Down memory lane for 9-4-2025

Down memory lane for this week, taken from the Heavener Ledger archives going back a century.

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ONE YEAR AGO

2024– Three of the four LeFlore County teams playing in zero week posted impressive victories while Poteau came up short at Booneville, Arkansas, 14-10, as the Pirates played their first game without Coach Greg Werner, who resigned earlier in the week. Pocola broke a close game wide open and eventually defeated Class 2A Antlers, 54-28, Talihina smashed Summit Christian on the road, 62-28 and Arkoma opened with a 60-12 win over Bluejacket… Heavener opened the 2024 cross country season Thursday with a meet at Gore High School. Heavener’s High School boys and girls both finished second… Unemployment rates were up in 73 counties compared to last year, down in three and unchanged in one county, according to the latest report by the Oklahoma Employment Security Commission for July. Latimer and McIntosh posted the highest rate in the state at 6.7 percent while Haskell and Seminole had the second highest. Dewey and Cimarron had the lowest rate at 2.2 percent.

10 YEARS AGO

2015—Heavener senior Jodie Hill sets state record for stolen bases in win over Panama…Choctaws agree to provide flu vaccinations for area…Lightning damages Crane Motel….Tailgate party planned for Friday before the Wolves’ football team opens the season against Atoka…Harvey Stadium gets new scoreboard…Thieves break into First National Bank repo lot…Heavener FFA booster club to have cookout…Revival is coming to Hontubby Baptist Curch…Services held for Jay Muse, legendary basketball Coach Nadine Carpenter…

20 YEARS AGO

2005—HUA/Council hear complaints, protests…Fire damages KFC/Taco Bell in Poteau…Memorial scholarship established in memory of Cody Barlow…Lady Wolves finish second at Oktaha fast pitch softball tournament…Wolves geared up to open football season with Pocola.

30 YEARS AGO

1995—Water woes continue for Heavener…New ball fields planned for land south of Heavener…Heavener, Poteau sign mutual fire agreement…Howard and Lois Council celebrate 50^th wedding anniversary…First Christian Church celebrates 80^th anniversary…City bills top $100,000…Storm damages property in Heavener…Heavener to open football season with Waldron…Don Chitwood to open second insurance office in Poteau, but plans to keep the Heavener location open.

40 YEARS AGO

1985—City council approves improvement to water pumping system…Mr. and Mrs. Ross Parkhurst celebrate 50^th wedding anniversary…Sheriff sued over damaged backhoe…John Scarbrough new manager of LeFlore County Rural Water District #5 at Howe.

50 YEARS AGO

1975—Hang gliders have discovered the mountain east of Heavener…JOB Construction wins bid to pave roads on west side of Heavener…Heavener School Board expresses concern over drivers passing school buses that are stopped to load and unload children. Drivers are reminded this is a violation of state laws…Some 14 miners are now employed by the coal mine south of Heavener at Pine Mountain…Maurice Hinds will construct a new building for forest service…Dr. Joseph A. Blum opens his practice in the Heavener Medical Center…No connection fee for Transwestern Cable TV services Sept. 11 through Sept. 25…Tates is having a ½ sale on all remaining summer dresses…Buck Moody has a 15-foot bass boat with 40 HP motor and trailer for sale…Juanita Pledger’s beauty shop is celebrating its one year anniversary…Johnny Paycheck and the Love Makers are appearing at the Green Country Dance Land in Poteau.

60 YEARS AGO

1965—Heavener Police Chief Herb Killion was badly beaten when he tried to arrest several men who were betting on horse races at the Heavener Roundup Club track. He was transported to Sparks Hospital in Fort Smith with a broken jaw and several other injuries…Sheriff Hosea Austin was injured in an altercation with a man in Summerfield, who pulled a shotgun on him. Bystanders got behind the man and grabbed the shotgun from the man who continued to fight…Linda Reeves is named editor of The Wolf Howls, the Heavener student newspaper…Phillip Weaver D.D.S. has opened a dental office at 15 East Avenue C in Heavener….Ben Davis has a 1956 Buick for sale for $350.

70 YEARS AGO

1955—Authorities arrest 28 people in LeFlore County over the Labor Day holiday for drunk driving and public drunkenness…Bill Seymour, son of W.F. Seymour of Heavener, was killed in an auto accident a Seymour, Indiana…County judge orders Wynona Tavern in Heavener re-opened and in operation after a hearing…Uranium has been found in several states, including Oklahoma….Jim Cagle has RCA Geiger Counters for sale from $119.50 to $750…Ray Hall has a 1948 Oldsmobile for sale for $275…Round trip fare to Shreveport is $8.05.

90 YEARS AGO

1935—Highway 71 traffic in Arkansas is being routed through Heavener…John “Lefty” Swank, who pitched last year for the Heavener Blues, has been signed by the St. Louis Cardinals…Heavener Schools enrolls 833 students, up from 789 in 1934…Heavener businesses have been invaded by a horde of crickets.

100 YEARS AGO

1925—An early morning shooting in the telephone office in Poteau kills one man, injures a woman. The man, killed was L.E. Thrasher, who was shot in the brain and stomach. The woman had several shots in her body, but is expected to recover. Officers found L.E. Charmichael holding a revolver…The W.E. Gamble Cotton Gin at Hodgen was destroyed by fire. Total losses are estimated at $14,000…Dierks Lumber Company from Broken Bow is building a new lumber bill on Cedar Creek near Zoe…O.J.M. Brewer is sporting a new mustache…Circus coming to Heavener for one night.

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