Local/Area News
Appointments are not required on this day, so customers are encouraged to show up early, as applicants will be served on a first-come, first-served basis until the applicant maximum capacity has been reached.
To obtain a passport applicants need to:Bring proper proof of American citizenship. This must be either a certified birth certificate issued by the city, county or state; naturalization certificate (a hospital-issued birth certificate alone is not acceptable); consular report of birth abroad; certificate of citizenship; or a previous U.S. passport.
Each applicant must bring a clear photocopy of their proof of American citizenship that will be presented at the time of passport acceptance. If the document is two sided, then a photocopy of the front and back of the document must be provided.
Bring proof of identity. This must be either: a previous U.S. passport or passport card; certificate of naturalization with identifiable photo attached; certificate of citizenship with identifiable photo attached; valid driver’s license (not temporary or learner’s permit); Official U.S. military or military dependent identification card; government employee identification card (federal, state, municipal, county); current valid foreign passport.
Each applicant must bring a clear photocopy of their proof of identity that will be presented at the time of passport acceptance. If the document is two sided, then a photocopy of the front and back of the document must be provided.
The passport application requires recent color passport photograph of you (2” x 2” in size), which the Post Office Passport Office can provide for $15.
To save time, customers may download a passport application at www.usps.com/passport to complete beforehand.
All applicants must appear in person (including minors).
Minors under the age of 16 must appear with both parents. If one parent is not available, a notarized authorization from the absent parent is required.
Each passport for an adult must be accompanied by a check or money order for $110 made payable to the U.S. State Department and a $35 execution fee made payable to Postmaster. Fees for children under 16 are $80 and $35.
The cost to expedite processing at the Department of State is $60 paid per application in addition to required fees.
he cost to expedite delivery service to the passport processing lockbox is $25.50 per family for Priority Mail Express paid to the United States Postal Service.
The cost to expedite delivery service is $16.48 paid per application directly to the Department of State for the delivery of an issued passport book from the Department of State to the customer. This service is only available to mailing addresses within the United States. Not valid for passport cards.
With less than a week to go before the annual Okmulgee County Relay for Life starts, the fund-raising effort got a boost Friday night. The bingo game at the First Family Federal Credit Union Briefcase room brought in nearly $1,000. Organizers said the effort was a success and plan to hold another event later this year. No date has been selected yet.
The free event will be held at the Henryetta first Baptist church gym with all items made by hand.
Four generations have passed since The Greatest Generation went to war in a global conflict that lasted from 1941 to 1945.
To many that long ago war is just a footnote in history books but one Henryetta family wants to make sure it is not forgotten.
William Roscoe “Rock” Enis was a member of the Seventh Infantry Division, not much older than those seniors who will receive their diplomas this coming May. He and others in the division battled through some of the toughest engagements in the Pacific including the Aleutian Islands, Leyte, and Okinawa.
Those battles are available for Henryetta area residents to study with the donation of digital DVDs donated to the Henryetta library this week.
Rock died earlier this year leaving behind his wife, Pat, son Rick and daughter Betsy.
Pat and Betsy presented librarian Joann Hott with the DVDs garnered from military movies of the day. They contain the battle for Leyte and Luzon as well as the engagements at Attu and Kiska in the Aleutian island chain of Alaska.
“He was in the artillery that was part of the Seventh Division,” Pat said Wednesday.
“At first he didn’t talk much about the war but, after his second Honor Flight trip to Washington, D.C., he would tell us some of the stories.”
She recalled her husband’s memories of the battles at Saipan and Okinawa where local residents told by the Japanese they would be tortured, chose instead to jump from cliffs and kill themselves. “He remembered seeing whole families jump to their deaths.”
“He told us that the artillery shelling was so frequent that at times, “if he was sleeping when the shelling stopped, it would wake him up.”
At the end of the war, he went to Korea and wound up ashore with an officer and some other soldiers. Not knowing where they were at, they ran into some members of the now-defeated Japanese army who were able to direct the Americans to Seoul so they could join their comrades.
The Aleutian Island fighting was the only battles of the war actually carried on the North American continent.
“Rock told us that he was with an officer who watched the films and pointed out where the fighting took place.
Hott said the DVDs are available to be viewed at the library to anyone who has a Henryetta public library card. The original VHS tapes from the series, "The Big Picture," and "Alaska at War," are going to be placed in a display case at the library.
As spring storm season arrives, Henryetta school administrators are reminding residents two shelters are available in the event severe weather strikes after hours.
The STEM building and kindergarten center both have been built to double as storm shelters. Walls and ceilings are strengthened and steel shutters will close off windows in the event of tornadoes.
“Outside of normal school hours before 7:30 a.m. and after 4:30 p.m., the Safe Room will be available for residents in the community,” superintendent Dwayne Noble said. The facility will be ready for use when a tornado watch is issued and opened for residents to seek shelter. It will close when the watch or tornado warning expires.
When a tornado watch or warning is expected for the area and a notice is given by city officials or the local tornado sirens are sounded the doors will be unlocked and help residents if needed.
Noble said the shelter team will monitor the storm’s progress and will be able to contact emergency personnel in the event of injuries.
Once an all clear call is given, the shelter will be closed.
During school hours students will be given priority. This past year a number of drills have been held with students clearing the buildings and getting to the safe rooms in less than seven minutes.
At no time are weapons of any kind allowed in the Safe Room and on all school property. Also prohibited are vapor devices, tobacco in any form, alcohol and drugs not prescribed by a doctor.
No pets are allowed in the safe rooms. Only service animals will be allowed and anyone with a service animal must fill out a Special Needs form. If a person has a service animal, it must be certified and owners should bring aid animal documentation, collar and harness tag, leash and cleaning supplies for animal waste.
A form is available at the Henryetta school board office at 1801 Troy Aikman drive.
Full rules and Special Needs form can be downloaded here: {phocadownload view=file|id=43|target=s}