Thursday, June 19, 2014 | Vol. 91, No. 236 See you on Facebook! www.facebook.com/ClintonDailyNews USPS 118620 | clintondailynews.

com
CLINTON DAILY NEWS CLINTON DAILY NEWS
Proudly Serving
Western Oklahoma
Since 1903
THURSDAY
50 Cents
REDS BEST ELKS!
Tornadoes score 33 runs
in two games vs. Elk City 5
White vinyl three-rail fenc-
ing is in the process of being
installed around the front and
north sides of the Clinton Vet-
erans Center campus in south
Clinton on U.S. Highway 183.
Center Administrator Kath-
ryn Kreizenbeck said the strong
winds the past few days made
it difcult for crews to get their
string lines straight to put in the
vertical posts for the project so
they are waiting to set the posts
in concrete once conditions are
better.
Kreizenbeck said the chain
link fencing that had marked
the sprawling property for many
decades had been run through
and was rusted in several places.
It was becoming an eyesore,
she said.
In addition to the fence,
Kreizenbeck said they had
resurfaced the main parking lot
and added some parking to the
front of the facility as well as do-
ing some bathroom remodeling.
Other capital improvements
are on the schedule such as
replacing the emergency gen-
erator. The centers last major
expansion project was the new
cafeteria wing.
Kreizenbeck admitted that
there has been some confusion
over the years about the aflia-
tion of the center.
Although it once had a federal
Veterans Afairs Community-
Based Outpatient (CBOT) clinic
BY STEVE BELCHER
Clinton Daily News
See CENTER, page 4
Council gets
mixed review
of water results
One of the wells at Canute
from which Clinton hopes to
buy water tested excellent on
nitrate content while another
just three-quarters of a mile
away was not so promising,
the citys water search team
reported Tuesday in an up-
date to the City Council.
Brian Meier, an engineer for
Burns & McDonnell, said one
Canute well tested 7 parts
nitrate per million gallons of
water, which is well below the
Oklahoma Department of En-
vironmental Qualitys maxi-
mum allowable of 10 ppm.
The other well, though,
measured 23.5 ppm in an
initial test done June 9. It
dropped the next day to 19.1
and the following day to 18.8.
Those levels are still much
more elevated than we would
like, said Jeromy Brush,
local project manager for
Severn Trent, which put
together the ve-company
search team.
Among other items report-
ed on at Tuesdays meeting,
spokesmen conrmed that it
appears a site at the west edge
of town would be the best lo-
cation for the citys new water
treatment plant, when and if
its built, and the irrigation
well at Riverside Golf Course
has excellent water ow.
The team also said its look-
ing at cleaning and reusing
wastewater from the sewer
plant but not necessarily as
drinking water.
Were looking at options,
said Meier, stating that one
possibility would be to re-
place groundwater being used
to irrigate the golf course
with recycled wastewater and
making the golf course water
part of the public supply go-
ing to homes and businesses.
He said a temporary meter
was put on the golf course
well Tuesday and it owed
642 gallons per minute. That
well was partially ow-tested
in February and a spokes-
man for the citys previous
engineer, Professional En-
gineering Consultants of
Tulsa, said he could extrap-
olate that it would produce
over 600 gpm.
As for the location of a
water treatment plant, Meier
said the best site seems to
be city-owned property on
the west side of town across
Modelle Avenue from Acme
Brick Park. The city pur-
chased 32.1 acres there in
2011 as the possible site for a
new housing addition but has
done nothing with it.
Former city manager Steve
Hewitt mentioned it as a good
spot for a new water treat-
ment plant a year ago.
Meier agreed. It seems to
be the best location, he said,
pointing out that its close to
water lines from both Clinton
Lake and Foss Reservoir and
it would be easy to get treated
water from a new plant there
into the citys distribution
system.
The city paid $175,000 for the
32 acres when it was bought.
Preliminary evaluation and
design of the possible new
plant is moving forward,
said Meier.
He also said the team has
been coordinating with regu-
latory agencies, getting them
involved. Meetings were held
June 2 with the Oklahoma
Department of Environmen-
tal Quality and June 12 with
the Oklahoma Water resour-
ces Board.
Mayor Seth Adams wanted
to know if possible sites for
new wells included Clinton.
BY GERALD GREEN
Clinton Daily News
See WELLS, page 4
Directors of Cordell Memorial
Hospital voted at a noon meeting
Wednesday to hire an Oklahoma
City law rm to le suit against
Washita County commissioners,
hospital Administrator Charlie
Greene said shortly after the
meeting.
Although he did not know
what the suit will allege, Greene
said it will be about the sales tax
that will be on the ballot when
voters go to the polls Tuesday.
Hes hoping the law rm,
Gable and Gotwals, will le the
suit prior to the election. Asked
if former Oklahoma attorney
general Drew Edmondson is a
member of the law rm, Greene
said thats his understanding.
Actually, there will be two
sales taxes on the ballot one
for half a cent that would ben-
et the hospital and the other
for ve-eighths of a cent that
would benet Washita Countys
eleven re departments and its
three emergency management
systems.
Commissioners voted last
Thursday to cancel a resolution
calling for the hospital sales tax
that got it on the ballot because
the resolution mentioned not
only the sales tax but also the
county use tax. Chairman
James Gee said only the county
is authorized to spend use tax
proceeds.
The commissioners action
essentially meant that votes
cast on the hospital sales tax
would not be certied. Greene
is urging them to vote anyhow,
feeling the vote eventually will
be certied.
He said the hospital is owned
by the City of Cordell but has
been leased since 1989 to the
Cordell Hospital Authority
which operates it. Its the only
hospital in Washita County and
has been supported for the past
10 years by a half-cent county
sales tax. However, the tax
expires in October and must be
renewed by voters if the hospital
Cordell
hospital
filing suit
See SALES TAXES, page 4
Fence, parking lot, generator among Vet Center upgrades
CDN | Robert S. Bryan
Gone is the rusted chain link fence that used to greet Clinton Veterans Center visitors. A vinyl three-rail fence is among
recent improvements to one of Clintons major medical facilities.
All lit up
Clinton should be a city of lights again after Pub-
lic Service Company workers Wednesday erected
the last two of nine light poles along I-40 that had
been down for a while. This one was at the east-
bound Kmart exit. Supervisor Larry Clifton said
PSO had been having difculty getting poles.
CDN | Robert S. Bryan