me, (9/20/2008 8:21:01 AM)

i don't know who fathered who, but everyone knows gene and francis stipe are crooks and wayne should be prosecuted for his assault on mr. king. if the citizens of mc alester had any self respect they would demand da jim bob be sacked and sent packing

EufaulaLakers, Eufaula/Longtown (9/20/2008 3:42:37 PM)

I don't know any of the details of the case, but I do know Hal King, the website operator and the defendant in this libel case.

First - Hal is a decent guy, the kind of guy you'd want living next door. I don't believe he would allow anyone to post lies about anyone else if he knew they were lies.

Second - the Stipes and DA Miller are public figures. The law has a history of not allowing criminal libel period (in most states) and especially not from public figures.

This appears to be a way to use power and the force of law to stifle free speech. If the allegations are really untrue, Miller should have demanded an inquiry to clear his name. Shine light on the problem, not bring down a curtain of darkness with a libel suit.

Rex Brinley junior, (9/20/2008 10:27:32 PM)

Did you ever read his site? People were talking about things years in advance of people being convicted for them. They were talking about Colonel Walt Roberts election finance corruption 5 years before his indictment. They had Randy Green pegged as an embezzler, Stipe was pegged for just about every crime in the Oklahoma Criminal Code book, and dozens of other people who were on the party train. Of course you could get that by just being quiet at the old Hiway Lodge lounge (now Pizza Inn) or the Busy Bee Diner or The Meeting Place. I know chief George Scott got in the middle of this stuff as he's basically a good person. People who attend church with him can not say enough good things about him. But I found former mayor Dale Covington to be very evasive about all this stuff. He was not necessarily a good friend but if you did any dealings with FNB-MCAL, you usually wound up in his office a time or two. About 15 years ago, I once dumpster dived the Stipe Law firm in OKC which was located on North Lincoln next to the Democratic Party HQ. All I found was some old editions of Westlaw. I don't want to rehash specific stipe crimes but there have been enough between both him and his brother that I seriously doubt the potential of any libel suit. There is a mountain of evidence. But as you know how it goes in McAlester and the rest of Little Dixie there are people who would walk off a cliff with any of those people convicted. This includes employees of KATS, the votech system, the hospital system, the school system, county commissioners and workers, the Oklahoma Bureau of Investigation, dozens of businesses, employees of Savanna Ammunition Depot. and thousands more. When he does pass some day, his funeral will rival that of Carl Albert if not totally show it up. But I hope the procession passes a few graves of people who got on the wrong side of Stipe. I can guarantee you that those people went a totally different direction that Stipe is going.