Winter Storm 2010
Cattle with snow and ice covering their backs on SH 4 just south of Piedmont, Okla., Friday, Jan. 29, 2010. Photo by Paul B. Southerland, The Oklahoman
Oklahomans are digging out from the winter storm that hit the state beginning last Thursday. Below are some of the photos Oklahoman staff photographers have taken out in the snow and ice. To see galleries of even more photos from the ice and snow, follow the links below.
A crowd of people make their way up a hill as people sled at Will Rogers Park in Oklahoma City, Saturday, Jan. 30, 2010. Photo by Bryan Terry, The Oklahoman
A mail box is covered in ice on Pine road in Logan County, Okla., January 29, 2010. Photo by Steve Gooch, The Oklahoman
Purcell firefighter Jason Benefiel cuts limbs obstructing traffic on Friday, Jan. 29, 2010, in Purcell, Okla., after a winter storm. Photo by Steve Sisney, The Oklahoman
Icicles on the trunk of a car, Friday, Jan. 29 , 2010. Photo by Jim Beckel, The Oklahoman
City workers clear the sidewalks in downtown Edmond, Okla., Friday , January 29, 2010. Photo by David McDaniel, The Oklahoman
Cars are scarce on I-35 in Edmond, Okla., Friday, Jan. 29, 2010. By Paul Hellstern, The Oklahoman
A woman, who only would gave her name as Florence, knocks snow from her shoes as she stands beneath a curtain of icicles after clearing snow from her car at her Del City apartment on Tyanne Blvd., Jan. 30, 2010. Photo by Jim Beckel, The Oklahoman
Nancy Mergler, University of Oklahoma Provost, clears her rear windshield to head home at 1:15 pm. President David Boren called off classes for the remainder of Thursday and all of Friday as a winter storm moved into the area on Thursday, Jan. 28, 2010, in Norman, Okla. Photo by Steve Sisney, The Oklahoman
Oklahoma City resident Timothy Hickey puts the finishing touches on a polar bear at his home in Oklahoma City, Saturday, Jan. 30, 2010. By Paul Hellstern, The Oklahoman
Chris Roberts is pulled by a power kite on a snowboard at Lake Hefner during a winter storm in Oklahoma City, Friday, January 29, 2010. Photo by Nate Billings, The Oklahoman
-Nate Billings
We Remember
Yesterday was the ninth anniversary of the plane crash that killed ten men associated with the OSU men’s basketball program. Here’s a photo Bryan Terry took before the OSU men’s basketball game that happened on the anniversary yesterday.
Vina Weiberg sits on Wednesday, January 27, 2010, at a memorial inside Gallagher-Iba Arena for the ten men with the OSU men's basketball program that were killed in a plane crash on the January 27, 2001. Weiberg's son Jared Weiberg died in that plane crash. Photo by Bryan Terry, The Oklahoman
-Nate Billings
Daily Assignments
We like to blog about things like this (or this) because we care about the pictures and because we feel that the pictures make a difference and we want both of you who read this to see it. Maybe, as in this case, a photographer brought in the story idea or had an idea to make a regular assignment into a multimedia slideshow or video. But we get sent to regular, daily assignments too just like all newspaper photographers everywhere. Groundbreakings are a perfect example. Newspaper photographers have been sent to groundbreaking ceremonies since the beginning of groundbreakings. I went to one on Monday in Norman.
Natalie Shirley, the Secretary of Commerce & Tourism and Executive Director for the Oklahoma Department of Commerce, Yoshinori Okami of Hitachi Data Systems Corp. and Oklahoma Governor Brad Henry (from left to right) join others in turning dirt during a groundbreaking ceremony at Hitachi Computers in Norman on Monday, Jan. 25, 2010. Photo by John Clanton, The Oklahoman
Here’s a “behind the scenes” moment of a person arranging the dignitaries for their official groundbreaking picture.
Gene Rainbolt, Sharon McLeod, Leslie Rainbolt Forbes, OU President David Boren and Sandra O'Brien (from left to right) get arranged behind the correct shovels before a groundbreaking ceremony outside Collings Hall on the University of Oklahoma campus in Norman on Monday, Nov. 3, 2008. By John Clanton, The Oklahoman
I always try not to get a boring picture. I try to look for a picture that doesn’t feel as posed as groundbreaking pictures are designed to feel. Sometimes my idea makes the paper and sometimes it doesn’t.
-John Clanton
A New Family
Whispers passed through the crowd that they were walking down the terminal. Eager family members and media pressed in close to ‘Do Not Enter’ signs waiting to be the first to see them. An expectant father talked about how overwhelmed the kids would be. A new country, new language, most had probably never been on a plane before or had this kind of greeting. When they came around the corner, they were welcomed with cheers, signs and hugs as they waded into the crowd looking for their new families.
Stephen Lee kisses his newly adopted daughter Biverlie as they meet at Will Rogers World Airport in Oklahoma City early on Thursday, Jan. 21, 2010. Photo by John Clanton, The Oklahoman
Brittney DeWitt, of Tuttle, Okla., hugs her new sister Gardina as they meet at Will Rogers World Airport in Oklahoma City early on Thursday, Jan. 21, 2010. Photo by Sarah Phipps, The Oklahoman
-John Clanton
Life on MLK part 4
Sharon McMillan serves Jeannette Robinson at the Carican Flavors, 2701 N. Martin Luther King Ave., restaurant is shown, Thursday, Jan. 14, 2009. Photo by Sarah Phipps, The Oklahoman
Sharon McMillan left her corporate job to chase a dream. In August 2005 she opened a Caribbean-American restaurant on the city’s northeast side.
“On this side of town, I thought that there was a definite need for a restaurant like mine because most folks in this neighborhood seem to have to go out of their neighborhood to different restaurants and so forth,” she said.
Her restaurant offers heathy “home-style” meals.
McMillan’s version of the American dream began as a teenager when she immigrated to America from Trinidad with her parents.
“It started with my parents, I have to say, for them it was an opportunity to leave poverty. For them, to come to a place where they can have opportunity for jobs, opportunity for education. And when they came and they brought us with them they transferred those same ideas to us, ” She said.
McMillan dreams to see her business grow and to continue to have the opportunity provide healthy meals to the neighborhoods surrounding her restaurant.
See the entire project here.
View slideshow of Carican Flavors below:
The Carican Flavors, 2701 N. Martin Luther King Ave., restaurant is shown, Thursday, Jan. 14, 2009. Photo by Sarah Phipps, The Oklahoman
Life on MLK Part Three
Leo Turner, 75, poses for a portrait at the Lincoln Senior Center, 4712 North Martin Luther King Avenue, Wednesday Jan. 13, 2009, in Oklahoma City. Photo by Sarah Phipps, The Oklahoman
Elder Robinson, 85, shuffles dominos at the Lincoln Senior Center, 4712 North Martin Luther King Avenue, Friday, Jan. 8, 2009, in Oklahoma City. Photo by Sarah Phipps, The Oklahoman
Leo Turner, 75, spends his free time Lincoln Senior Center, 4712 Martin Luther King Ave., playing dominoes, eating lunch and talking with friends.
“It’s home away from home,” he said
“It is somewhere for me to go without the walls closing in on me. I get to meet new people, these are my old friends. So, we can sit down play a game together.”
Watch a slideshow of Turner and his friends at the senior center below. View the entire project here
Life on MLK Part two
Kittakone Sirisombath, 4th grade, poses for a picture at Millwood Arts Academy, 6700 Martin Luther King Ave., Monday, Jan. 11, 2010, in Oklahoma City. Photo by Sarah Phipps, The Oklahoman
Millwood Arts Academy fourth-grader Kittakome Sirisombath can rattle off the ending to Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech as if he wrote it himself.
He memorized it, not because a teacher or parent told him to, but because he feels it is important to learn black history.
He said he is free today because of the struggles and works of the civil rights leaders and it is important to understand their plight in order to keep their hopes and dreams alive.
Learning the “I Have a Dream” speech is the 9-year-old’s way of continuing the legacy of Dr. King.
Watch Sirisombath read the speech below.
See Sirisombath and his classmates Santa Randle, Maygen Fisher, DeJaMarie Swenson, Cameron Batson and Mekale Chapple read the speech together here.
Life on MLK Part One
A stop sign is pictured at NE 17th and Martin Luther King Avenue in Oklahoma City, Sunday, Jan. 10, 2010. Photo by Sarah Phipps, The Oklahoman
It is popular for communities across the nation to immortalize the legendary civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., by naming a street in his honor.
It might be a boulevard, a drive or avenue.
In Allentown, Pa., it is Martin Luther King Drive. In Baltimore, Md., it is a boulevard. In Louisville, Ky., it is an expressway.
In Oklahoma City, it is Martin Luther King Avenue. Commonly mistaken for a boulevard, it quietly begins around Wilshire Boulevard and runs straight south to 1-40, where it ends as quickly as it began.
MLK is lined with all kinds of life from schools to homes to abandoned buildings. The Freedom Center, 2609 N. Martin Luther King Ave., symbolizes its civil rights roots.
The name change of Oklahoma City’s Eastern Ave. to Martin Luther King Ave. in 1985 was not immune to controversy.
But for Devin Richardson who grew up in the neighborhood, the change was important to the community that surrounds it.
“I think it meant a lot, because you’re remembering one of our big, historical black leaders,” she said.
Two months ago, I began exploring the avenue for evidence of Dr. King’s dream. For the next week, and periodically throughout the month the February, Black History Month, I will be sharing the stories of people who live and work along MLK.
Check back often at Alternate Crop and here for updates as this story continues to grow.
The Freedom Center is pictured on Martin Luther King Avenue in Oklahoma City, Sunday, Jan. 10, 2010. Photo by Sarah Phipps, The Oklahoman
Douglass High School is pictured at 900 Martin Luther King Ave., in Oklahoma City, Monday, Jan. 11, 2010. Photo by Sarah Phipps, The Oklahoman
A shop is pictured at 1300 Martin Luther King Ave., is pictured in Oklahoma City, Monday, Jan. 11, 2010. Photo by Sarah Phipps, The Oklahoman
Episcopal Church of the Redeemer, 2100 Martin Luther King Ave., is pictured in Oklahoma City, Monday, Jan. 11, 2010. Photo by Sarah Phipps, The Oklahoman
Members of Israelite Church of God in Christ preach on the corner of Martin Luther King Avenue and 23rd Street in Oklahoma City, Monday, Jan. 11, 20010. Photo by Sarah Phipps, The Oklahoman
Click here for more on Martin Luther King Avenue in Oklahoma City.
Images from Haiti
People cover their faces as they walk past a coffin at a street in Port-au-Prince, Friday, Jan. 15, 2010. A powerful earthquake hit Haiti Tuesday. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
Images, slideshows videos and stories are streaming out of Haiti following the devastating earthquake earlier this week. Here’s a quick look at what we’ve been watching:
From Carolyn Cole at The Los Angeles Times
-John Clanton
Candlelight Vigil
Last Night, Bryan Terry photographed a candlelight vigil to honor Summer Rust and her four children who were killed last year in El Reno. The picture on today’s front page captures the heartache that the Rust family and the community are still feeling. Click here to read the story from the vigil.
Summer Rust's mother Susan Rust and Robbie Booth, Summer's brother, hold each other during a vigil for Summer Rust and her four children in El Reno, Tuesday, January 12, 2010. Summer Rust and her four children were murdered one year ago in El Reno, Okla. Photo by Bryan Terry, The Oklahoman
-John Clanton
