Muskogee City Council sets August vote on $78M bond issue, sales tax renewal

County Assessor Ron Dean during public comment at the Muskogee City Council meeting Monday

Brace for impact, Muskogee: our city council has set an election for a bond and sales tax proposal totaling over $78,000,000 on August 27th.

I dropped in for my first city council meeting in years yesterday when I heard that a special meeting had been called to vote on sending the mega-million dollar package to the ballot. You can view the agenda here; scroll down to items 14, 15, 16, and 17.

Local family supports Police, Fire, EMS with unique gifts

Amid all the negative national attention on law enforcement, one Muskogee family decided to show their support for local emergency services in a unique manner.

Teaching their children to be comfortable approaching law enforcement officers, this week the Walls family started giving out the pictured "Survival Kits" of candy to various police, fire and EMS. They were gracious enough to answer some questions for this post.

1) What prompted you to do this?
"With everything bad going on with the police etc, I wanted to give our local police something positive."

2) What agencies have you provided the kits to?
"Muskogee Police Department, Muskogee Fire Department, and EMS."

3) How many kits have you handed out so far?
"We have handed out 15 so far, but will be doing more this week."

4) What do you hope people can learn from this?
"I hope people will become more comfortable with our officers and know they're here to help!"

5) How has the response been when you've given these out?
"I have got only great responses! Especially from the fire station #4, they really welcomed my kids! Even let them see the fire truck!"

What a great idea for productive and positive interaction for their children. It's good to see members of our community supporting those agencies that are there for us 24/7. Let's hope we see more of this rather than the negative, destructive behavior often in the news.

Muskogee Shooting Information

On Saturday, Muskogee had its first homicide since 2007. Gang members fired shots in Arrowhead Mall in downtown Muskogee, killing one person and wounding five.

MuskogeeNOW.com has recordings from two 911 phone calls here.

Three suspects were apprehended today, but one person of interest remains at large.

Police are looking for a black male from Summit named Daniel Jermaine Anderson, born 12-29-1989, about 5’8” and 150lbs-160lbs. If you have any information, please call 682-COPS (682-2677) or 680-8000.

Crime Mapping Site Available for Muskogee

The Muskogee Police Department has signed up with www.CrimeReports.com to report crime in the City of Muskogee. Citizens can log onto the website, and view crime reports from the past six months and registered sex offenders across the city via flags in the vicinity of the crime.

CrimeReports is an interactive mapping site that currently partners with over 600 law enforcement agencies across the nation. As of today, Muskogee, Broken Arrow and Sand Springs (in order of commencement) are the only cities in Oklahoma to provide this service.

It costs the Police Department $99 per month, paid for by a federal Weed and Seed grant.