#mccurtain gazette-news
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Officials in McCurtain County, Oklahoma were caught on a recording seemingly plotting to kill a local newspaper publisher and his son. Those officials also lamented that it’s no longer possible to lynch black people and get away with it.
Two of those caught on the recording are elected Republican officials: Sheriff Kevin Clardy and McCurtain County Commissioner Mark Jennings (District 2). They have resisted pressure from everybody from the governor down to a local state legislator to resign. They are also under investigation by state and federal law enforcement agencies.
Oklahoma governor calls on officials to resign over recording of racist and threatening remarks
McCurtain County is a backwater even by Oklahoma standards. It’s in the southeastern corner of the state next to Texas and Arkansas.
This incident shows why it’s important to monitor what public officials are up to – even in remote places. It points out the importance of local media like the McCurtain Gazette-News which broke the story.
Wherever we live, we should not neglect local elections. Candidates should get a thorough vetting. It would be interesting to know whether Clardy and Jennings have anything in their past where they displayed KKK or mafia style thinking.
#mccurtain county#oklahoma#mccurtain county commission#sherriff#open meating act#kevin clardy#mark jennings#alicia manning#larry hendrix#racism#plotting murders#fbi#oklahoma attorney general#mccurtain gazette-news#bruce willingham#chris willingham#support local independent media!
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OOOOoook-lahoma, When the leaders plan nefarious things....
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Sounds About White: Oklahoma Sheriff Says Recording Of Officials Discussing Killing Reporters Was Illegal
Denver Sean
A southeastern Oklahoma sheriff’s office says the recording in which the sheriff and others are reportedly heard discussing killing two journalists was illegal and predicted felony charges will be filed.
via Huffington Post:
A statement on the sheriff’s office Facebook page, the first public statement since the comments by Sheriff Kevin Clardy and others were reported by the McCurtain Gazette-News, does not address the recorded comments about killing journalists and hanging Black people, but calls the situation “complex” and one “we regret having to address.”
The statement calls the past 72 hours “amongst the most difficult and disruptive in recent memory” and says the recording was altered and involves many victims.
“There is and has been an ongoing investigation into multiple, significant violation(s) of the Oklahoma Security of Communications Act … which states that it is illegal to secretly record a conversation in which you are not involved and do not have the consent of at least one of the involved parties,” according to the statement.
Joey Senat, a journalism professor at Oklahoma State University, said under Oklahoma law, the recording would be legal if it were obtained in a place where the officials being recorded did not have a reasonable expectation of privacy.
Bruce Willingham, the longtime publisher of the McCurtain Gazette-News, said the recording was made March 6 when he left a voice-activated recorder inside the room after a county commissioner’s meeting because he suspected the group was continuing to conduct county business after the meeting had ended in violation of the state’s Open Meeting Act.
Willingham said he twice spoke with his attorneys to be sure he was doing nothing illegal.
The newspaper released portions of the recording in which Clardy, sheriff’s Capt. Alicia Manning and District 2 County Commissioner Mark Jennings appear to discuss Bruce and Chris Willingham, a reporter for the newspaper who is Bruce Willingham’s son. Jennings tells Clardy and Manning “I know where two deep holes are dug if you ever need them,” and the sheriff responded, “I’ve got an excavator.”
Jennings also reportedly says he’s known “two or three hit men” in Louisiana, adding “they’re very quiet guys.”
In the recording, Jennings also appears to complain about not being able to hang Black people, saying: “They got more rights than we got.”
Jail Administrator Larry Hendrix was also present during the conversation.
The Associated Press could not immediately verify the authenticity of the recording. None of the four have returned telephone calls or emails from The Associated Press.
A spokesperson for the FBI’s office in Oklahoma City said the agency’s policy is not to confirm or deny any ongoing investigation. Phil Bacharach, a spokesperson for Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond, said the agency had received an audio recording and is investigating the incident, but declined to comment further.
Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt and state Rep. Eddy Dempsey, a Republican who represents the area, have called for Clardy, Manning, Jennings and Hendrix to resign.
More than 100 people gathered outside the McCurtain County Courthouse in Idabel on Monday, with many of them calling for the sheriff and other county officials to resign.
The sheriff’s office statement said there have been “a large number of threats of violence including death threats” against unspecified county employees, officials, their families and friends since the conversation was first reported.
The statement said the sheriff’s office will issue news releases until its investigation concludes “and findings are forwarded to the appropriate authorities for felony charges to be filed on those involved.”
This is upsetting, but not surprising.
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[TW: Threats of murder, racism]
The governor of Oklahoma has called for the resignations of the sheriff and other top officials in a rural county after they were recorded talking about "beating, killing and burying" a father/son team of local reporters — and lamenting that they could no longer hang Black people with a “damned rope.”
Gov. Kevin Stitt called for McCurtain County Sheriff Kevin Clardy, county Commissioner Mark Jennings, sheriff's investigator Alicia Manning, and Jail Administrator Larry Hendrix to step down after the McCurtain County Gazette-News published an article over the weekend about what was captured on the recording.
The latest furor erupted after [reporter Bruce Willingham], acting on a tip that the commissioners were illegally engaging in county business after the public meetings were over, left a recording device on March 6 in the commissioners' chamber, the newspaper reported.
When Willingham retrieved the device, he discovered that the conversation began with a grisly conversation about a fire victim being compared to "barbecue" before the group turned to talking about his son.
"My papaw would have whipped his ass, would have wiped him and used him for toilet paper," Manning said of the younger Willingham, according to the newspaper. "If my daddy hadn't been run over by a vehicle, he would have been down there."
Jennings then piped in, saying "I know where two big, deep holes are here if you ever need them."
"I've got an excavator," Clardy chimed in, according to the newspaper.
Jennings, according to the newspaper, then said he knew "two or three hit men" who belong to the Louisiana mafia.
"They're very quiet guys and would cut no f---ing mercy," he reportedly said.
Manning, according to the newspaper, discussed "who would get the blame if anything was done" to Christopher Lee Willingham's wife, Angie.
When the talk turned to who might run for sheriff against Clardy, Jenning recalled how a former sheriff "would take a damned Black guy and whoop their ass and throw them in the cell."
"Yeah," Clardy replied, according to the newspaper. "It's not like that no more."
"I know," said Jennings. "Take them down to Mud Creek and hang them up with a damned rope. But you can't do that anymore. They've got more rights than we've got."
[The full transcript and audio can be found here. Be warned, it’s horrific. Additional trigger warning for the graphic description of a burned body.]
And these are the people that the 3,400 black people in McCurtain County are supposed to trust with their lives and safety—their children’s lives? These are the sick fucks that any of the citizens are to trust with their lives? People who laugh when looking at the burned body of the victim of a house fire and compare it to fucking food? They made plans to murder a father and son, talking about knowing hit men and “pre-dug” holes and excavators, and showed themselves and their previous sheriff to be racist, revolting pieces of shit—and they’re just getting asked to resign. I feel physically sick. This is we mean when we say that the fascist, white supremacist, neo-Nazis thrive and are protected by the police departments and police system, and that they always fucking have been.
How many times must we be met with the glaring evidence of root-deep corruption and hate until we throw away the whole damn system? Who knows how many times they’ve done this shit, or ended a black life just because they fucking could, and got away with it—not to mention the other unspeakable things cops have done to people of all races without a single slap on the wrist. This is everyone’s problem. It’s time to get rid of these damn pigs and the systems that give them power.
#tw racism#tw burns#I want them dead#black lives matter#fuck the police#abolish the police#acab#blm#antifascism
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Justice Is "BLINDED," Especially In Southeast Oklahoma's Little Dixie!
This report appearing at THEGIRO via The Associate Press can be found here.
In a letter to Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt, Attorney General Gentner Drummond said his office and the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation had completed their investigation and found no legal grounds to dismiss McCurtain County, Sheriff Kevin Clardy.
Drummond Wrote -
“There are countless examples of incidents from across the country where public officials make inflammatory comments that spark severe condemnation. Often the offending official resigns in disgrace. Sometimes the outrage fades, and the matter is forgotten. Regardless, there is no provision of law in Oklahoma to throw elected officials out of office merely for saying something offensive."
Bruce Willingham, the longtime publisher of the McCurtain Gazette-News, said the recording was made on March 6 when he left a voice-activated recorder inside the room after a county commissioner’s meeting because he suspected the group was continuing to conduct county business after the meeting had ended in violation of the state’s Open Meeting Act. Chris Willingham, a reporter at the paper, is Bruce Willingham’s son.
Willingham said he believes the local officials were upset about “stories we’ve run that cast the sheriff’s office in an unfavorable light,” including the death of Bobby Barrick, a Broken Bow, Oklahoma, man who died at a hospital in March 2022 after McCurtain County deputies shot him with a stun gun.
Read the report in its original complete edition here.
#aclu#black lgbt#black stories#black history#bigotry#discrimination#black man#black lives matter#open meetings act#civil liberties#civil rights#black history month#black tumblr#blacklivesmatter#black men#black people#police assault#police violence#police brutality#police crime#oklahoma#little dixie#mccurtain county#bobby barrick#mccurtain gazzette news#cnn
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McCurtain County, Oklahoma, recording: Governor calls on officials to resign over recording of racist and threatening remarks
CNN
—
The governor of Oklahoma is calling on four McCurtain County officials to resign after they allegedly participated in a secretly recorded conversation that included racist remarks about lynching Black people and talking about killing journalists.
The McCurtain Gazette-News over the weekend published the audio it said was recorded following a Board of Commissioners meeting on March…
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McCurtain County, Oklahoma, recording: Governor calls on officials to resign over recording of racist and threatening remarks
CNN
—
The governor of Oklahoma is calling on four McCurtain County officials to resign after they allegedly participated in a secretly recorded conversation that included racist remarks about lynching Black people and talking about killing journalists.
The McCurtain Gazette-News over the weekend published the audio it said was recorded following a Board of Commissioners meeting on March…
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McCurtain County, Oklahoma, recording: Governor calls on officials to resign over recording of racist and threatening remarks
CNN
—
The governor of Oklahoma is calling on four McCurtain County officials to resign after they allegedly participated in a secretly recorded conversation that included racist remarks about lynching Black people and talking about killing journalists.
The McCurtain Gazette-News over the weekend published the audio it said was recorded following a Board of Commissioners meeting on March…
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McCurtain County, Oklahoma, recording: Governor calls on officials to resign over recording of racist and threatening remarks
CNN
—
The governor of Oklahoma is calling on four McCurtain County officials to resign after they allegedly participated in a secretly recorded conversation that included racist remarks about lynching Black people and talking about killing journalists.
The McCurtain Gazette-News over the weekend published the audio it said was recorded following a Board of Commissioners meeting on March…
View On WordPress
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McCurtain County, Oklahoma, recording: Governor calls on officials to resign over recording of racist and threatening remarks
CNN
—
The governor of Oklahoma is calling on four McCurtain County officials to resign after they allegedly participated in a secretly recorded conversation that included racist remarks about lynching Black people and talking about killing journalists.
The McCurtain Gazette-News over the weekend published the audio it said was recorded following a Board of Commissioners meeting on March…
View On WordPress
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McCurtain County, Oklahoma, recording: Governor calls on officials to resign over recording of racist and threatening remarks
CNN
—
The governor of Oklahoma is calling on four McCurtain County officials to resign after they allegedly participated in a secretly recorded conversation that included racist remarks about lynching Black people and talking about killing journalists.
The McCurtain Gazette-News over the weekend published the audio it said was recorded following a Board of Commissioners meeting on March…
View On WordPress
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Text
McCurtain County, Oklahoma, recording: Governor calls on officials to resign over recording of racist and threatening remarks
CNN
—
The governor of Oklahoma is calling on four McCurtain County officials to resign after they allegedly participated in a secretly recorded conversation that included racist remarks about lynching Black people and talking about killing journalists.
The McCurtain Gazette-News over the weekend published the audio it said was recorded following a Board of Commissioners meeting on March…
View On WordPress
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McCurtain County, Oklahoma, recording: Governor calls on officials to resign over recording of racist and threatening comments
CNN
—
The governor of Oklahoma is calling on four McCurtain County officials to resign after they allegedly took part in a secretly taped conversation containing racial slurs about lynching black people and talking about killing journalists.
The McCurtain Gazette-News this weekend published the audio it said was recorded after a meeting of the Supervisory Board on March 6.
The paper said the…
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