders today, and possible do just as good a job, if not better, then some new chemical or solution.
RED EARTH LIVES AGAIN
In the Sunday, November 30, 1997 issue of the Sunday Oklahoman, there was an interesting article on building homes from dirt. This company in western Oklahoma is making the red earth bricks with a compression machine at the rate of one brick every two minutes, I think. The homes meet all standards and well insulated and cost about 1/3 as much to build. They claim the earth houses can withstand a straight 300 mile per hour wind and 8.0 on the Richter scale! Their website here in Oklahoma has some very interesting info on using western Oklahoma's red earth to build beautiful homes. Find out more at http://www.earthblock.com
THIS WEEK'S MAILBAG
"....thanks for the Talimena Drive URL, that is one of my favorite places on earth. I usually make a couple trips a year over there on my motorcycle. Keep up the good work Butch. Thanks"
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"....I'm going to fix some pancakes and feed the horses."
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"I've discovered a really cool-and useful-Internet service that I urge you to check out-- http://www.PlanetAll.com a new service that will help us keep in touch. PlanetAll is a personal contact manager with some really neat additional features. The self-populating, automatically updating "virtual address book" makes it easy to keep track of friends and receive reminders of birthdays and special events. You'll also be notified when your contacts are in town, and-if you enter your travel plans into the personal planner-PlanetAll will notify all of your contacts who will be in the same city at the time of your plans. (It also has a cool feature to limit notification to those whom you wish to know your whereabouts). PlanetAll is free, it's private, and registration takes only five minutes."
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"Can you put a little glitch in your This 'n That column about the following event?
WHAT: 50 Head Bull Riding
FEES: $65.00 (No short round)
WHERE: Hardy Murphy Coliseum
WHEN: Saturday, Dec. 13 8PM
Admission: $8.00 Adult, Child under 12 $4.00
CALL IN (580) 276-3958 9AM to 9PM until Tuesday Dec 9
For More info call (580) 226-4385
BENEFITS TO BARBARA HOGAN CANCER FUND"
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GLIMPSE INTO THE PAST
About 30 miles northeast of Ardmore is Sulphur, Oklahoma. Many people have driven south on Highway 177 through the years. About 7 miles south of Sulphur on the west side of the highway, is this little concrete structure, kinda tucked halfway into the hillside. Few travelers, passing by this little building, realize it played an important part of Oklahoma's past. Many, many years ago, when the automobile wasn't dependable, the mail service relied on men and horses to get the mail from one point to another. This little, almost obscure building in the hillside was used to keep a fresh horse for the pony express riders. When I took this picture about 28 years ago, there was a home in the background. Today that home is no longer there, and only trees and a hill are seen. But the little concrete building is still standing... barely, as a reminder of yesteryear. This is the black and white photo I snapped. http://www.brightok.net/~bridges/mailhse.jpg
I went to Oklahoma City this week for a Safety Director Workshop. It was sponsored by the Association of County Commissioners. I learned some excellent information on handling county emergencies, etc. But it sure was cold too. Everyone have a good week, and remember to smile, the world needs more smiles. I'm going to fix some hot tea now, pop in a Celine Dion CD, hit the SEND and see if these all go out. See everyone next Saturday..... until then, take care.
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From: butchbridges@oklahomahistory.net (Butch Bridges)
Saturday, December 13, 1997 Vol 1 Issue 34
Christmas is so close now, we can almost see it. Seems like yesterday we were celebrating T-Day. I need to get some Christmas shopping done but keep putting it off. Last month my long distance phone bill was only .67 cents, sounds like I need some friends first! And I love it when these long distance companies call me and say "we want to save you money on your long distance bill". Ha! Ha! How about some T&T?
SOME CHRISTMAS PICS
A couple of weeks ago I mention finding a persimmon tree thicket in a front yard here in Ardmore. Here is the pic of that old fashioned http://www.brightok.net/~bridges/psimthk2.jpg persimmon thicket
Last Saturday Ardmore had their annual Christmas Parade. I took some pics, plus I'll put them all on my Home Page later. Here is the photo of the http://www.brightok.net/~bridges/parade1.jpg beginning parade. I purposely took the pics at Main and Washingtion in front of the old Masonic Temple. My grandfather was the building contractor and bricklayer of that building.
If you're in the Ardmore area, check out the Christmas lights downtown. They're bigger, better, and brighter then ever. And be sure and look at the holiday lighting at Central Park. Beautiful! In a few days I'll get some photos of all the colorful lights downtown and show everyone.
Here's the http://www.brightok.net/~bridges/parade2.jpg "Pride of Ardmore", following just behind....
Our http://www.brightok.net/~bridges/parade6.jpg Oldies channel had an entry too. I listen to all the Oldies music.
And a couple of months ago I mentioned to everyone about buying a 1974 pickup for $800. Has 72k on it, runs like a top. Anyone who wants a ride in a classic, give me a hollar. Here's the creampuff. http://www.brightok.net/~bridges/my74trk.jpg
ROUND AND ROUND SHE GOES, WHERE SHE STOPS......
Ever think about how many nodes or computers you go through before you logon to that friend's home page? Or... so your going to send your VISA card number to a Website to order a product? How many computers does that message or packet go through before it reaches it's intended website? I have found this unbelievable shareware program that tells you exactly that. I put in a home page address in FL and it showed I passed through 18 computers before reaching the IP server in FL. It displays the node's address, city, speed, etc. The name of the program is Neotrace and it's awesome. When using it, you will always enter an address like home1.gte.net or www.brightok.net or www.ionet.net as examples. To get a copy of Neotrace, just go to http://www.shareware.com (shareware.com) and do a search for neotrace.
THIS WEEK'S MAILBAG
"Butch some of your readers might like this for their children. http://www.claus.com/village.html"
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"As a transplant from the north, and a person who enjoys history, I enjoyed reading your newsletter. If it wouldn't be to much of an inconvience, I would appreciate it if you would add me to your list."
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"YOU'RE DOING A GREAT JOB BUTCH, KEEP IT UP BUD!!!!"
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"...you mentioned using lime for various things and it made me recall an incident that happened years ago when I was 13 or 14 years old. They had a horse that.... got tangled in the chain and it cut the large muscle in one hind leg... The adults there decided that the only thing to do was to "put him down"... an old Dutchman... took a handful of lime every morning and evening and throw it into the wound.... the horse healed up nicely in a few weeks. I rode him several times after that and he still had a nasty scar and limped a little while walking but he still ran in a gallop and had no problems."
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"I've been enjoying your Newsletter and have visited all the sites you have listed each week. One of my favorite weather radar sites is the 'DFW Radar' located at http://www.intellicast.com/weather/dfw/radar another site is the one for OKC, and it's found at http://www.intellicast.com/weather/okc/radar Check these out, and if you like them, put the sites in the Newsletter sometime. I check the DFW radar everyday before I hit the highway going to work. (never know what the weather might be like in Ardmore!!!) Keep up the good work, and I'll keep forwarding the Newsletter to my friends."
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"Having just returned from winterfest in Wichita, KS.... I got the opportunity to once again see a great fireworks shows.... The Company is from Oklahoma, makes their own fireworks, and the winterfest show was around $15,000 to stage. The Company: Western Enterprises of Carrier, OK."
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GLIMPSE INTO THE PAST
As a teen back in the 1960s about the only place in Ardmore to get the latest Rock & Roll releases was http://www.brightok.net/~bridges/lukesmus.jpg Luke's Music Store at 212 West Main. In high school as we listened to Rock & Roll, we knew that each Wednesday afternoon around 3 or 4pm, we could rush down to Luke's and buy the latest songs. That is the time the postman delivered the box of new releases. I remember in the 9th grade this girl brought to class a Life Magazine. On it's cover was the http://www.brightok.net/~bridges/beatles.gif Beatles Until that day, none of us here in Ardmore had any idea who the Beatles were. Little did we know that a year later they would take this country by storm, becoming the greatest Rock & Roll group in the history of the world. I remember waiting each Sunday night to watch http://www.edsullivan.com Ed Sullivan and his "really big show" on tv just to see the hottest Rock and Roll stars. There was no cable tv and my family only have an outside antenna, I would get so mad when the picture would fade out and become snowy, just as the guest singers would come on. After school we would listen to our favorite Rock & Roll radio station, KOMA in Oklahoma City. KOMA is still playing those oldies. If you have RealAudio on your computer, you can listen to KOMA by going and click on the http://www.komaradio.com "jukebox", and you'll hear KOMA live radio broadcast.
Better get out of here now. I'm going to the courthouse to do a few things I been putting off. I need to check our backups, you never know when a hard drive will crash. I hope everyone is sharing the holiday season with loved ones. Take care, see you next weekend.
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From: butchbridges@oklahomahistory.net (Butch Bridges)
Saturday, December 20, 1997 Vol 1 Issue 35
Christmas will be here in a few days. I hope everyone is enjoying the holidays, being with family and friends, and not over eating. I guess if there was one thing I could wish for this Christmas, it would be that people all over the world would stop fighting and peace would prevail on this most celebrated day of the year. I have several things to pass along, but I will wait mostly until next Saturday to tell you. I have a lot of pics I've scanned to pass along, but here lately I just dont seem to have it in me. But give me a few days, and I will "get with the program" again. Here are a few things of interest......
HIGH TECH VIDEO INITIAL APPEARANCES
On Wednesday, December 17, 1997, at 1:30pm The Honorable Judge Charles Tate conducted the first Initial Appearances using television cameras between the Carter County courtroom and the detention center. CableONE had been busy the past few weeks installing cabling and cameras at the two locations. After much testing of the equipment the past two or three weeks, Judge Tate gave his node of approval, and the first Initial Appearances by video camera took place December 17th. Every thing went as planned and twenty minutes later the true marvel of high tech closed circuit television was realized in the Carter County Courthouse in Ardmore, Oklahoma. I want to commend CableONE for the fine work they did, running the cables, providing the color cameras, installing the necessary electronic components, the many hours of testing, and doing this all as a public service at no charge. Over the weeks and months to come, I'll tell everyone more about this milestone in Carter county history.
THIS WEEK'S MAILBAG
".... A lot of old memories surfaced, having left Oklahoma City in 1962 for a job here in Alaska and retiring in 1990.... PS, am listening to KOMA for the first time in 35 years. Thanks"
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".... i just wanted to say Thank You..... keep up the good work...... take care and always be careful........waiting to hear from ya next weekend......... see ya."
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...wish you would quit sending these... they... hang up my mailbox
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"Just wanted to tell you that your homepage stirred my curiosity more than any I have seen in a year or more and I surf all the time. I located it while browsing home pages in PowWow, I do this before talking to most strangers."
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"Bell Atlantic is starting a service called "Star 54" in Jan 1998. It will allow anybody to call 1-301-555-5454 and input your home telephone number and for 75 cents the computer will give the person your name and complete address. To get this service blocked on your phone number all you need to do is call 1-888-579-0323 and tell them you want "Star 54" blocked from your phone. You have until Feb 7, 1998 to do this free of charge"
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"Watchmaker Patek Philippe knows a thing or two about time, but for this site they got some outside opinions. From the ancient Mayans to Arthur C. Clarke, find eight visually stunning multimedia presentations to help you while away the hours and minutes and seconds..." http://www.patek.com/time/
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"I now have a new address so I can keep in touch with you ...Please change it, I would really miss hearing from you :)
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"This page is dedicated to the... "Truth in Sentencing". Look it over, if you think its worthwhile, please include it in your next This and That. I think it would be a good vehicle for it, because it reaches so many in Oklahoma. Thanks." http://www.theshop.net/oska90/tis.htm
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GLIMPSE INTO THE PAST
Copyright The Daily Ardmoreite
Sunday, December 28, 1919
Ardmore, Oklahoma
BUCK GARRETT HOST TO COUNTY SHUT-INS ON CHRISTMAS DAY
At the county jail, following his usual custom, Sheriff Buck Garrett was host to the prisoners on Christmas Day. And the sheriff lived up to his policy of not doing things by halves and put on a highly appreciated "spread".
There was turkey and cranberry sauce and pies and all the "fixings" attendant at a Christmas feast.
Besides all the good things at the dinner table, the "shut-ins" received candies, fruits, nuts, tobacco, etc., all of which helped materially to lighten the burden of feeling that they were denied the freedom of the average American citizen.
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Time to get out of here. It's rainy, cold, windy, and dreary outside here in Oklahoma. Suppose to be that way for the next two days. I know we need the rain, but it does seem to dampen my spirits somewhat. We may even get some snow here in Oklahoma they say. Anyway, take care of yourself.... see you all next Saturday.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ From: butchbridges@oklahomahistory.net (Butch Bridges)
Saturday, December 27, 1997 Vol 1 Issue 36
I hope everyone enjoyed Christmas (and survived it). We didn't get snow here Christmas Day, but we did the morning after. Santa was good to me this year. I received several nice gifts, including a world globe. Now I can give it a spin, and find all the places in the world where my friends live that I've met through the Internet. It only makes me want to go visit. I appreciate all the nice electronic Christmas cards I received from so many of you. I mailed over 40 myself back as replies and if I left anybody out, it was not intentionally. I do appreciate everyone's thoughts, especially this time of the year. The world continues to grow smaller and smaller because of this marvelous thing called email. I have made so many new friends all over the world, who one year ago, I did not even know existed. Let me see.... A man and his wife in West Africa who used to live here in Carter county years ago, several new friends in Australia, an Ardmoreite living in Hawaii, another Oklahoman now in Alaska, several in Canada, Sweden, Norway, Isle of Man, and a number of new friends in England and the UK, and the list goes on and on. I just received email from my good friend Elena Zabolotnaja deep in Siberia. She is doing okay, but will not celebrate Christmas until January 7th, the celebrated day the Magi came to visit the baby Jesus, twelve days after Christmas.
I've had an interesting experience with my new world globe. We are so used to looking at flat maps. Elena lives in Novosibirsk, Russia. By looking on a flat map of the world, it seems like the shortest distance from Oklahoma to her town is through France. But when you look at it on the Globe, it is an entirely different picture. The shortest distance is going north across the North Pole and the Artic!! It saves many hundreds of miles. I would encourage everyone to own a world globe.
The last few days before Christmas, I had some wonderful times and friendships by being invited to several "parties" at the courthouse and county barns. There was plenty of food, and pies, sweets, and all the trimmings. Each department had their own "little party" for it's employees, with the exchanging of gifts and cards and all. It was easy to see everyone was enjoying the Christmastime joy all over the courthouse.
One thing I mentioned last Saturday was the new closed circuit tv at the courthouse. I said it was for Initial Arraignments, when I should have said Initial Appearances. There is a difference. Anyway, it's been used everyday since December 17th, and working beautifully.
Christmas Eve I went with some friends driving around looking at all the Christmas lights. Fantasy Land at Turner Falls is remarkable, as is the one in Sulphur. I forget it's name but for many years it is been hosted at a residence in north part of Sulphur, Oklahoma. Here in Ardmore we have some beautiful sites too. Central Park and Main Street is all aglow like it has never been in the past. I remember as a young child with my grandparents going to Wilson, Oklahoma to see the Bo Ward's Christmas display each year. It is not there anymore.
Below are two links with a neat display of Christmas lights from around the U.S.
http://www.cnn.com/TRAVEL/DESTINATIONS/9712/holiday.lights/links.html
HTTP://FTP.MTS.NET/~tyndall/cmas/link.htm
A GLIMPSE INTO THE PAST
In 1910 when our courthouse was completed, sitting on top of it's dome was another "little dome" called a cupola. Many years ago it started crumbling and had to be torn town. There are people here who would like to see this cupola put back as it was in 1910. If you know of anyone who may be interested in doing this restoration, let me know. I'm sure there are some craftsmans out there that still possess the kind of skill needed to build such a thing. Please pass this message along to anyone who may be of help. For a glimpse at the cupola just click here....
http://www.brightok.net/chickasaw/ardmore/county/cupola.jpg
or let me know by email, and I will file attach it to a message or even snail mail a picture of the cupola to anyone interested.
HAM LISTSERVER NOW OPERATIONAL
If you or anybody you know is a HAM radio operator, please pass this message along to them. Ed Harwood here in Ardmore has setup a List Server just for HAM operators. It will help bring HAM operators together. The hamradio mail list is dedicated to passing information about ham radio. To subscribe to the list send an e-mail to info@harenter.com Enclose in that message your ham call sign, name, address, and e-mail address. This list will be a good tool for the ham radio community to enjoy. Ed Harwood of Ardmore, OK will be the monitor of the L-Server. Ed's email address is cop359@brightok.net
THIS WEEK'S MAILBAG
"JUST A NOTE TO THANK YOU FOR ALL OF THE FINE THINGS YOU HAVE SHARED WITH US IN RECENT WEEKS! WE APPRECIATE IT. AND WE WANT TO WISH YOU AND YOURS A VERY SPECIAL CHRISTMAS SEASON AND A GREAT NEW YEAR!!"
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"I haven't seen much on the news about that calamity. As a National Red Cross volunteer I expect to get to Washington DC to supervise part of the response next week. There are hundreds of volunteers giving up Christmas and New Year to repond to this disaster. There are thousands of people homeless in Guam... Nearly 16000 are US MILITARY members and families according to Sit Reps from FEMA. Yet, where is the news and information that could help get this island, this American Territory, back on it's feet? I hope that you get the word out in your news next week that there is a real need of money, etc., to help these folks."
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"We have been out of Wilson, Oklahoma since 1968. We currently live in.... West Africa. We get mail through Houston. We both enjoy your news about home."
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"This page is about the new "truth" in sentencing law we have in OK. The only truth in this deal is that there is no truth in it. This thing is a disaster in the making for Oklahoma" For more info go to - http://www.theshop.net/oska90/tis.htm
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".... WE ARE MOVING TO DENVER COLORADO ON THE 15TH OF JANUARY. I WILL SEND YOU OUR NEW E-MAIL ADDRESS WHEN WE GET CONNECTED. I ENJOY READING YOUR ARTICLES."
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This year is about to come to a close. 1998 will soon be here. I appreciate everyone's friendship the past year, and look forward to all the good things the new year will bring with it. There may be bad things happening all over this world, but remember good will always overcome evil. I'm looking forward to a good 1998. Take care.... see you next Saturday.
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