Local, State Briefs
BY Staff reports & NewsOK.com
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
9/30/09 at 5:25 AM
Completion of repair to Tulsa waterline leak due
Repair of a 36-inch waterline leak at 47th Street and Utica Avenue significantly reduced water pressure to a large portion of midtown over the past several days, officials said Tuesday.
Although the repair is not likely to be complete until Thursday, water pressure was expected to be restored to usable levels by late Tuesday, said Clayton Edwards, the city's deputy director of environmental operations.
The city had to close valves on lines connected to the 36-inch line, along with flushing out a line, which affected the pressure, he said.
The repair began last week, and some complaints began to trickle in Saturday and Sunday. But the city received 200 complaints Monday, he said.
The general area affected stretches from 31st to 51st streets between Lewis and Yale avenues.
- P.J. LASSEK, World Staff Writer
Tulsa business' sprinkler system gets to fire first
A sprinkler system had extinguished most of a fire in a commercial building by the time firefighters arrived early Tuesday, a Tulsa Fire Department spokesman said.
Heavy smoke was coming from the Facet International building in the 9900 block of East 56th Street North when firefighters arrived just before 6 a.m., spokesman Bill French said.
When they entered the building, they found that the sprinkler system had been activated by the heat and had extinguished the main body of the fire, he said.
Firefighters determined that the blaze was caused by the improper storage of materials, French said.
Pallets of commercial-grade filters had been stacked too close to an overhead natural gas heater, he said. The cold overnight temperatures had caused the thermostat to turn on the heating system, and the filters ignited, French said.
Facet manufactures advanced filtration and separation products, according to its Web site.
No one was injured in the fire.
- FROM STAFF REPORTS
Woman robbed, assaulted with pepper spray by trio
Tulsa police are looking for three people who robbed a woman and assaulted her with pepper spray early Tuesday.
The victim told police that she thought she was followed to her apartment complex in the 5100 block of South Harvard Avenue from the area of Yale Avenue and Interstate 44.
As she walked to her apartment about 12:50 a.m., she was approached by a woman who asked to use her cell phone, according to police.
Then two men approached, she told police. One of them demanded the victim's backpack, and the other sprayed her with pepper spray, police reported.
All three robbers fled north in an older white Chevrolet, possibly a Cavalier, police said.
Police described the woman as black, 5 feet 4 inches tall, skinny and about 17 years old. One of the men was described as a 6-foot-tall black man weighing about 180 pounds and about 25 years old. The other man was described as a 5-foot-6-inch-tall black man weighing 140 to 150 pounds and 17 or 18 years old.
Anyone with information about the robbery is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 596-COPS, send a text message to police or submit an online tip at
tulsaworld.com/crimestoppers
.
The Crime Commission offers rewards for information leading to arrests, and tipsters can remain anonymous.
- ALTHEA PETERSON, World Staff Writer
Two women are attacked, robbed in their home
A woman and her mother reported to police that they were attacked and robbed in their home late Monday.
The two women were asleep in their home in the 10600 block of East 26th Place when the younger woman heard her dog barking and someone coming up the stairs about 10:30 p.m., according to police.
The daughter, who records state is 64, told police that a man entered her bedroom and pointed a handgun at her. He forced her to go through the house as he demanded money, computers, televisions, cell phones and other items, she told police.
A second intruder, armed with an ax, grabbed the woman's 85-year-old mother, forced her to the floor and held her down with one hand on her throat, preliminary police reports state. A third intruder also was in the home, according to the report.
The gunman was described as black, 5 feet 8 inches to 5 feet 9 inches tall, in his late teens to early 20s and about 165 pounds. He was wearing blue coveralls.
The man who had an ax is described as black, 6 feet tall, also in his late teens to early 20s and wearing a gray hooded sweatshirt.
The third man's description was similar to the gunman's.
Anyone with information about the robbery is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 596-COPS, send a text message to police or submit an online tip at
tulsaworld.com/crimestoppers
. The Crime Commission offers rewards for information leading to arrests, and tipsters can remain anonymous.
- FROM STAFF REPORTS
Man charged in Aug. 26 heist at IBC Bank branch
A man was charged Tuesday in the holdup of a Tulsa bank.
Vernon James Hill, 24, was charged in Tulsa County District Court with first-degree robbery in connection with the Aug. 26 holdup at an IBC Bank branch in the 4200 block of South Garnett Road.
Police said the thief walked into the bank and approached a teller. Midway through a phony transaction, the man ordered workers to turn around and give him cash.
After threatening to shoot the tellers, the man collected a bag full of money and ran to a nearby apartment complex, police said.
The employees never saw a weapon, police said.
Hill is black and weighs about 130 pounds. He is 5 feet 10 inches tall and lists an address in the 1300 block of North Sandusky Avenue, court records indicate.
He wasn't listed on the Tulsa Jail's inmate log late Tuesday.
- MATT BARNARD, World Staff Writer
Enid, OKC drug-raid arrests
include 82-year-old 'Granny'
ENID — The largest drug bust in Enid's history unfolded before sunrise Tuesday as more than 130 local, state and federal officers stormed dozens of homes with felony arrest warrants naming 61 people, authorities said.
Agents with the Enid Police Department's Narcotics Unit and the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Control led the raid, which netted 27 arrests and thousands of dollars in cash, illegal firearms and financial documents.
An additional 14 people were arrested in Oklahoma City, which is where investigators think much of Enid's crack cocaine and marijuana is coming from.
One Oklahoma City house alone reportedly produced 1 pound of crack cocaine, with a street value of roughly $15,000.
In Enid, two loud explosions from "flash bang" stun grenades and the SWAT team members' shouts of "Police! Police!" shattered the morning silence at the home of 82-year-old Nadine "Granny" Johnson.
Her home was a major stash house for much of the drugs and drug money being smuggled into Enid by her grandson Amon Lawson of Oklahoma City, Enid Police Sgt. Rick Tanner said.
"Most of the drugs coming into Enid started in that house one way or another, and she knew what was going on," Tanner said.
"She'd hide his (Lawson's) drug money and use it to bail out other drug dealers or to buy cars."
- RON JACKSON, The Oklahoman
