Tulsa World: Local, State Briefs

MAKE US YOUR HOMEPAGE | Saturday, November 21, 2009 | WIRELESS

Home > News > Article

Newspaper View Print this story

Comment

RSS

Bookmark

Local, State Briefs

A Tulsa firefighter battles a house fire Tuesday at 55 N. Gary Ave. See story at left. MIKE SIMONS/Tulsa World

By Staff reports & NewsOK.com
Published: 7/8/2009 2:27 AM
Last Modified: 7/8/2009 4:01 AM

Fire damages house; arson suspect arrested

Fire investigators arrested a man who is suspected of intentionally setting a blaze that swept through a house Tuesday afternoon, causing extensive damage to the structure.

Kenny Murray Martinez is accused of starting the fire at 55 N. Gary Ave. about 1:50 p.m. and running from the house when police arrived. Authorities later arrested him at a gas station about a block away, Tulsa Fire Department spokesman Bill French said.

Investigators combed through the charred house and found evidence that the fire was set intentionally.

Multiple "points of origin" were found in the building, and flames were billowing from several rooms when firefighters arrived, French said.

No one was hurt in the blaze, which caused an estimated $30,000 worth of damage.

Fire investigators spotted Martinez, 26, about three hours later at a QuikTrip at 28 N. Harvard Ave. During questioning, he admitted to setting the fire, the arrest report alleges.

Martinez was booked into the Tulsa Jail on a first-degree arson complaint with bail set at $20,000, jail records show.

— Matt Barnard, World staff writer

Texan killed in Wagoner County motorcycle crash

A Temple, Texas, woman died when she was thrown from a motorcycle after its tire blew out Tuesday in Wagoner County.

Tina Gentry, 35, was killed when Justin Gentry, 35, lost control of the motorcycle on the Muskogee Turnpike west of U.S. 69 just after 4:30 p.m., the

Oklahoma Highway Patrol reported.

Justin Gentry, also of Temple, lost control of the southbound 1999 Harley-Davidson when the back tire ruptured. The cycle then swerved off the road and rolled several times, troopers said.

Tina Gentry died at the scene. Justin Gentry was flown to St. Francis Hospital in Tulsa with head and arm injuries.

Helmets were stored on the cycle, but neither person was wearing one, the OHP reported.

— Matt Barnard, World staff writer

Red Bird man detained after fatal shooting

RED BIRD — A Red Bird man was arrested Monday in the shooting death of a Haskell man, Wagoner County authori- ties said.

Lamont Stephen Huff, 20, is in the Wagoner County Jail on a first-degree murder complaint without bail, authorities said.

The body of Terrance Bledsoe, 36, was discovered early Sunday in Red Bird by a neighbor, police said. Emergency responders found Bledsoe's body about 5 a.m. lying near his brown Ford Mustang, the door of which had been left open.

Bledsoe had suffered six gunshot wounds to the chest and abdomen and was pronounced dead at the scene.

"There seems to have been a long-standing feud between the victim and some of the residents in this neighborhood," Sheriff Bob Colbert said.

Tim Stanley, World staff writer

Man dies from injuries in fireworks explosion

DIBBLE — A 26-year-old man died Sunday from injuries he suffered when he was holding a lit firework a day earlier.

Richard Hines apparently had been drinking Saturday night when he lit the fuse of an artillery shell aerial firework and held the reloadable fiberglass launching tube above his head, McClain County Sheriff Don Hewett said. Instead of launching into the air, the shell exploded and shot out the bottom of the fiberglass tube.

"From what I heard, it exploded on his head, and he lost three fingers and a thumb," Hewett said. "There were several people standing fairly close to him, and they were knocked down from the concussion of the blast."

Hewett said the explosion occurred about 9:50 p.m., when relatives had gathered at Hines' home near Dibble for Fourth of July celebrations.

Hines was taken to the University of Oklahoma Medical Center in Oklahoma City, where he died Sunday.

Hewett said the artillery shell was "not quite like the professional fireworks like you see," but that it was "powerful enough."

"I just can't believe someone would do that," he said. "I mean, it's even dangerous to handle a Roman candle, much less these high-powered mortar rockets."

— Johnny Johnson, The Oklahoman

Initiatives launched to curb meth production

The Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Control announced the launch Tuesday of three initiatives aimed at curbing the illicit use of a methamphetamine ingredient.

Bureau spokesman Mark Woodward said in a news release that new laws require a birth date as well as a full name and a state-issued identification number for buying pseudoephedrine — a key ingredient for manufacturing meth — from pharmacies.

Woodward said this will help eliminate selling more to individuals than state laws allow.

He said the agency also is working with the Department of Public Safety on a data-sharing program to identity customers using false identification to obtain large quantities of pseudoephedrine.

Bureau Director R. Darrell Weaver said: "Oklahoma passed landmark legislation in 2004 that slashed meth labs by more than 90 percent," he said in the release. "However, meth cooks change their processes, and we have to be most vigilant in reviewing our attack against these destructive forces."

— Althea Peterson, World staff writer By Staff reports & NewsOK.com

Newspaper View Print this story

Comment

RSS

Bookmark

Reader Comments

Show: Most Recent Comment First

Add your comment

7 comments have been made on this story so far. Tell us what you think below!

Reporting Comments

If you see a comment that violates our terms and conditions, please help us by clicking the "Report this Comment" link next to a comment. That will alert the web staff to review the comment. Thank you. -- Web Editor Jason Collington

Some reader comments for this story were copied from "Texas woman dies in Wagoner County motorcycle accident," which was published on 7/7/2009.

	Report Comment Graybeard, Tulsa (7/7/2009 2:24:10 PM) Let's hope the firefighters aren't assaulted on this call.........
	Report Comment Eric, Tulsa (7/7/2009 3:03:58 PM) ... I did a "Google Map" view of this area. Could not see the address, but did see 55 N. Harvard. Not a pretty area. Actually, it looks scary. Hope no one is hurt. ... .. .
	Report Comment irwindale, Tulsa (7/7/2009 3:47:44 PM) Poor Eric! To think the city would allow an area three blocks from TU go to the dogs. That's right it is both the city and out of area landlords who fail to maintain the homes.
	Report Comment im4osu, Broken Arrow (7/7/2009 3:35:26 PM) Good to c we have firefighters at a fire, thought they were on a furlough day.
	Report Comment im4osu, Broken Arrow (7/7/2009 10:54:35 PM) So so sad.
	Report Comment im4osu, Broken Arrow (7/7/2009 10:55:17 PM) Will be praying Justin makes it through.
	Report Comment Skyhawk, Downtown Tulsa (7/7/2009 3:51:13 PM) Yea.. Take a good look at it Eric. With taxes at the levels they are now, and the way they are going, the entire city will look like this in 15 years.

Add Your Comment
In order to post a comment on this article, you must sign in to Tulsaworld.com. If you do not have a site account, you can create an account for free.