Grove P&Z Board Rejects Request

The Grove Planning & Zoning Board this week rejected a request by David and Ethel Irvine, owners of a Grove subdivision, to rezone it from C-3 to R-3, multiple family residential. The Irvines want to build apartments on the property which is near First Class Collision and the Northeast Oklahoma Board of Realtors offices. Representatives of both businesses appeared to oppose the change and the Board voted 3-0 to leave the zoning as is.
The board also voted to allow replatting of Lots 8-10 Phase III in Patricia Island Estates at the request of builder Langley Homes, which had built across lot lines that were previously surveyed as meets and bounds and not replatted. This was something the previous Grove city administration had allowed, according to City Manager Bill Galletly who said new action was needed to clear up the problem. In the future no building permits will be issued without re-platting, he said. The problems occurred in the above case due to downsizing lot sizes.
Approval was also given to Shane Gregg for a new retail boat sales building on Hwy 59 at 55th Street, which is basically a roof and one wall, open on three sides. Gregg is to landscape the rear of the building wich can be seen from a residential area. The board also approved a Walmart Fueling Station on the northwest corner of its parking lot. It will have four islands, eight pumps, and two 20,000 gallon storage tanks and be open 5 a.m. to 11 p.m.
The Board also recommended amending Animal Ordinance 354 to require one acre for large animals instead of 10,000 square feet. Homeowner Dixie Wolf appeared and spoke about a problem with a neighbor's horse located only one block from the main street of Grove. "The stench is just terrible," she said.
The actions above will now go to City Council.
City Manager Bill Galletly said the board should make every effort with R-3 Zoning to act on applications objectively rather than subjectively "or one day we are going to have legal problems." He said some objective criteria for R-3 as a buffer between commercial and residential must be developed.

Hearing Set September 30 for Grove Man

Coby B. Livesay, 31, remains in Delaware County Jail on charges of two counts of shooting with an intent to kill, with bond set at $100,000 on each count.
Thursday, a preliminary hearing was set for 1 p.m. September 30. Livesay is accused of shooting a Grove Police officer, Dave McCracken, and Deputy Sheriff Denny Martin, who responded to a family dispute Tuesday afternoon near Patricia Island Estates, just outside the Grove city limits.
Both officers sustained wounds, as did Livesay, but all three have been released from hospitals.
Officers are on paid leave while the District Attorney completes an investigation of the shooting.
Authorities said a Delaware County Sheriffs deputy responded to a 911 call at 3:41 p.m. Tuesday and called for backup from Grove Police; when officers arrived around 4 p.m. they approached the home and the accused allegedly fired on the officers from the garage using a shotgun. Both officers returned fire hitting Livesay in the hand and arm; all three were taken to Integris Grove General Hospital and Officer McCracken was flown by helicopter to Joplin for further treatment.
At one point Tuesday afternoon nine sheriffs cars and two Grove police cars were on scene, as well as two ambulances. The home is just east of Patricia Island Estates on a rural road.

Newsbriefs

Grand Lake is down three feet in the last 10 days, paving the way for the annual Japanese Millet seeding project which was carried out Thursday, continuing Friday. Some 20,000 pounds of the stuff is being dropped from an airplane flying out of Miami Airport. An official with GRDA said the lake would continue to be generated down to elevation 741 by the end of August. Boaters should be aware of the new lake level and watch for objects that have been previously covered all summer due to normal lake levels...Hooters Air Lines begins service in October using, what else, twin engine planes...Gina Casey, an advisor to director Penny Marshall on the movie "A League of Their Own" spoke to the Grove Rotary Club Wednesday and spoke about her days as a lady professional ballplayer in 1944-54. During her time as a player she made many friendships with such professionals as Stan Musial, Sparky Anderson, and Mickey Mantle...A Tar Creek project will receive $10 million from the Federal Highway Bill signed by President Bush this week. The money will be used to reduce the size of the Superfund site from 43 square miles to 16 square miles of cleaned area...Gasoline has gone to $2.39, highest in history with no end in sight. But high prices are better than no gas and long lines at the pumps.

No Date Set for Sales Tax v.02

County Commissioner Bruce Poindexter said that no date had been set for another election attempt at raising the county sales tax by a half-cent.
"That is entirely up to the Sheriff," said Poindexter at Monday's County Commissioner Meeting. Sheriff Jay Blackfox confirmed this as well, stating that he wanted to wait awhile and make sure that this time it would properly handled. Having more time, he said, would give him an opportunity to speak to more people about the proposal, and meet with the Grove City Council members on an individual basis.
He confirmed that his office had requested the election, not the County Commissioners.
"I just want additional funds to get better service to the county," he said. "We have places in the county that are at least 45 minutes drive from Jay and we need to get to them more quickly. We can do that with additional deputies," he said.
The election to raise the county sales tax was scheduled for Aug. 9 but was withdrawn after legal issues were raised by the Grove City Attorney, referred to as Scribner's errors. If passed, Delaware County sales tax would have been 9.4% in Grove, one of the highest in the state.
In the regular meeting of the County Commissioners, the board approved the purchase of two ambulances to be used by the county's Emergency Management Services. Gary Metcalf, manager, said he had driven both vehicles at Claremore's Emergency Vehicle Resources and both were in great running condition. Purchase price was $23,000 for both vehicles, from a Homeland Security grant. One vehicle will be located in Jay, the other in the Colcord area.
Also approved by the board was platting for Cherokee Trails Phase III, owned by Craig Criger of Grove, located north of Grove. The development will have 30-40 homes in the $150,000 price range with partial brick or stone. The developer requested a delay for the Stoneridge Phase I development due to convenants being incomplete.

An Editorial--Aruba No Place for Travelers

For those that have been following the disappearance of Natalee Holloway while on a trip to Aruba in May, it is clear that the Aruba police authorities have bungled the case from day one.
And, it turns out a similar thing happened in 1999 when a Washington man disappeared while walking on the beach in Aruba. His Mother says the Aruba police showed no interest in solving the case and refused to let FBI people on the island to investigate, saying they had no jurisdiction.
The only thing keeping the Holloway case alive is Mrs. Twitty, the mother of Natalee, who has been heroic in her efforts to find her daughter, dead or alive.
Meanwhile, Aruban authorites hold one of the suspects in jail merely as a public relations tool, to show the world they care.
We don't buy it.
Here's what should happen:
All cruise ships with Aruba on the itinerary should skip this island and spend another day at sea. All airlines, except KLM from Holland, should cease flights to this island.
All charter airlines should cease flights to this island.
Since the US provides 90 per cent of the tourism to Aruba, maybe they will get the message. We are not happy with the way disappearances are handled in Aruba.
The next time someone disappears, authorities should work the case properly, with all dispatch.
Maybe Aruban authorities will get the message, when the tourism industry drops to nothing.

This Week's Restaurant Review--More Chicken

By Sam L. Smithers
Restaurant Reviewer

This week we visited Charlie's Chicken in Grove. This is a place for the Big Fellas, the 400 pounders in overalls that can eat more chicken than Tyson.
But since it was lunch, we decided to get the $4.99 special, which with tax comes to a mere $5.56. This includes your choice of two pieces of chicken, chicken fried steak, and something else which we didn't catch.
The counter girl took our order for the chicken fried steak and the two sides, slaw and mashed taters and gravy and said it would be right out in a minute.
Ten minutes passed.
The Big Fella in the next booth made two trips to the buffet in the meantime, grabbing enough food to justify wrecker service. Why didn't I think of that.
The counter girl realized she had plumb forgot our order and rushed to the buffet where she quickly grabbed a chicken fried steak, a spoonful of taters and gravy, slaw, and a bowl of peach cobbler. The ice machine was out of ice so the tea was, well, just tea.
The order was delivered on a plastic/paper plate with plastic tools. The chicken fried steak put up great resistance at being attacked by the plastic knife; the steak won. It had been sitting in the buffet line for a couple of hours at least. Everything else was delicious.
Warning: Do not depend on Counter Girl to dish up your food, do it yourself.
We note that the restaurant on Honey Creek is closed; the Dairy Queen is for sale; the Railroad looking place is for sale; and another unnamed restaurant is sold, waiting on legal closings.
This does not bode well for Sam Smithers, as soon there will be no restaurants to review in Grove.

The Dam Builders, Part Three

(This is the third in a series on people who actually worked on building Pensacola Dam in 1938-40)

Paul Grace of Tulsa owned his own truck in 1940 and hauled gravel to fill in the bottom of the dams' 51 arches, where a bulldozer pushed it back into the holes for support. He remembers his foreman working in a truck rut when another truck backed over him. (This was Harry O. Koontz, killed Sept 18, 1940, as noted in the Grove Sun of Sept. 19, 1940) Grace also recalls a piece of board falling off the top of one arch, hitting a bulldozer operator in the head. A very dangerous place to work, he remembers.
There was a hotdog stand where the lake patrol office now sits, and drivers would pull up and get a candy bar or snack. On one occasion a large concrete truck pulled up, the driver put the truck in neutral and forgot to set the brake. The truck went over the cliff falling 135 feet, smashing into pieces. "I wonder if that truck is still down there," he said.
Mr. Grace worked for $1.25 a day plus a truck fee for using his own truck. He lived in the little rock cabins at Disney where on Saturday nights "Showtime" occurred.
Seems the nice looking wife of a local foreman like to take showers and always "forgot" to pull the window drapes. Saturday nights also featured the occasional traveling show and movies.
When he answered the telephone for details of this story, he said "I know why you are calling...to remind me how old I am."
But for Paul, age is just another number. But it is 90.