The Muskogee County Master

Gardener Program is provided

by the Muskogee County OSU
Extension Office as part of a
statewide program for consumer
horticulture education and vol-
unteerism.
The program includes both
classroom and hands-on learning
components. The initial 10-week
course consists of classroom les-
sons once a week taught by exten-
sion specialists and extension as-
sistance from Oklahoma State
University in Stillwater. Classes
are held on Thursdays at the
county extension office at the
Muskogee County Fairgrounds.
Students learn everything
about the basics of gardening.
Topics covered include flower bed
care, gardening, insect and dis-
ease control, landscaping, and
lawn care. Fruit and nut produc-
tion, pruning, soil improvement,
tree fruit production, tree plant-
ing, house plants, herbs, and oth-
er horticulture care complete the
course. The course
is capped with a
comprehensive ex-
am of the material
covered. Extension
Agent Mandy
Blocker says the
most popular top-
ic is growing veg-
etables with Dr.
Brandenberger,
and the most en-
tertaining class is
entomology taught
by Dr. Erik Re-
beck. Meeting the
experts who work behind the
scenes with county extension
agents across the state provides
a greater awareness of the vast
range of knowledge and resources
available from the Muskogee
County Extension Office.
After the 10-week course, stu-
dents participate in a volunteer
internship program, coordinated
by Blocker. To earn the title of
master gardener, participants are
required to give 50 hours of assis-
tance to Muskogee County OSU
Extension and the community
within a year of completing their
classroom work. In subsequent
years, master gardeners must
complete 20 volunteer hours and
20 hours of continuing education
at conferences and workshops in-
cluding those offered by the ex-
tension service.
Extension assistance includes
answering horticulture related
questions and making presenta-
tions to community groups. Vol-
unteers also work in the commu-
nity at the Honor Heights Park
Papilion and Chandler Commu-
nity Garden. At the Papilion, they
help with planting and maintain-
ing the demonstration plots and
volunteer during special events
under the direction of Kathy
Coburn, Papilion manager and
master gardener. Volunteers at
Chandler Community Garden
are working to beautify the areas
around the garden plots and out-
side the garden fence with na-
tive perennials under the direc-
tion of Jon Stoodley, master gar-
dener.
Thirty-five master gardeners
graduated from the last two
classes, and 25 are now actively
volunteering. A fall 2014 class is
planned for October through De-
cember. The classes are open to
anyone with a high school diplo-
ma or equivalent who has a gen-
uine interest in horticulture and
enjoys sharing knowledge with
others through volunteerism.
Blocker notes that her favorite
part of the program is seeing peo-
ple from all walks of life develop
friendships by learning together
and working side by side to apply
what theyve learned in the com-
munity.
Anyone interested in partici-
pating in the fall class can stop by
the Muskogee Farmers Market
on Wednesday or Saturday or
contact Mandy Blocker at (918)
686-7200 or mandy.blocker@ok-
state.edu for information about
registration and fees. Those who
sign up will receive information
in the mail and will be contacted
to schedule an interview.
Reach Rebecca Walkup at (918)
683-4600 or rwalkup@nbn-nrc.
org.
Muskogee Phoenix Sunday, May 11, 2014 Section A, Page 9
Local/State
Two men convicted in
Muskogee County who are
serving life sentences and
one who is serving 70 years
will be considered for pa-
role.
Sean Lamont Wright,
42, is serving life for rob-
bery with a firearm. His
sentence be-
gan in Sep-
tember 1991.
Wright was
convicted of
robbing a
teenager of a
gold chain in
1990. When
he was given a suspended
life sentence, then-District
Judge Jim Edmondson told
him that if he ran afoul of
the law again, he would
serve his time. In June
1991, Wright was convicted
in Okmulgee County of ad-
ditional felonies and sen-
tenced to three years in
prison. In February 1992,
Edmondson ordered him to
serve his life sentence in
prison.
Donald Lee Robertson,
43, is serving 70 years for
first-degree
rape. His
sentence be-
gan in May
1992. Robert-
son was con-
victed of rap-
ing a 10-
year-old girl
in 1991. In December 1991,
he pleaded guilty and was
give a two-year suspended
sentence. But Drew Ed-
mondson, district attorney
at the time, had that sen-
tence overturned. Robert-
son withdrew his plea, and
stood trial. The victim and
her family moved to anoth-
er state. The girl required
surgery to correct injuries
sustained from the rape
and treatment for a venere-
al disease.
Andre L. Traylor, 35, is
serving two consecutive life
sentences one for drugs
and one for first-degree
murder. His
sentence on
the murder
charge began
in 1996.
Traylor
pleaded
guilty in De-
cember 1996
to shooting to death 1-year-
old James Boykins Jr. on
Thanksgiving Day 1995.
The shooting was in retali-
ation for the slaying of
Michael Billings, 22, who
was fatally shot the previ-
ous day. Traylor testified
when he fired into the
Boykins home, he was try-
ing to shoot James Boykins
Sr., the babys father. Tray-
lor was sentenced to life in
prison for a previous drug
conviction. He was on pro-
bation at the time of the fa-
tal shooting.
The Oklahoma Pardon
and Parole Board will meet
Monday through Wednes-
day at the Kate Barnard
Community Corrections
Center, 3300 N. Martin
Luther King Ave. in Okla-
homa City.
Victims or victims rep-
resentatives may testify be-
fore the board makes a de-
cision.
Video conferencing is
used to conduct personal
appearance hearings. A vic-
tim or victim representa-
tive who wishes to appear
at a parole board hearing
can notify the Pardon and
Parole Board.
Information: Pardon and
Parole Board, First Nation-
al Center, 120 N. Robinson
Ave., Suite 900W, Okla-
homa City OK 73102 or call
(405) 602-5863.
Muskogee County
DuVALL, Joel L. As-
sault. Five years. Sentence
began October 2013.
GANN, Stormy S. As-
sault and battery with dan-
gerous weapon. 10 years.
Sentence began July 2011.
McCOG, Dean K. In-
timidation of a witness. 10
years. Sentence began Sep-
tember 2011.
PATTERSON, Floyd R.
III. Eluding police officer.
20 years. Sentence began
January 2006.
ROBERTSON, Donald
L. First-degree rape. 70
years. Sentence began May
1992.
TRAYLOR, Andre L.
Unlawful possession of nar-
cotic with intent to distrib-
ute. Life. Sentence began
March 1996.
WRIGHT, Sean L. Rob-
bery with firearm. Life.
Sentence began September
1991.
McIntosh County
JONES, Myricco A.
First-degree burglary. Sev-
en years. Sentence began
June 2010.
OLIVER, Johnnie L.
Trafficking in illegal drugs.
12 years and six-months.
Sentence began August
2007.
Wagoner County
RAMOS, Eleazar L.
Possession of controlled sub-
stance. Five years. Sentence
began September 2013.
Three Muskogee County convicts among parole hopefuls
Wright
Robertson
Traylor
Master Gardener Program sprouts volunteers
A new program is de-
signed to promote health
education to pregnant
women and new moms
through the Text4baby ini-
tiative, according to a me-
dia release.
The Oklahoma State De-
partment of Health, Okla-
homa Health Care Author-
ity, and more than 20 part-
ners are working to
improve birth outcomes
and prevent infant mortal-
ity in Oklahoma.
Text4baby is a free text
messaging service providing
information on a broad
range of topics critical to ma-
ternal and child health, in-
cluding vaccination, breast-
feeding, smoking cessation,
safe sleep, the importance of
full-term delivery (at least
40 weeks), and more.
Text4baby has evolved to
include interactive appoint-
ment and immunization re-
minders, educational videos,
urgent health alerts on
time-sensitive issues such
as product recalls and natu-
ral disasters, and links to
Oklahoma-specific health-
related services. Since
launching, Text4baby has
enrolled more than 688,000
moms nationwide and near-
ly 14,000 Oklahoma moms.
To sign up for Text4ba-
by, text the word BABY
(BEBE for Spanish) to
511411 from a cell phone
or register online at
www.text4baby.org. Text4b
abys annual state enroll-
ment contest kicks off to-
day. Participants will re-
ceive FREE text messages
until the baby is 1 year old.
Individuals will not be
charged for text messages
through this program.
To learn more about
Text4baby, visit www
.text4baby.org. For informa-
tion about the Preparing
for a Lifetime, Its Every-
ones Responsibility initia-
tive, visit http://iio.health.
ok.gov or call (405) 271-
4480.
Rebecca
Walkup
Nonprofit
Buzz
Baby health program
uses text messages
Meigs Jewelry of Tahle-
quah was named the Down-
town Business of the Year
at the 25th annual Main
Street Awards Banquet, a
media release states.
The Oklahoma Main
Street Center announced
the winners in 20 competi-
tive award categories at the
banquet May 6 at the Na-
tional Cowboy and Western
Heritage Museum in Okla-
homa City.
Tahlequah store wins award