Submitted photo
Staff Sgt. Ryan Petty gets a welcome home kiss from his son Brier when he comes home for two weeks prior to Veterans Day. Family and friends were on hand to meet the soldier when he returned to McCurtain from Kuwait.

Remembering … Veterans Day 2011

Staff photo by Doug Russell
Veterans James Smith, Ken Burge and Ronnie Edwards join others on the Haskell County Courthouse lawn to remember Veterans Day Nov. 11

By Doug Russell
News Editor
Some wiped their eyes, whether because of windblown dust or heartfelt emotion, only they knew. Some bowed their heads. Some, not yet in their teens, fidgeted. But almost all listened respectfully as James Smith spoke Friday on the Haskell County Courthouse lawn.
"There are a lot of patriotic holidays, but none equal Veterans Day in my mind," said Smith, attorney, Stigler City Manager and veteran of the U.S. Army. "And this one is special for another reason. We're gathered on the 11th hour on the 11th day of the 11th month of the 11th year. That won't happen again in our lifetimes." (more on this story in this week's Stigler News Sentinel)

Best of the best

Norma Howard

By Doug Russell
News Editor
When she was small, Stigler artist Norma Howard would walk from her home to what is now Crossroads Store to buy a soda; reveling in the beauty around her.
She recreated some of that feeling with "Evening Walk," a painting that so impressed the judges of the 2011 Masters Art Show at the Five Tribes Museum in Muskogee she was awarded the John T. Griffin Memorial Award — including $7,000 — for Best in Show.
"I couldn't believe it," Howard said.
"Evening Walk" is a watercolor of a man and a child, walking along a roadway that stretches into the distance before them. "The interesting thing to me was the sky," Howard said. "You know how sometimes, when things are just right, it goes more yellow than orange? (more on this story in this week's Stigler News Sentinel)