The Shawnee News-Star
With the upcoming International Finals Youth Rodeo in Shawnee, the Leo Street Gate at the Expo Center will be closing the evening of July 8 and will reopen July 16 after the final rodeo performance.
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For Sampson, the best aspects of working in public safety are the people and the job itself. My love for public safety is what it is. I love the public and I love what we do and I love all aspects of it, Sampson said.
When he worked at Lincoln County, Sampson was deployed to North Carolina to assist with a hurricane and he worked there for two weeks as the operation sections chief. I controlled all movement of public safety inside the county for the hurricane and it was a great experience, Sampson said.
He is happy to return to his work in a county he hopes will be one of the top emergency management agencies in the state.
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COVID-19 dominates year
The Shawnee News-Star
Reminiscing on the past 12 months, the most significant of events glaring back is clearly COVID-19 and how it has upended life as we know it.
Whether it s been health scares, shutdowns or mask mandates, the pandemic has forced everyone to reimagine how to function safely from a distance.
The year began as usual, with news of new business coming and a church marked its centennial.
January (Pre-COVID-19)
• A formal sentencing hearing took place for defendant Byron James Shepard, 38, of Okemah, convicted in the 2017 murder of Tecumseh Police Officer Justin Terney. On the felony count of murder in the first degree, the death sentence was issued to Shepard.