Staff photo by Dennis Craig
A new generation of stars gathers for congratulations after the annual KI BOIS Headstart Christmas program held in the Stigler High School Auditorium Dec. 15.

A Christmas blessing …
36 years in the making

Submitted photo
Myron and Teresa reunite with their younger brother after 36 years. Pictured are, from left, Myron, Teresa and Scott. Below, the siblings as they appeared not long before they were seperated. A Stigler resident, Teresa said she was surprised to find she still had the old photos.

By Karen West
Staff Writer
Some little girls wish for a baby doll for Christmas and others may wish for a baby brother. Teresa had been wishing for years just to see her baby brother again.
In 1975, Myron, Teresa and Scotttie were living with their mother in Kansas City. Scotttie wasn't in school yet, but Myron and Teresa were; however, they missed quite a bit of school and, subsequently, a truancy officer arrived at their home.
"The truancy officer filed a report with DHS," Teresa said. Because of the truancy, and also because her mother wasn't the best housekeeper, she and her brothers were removed from their home. After almost a year in state care, the two older children were returned to their mother, but Scotttie was placed in a children's home. Teresa said her mother didn't have a choice, she couldn't get him back.
"The last time I saw Scotttie was in 1977," Teresa said. The memory of that last visit brought fresh tears. She remembers her stepfather taking her to see Scotttie at the children's home and that they had taken him a train set. She was 13 years old, Scottie was 7. "We only got to see him for about 30 minutes," she said. Then, she had to say goodbye again.
The children's home was located in Kansas City, Mo., and Scottie would spend a total of five years in state care. At first, the state wasn't going to allow him to be adopted since he was older, but when he was 10 years old, he was finally adopted by a family with two daughters. Several years later, the family moved to Austin, where Scottie grew up. (more on this story in this week's Stigler News Sentinel)

Tribes, Corps to work on water plan

By Doug Russell
News Editor
It's been two months since the Oklahoma Water Resources Board approved a $15 million water plan for the state, and now the Choctaw and Chickasaw nations are joining with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to work on a plan of their own.
In press releases issued Dec. 15, the Corps and the tribes said they will split the cost of the plan, which is to be a scientifically-based study looking at the water resources of 22 counties in Southeastern and Southcentral Oklahoma. According to the releases, the plan will assess and address conditions and needs for infrastructure throughout the region, something critics say was already examined in the state's comprehensive water plan.
But critics of the Oklahoma Comprehensive Water Plan say that plan doesn't go far enough, since it doesn't look at non-consumptive use.
As Charlette Hearn, president of Oklahomans for Responsible Water Policy, told the OWRB in September, under the state plan, " … Tourism, the state's third most productive industry, is not even considered as a water demand sector. This would allow for millions of acre feet to be permitted away into eternity as our tourism industry evaporates because our recreational waters dry up and disappear. (more on this story in this week's Stigler News Sentinel)