Sunday: Rogers County controversy frustrating, lawyer says
By RHETT MORGAN World Staff Writer on Sep 7, 2013, at 3:40 PM
Claremore
A new Rogers County sheriff's program is turning a helping hand back to its officers who help residents, often putting aside their needs.
Workers this week began razing the old Rogers County Courthouse, which was erected more than 70 years ago.
CLAREMORE — The lawyer for the district attorney has called it a “mutiny.” Police claim it is a “badly broken” system.
Whatever the label, the discord is deafening in Rogers County.
“It can’t get any worse than what it is right now,” Sheriff Scott Walton said.
Work is under way to gather the 4,480 signatures of registered county voters needed to convene a grand jury. The six petitioners, who include Walton and two Claremore police officers, seek a criminal probe into District Attorney Janice Steidley and other Rogers County officials.
The intensity of the divide was played out in public last week when the principals held three news conferences in three days Wednesday, Claremore Police Chief Stan Brown and Walton, surrounded by about 20 law officers in Claremore, announced a request for an Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation probe into alleged criminal conduct of Steidley, who is head prosecutor for Rogers, Mayes and Craig counties.
Later that afternoon, Steidley fired back rebuttals at the office of her Tulsa attorney, Clark Brewster. And on Friday, Steidley went before the media again to release a letter detailing the timeline of an investigation at the center of the grand jury petition.
Jack Gordon Jr., a lawyer who specializes in criminal defense, has practiced in Claremore since 1972. He said having law enforcement at loggerheads makes for a stressful work environment.
“It makes it terribly difficult to get anything done,” Gordon said. “It’s frustrating the hell out of me.
“I never think you get a lot accomplished when you go to the courthouse and everybody’s fighting. There’s nobody who likes to try a lawsuit better than me. But I know that there are better ways to do things than what’s going on right now.”
Read more in Sunday's World.
Claremore
A new Rogers County sheriff's program is turning a helping hand back to its officers who help residents, often putting aside their needs.
Workers this week began razing the old Rogers County Courthouse, which was erected more than 70 years ago.
