jonas x3, Tulsa (8/25/2008 12:23:18 AM)

Very sad to hear.

If you witnessed how employees handle the food in many restaurants,
you would never eat out again!

okie ridgerunner, small town (8/25/2008 1:27:41 AM)

Tulsa has the best health dept for checking restaurants any where in the country. -- there use to be a saying if you could pass restaurant health inspection in tulsa, you could pass any where in the usa. -because tulsa was tough.- and i pretty well know. i worked in the food industry in tulsa for many years. two of the worse in tulsa has been torn down. and a few others that was bad has been closed. and a few others have been rebuilt or moved. they dont get away with much in tulsa when it comes to food and the health department. which is really good for the public. you are safer eating out in tulsa than any where else in th usa.

mc, (8/25/2008 1:56:01 AM)

This is very scary!!!!! My family and I ate at the C.C. rest. on Saturday. It was so busy it reminded me of holiday time. To think of any of the customers or my family becoming ill or dieing is very unnerving.Why was the rest. still open on SATURDAY if the health dept. was notified by the hospital on FRIDAY? My prayers go out to all of those suffering from this.

PAN, (8/25/2008 1:58:25 AM)

okie ridgerunner - I'm sorry, but I cannot completely agree with you. It depends on who you are as to whether or not you pass an inspection. I know because we owned a restaurant in Tulsa until about 8 years ago. We did always pass our inspections 100%, but when we first bought the restaurant, it was FILTHY and yet the Health Department had let it continue to operate in a filthy condition for several years prior to us buying it. One of the employees there told us that the owner seemed to get by with things being NASTY and she was not a disgruntled employee at all. When we finally took possession of it, WE had to replace a ceiling tile that had an OLD water stain on it, WE had to elevate the freezer off the floor. We actually discovered mold under the ice in the ice machine. We discovered mold and rotten pieces of meat under a refrigerated unit. The mold and rotten meat were not 'fresh.' It had been there for a long time. We were given the previous inspection reports by the previous owner and many, many violations were marked on them time and time again, including the stained ceiling tile and rotten meat, but they continued to allow this place to stay open. Therefore, from my own personal experience as an owner of a food establishment in Tulsa, I cannot agree that eating in Tulsa is safer than eating anywhere else in the U.S. FYI- the previous owner was not an American; we are American. I'm not saying that had anything to do with it, but 'you just gotta wonder.'

nami, (8/25/2008 2:38:12 AM)

most of the sick people have eaten at Country Cottage in Locust Grove, but I've heard other restaurants are involved. The number of people is more like 30 total, so far....

Harold Brookens 1, (8/25/2008 3:55:03 AM)

THIS IS A COMSPIRACY. THE OWNERS RESPONSILE NEED TO TAKE RESPONSIBILITY!!! UNACCEPTABLE, ALL RESTAURANTS NEED TO STAND DOWN AND TAKE CARE OF BUSINESS!!!

honky donkey, (8/25/2008 7:27:41 AM)

I went to the CC in Locust Grove several years ago and witnessed how they handled their food. I got up and left. Why pay good money for food that comes out of a can and is no better than a military chow hall.

jestergrl, (8/25/2008 7:41:49 AM)

Wow, this is horrible to have happened. It makes me very angry that someone died over filth in resturant/s and with employees who probably didn't wash their hands after going to the bathroom. How sickening for the families who got sick and to the one who died over something preventable.
honky donkey some of the military chow halls are pretty good...especially the breakfasts.

Bullhead, Stilwell (8/25/2008 8:36:02 AM)

The news on tv said this morning that they were not saying which resturants because there was more than one eaten at. Not all of the people who became sick ate at the one resturant.

Daven, Tulsa (8/25/2008 8:59:09 AM)

It may not be the restaurant. It may be a local supplier that gives a certain produce or something to a few places. If you feel sick from eating anywhere in the area, best to get attention asap! Better safe then sorry.

golfwife, (8/25/2008 9:37:01 AM)

The CC is always very, very busy. We ate there on Thursday, I guess we are just extremely lucky to have not gotten any of the contaminated foods.

breite , (8/25/2008 9:37:21 AM)

This will be the kiss of death for the Country Cottage. Remember Shoney's and Chi Chi's?

Fruits&Nuts, (8/25/2008 9:57:09 AM)

And the Fountains. And I could certainly list some candidates.

LoveTulsa, (8/25/2008 10:00:05 AM)

Isn't Country Cottage the Amish place? We love eating there.

imonline, (8/25/2008 10:34:19 AM)

Country Cottage is in Locust Grove.The Amish place is in Chouteau.It is completely different.Country Cottage is decorated very elaborately in a victorian theme.It is buffet & menu.I am very angry they were allowed or even chose to open after this.I have family that ate there Friday.Why the devil and who the devil would let them remain open this weekend.I agree it could be suppliers.I am furious & saddened that they have probably 300-600 people or more eat there on a weekend day. I did love their food.I can & will no longer trust them.

ARC, (8/25/2008 10:46:30 AM)

People need to stop jumping to conclusions. This is a family owned business that has been around for more than 22 years and they've never been accused of such a thing. If this all turns out to be false, this will ruin their lives. Of course my heart goes out to the family who lost a loved one, but there doesn't need to be more lives ruined in the process. So let's all just wait and see what they find.

wilson, (8/25/2008 10:48:31 AM)

Jestergirl, your comments are seemingly always based on speculation and not facts. There is NO information that this was caused by an employee not washing their hands. Since there are no facts, (and at least one news outlet would have reported if there were), why does everyone insist on trying to spread a panic?!

Jenny G, (8/25/2008 11:07:34 AM)

Are we absolutely sure it was the Country Cottage? We ate at the Denny's in Locust Grove a couple months ago, and after we ate, I went in the ladies restroom, and a woman was in there, and she was very ill. While I was washing my hands, she came out of the stall, with her DENNY'S UNIFORM on. She walked out of the bathroom and went straight to the kitchen! Luckily, nobody in our party got sick, but I am amazed. Just thinking it doesn't seem like they have the strictest hand-washing (or sick employees cooking food) policies, thought it might be them instead of the Cottage.

Austin84, Tulsa (8/25/2008 12:14:50 PM)

I ate at the Country Cottage on Sunday, August 10th. I didn't develop these what are now knowbn as e-coli like symptoms until the following Sunday morning, August 17th. Over the next few days those symptoms got severely worse until I couldn't deal with the pain any longer and went to Warren Clinic at 1p.m Tuesday the 19th. They diagnosed me as having an inflammatory intestinal virus and gave me three prescription meds. From Monday-Saturday, I lost close to 10 pounds while not eating much. Now, I'm feeling a lot better, but it turns out I had e-coli from this place all along and the clinic was wrong. It all makes sense. The best way to treat it is drinking water and gatorade and staying away from dairy products. Good luck to all those affected.

Stick61, Tulsa (8/25/2008 12:20:12 PM)

TW has now posted a photo of the young man who died. This is a very sad story. I had met the young man a time or two and found him to be a kind, talented person. This is a great loss to his community.

ronnie, (8/25/2008 1:26:49 PM)

most of you people dont know what your talking about. the health dept. dont know what or where this stuff came from. your just jumping in when you dont even know if theres any water in the pool.

touitsmrs, (8/25/2008 1:30:40 PM)

There was a comment about if you had ever seen how employees handled food you wouldnt eat out at all. I completely agree! My family stopped eating out last year and we havent been sick one day since. If its not the ingredients then it is the preperation of the food and it really pisses me off that all these years it was eating out that was making my family sick. We didnt eat out at fast food places either, mostly sit down "nice' food places. Gross me out with what we were putting in our mouths!

Im so sorry for this man, in the prime of his life, dying because people cant follow rules and they are allowed to continue business.

Tulsa, Claremore and Broken Arrow eating establishments are the ones that were making our family sick so I dont care for the THD very much at all.

What in the World!, Hometown Tulsa / Edmond (8/25/2008 2:05:53 PM)

My sympathies to Chad Ingle's family. I hope the cause can be found before more people get sick or die.

B52, (8/25/2008 2:10:53 PM)

The frequences of these outbreaks are becoming all too common. I would lean towards contaminated food shipped to the restaurant instead of uncleanliness at the restaurant because of similar numerous outbreaks across the country at a variety of eating establishments. This problem has escalated to the point to where the feds are going to start nuking the veggies to kill the e.coli. That just demonstrats the magnitude of this problem. Regardless, this is tragic and my thoughts and prayers are with Mr. Ingles family.

oldrustytulsa, (8/25/2008 2:36:22 PM)

With all the imported food stuffs coming now directly from Old Mexico, is it any wonder?Nafta at its finest.