Ten years ago, a grove of trees stood at the corner of Shawnee Bypass and 11th Street, Checotah High School freshman Carrie Underwood was learning algebra and Muskogee’s future mayor was in the sixth grade.

The past decade was noted for stunning victories, yet rocked with natural disasters and man-made catastrophes.



Memorable dates

Some events defy categorization.

• Sept. 11, 2001: Terrorists crashed into the Pentagon where U.S. Army Major Ronald Milam, a 1986 Muskogee High School graduate, was giving a briefing. After a heart-wrenching wait of nearly nine days, MHS teacher Effie Milam learned her son indeed had been killed in the attack. Ron Milam was buried in Arlington National Cemetery. The MHS gym was renamed in his honor.

• May 26, 2002. On a sunny Sunday, Memorial Day weekend, a towboat in the Arkansas River shoved two empty barges into pier supports on Interstate 40. Ten cars plunged into the river as 580 feet of roadway collapsed and 14 people died. Nearby anglers saved other victims. The bridge was demolished. After 64 days, traffic flowed on new bridges July 29, 2002.

• Dec. 28, 2004: A furnace explosion at Yaffe Iron & Metal rattled the evening air. Two people were killed, 14 injured. Hundreds of homes and businesses were damaged. The company replaced the furnace in 2006.

• May 25, 2005: She started the year as an NSU student, spending her summers with the Downtown Country musical act. On a Wednesday night, everything changed for Checotah’s Carrie Underwood. She beat Bo Bice to become American Idol and spent the next five years collecting truckloads of music awards.

• Sept. 3, 2005: 39 buses rolled into Camp Gruber that night, carrying 1,600 weary New Orleans residents who had just fled homes destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. Caring Muskogee and Braggs area residents helped the evacuees get through following month; 65 students are bused to various Muskogee schools. On Oct. 6, the last 13 evacuees boarded a bus, leaving Gruber for new homes.

• Dec. 15, 2006: A dawn fire engulfed the 116-year-old Severs Block building, destroying the second floor. Muskogee native Judy McKie and her husband, Nicholas Ondrejka, were seeking to restore the historic block for new businesses. After weeks of wrangling whether or not to raze the building, reconstruction went ahead. The block on Broadway between Main Street and Second Street now has stores, a salon and other small businesses.

• May 13, 2008: Less than a year after graduating from Muskogee High School, 19-year-old John Tyler Hammons became Muskogee’s mayor, defeating former mayor Hershel McBride in a run-off. After a slew of national media attention, Hammons began seeking changes in city government, including revising the city charter. He announced plans to run again in 2010.



Fire and ice

An ice storm coated Muskogee with nearly three inches of ice and cut electricity for 19,000 residents on Dec. 11, 2000. Crews from adjoining states were called in to help. More ice moved in on Christmas.

But that wasn’t THE BIG ONE. A 2007 ice storm began in mid-January and just kept coming. People sought shelter at recreation centers, schools, churches and hotels throughout the area. The ice downed power lines, cutting electricity for at least 13,000 people. Grand trees fell in Honor Heights, Spaulding Park and along Main Street. Most schools closed for at least a week.

Warmer weather also caused problems. A tornado ripped through Muskogee and Wagoner counties on May 1, 2003. The tornado tore down power lines and damaged buildings in Okay and at the Port of Muskogee.

Dozens of wildfires plagued the area, already suffering from drought, in 2005 and 2006.



Schools

experience change

Muskogee School Superintendent Eldon Gleichman retired in late 2003 as the district was pulling through a severe budget crunch.

He was replaced in 2004 by Kerry Roberts of Liberal, Kan. In 2005, a Phoenix investigation revealed Roberts had had misspent school funds. He resigned in late September after less than two years as superintendent. He reimbursed some of the funds.

For the second time in three years, MPS had to seek a new superintendent.

Former Muskogee administrator Mike Garde took the helm in June 2006. Within a year, voters passed a $33.1 million bond issue that revamped the high school and updated technology and textbooks throughout the district.

Northeastern State University added a new science building and remodeled an old building into an admissions center. After years of delay, NSU and Connors State College broke ground in December on a joint classroom building.

A 2005 audit revealed misspent federal and state funds at Lost City Schools, sending the district into financial turmoil. After battling to stay open, the district ceased to exist in 2008 and students and teachers went to Hulbert, Shady Grove and Peggs.



Jobs rise and fall

Muskogee experienced several economic ups and downs. Businesses that closed through the decade included two grocery stores at the corner of Shawnee Bypass and Main Street, Jasper’s Restaurant, Furr’s Cafeteria and several downtown businesses. Meanwhile new stores, hotels and restaurants popped up along Shawnee Bypass and a wider U.S. 69. A new Walmart SuperCenter, surrounded by the River City Plaza shopping center, went up at Shawnee Bypass and 11th Street. Checotah also got a new SuperCenter. Tahlequah got a new Lowe’s.

Muskogee experienced major blows in 2003 when Zapata Industries closed, Waterloo Industries left town and Shrader-Bridgeport ceased Muskogee operations. The closings, plus 45 people laid off at Grant Prideco, resulted in at least 547 jobs lost that year.

However, the decade also saw the VA Regional Center expand threefold to a total of 1,265 employees. At least 500 employees were added in 2009.



Crimes

and punishment

• Daniel Hawke Fears broke into his father’s Sallisaw home, Oct. 26, 2002, then began a shooting spree with a stolen shotgun. The spree resulted in two deaths: Patty Sue Wells and Reba Spangler. Fears was convicted of the two deaths in 2004. On July 7, 2006, the Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals reversed the conviction. The appellate court remanded the case to Sequoyah County District Court with instructions for the judge to enter a ruling of not guilty by reason of insanity.

• Carl Andrew “Andy” Robinson, 16, was stabbed to death Dec. 8, 2003, as he rode a Porter school bus to school. The following September, his schoolmate Daniel Harley Dillingham, 15, was sentenced to 10 years in the custody of the Office of Juvenile Affairs. Dillingham was freed from custody June 18, 2008, the day before he turned 20.

• After deliberating for nine hours, Sequoyah County Jurors in February 2004 found Kenneth Eugene Barrett, 42, guilty of first-degree manslaughter in the September 1999 shooting death of Oklahoma Highway Patrol Trooper David “Rocky” Eales. Barrett would have to serve at least 85 percent of his 20-year sentence before coming up on parole. On Nov. 4, 2005, a federal jury found Barrett guilty of murder; he was sentenced to death Dec. 19, 2005. A 2002 state trial had ended in a hung jury.

• After 18 years, the mother of Baby Jane Doe, a newborn slain on the banks of Jacob Johnson Lake near Warner, was arrested in July.

Penny Anita Lowery of Tulsa was a student at Connors State College in Warner at the time of the slaying. A man with Lowery was seen beating the baby to death within moments of the infant drawing her first breath.

Lowery has been in McIntosh County Jail since her arrest in lieu of $500,000 bond. She faces trial as early as February.

• In 2001, the body of a 3-year-old was found in Kansas City, decapitated and dumped in the woods. The community referred to the unidentified girl as Precious Doe. Her body was identified in 2005 as Erica Green after a tip from the killer’s grandfather in Muskogee.

In October 2008, Harrell Johnson of Muskogee was convicted of first-degree murder, endangering the welfare of a child and abuse of a child for the death of his girlfriend’s daughter, Erica.

Erica’s mother, Michelle Johnson, testified that Harrell Johnson was high on drugs and kicked Erica in the head because the girl wouldn’t go to bed. She said they didn’t seek medical help for Erica for fear of going to jail on outstanding warrants in other cases.

Michelle Johnson, who married Harrell Johnson after the slaying, was sentenced to 25 years in prison for the murder.



Health care thrives

The past decade saw the addition of two new hospitals.

Solara Hospital opened in December 2001, offering long-term acute care. The 41-bed hospital, 351 S. 40th St., held its grand opening and ribbon cutting Jan. 9, 2007.

Muskogee Community Hospital, 2000 N. Main St., opened early in 2009. Early on, it gained a reputation for being environmentally-friendly, partly because of its use of geothermal energy.

Muskogee Regional Medical Center also saw changes. It celebrated opening of a 78,800-square foot wing and new entrance on Aug. 30, 2007. The city-owned hospital also entered into a 40-year lease with Capella Healthcare in 2007. Proceeds from the lease, funneled through the City of Muskogee Foundation, will fund various projects for years to come.



Reach Cathy Spaulding at 684-2928 or cspaulding @muskogeephoenix.com.