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Had an old Geezers meeting Monday, April 11, at Smokin Joes. We had 18 show up and there were lots of stories! Those attending were: Ann Kernek Kaiser, Mike Agan, Coby Wells, Bobbie Jo Loomis Wells, Rosalia Mendoza, Mike Winningham, Denny Langdon, Jerry Harwell, Keith Kernek, Gayle Frederick, Geneal Frederick and Joyce Loomis Kernek. Thank you Smokin’ Joe’s Rib Ranch for the new Geezer hats!

Holdenville FFA has received a special grant! The Making Things Better Grant Program is aimed at developing and advancing Oklahoma’s rural communities. Their grant was written to provide further aide to their clean up project partnering with Holdenville Lake! They will receive recognition at the Oklahoma FFA Convention next month!

The 13 Annual Native American Convocataion will be held on Sunday, April 24, 2022 at 6:00 p.m. at the Buck Family Pavilion. Keynote speaker will be Celena George, Miss Indian OU 2020/2022. The event is sponsored by the Council of Holdenville American Indian Alumni and for social distancing purposes it will be held as a drive-in style. Everyone is invited to attend.

On February 27, 1889 Illinois representative William M. Springer added section 13 to the annual Indian Appropriation bill which authorized the President to open the lands to settlement through issuance of a proclamation. Known as the Springer Amendment, this rider authorized settlement under the provisions of the Homestead Act of 1862 and it denied the original settlers their squatter’s rights. They were to be expelled and the lands were to be settled by a land run. The Act as amended was signed into law by President Grover Cleveland on March 2, 1889. During his third week in office, President Benjamin Harrison issued a proclamation on March 23, 1889 to settle the 1,887,796 acres. In what would be known as the Run of ‘89, eligible persons were authorized to enter at noon on April 22, 1889 for the purpose of occupying a quarter section (160 acres, or ½ mile by ½ mile square). Oklahoma’s first land run opened all or part of the present counties of Canadian, Cleveland, Kingfisher, Logan, Oklahoma, and Payne. Tent cities emerged at the first settlements of Oklahoma City, Kingfisher, El Reno, Norman, Guthrie and Stillwater.

Those who say there’s no such thing as destiny need to meet Jack Waksal and Sam Ron, victims who met during the Holocaust, and who met again 79 years later in South Florida. Having endured slave labor shoulder to shoulder in the Pionki Labor Camp in Poland, the two were separated after Waksal escaped into the forest, and Ron was moved to a different camp that was ultimately liberated.

Jody and Speedy Briggs and family eagerly welcomed son James Ingham and wife Ezra home for a visit after being in Japan for 18 months. The couple is stationed in Japan in the Navy for another 1 1/2 years. Pictured above are (back row) Jody Briggs (mother), Jane Sullivan (grandmother), Speedy Briggs (dad), (middle row) Jeremy Green (brother-in-law), Miriam Green (sister), Jenna Briggs (sister), John Richmond (brother), James Ingham, (front row) Georgia Green (niece), Aria Green (niece), Ezra Ingham.

APRIL 20 TH 1898: The Spanish-American War begins. After the USS Maine exploded in the harbor of Havana during the Cuban War for Independence, the United States entered the war.