Tulsa court officials pause for Obama's address
BY KEVIN CANFIELD World Staff Writer
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
1/20/09 at 12:59 PM
Related story: 1,500 attend Tulsa inaugural watch party
Even city and county officials bickering over a new jail agreement stopped long enough to listen to Obama's inauguration address.
County Fiscal Officer Jim Smith was in the middle of testimony before District Judge Jefferson Sellers when the judge ordered a 30-minute recess to give people the opportunity to watch the historic event.
Sellers retired to his chambers while attorneys and spectators streamed out of his seventh-floor courtroom.
On the third floor, it was standing-room-only as jurors and passers-by filled a jury waiting room to watch Obama on a small TV.
No one made a peep throughout the speech.
When it ended, the silence was broken by a wave of applause.
