"This & That" News - April 1998 to June 1998

If you're looking for a certain article I wrote in a past issue of "This & That" you might find it faster by doing a "search" with your browser. With Netscape just click your mouse at the top at EDIT and then FIND and type in the word or words you're looking for. Since I don't use Internet Explorer, I'm not sure exactly how you do a search there, but I'm sure you can.

Below is April 4, 1998 to June 27, 1998. The latest issue is at the top, and the oldest issue of "This & That" for this time period is at the bottom.

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From: butchbridges@oklahomahistory.net (Butch Bridges)

Saturday, June 27, 1998 (weekly) Vol 2 Issue 62

You just never know when a friend is going to walk up out of the blue and do something nice for you. So dont forget who your friends are. I had this very thing happen this past week. Rome Ingle came to the courthouse, and like a bloodhound sniffed me out. I was in the county treasurer's office finishing up some things on her new computer system. Rome gave me one of his "snakebite shockers" to try out. If you get bit by a snake, wasp, or even a misquito, you can give the bite a few shocks, and it instantly neutralizes it. Works almost like magic, who'd ever dream such a device could work such a wonder. Check his little miracle working device out at
http://www.ardnet.com/venom-x

I been thinking about getting one of those cameras that doesn't use film...... take pics, then use a cable to download them to the computer. I sure could use one taking these pics all over Oklahoma. Maybe someone knows where I can get one at a good price.

Last Saturday I traveled 30 miles south to Gainesville, Texas and decided to take some pics along the way. Got some pretty interesting photos. But first........

My friend Ann Randolph here in Ardmore gave me an old photo of Hobart, Oklahoma taken August 1, 1901.....that's before statehood!
http://www.brightok.net/chickasaw/ardmore/county/photos/hobart.jpg

Last April 4th we had the Chili Cookoff here in Ardmore. This is a pic of the Kid's Day held at Central Park that day. The guy in the blue hat and outfit is my friend Al Hamilton. He DJ'd the event for the kids (DJ for KVSO Radio).
http://www.brightok.net/~bridges/kidsday.jpg

Here is look at Main Street near Washington and Main and the crowd
http://www.brightok.net/~bridges/chili.jpg

Here is a close-up of two chili cookoff contestants. I tried probably two dozen samples, and these guys had to have the worst stuff I ever ate..... not sure it was even chili. hahahaha
http://www.brightok.net/~bridges/chili2.jpg

Something interesting happened at the courthouse during the early morning hours of St Patrick's Day (March 17th). You see, this banner mysteriously showed up on the front lawn. It said "Erin Go Brath". Everyone wondered just what that meant? People wondered who put this banner up. Some thought maybe it was a Leprecaun who put the banner up. Whatever the case may be, it certainly turned heads. Here's a pic I snapped of this mystery.......
http://www.brightok.net/chickasaw/ardmore/county/photos/brath.jpg
and here's about all I could find on the Net about "Erin Go Brath"
http://www.goof.com/~pmurphy/irish_phrases.html

Now, back to my trip down I-35 toward Marietta, Thackerville, Oklahoma and Gainesville, Texas. I guess my friend Leroy "Mac" McDaniel really got me into this "travelling" thing. He called me one Saturday in March and asked if I wanted to go riding with him and take some pics. I said sure! So we just headed out.... not knowing where we were going. Here's a photo of probably the skinnest water tower in Oklahoma, if not the world. We found it in the small community of Burneyville, Oklahoma. Burneyville is just a few miles west of Marietta on Highway 32, then south a ways.
http://www.brightok.net/~bridges/burtower.jpg

The Cook County Courthouse dome and clock in Gainesville, Texas. Their clock works great...... and their dome is made of copper. They had to redo the dome around 1990. We are hoping to restore our courthouse dome back to it's original state.... copper.
http://www.brightok.net/chickasaw/ardmore/county/photos/cookco.jpg
Here's our courthouse in 1927..... copper dome........ so beautiful.
http://www.brightok.net/chickasaw/ardmore/county/photos/court27.jpg

Here's the Gainesville, Texas train depot. Absolutely beautiful!!! And in immaculate condition...... they really keep it in good shape!
http://www.brightok.net/~bridges/gainesde.jpg

Several of the downtown streets are still the old red brick.
http://www.brightok.net/~bridges/gainestr.jpg

Just east of Gainesville, TX about ten miles is Whitesboro. I found this Poke growing..... I remember my grandmother picking Poke back behind our lumber yard. She cooked it, mixed it with scrambled eggs, sure was good!
http://www.brightok.net/~bridges/poke.jpg

As you come into Whitesboro just on the north edge of town, I found two wagons and a carriage from the bygone days.
http://www.brightok.net/~bridges/wagon.jpg
http://www.brightok.net/~bridges/wagon2.jpg
http://www.brightok.net/~bridges/carriage.jpg

Here's pic of this old church, built around 1905 in Whitesboro.
http://www.brightok.net/~bridges/wchurch.jpg
They still use it for weddings and such. Had some vandal's damage it though....... those beautiful stained glass windows.

Back across the Red River on the Oklahoma side is Thackerville. At the 1 mile marker you can exit off to the east and take that road on around back to the south to Brown's Springs. There been a lot of bodies found near those springs over the past 25 years. It's still a mystery who did it. Just a few feet north of the springs is an old Indian burial ground. It's been pretty much desecrated over the years, not much left now. Here's a pic of Brown's Springs,
http://www.brightok.net/~bridges/brown2.jpg
If you look close you can even see this turtle in the water. Here's more info......
http://www.brightok.net/~bridges/brownspr.html

Just as you get off Interstate 35 at the One Mile Marker on the east side I found this vegetable stand run by Mr. Dan Kretzschmar. Dan is 68 years young and remembers a lot about Brown's Springs. He also remembers the old toll bridge that went across the Red River into Texas. He said they closed it down when he was about 6 or 7 years old. Here's a pic of that Toll Bridge across the Red River between Texas and Oklahoma..... just north of Gainesville, TX.
http://www.brightok.net/~bridges/redbri30.jpg

Dan didnt have too much this time at his vegetable stand, but said he was getting tomatoes and corn in soon. He also only sells locally grown watermelons, still to early for those. He did have some beef jerky he makes... $1 for a big slice. He was going to give me another smaller piece, but couldnt find a small piece, so he just said, "here take another large piece." Dan was a great guy to talk to... so if you're ever at the One Mile Marker just south of Thackerville, pull off and see him. Tell him I sent you. If you ever want to know anything about that area, he lives just down the road, give Dan a call at 580-276-2053. Here's a pic of Dan and his vegetable stand.
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/dan2.jpg
and here's a closeup of Dan
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos/dan1.jpg

18 miles south of Ardmore is Marietta, Oklahoma. Here's a pic of the Love county courthouse there. It's in such sad disrepair. I know there is someone there who could provide the funds to put the oldest courthouse in Oklahoma back beautiful again.
http://www.brightok.net/~bridges/mariecrt.jpg

Here's the Marietta, Oklahoma train depot, it too is in disrepair.
http://www.brightok.net/~bridges/mariedep.jpg

Here's a pic looking down Marietta's Main Street.
http://www.brightok.net/~bridges/mariedt.jpg

And last but not least, here's the Marietta cookie factory. It's been baking those "broken cookies" since around 1955.
http://www.brightok.net/~bridges/cookfact.jpg

SOME OF THIS WEEK'S MAILBAG

"Dear Butch, I enjoyed your article on Dr. Boyd. I thought you might like to know that there are still practitioners like Dr. Boyd. .....I'm glad this alternative still exists."

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"Enjoyed your E today. Loved hearing about the old tunnel at Lincoln school. Have to ask, do you have any pictures of Lincoln school, or the 1963 AHS graduating classesmates who attended Lincoln? Please let me know. Have a little project I'm working on. i could use them from any of the other schools, too. Either the front of the school, classroom shots featuring the '63 graduates of AHS. Need to have them by July 25th. All originals will be returned. Thanks for your help. Fran Conroy Patterson, Chairman, 1963 AHS Class Reunion 5421 SW 25th Place Cape Coral, FL 33914" fdmcrb@juno.com

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"11 MB free. I love it. ftp gets pretty busy on the weekends, it is easier to upload during the week. Usually no problem at all." http://www.xoom.com/

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"Oh butch ....thankyou for your story about your Doc boyd....You know?? I think every town had one like him ..ours was a Doc Dawson...... good old docs werent they?"

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"Hi just got your This and That. Noticed you need a mirror site. GeoCities is now giving 11megs of free space for personal web pages. The upload procedure is real easy from their file manager tool, you use their file upload and it's a snap, no FTP needed."

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"Hi Butch: After reading last weeks This & That Doyle remembered when the Sugar Pills of Dr Boyd did not cure him of Poison Ivy and after getting it infected he landed up in the hospital........"

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Well, this weeks T&T was kinda long... so I'm going to close now. Give someone close to you a hug, and bring a smile to their face. A good hug works better then Sugar Pills sometimes.

See you all next saturday.

Butch Bridges
Ardmore, Oklahoma
ICQ Number 7140238

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From: butchbridges@oklahomahistory.net (Butch Bridges)

Saturday, June 20, 1998 (weekly) Vol 2 Issue 61

I've been thinking for months now about having a mirror site for my personal web page. The main reason is, so if something happens to me, my history and all will still be availabe for a long time to come. So, I could use your help and advice. I know that places like geocites, tripod, and anglefire, allows one to put a webpage up. I could do this very easily by FTPing my 10 or so megs of htmls and pics to the "mirror site". Anyone got some ideas on this? The ones above I mentioned are free, and that sounds good. hahahahaha Anyway I do want a mirror site for my files, so send me some ideas. Okay?

Since AOL has bought ICQ, I doubt ICQ will be free much longer. I friend sent me email telling about a similar program to ICQ, its called Enternet. Check it out at http://www.entr.net

We've taken another giant step at the courthouse, thanks to our local cablevision company, CableOne. They installed the hardware so the sheriffs office can monitor our courthouse 24 hours a day via several video cameras! Last December we started holding Initial Appearances between the courtroom and the jail, thanks to CableOne. And soon we going to be able to connect three computer networks in three different buildings via fiberoptic cables, graciously provided by CableOne. CableOne is truly a good corporate neighbor!

I don't have a lot to pass along this week, so let's get moving.

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DOOMSDAY COMETH

Or at least the gloom and doom people keep saying that. Did you know every second 5 people are born, and 2 die? That's a net gain of 3 people on this earth every second. Here is a site that shows all that stuff. Course what they don't mention is one earthquake can take out million people in one minute. So their net of 3 is really not a correct number. hahahaha Anyway, it is a very interesting site. http://www.popexpo.net/eMain.html

WHERE'S THAT SOAPBOX

Votenet, a free subscription-based site, gives politically active citizens, special interest groups and individuals involved in political campaigns a single access point to research facilities and other political resources and information, available at http://www.Votenet.com The Online Community for Politically Active Citizens.

HIDDEN MIDI FILES REVISITED

Last week I mentioned how to get "hidden" midi files from web pages. In one of my examples I had a typo...... here it is again http://www.brightok.net/~lwmac/cowboy.mid for you George Strait lovers. Once you have the Crescendo Bar on screen, you can right click on it, and save the file (midi) to your hard drive.

MORE NEAT BACKGROUND STUFF

Reptile is a cool tool from Sausage Software that lets you generate an almost infinite variety of funky seamless textures for use as Web backgrounds or desktop wallpaper. You can easily adjust the shapes, colors, gradients, and intensities to create any type of texture. There are dozens of cool presets to play with, including such "classics" as dancing blobs, furry beastie, squid school, and digestive system. Reptile 1.2, Windows 95 Freeware:
http://www.softseek.com/files/review?INWPAN17930sw

A GLIMPSE INTO THE PAST

I received a most interesting email this week. It was from the grandson of Dr. J.J. Boyd. Dr. Boyd (01/29/1875-02/02/1974) was a local homeopathic doctor. He was renown all over the country. I remember my mother taking me to see him when I was a child. Dr. Boyd was the only person we knew of who had a medication for poison ivy. People always went to him for that, plus any other thing that ailed them. I remember when I was about 16 years old, on a Sunday evening, I was hanging out at the Number 2 Fire Station on east main street. A pickup with a camper on it drove up. The man and woman asked if they could park their pickup next to the fire station for the night. They had driven all the way from California to get some of Dr. Boyd's sugar pills. They bought a six month supply. We called them "sugar pills" cause they were little bitty white pills, kinda looked like todays saccarin tabs. He kept them in a great big bottle, and would put them in a little, long glass pill bottle. Then Dr. Boyd would take a vial of solution (he had dozens) and pour a little over the pills, then place a cork on the bottle. I guess what amazed me about Dr. Boyd is how he would evalulate you. You would sit in this big waiting room, with the others, and with all of his horse paintings and statues. The nurse would call your name, and you'd go in and sit in front of him. Of course he'd ask what was the problem and all. Then he'd ask you several questions, like what do you eat for breakfast, etc. He'd then tell you, "I dont want you to eat any more eggs for 2 weeks", or something like that. Then he'd fix you up with a couple bottles of pills. They were $1 each! Wish I had one of them as a momento. Anyway, Dr. Boyd's grandson lives in Nashville, Tennessee now, and he sent me this photo of his grandfather. Dr. Boyd was a remarkable man...... and a legend. I doubt there are any more like him in the country. Here's a pic of Dr. Boyd's office I took in 1966. It was located at 127 "F" Street N.E. here in Ardmore.
http://www.brightok.net/~bridges/boydhse.jpg
and here's the pic Dr. Boyd's grandson sent me in the mail.
http://www.brightok.net/~bridges/boyd2.jpg
Dr. J.J. Boyd is buried at Rosehill cemetery, just a few feet south of my mother, Louise Carmon Bridges, her parents and family members.

SOME OF THIS WEEK'S MAILBAG

"I just might have your answer to the "Tunnel on Stanley Street". The one that I remembered was at "LINCOLN SCHOOL". It was located just outside from the double doors on Stanley; next to the curb. At the time I was attending school at Lincoln, the tunnel was already closed; but the concrete banister was still there. Now that is gone and only a concrete slab remains."

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"Saw you setting out in front of the court house Friday, I could tell you were enjoying the event and the crowd. Now, I personally have used the tunnel underneath the court house to bring "Juvenile" offenders from the old jail to the courtroom, Tom Miller, X Juvenile officer and I had the experience of allowing a juvenile to escape from us as we came up through the tunnel onto the first floor of the court house. (Smile). I wonder if anyone knows much about those tunnel's that are still there down on "Caddo".??"

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"As a patriotic American and DAR I commend you all for your Flag Day celebration. Don't know if anyone told you but several veteran organizations have asked Americans to fly their flags from Memorial Day through Veterans Day as a tribute to all the many wonderful vets who fought for our country."

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I guess that's it for now........ I hope everyone is topping high cotton and life is good to you. I remember a song by Bette Midler..... "From A Distance." He just may be watching.
http://beachmarks.vshost.net/lyric4.htm

See you all next saturday.

Butch Bridges
Ardmore, Oklahoma
ICQ Number 7140238

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From: butchbridges@oklahomahistory.net (Butch Bridges)

Saturday, June 13, 1998 (weekly) Vol 2 Issue 60

This week flew by! So much to do, and not enough time to do it.... do you find yourself in that situation? I was busy pulling network cabling for a couple of the courthouse offices. They are getting some new computers, and you know what thats going to mean...... being able to do so much more... faster, and better then ever before. Needless to say, the employees who work in those offices are excited, and anxious for next week to get here when the new computers arrive!!

Speaking of courthouse employees, we had our annual Flag Day on Friday, June 12 at noon. Everyone was outside on the beautiful courthouse lawn, eating hotdogs and hamburgers, and really having a great time. There was even live music! I took a few pics, and when I get the roll developed, I'll give everyone a peek. As I looked around, watching everyone, I could not help but think what a great bunch of people I have the privilege of working with.... like one big family.

I ran across a pic I took last fall of the benches that were installed outside the courtrooms for people to sit on. We don't think a lot about it, but if you're the one waiting outside for a court appearance and no where to sit, only lean up against the walls, it sure is nice to have the benches to sit on. Here's a pic, http://www.brightok.net/chickasaw/ardmore/county/photos/bench.jpg On busy days, every bench is full.... and we need more!

Oh, and here's another rare glimpse at something few people know about. It's the tunnel that runs underneath the courthouse to the Annex Building next door to the east. I don't know when the tunnel was built, but I doubt it was there in 1910 when the courthouse was being built. If I were making a guess, I'd say it was built around 1949. Maybe someone out there knows? It was used to bring dangerous prisoners from the old jail next door to the court room. What stories that tunnel could tell. Here's the pic...... http://www.brightok.net/chickasaw/ardmore/county/photos/tunnel.jpg

Speaking of tunnels, a friend told me that back 50 years ago there was a tunnel that ran underneath Stanley Street Southwest. Anyone know where I'm talking about? Maybe my friend will send email and tell us all about this tunnel that no longer exists.

I'm on a new kick now...... found out if you mix a little Half & Half with V8 Juice, it's sure smooth and good tasting! mmmmmm

Ok, I've talked enough..... let go to some This & That.

MOVING BITS AND BYTES

Would you like to make your D: drive a little larger and your C: drive a little smaller? Partition Resizer lets you move and re-allocate disk partitions and logical drives, without having to re-format your hard drive. It supports almost any type of DOS or Windows file system, including FAT12, FAT16 and FAT32 and it works with extended partitions. Hard drives up to 8.4 Gigabytes in size are supported. Partition Resizer 1.2.0, DOS Freeware: http://www.softseek.com/files/review?UTDI17760sw

GREAT GRANDMA LIKED WALLPAPER TOO

I friend passed along to me something interesting this week. It's about creating wallpaper using actual wallpaper! What am I talking about? By taking samples of some pretty wallpaper, like wallpaper hangers put on the wall, scanning it, and turning it into a jpg file, you can create some very beautiful wallpaper/backgrounds for your Windows and websites. I know this sounds like double talk, and grandma would think I'd lost it, but here's what I'm trying to tell you...... http://www.brightok.net/~lwmac/stories.htm They have scanned wallpaper samples to make jpg files for their background.

WHAT'S BEHIND DOOR NUMBER TWO

Ever happen across this great website you like with the great music and wish you could get your greedy little hands on that music midi? But can't because the webmaster has the midi file "hidden" from view. In other words, no Crescendo Bar. Well, here's how you can get a copy of that midi file. Just look at the "SOURCE" page, read down through it, and find the midi name. Then in the "LOCATION" box at the top of your browser, type in the midi file's name at the end if the URL. Here's two examples: On my page I have a song called Lamerique. You can go directly to that midi by typing in...... http://www.brightok.net/~bridges/lameriqu.mid Or here's another example...... http://www.brightok.net/~lwmac/cowboy.mid for you George Strait lovers. Once you have the Crescendo Bar on screen, you can right click on it, and save the file (midi) to your hard drive. And no I'm not switching to country.... I'm staying with rock and roll!

IT'S ALL DONE WITH MIRRORS

A lot of you wrote back to tell me how the card game trick I mentioned last week was done. Heck, I knew that, just testing everyone hahahaha http://www.frankopinion.com/tricks/index.html

FREE YEAR 2000 UTILITY

Here is a website in England that has a free program to download that will tell you what your computer will do when midnight, December 31, 1999 arrives. I am taking a two week vacation, starting January 1, 2000. hahahahaha http://www.computerexperts.co.uk/

GEORGE WASHINGTON CARVER DIDNT MAKE PAINT LIKE THIS

I was outside the other day..... walking down my concrete driveway, and I noticed something interesting. Over 13 years ago I was painting my pickup bed with an ugly dull red primer paint in my driveway. I spilt a spot of it about the size of a large dinner plate. I just left it. That circle of red primer is still there, in very good condition on my concrete drive, after all these years. No peeling, no cracking, hardly no fading, and unremovable too. I don't know of any regular paint that would last that long without any signs of wear, through all the sun, the rain, the cold, the 100 plus summers. etc. I wonder if the City has a code against me painting my house Primer Red? hahahahaha Here's a website dedicated to Carver. Carver used the lowly peanut to make a multitude of useful products besides paint. http://www.invent.org/book/book-text/23.html

THE OLD WEST COMES ALIVE

Last week I got heavy handed on those WWWs again..... got the addy wrong where you can visit The American West Website. http://www.americanwest.com

ANOTHER LYE SOAP WINNER

Ladybug513@rocketmail.com wins a genuine bar of Ranchman's Lye Soap!

A GLIMPSE INTO THE PAST

On January 1, 1911 the local Chickasaw Telephone company ceased to exist in Ardmore. Pioneer Telephone Company took over the Chickasaw phone company. William H. Berry who had been the General Manager of the local office and phone lines for many years, left for Oklahoma City. But will be returning to act as manager until a replacement is found.

SOME OF THIS WEEK'S MAILBAG

"Just to let you know I contine to enjoy your This & That weeklies. Very entertaining. My main web site is now at:" http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Prairie/6123/

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"Now heres my problem and I hope you can help me. I read the Daily Ardmoreite everyday and was able to keep up with some of the happenings around home (Wilson) even though I haven't lived there for 30 years. Then when they updated, upgraded, changed their format or whatever they did, when I go to that site (from my favorite) or search for it on the web, I always get the May 12th issue."

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"If you look closely, none of the cards are the same, although they ARE very similar to the cards you started out with!"

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"You got me intrigued with that one, so I went to the page and checked it out. Sure enough, the card I picked was missing after the rabbit ate it. I figured out the trick: ALL THE ORIGINAL CARDS ARE MISSING!"

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"I found a great gadget the other day, that really works! It is an electronic first aid treatment for the bites of poisonous snakes, spiders, ants, wasps, chiggers, ticks mosquitoes, etc. It is distributed by a local man." http://www.ardnet.com/venom-x

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"Mr. bridges, the last couple of weeks I haven't recieved your newsletter, could you make sure my address was not removed because my whole family enjoys your newsletter. thank-you"

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"Attached is a picture of an okra plant (I think from last year's garden). I just got it at my wife's family reunion (Wellington TX). Her brother lives in Tulsa, went away for (a week? two?) and when he came back home, he found this REGULAR OKRA plant had grown to....!!!!" http://www.brightok.net/~bridges/okra.jpg

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Let's cut this off...... I try not to let my T&T get too long, but sometimes there's so much to pass along. Anyway, everyone take care, share some special, quality time with someone you love.... and remember, if you come to a fork in the road, take it!!!

See everyone next Saturday!

Butch Bridges
Ardmore, Oklahoma
ICQ Number 7140238

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From: butchbridges@oklahomahistory.net (Butch Bridges)

Saturday, June 6, 1998 (weekly) Vol 2 Issue 59

Got my Connectix Video Cam all working great now. I sure have enjoyed learning about sending video over the Net. It also lets me take pics with ii...... so here is a pic I took of myself....... I thought everyone might need a laugh........ http://www.brightok.net/~bridges/butch01.jpg

On Thursday evening, the temperature here in Ardmore went from close to 100 degrees to around 70..... sure is nice. Now if we can get a little rain. This one friend sent me email from another country and said she has been going to her church in the mornings and praying for rain for us here. Friendships are so amazing, we never know where or who will be a friend...... we just need to give that friendship back in return, it can mean so much over time.

This week with the temps over 100 degrees, my aunt and uncle's a/c went out..... their 87 and cant take much heat. A few days before I talk to this friend in Guthrie, Oklahoma, which is just an Oklahoma City suburb hahaha, and her a/c had been out two weeks, she called them everyday and still waiting on the repairman. I called this a/c company in Wilson, Oklahoma, which is 18 miles west of Ardmore, and those guys came right out, within three hours, and fixed my uncle's air conditioner! Does that tell you something about small towns? I guess small town living has some advantages.

Well, enough of this rambling...... how about some T&T?

IT'S ALL DONE WITH MIRRORS

Sometimes you run across something that just blows your mind. Well, here is one for the books. The site below starts out showing you several playing cards. You pick one in your mind to remember. Then you click the Oklahoma Tornado and it mixes them up. But something strange happened.... the one you had pictured in your mind is now missing from the group. How do they do it? I dont know, but it sure is fun (and mystifying) to play this little game.
http://www.frankopinion.com/tricks/index.html

FROM THE LOWEST TO HIGHEST

A friend told me about killerapp.com and how they have helped him to find the best prices for computer stuff. They have them grouped like hard drives, monitors, components, software. And then lists what you're looking for from lowest to hightest priced, company by company.
http://www.killerapp.com/

THE OLD WEST COMES ALIVE

Here is a link someone sent me, that if you're an old west history buff, you got to visit. Linked there is a health of information on the American west, pioneer days, old documents, and much more.
http://www.americanwest.com

KEEP THOSE DRIVERS UPDATED

Catch-UP is a Web-based software updating service that automatically searches for newer versions of hardware drivers and software applications installed on your PC. Catch-UP updates hundreds applications, such as games, antivirus utilities and plug-ins. Catch-UP is located at
http://www.manageable.com. The best part is... it's free!

EXTEND YOUR KEYBOARD

If you need to insert fractions, symbols or foreign characters into your documents, AllChars can help. It works by letting you assign any ASCII character to a short, easy to remember keystroke sequence. When you hit the Ctrl key followed by two keystrokes, your special character is instantly inserted into the current document.
AllChars 2.01, Windows 95/NT Freeware:
http://www.softseek.com/files/review?UTKE17382sw

THE CALL OF THE TRIBE

Apache is the most popular Web server on the Internet. It offers fast and stable performance and it has a huge number of customization and configuration options. This newest beta is the first version to run under Windows 95 and NT, although this is an experimental release.
Apache HTTP Server 1.3 Beta 7, Windows 95/NT Freeware:
http://www.softseek.com/files/review?INWPSE17581sw

SEEMLESS TEXTURES AND BACKGROUNDS

TeraLogic Texture Maker lets you create strikingly beautiful seamless textures and background images. Version 2.0 offers an improved interface, faster speed, more distortions, and the ability to add presets.
TeraLogic Texture Maker 32 2.0, Windows 95/NT Freeware:
http://www.softseek.com/files/review?GRGG16616sw

THIS LINK ABOUT HTML HAS IT ALL

Another great site for learning just about anything you want to know about making Home Pages, and much, much, more!
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Plains/2168/html.html

ANOTHER LYE SOAP WINNER

bolles@brightok.net wins a genuine bar of Ranchman's Lye Soap!

A GLIMPSE INTO THE PAST

Around 7:30am on Monday morning, March 21, 1949 an 11 year old Healdton, Oklahoma boy died mysteriously of a gunshot wound between the eyes. His mother found her son, Artie Francis Walk, when she went to get him up for school. He was the son of a prominent Healdton family, Mr. and Mrs. Artie Walk. The young Artie died near Davis, Oklahoma in a Bettes ambulance speeding him to Oklahoma City. Questions surrounded the boy's death when family members found a .22 rifle, believe to be the death weapon, behind a bedroom door. Deputy Sheriff Emet Chase and Police Chief Bill Ratliff were investigating the incident. Sheriff Howard Johnson said his office would cooperate wholeheartedly in the investigation.

SOME OF THIS WEEK'S MAILBAG

"The results of the survey are published in dutch in "het Tijdschrift voor de Politie", may 1998. This is a dutch police magazine. The main results are also published on the research page of the The Dutch Police Pages(http://home.wxs.nl/~inpact15/)."

Okay...... let's get this paper ready to throw! I been doing some work on my computer and it is working better and faster then ever, so let's see how the SEND button works. Since it's cooled off so much, I'm going to fix some hot tea, put a little half and half in it (if it ain't ruined.... hahaha) and sit back a minute. The past two days have been rush rush rush.

I've been pulling more computer cables at the courthouse, getting ready for six more new computer workstations at one of the offices, capable of Internet access and all. We've really made some giant steps forward the past year. I'm proud to be a part of it all, and to work with some great people, who want to move forward, and show it.

Hope you all are enjoying the weekend and life is treating you good. We have so much to be thankful for..... we just need to stop a minute and reflect.

See everyone next Saturday!

Butch Bridges
Ardmore, Oklahoma
ICQ Number 7140238

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ From: butchbridges@oklahomahistory.net (Butch Bridges)

Saturday, May 30, 1998 (weekly) Vol 2 Issue 58

Last week I told you about these three dogs (my next door neighbor's) that I seemed to adopt? The past few days I only have the older she dog..... dont know what happen to those little weiner dogs. I sure miss them. Well, the one dog that's left sure loves all the attention she gets!

Something I forgot to mention two weeks ago was that I have the original Ardmoreite dated Monday, July 6, 1964 about the 5th street Viaduct burning the previous afternoon (Sunday). A lot of you wrote back with something to add about that story! Hummmmmm you know, I think I got another fire or two in my "old stories box".

I've been having some computer problems the past couple weeks or so. It's been freezing up, so if I didnt answer your email, it may be that I lost it during the reboot. I appreciate all the email sent to me by so many of you...... keep them coming. If I dont answer you in person, I'll try to in my T&T. Just have patience with me, I'm not a very organized person, but hey, I'm sure having fun!

The past few weeks, crews have been making the outside grounds around our courthouse look so beautiful...... more beautiful then I can ever remember it. They planted some small trees/plants around the outside. This week they spread some nice lava rock around the perimeter of the building, and the grass is so green and freshly mowed. I'll get a pic and scan it soon, just to show it off to everyone. Friday evening these two squirrels were playing on the front lawn in the green grass. Nice.

And I must tell you, that Central Park on Main Street is so beautiful too! The best I've seen it! Here is a pic of it in 1927
http://www.brightok.net/~bridges/cpark27.jpg
and here it is just last year......
http://www.brightok.net/~bridges/cenpark1.jpg

Let's move on to some T&T, how bout it?

WHAT DOES YOUR PSYCHE REVEAL

Here is an uncanny and so realistic personality profile test that was brought to my attention. You answer about 10 "questions" as you go about building your room. At the end, your "room" is finished and your intermost thoughts revealed. Very interesting. It takes several minutes to contemplate the "questions" so take your time, and pick the best choices...... you may be surpised in its accuracy. Just go to the "room".

http://www.umbra.com

THE TECH CORNER

So you're thinking about starting a Home Page. Well, below is a good link to a Page that explains a lot about how to start one and how to write HTML files, etc......... I would encourage everyone to try it. I know I've sure enjoyed it the past two years. I remember it like yesterday, January 1996, I started to write that first Page in HTML. It was nearly two weeks before I even got it to work... didnt know one thing about what I was doing, and in Ardmore, Oklahoma at that time there sure wasn't anyone to call and ask. But like they say, "It's been fun!!!!"

http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Troy/1511/

ANOTHER LYE SOAP WINNER

jandkbrown@aol.com wins a genuine bar of Ranchman's Lye Soap!

A GLIMPSE INTO THE PAST

On Saturday evening, August 19, 1961, an Ottawa County deputy sheriff was found shot to death in his home five miles southeast of Miami, Oklahoma. Claude King, a jailer at the county jail in Miami, was found shot six times by his service revolver. Law enforcement officers immediately launched a search for King's 12 year old son, Tommy King, the prime suspect in the shooting. King's body was found about 4pm by his wife, Sylvia, and two daughters, Maria and Ethel. Carolyn Sue King, 16, and wife of Claude King's half brother, told authorities Tommy King had killed his father.

SOME OF THIS WEEK'S MAILBAG

"Have enjoyed ur history lessons for quite some time. Please enter me in the drawing for the soap. Please keep up the good work."

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"I was reading in your newsletter this week about using search engines. Try this one out , if ya haven't already! I have found it to be a real great time saving tool ....It searches all engines at one time ....." http://www.webferret.com

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"I WANTED TO THANK YOU FOR YOUR ARDMORE NEWS.... IT'S GREAT TO HEAR WHAT IS GOING ON & TRY TO REMEMBER WHERE WE ALL WERE WHEN YOU MENTION PAST EVENTS. IT STARTED ME WONDERING WHERE PEOPLE ARE WHO I TO SCHOOL WITH AND WHAT THEY ARE DOING NOW"

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"Thanks for putting Metacrawler in T&T yesterday. I was able to locate an address for a friend......."

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"I never knew there was so much to see in Southern OK... Interestingly enough, we were in TX coming home from 6 Flags, when the sky lit up with the "UFOs" Mother and Daddy thought it might be the Second Coming for a few minutes."

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"We just returned from our latest trip. Enjoyed a month on the road. I was surprised and pleased to discover I had won a bar of Lye soap. It was not in my mail when I picked it up. Is there something I am suppose to do to receive it? I know I will always have Email when I return after a trip with the weekly This and that. I look forward to reading it."

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"haven't heard from you for awhile so thought I would bug you once more. Enjoyed reading your paper today and was wondering if you knew what the person's name was that committed the first murder in Ardmore ?"

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"Please add my address to your growing list of "This and That" subscribers. I have been getting one of the many forwarded copies you mention. I enjoy reading about the history and events in and around Ardmore. Having grown up there I remember some of the events you describe."

This week, like so many, just flew by. Maybe because it was a short week? I hope everyone enjoyed the Memorial Day weekend, spent some time with family and friends, and remembered those that were part of our past, but are no longer with us on this earth. Remember to give out those hugs...... they could mean so much to someone you love. A friend has been sending me some URLs about angels. I wonder if they really are 7 feet tall? I wonder if their wing spans are 12 feet like in the pics? I wonder if they do know everything that we are doing? I wonder if one has been assigned to me? I wonder if they really are watching over us? Just maybe...... just maybe that is so.

See everyone next weekend!

Butch Bridges
Ardmore, Oklahoma
ICQ Number 7140238

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From: butchbridges@oklahomahistory.net (Butch Bridges)

Saturday, May 23, 1998 (weekly) Vol 2 Issue 57

I think I have inherited three dogs! My next door neighbor has this older dog and then two small weiner dogs. They seem to stay in my front yard more then anywhere else the past month or so. I have water out there for them.... and this plastic container with dog biscuits. When I walk outside, here they come running just as fast as their little short legs will go. They know I will give them a dog biscuit each!

This week my clothes washer quit. I worked with it, found the two belts underneat were loose and finally got them snug again. It is working for now...... but we sure dont know how much we need those washers, until they quit.

This week started off fast and furious. But got a little better as the week went on. Then it ended with a rush. I feel like I've made some giant steps forward though. CableOne came to the courthouse this week and pulled a fiber optics cable between the courthouse and the Jail and another one between the courthouse and City Hall. Soon we will be able to tie the three computer networks together... Courthouse, County Jail, and City Hall. We will be able to share some databases and stuff like that. Going to be nice! Our little courthouse is sure moving forward. I can look back the past year and just see so many accomplishments, that we didnt have a year ago. I was making a drawing of our computer network yesterday for another project we have going, and until I saw it on paper, just never realize we have 11 Network Hubs now! Unbelievable!!! These eleven hubs are what ties all our computers together as a network.

And now some T&T.........

DESKTOP STICKIES

We've seen lots of sticky note programs, but Quick Notes Plus is one that's brimming with neat features, and best of all, it's free. You can stick notes to your Windows desktop or organize them in memoboards. There are options to set alarms in any of the notes, select the font and color of your choice, search for notes containing any text, automatically run any number of applications at scheduled times, keep your notes "always on top", and much more.

Quick Notes Plus 1.00, Windows 95 Freeware:
http://www.softseek.com/files/review?BUST17059sw

ANOTHER LYE SOAP WINNER

drcoxadc@brightok.net wins a genuine bar of Ranchman's Lye Soap!

A GLIMPSE INTO THE PAST

Not all search engines are created equal. I did a search for the name Chester Lee Vaughn using ten of the most popular search engines on the Net. And to my amazement, only Metacrawler came up with the name Chester Lee Vaughn. I had placed on my Home Page over two years ago an article about this Iowa man who came through our area in 1982 and did the most repulsive and sickening thing. You would think after two years or more, the "spiders" would have visited this page at least once and indexed it. But no..... it looks like only Metacrawler did that. I think I will start using http://www.metacrawler.com a lot more now. To read all about this Chester Lee Vaughn character...
http://www.brightok.net/~bridges/vaughn.html

SOME OF THIS WEEK'S MAILBAG

"Glad to hear you talking about the burning of the viaduct. My brothers and I were there and flimed it when it burned. Doyle has since donated a copy of the film which he put on VCR tape to the museum here in Ardmore. Check it out."

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"I made a three minute color 8mm movie of the viaduct burning...... I happened to be home for the summer from college and my brother Bobby and I were out and about when we saw the smoke. I grabbed my movie camera, loaded a fresh roll of film, and let it roll. I believe that I have the only movie of that event, at least I have never seen any other. That creosote pole viaduct burned profusely and rapidly."

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"I remember well the day the Viaduct burned. I was an 11 year old kid, and lived 5 or 6 blocks from it. I can remember how scared I was as the black billowing smoke rose into the sky. I wondered if the whole town of Ardmore was going to burn. My aunt, Eloise Longino, lived on the dirt road right to the south of the Viaduct, which placed it right in her front yard. The dedicated firemen kept their hoses on her house, dousing it, in hopes that even though the fire was less than 50 ft from her house, it would remain standing. And it did. I remember it as being a pretty bleak day in Ardmore."

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"Ok I have a question. The mention of the fire in Ardmore several years ago made me think. I have several pictures of the major fire that was in downtown Marietta in the mid to early 40's. It burned a city block long all but the stores on each end, and to the ally. But what I was wondering is do you have any info on that one. As far as date and any pictures."

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"I really enjoy hearing about doings back home each week... I remember the viaduct fire (I guess I was 9 years old then) quite well, but hadn't thought about it in years"

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"....I was browsing the County Web Site yesterday, as well as the new site for the City of Ardmore, and I noticed one item very conspicuous by its absence. It's missing from the Chamber page too. How about a photo of our new football facility, Noble Stadium. It's something to brag about, and all of Ardmore takes a great deal of pride in its construction, and the manner in which it was funded. I think it's a showcase item for this part of Oklahoma, and should be featured on the county, city and chamber web sites. Thanks, and keep up the good work."

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"Just thought I would drop you a note and ask if you ever looked at the picture of the capped oil well on Healdton, Oklahoma's main street" http://www.brightok.net/~lwmac/oilwell.htm

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"We were there on 10th & A NE visiting in-laws, the Gilstraps, and watched from their back yard. We have home movies of the smoke rising, and believe they included photo or footage of the newspaper headlines following day. It was indeed spectacular!.....Also, has anyone ever put together a list of all the great sites you have listed over these months? I have made a fair one but it is far from complete and just wondered if anyone had done that, and would have a copy available. Still enjoy and look forward to Saturday mail!!"

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".....most of us on this earth are decent, caring and loving - let us not focus on the minority that are not. Keep reminding us of the things in this life that matter Butch, and God Bless!! "

Well, I'll get out of here... and get this issue thrown. Haha This one friend sends me email and asked if I've got my "paper" ready to throw on Saturday morning. I haven't thought of throwing a newspaper since I was 14 years old, and did it for these two brothers who lived up the street. I did it when they couldnt throw it. Anyway, I hope everyone enjoys the long weekend with friends and family.... and keep looking for that rainbow..... there's a pot of gold at the end of it!

Take care until next weekend!

Butch Bridges
Ardmore, Oklahoma
ICQ Number 7140238

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From: butchbridges@oklahomahistory.net (Butch Bridges)

Saturday, May 16, 1998 (weekly) Vol 2 Issue 56

Not a whole lot to pass along this week. Things have been slower then usual. And am I glad. Hope your week has been slow too. We need some breaks in the rush, rush, rush of day-to-day life.

Can you believe the smoke coming up from Mexico? Covering almost half the United States? I've never see anything like it in my lifetime. The skies here in Oklahoma have really looked weird. In the 60s a rock and roll singer named Barry McGuire wrote a song named "Eve of Destruction". I still have the original 45 record. In the song he sings..... "you tell me over and over, you don't believe, we're on the eve of destruction." I wonder.....
http://www.thos.co.za/olga/m/mcguire_barry/eve_of_destruction.crd
http://www.pilgrim.org/hair.html

I've been pulling some more computer cables at the courthouse this week, placing some more computers on the Internet. We have access to the Internet through a fiber optics line in the basement and is it fast! I downloaded Microsoft's Internet Explorer the other day, it was a 4 meg file, in about 1 minute. Imagine how long it takes to do that over the modem. Talking about internet access, some courthouses in Oklahoma have really moved forward in that area. They have internet access for every employee in the courthouse! Oh the things to come..... it is almost breathtaking!!!

The City of Ardmore now has their own Website. Visit it at
http://www.ci.ardmore.ok.us

And now some T&T..........

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THE TECH CORNER

The past week I've been working with Window NT version 4.0 on this one computer at the courthouse. I know very little about Windows NT, but a friend told me about a very informative website that tells all about it. If you have Window NT or just want to learn something about it. Try...... http://www.ntfaq.com

ANOTHER LYE SOAP WINNER

cumbia@mail.usmo.com wins a genuine bar of Ranchman's Lye Soap!

A GLIMPSE INTO THE PAST

On Sunday afternoon, July 5, 1964 an Ardmore landmark was destroyed by fire. Children playing with fireworks had somehow ignited the creosote pole 5th Street Northeast Viaduct. I remember it well, the thick, black smoke rising high into the sky. Several firemen were treated at the hospital from fighting the blaze. Treated at the hospital were Don Moinette, Jackie Pilgram, Pete Middleton, Oscar Hutchinson, Jack Cumbie and a volunteer Earl Ashcraft. Fire Chief Jim Ozment said 5 city fire trucks were used in fighting the fire. There were also many area fire trucks sent in to help. One home was destroyed by the burning viaduct. The home, located at 512 "B" Street NE, belonged to Mrs. Cordia Davis. Mrs. Davis had four children, Debbie, Edwin, Gene, and Kathy. No one at the Davis home was injured. The original viaduct was built in 1908, and reconstructed in the 1930s. City officials speculated the viaduct would not be replaceed, since there were other streets connecting the northeast part of town with the rest of the city. But you who live here in Ardmore knows there is concrete viaduct in place of the old creosote pole viaduct.

SOME OF THIS WEEK'S MAILBAG

"Yes, I did feel the quake (in Ardmore), I looked at the clock and it was 9:13. Possible the after shock? I thought at first it was something at Total Refinery, but it continued. Never been in an earthquake, I thought that was what it was. I told a friend and she thought I was mistaken, surely had lost it all, gone off my rocker, etc. Glad no one was hurt, but glad to see it on the evening news. "

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"Here is what I am interested in. Have you seen, used, know of a database language that is fully TCP/IP compliant? What I am probably going to end up doing is writing a database that will run from one server and be accessible by the other two offices via the T1's."

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"Backup the windows 95 registry before you install a program and after. Once the registry gets hosed, the party is over. Doing a backup of the registry has saved me many times. Name the backup "registry-month-year-1.reg and so on. To do this go to Start / Run / regedit and hit enter. Go to registry menu and hit export. I like to put the export file in the windows directory. If you want to restore the file, you can import it back into the registry."

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"I was wondering if you know of anyone who is collecting those $10 silver house tokens and would like to get some more. A friend of mine has some she wants to sale for cost ($10 each)"

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Well, this week has been a good one......... hope yours has been too. I've made a lot of new friends, even in far away places. I'm even thinking about going to Trinadad on my vacation hahaha. Hey, I havent went on a vacation since 1975...... yes you read it right, 1975. I wouldn't know how to act haha. Am I a workaholic or a workaholic?

Everyone take care out there. Life seems so short sometimes. The days are going by so fast. We read in the newspapers almost daily where some friend has died. Dont forget to tell your friends how much they mean, the friendship they have given, because you never know what tomorrow will bring. I remember one man years ago, when he was in his 80s telling me..... "even though I am 85 yrs old, it seems like only yesterday I was a young man... it went by so fast.'

See everyone next weekend!

Butch Bridges
Ardmore, Oklahoma
ICQ Number 7140238

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From: Butch Bridges

Saturday, May 9, 1998 (weekly) Vol 2 Issue 55

The Corkboard program seemed to be the talk this week. Several of you wrote saying it is a great program. I guess I really should use it, if it'll help organize my life a little. Seems like with all these computers, my life is more disorganized then ever. haha http://www.pcdynamics.com/Corkboard

Last week I had a little typo. As one of you wrote in, "looks like you got a little heavy finger on the wwww". My mistake was the link to the marriage license information at the Court Clerks Website. The correct URL should be:

http://www.brightok.net/chickasaw/ardmore/county/crtclerk.html

By the way, Court Clerk Karen Volino installed a couple of new computer workstations this week. One is on the counter for the public to use. There are more and more of the public coming in, and looking up on the computer the information they seek.

Got a couple more free scratch tickets in the mail. You know, this is fun.... and I've made a lot of new friends too! http://sunridge.net/index.phtml?id=88219

Let's go to a little This & That..........

THE TECH CORNER

I'm going to keep this short. If you have a config.sys in your route directory, I would urge you to print it out. It may have a line in it that loads the CDROM. Also it is a good idea to print out your autoexec.bat also. Just keep the printouts handy, just incase of an emergency and you need to look at the lines that make up either of the files.

ANOTHER LYE SOAP WINNER

helen90@juno.com wins a genuine bar of Ranchman's Lye Soap!

REMOVE LISTING FROM ADD/REMOVE PROGRAMS IN WIN95

Windows 95 includes a simple way of uninstalling programs by going to Control Panel...Add/Remove Programs. Unfortunately, if you delete things manually, programs that are already gone will be listed there and 'stuck' there. Add/Remove Cleaner was made to take off any programs you don't want listed there for whatever reason. It does NOT delete any files, only the entries for Add/Remove Programs. Available here: (272KB)

http://www.distortions.com/software/addrmclr.exe

A GLIMPSE INTO THE PAST

"I just want to tell you how entertaining your homepage was this afternoon. I'm here in Atlanta, GA, and did some web surfing during my lunch break. I was reading about famous dead gunfighters from the old west. I stumbled upon Deacon Jim Miller, and read about him and his demise in Ada, OK. I then decided to see what Ada, OK was all about, and one link lead me to you. I loved your photos. I've bookmarked your page and will visit it again."

http://www.brightok.net/~bridges/adalynch.html
http://www.brightok.net/~bridges/hanging.jpg

SOME OF THIS WEEK'S MAILBAG

"Great corkboard program! Love it ! Your newsletter is full of historical information as well as useful computer tips! Look forward to it weekly! Never been to Ok. but when I do I hope to visit some of the places mentioned in your articles!"

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"Please publish a link to Chickasaw National Recreation Area http://www.nps.gov/chic The park computer specialist is working on adding a large amount of information to the page. So, check by periodically to see when she gets it updated."

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"Enjoyed your thoughts on Platte National Park. We were coming back from 6 Flags one time and had a friend of my parents' and her two sons with us. Daddy thought it would be fun to have us kids drink out of the fountain. I got the first mouthful and came up screaming about how I just drank poison water. ha To which all of the adults started laughing their silly heads off."

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"The epicenter of that quake was north of Lawton near Richard's Spur... I was in my pickup at the time and just thought I had developed a shimmy in the steering. Most people thought Ft Sill was firing some new weapon."

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"Hi, just got the chance to read the This and That news this week. I guess alot of folk in Okla were ALL SHOOK UP. I did not hear about it here in Texas. Just wanted you to know I really enjoy all the news from Okla being an Okie, even though I haven't lived there in a LLLLLLONG long time, it is so interesting to get the news from around my home and my folks stompin grounds."

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"You can find phone numbers, addresses, e-mail addresses for people as well as companies."
http://www.albany.net/allinone/all1user.html

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"My niece has just moved to Ardmore, Oklahoma. Thanks for the web page and information about the city. Because I live and work in Japan, web pages like yours makes it possible for me to learn a bit about your town, the county, and the environment in which my niece will be living and working. The web page is nicely done and very informative. Thanks!"

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This week I met a man who is an exception. My aunt and uncle are both 87 years old. They were mailed a $275 check from their kin in Jefferson, Texas. It was addressed wrong and went to another part of town. The man who did receive the hand written letter has a very similar last name, so not paying attention, opened the letter with the check in it. He could have very easily forged the name and cashed the check, and more then likely never been caught. If he had, considering the circumstances, he would have never spent a day in jail. But he was an exception to the norm, and called, and I went over to his house in the southeast and picked up the check. Gary Pettit is made from the right stock... honest, we need more in this world.

Time to get out of here....... going to some friends and help clean out their garage..... who knows...... I may even find something worth bringing home! Remember, smiles are contagious. And a hug helps a hurting heart. See you all next weekend!

Butch Bridges
Ardmore, Oklahoma
ICQ Number 7140238

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From: butchbridges@oklahomahistory.net (Butch Bridges)

Saturday, May 2, 1998 (weekly) Vol 2 Issue 54

Seems like parts of Oklahoma had a pretty bad scare around 9am Tuesday, April the 28th, when a earthquake measuring 4.2 on the Richter scale shook an area north of Lawton, Oklahoma. It was felt all the way down to Dallas. We didnt feel it here in Ardmore, but I read where it was felt just 25 miles north of here in the Arbuckle Mountains. There's no place on earth safe from earthquakes.

Last week I mentioned using Microsoft's free program call Netmeeting. I forget to tell everyone you can launch it from ICQ and request a Netmeeting with a friend. This is just another neat feature in ICQ.

Are you having trouble connecting to the ICQ server? Are you getting frustrated getting disconnected from ICQ from time to time? Well, this page may help those people with this problem. Sometimes, the ICQ server(s) may get too busy, not allowing any users online. The majority of ICQ users do not know that there are different servers you can try in order to increase your chance of getting onto the ICQ network. This page provides those addresses of the ICQ networks and instructions on how to modify the Preferences in ICQ to make use of them. http://www.torget.se/users/r/REXE/servers.html

A friend in Oklahoma City mailed me some Celine Dion pictures out of a magazine this week! What a surprise! Boy, she's got to be one of my favorite singers for sure.

The scratch ticket thing is doing great. I got several more of the little critters in the mail. One was worth a buck, but it was from NY, so I'm going to mail it back to that person. Who knows, someday I may get one worth a couple thousand....... that sure would help a tired aching back :-) http://sunridge.net/index.phtml?id=88219

Let's go to a little This & That..........

SULPHUR, OKLAHOMA PARK MAKING IMPROVEMENTS

The Chickasaw Nation Recreation Area... which we use to know as Platt National Park years ago, is getting a facelift! The park is at the edge of Sulphur, Oklahoma and one of the most beautiful parks in our state. One change they've made is "re-working" the Vendome Well. Through the years it kinda lost it's poop, only shooting about four feet into the air. But they say soon it's should shoot up to 35 ft into the air! I can remember going to the park with my mother, and her sister and brother-in-law over 30 years ago. That water running down those creeks was so cold! The nights when we camped out where so nice......... nature abounded everywhere. And the Tavertine Nature Center was filled with stuffed animals from that area. Guess I'll have to make a trip up there pretty soon, it's only 32 miles from Ardmore, and drink some sulphur water too. Tastes like rotten eggs, but the Indians used it for medicinal purposes many years ago. People still drive for 100 miles to fill up their plastic garbage cans and anything else that will hold water, to talk back home. Here's a pic of the Vendome Well I took some time back - http://www.brightok.net/~bridges/sulpwell.jpg

http://www.brightok.net/sulphurtimes/index.html

WINDOWS 95 TIPS

The Sulphur Computer Users Club passed along to me the following helpful information..... this really neat place to go and get lots of tips on Windows 95. http://www.tipworld.com

MARRIAGE LICENSE APPLICATIONS

Court Clerk Karen Volino had me put info on her Website about how to apply for marriage licenses here in Oklahoma. Her office gets lots of calls asking things like... How much does a marriage license cost? Do we have to get a blood test? How long is the license good before we have to have it registered back with the court clerks office? Find out all the answers at
http://www.brightok.net/chickasaw/ardmore/county/crtclerk.html

LYE SOAP WINNER

gsimmons@brightok.net wins a genuine bar of Ranchman's Lye Soap!

LET'S GET THAT DESKTOP ORGANIZED

Corkboard is totally new, completely different and absolutely FREE. It's a new breed of software for Windows 95/NT. In many ways, it's like a screen saver, but certainly not like any screen saver you've ever seen before. In some ways, it's like a personal information manager, but again, not like one you've ever seen.
http://www.pcdynamics.com/Corkboard/

ICONS, ICONS, AND MORE ICONS

Over 2.1 Gigs for free downloading. Let's see, they are grouped animal, people, food, war, autos, flags, folders, games, flowers, sports, computers, and a bunch more..... just for the asking
http://www.megsinet.com/clemenst/pages/icons.htm

A GLIMPSE INTO THE PAST

In far southwestern Carter county, Oklahoma is a tiny community called Rexroat, Oklahoma. But during the Oklahoma oil boom years, 50 and 70 years ago, Rexroat was like many communities in this county, a bustling town. The town has the same name as State Senator U.T Rexroat from Carter county. In 1931 Senator Rexroat introduced a bill that would establish County Managers for county governments in Oklahoma. The bill did get out of committee, but that was about it, I think.

Oh Wednesday, July 6, 1921 in Rexroat, Oklahoma an oil worker died as a result of bullet wounds inflicted by a nightwatchman there. The nightwatchman was George Pollock who claimed to represent the law in Rexroat. According to Pollock, Willie Jessie "Bill" Williams, was on Main Street in Rexroat, drunk, carrying an automatic pistol, and gunning for his two brother-in-laws. Nightwatchman Pollock was notified and when he came up to Williams, Williams reached behind him, and came out with the pistol. Pollock shot Williams twice, who died later in the Healdton, Oklahoma hospital. Pollock immediately had a friend drive him to the sheriffs office in Ardmore, where he turned himself in, and held on murder charges. George Pollock claimed he had been deputized as a special officer out of the sheriff's office.

SOME OF THIS WEEK'S MAILBAG

"Thanks to whoever sent in the site to http://www.andovernews.com I have it linked to my home page now. Am also going to check out the site for free software for the internet. It's nice to see little clues put in for everyone to check out. Thanks again !"

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"Can't begin to tell you how fun your Saturday newsletter is for me. I'll take it over the newspaper any day!!! I also grew up on the northeast side of town and went to good ol' Washington school. I remember Mr. Connely(sp?) vividly. He sure was a big man from the eyes of a little first grade girl. Scared me spitless!!! Some of the teachers I had there are the reason I grew up to become a teacher."

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"Just read your Saturday morning article in This & That about the City Drug Store and the buying of your school books. I worked for Mr & Mrs Vickers at the City Drug Store in 1950, 5l and 52, during my High School years as a soda jerk. I would work my lunch hour and serve hot dogs and chili, and then go to work at four o'clock when school let out until they close at 10 P.M. I worked for $20.00 a week and to me that was a lot of money. I watched a lot of people buy their school books. The loft was full of books. Thanks so much for the memories, as I hadn't thought of that in years. I served a lot of fountain drinks."

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"Just a quick note to say thanks for your weekly newsletter. Although I do not live in OK., I still enjoy reading all you have to say. Your newsletters are fun and informative and I can see all your hard work has paid off for so many people. Keep up the good work and thanks once again."

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"The relay station south of Sulphur that you have pictured on your web page has deteriorated a great deal since that photo was taken. Perhaps you would know someone who cares. When you come this way take a look at it. I will try to get by and stop this time. I drove by it a few days ago and it is a mess. Looks like the door has fallen off."

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".....have you read the autobiography of Buck Colbert Franklin, which I found at the Ardmore Library. Franklin was a black attorney who practiced in Ardmore at the turn of the century. At that time there were five black attorneys here in town. Franklin has been dead since 1960, but the autobiography has just been published. I'd recommend it for anyone who has an interest in local history."

So much for this week's T&T...... sure been beautiful here the past couple days. I hope each of you are being kind to yourself and to others. Don't forget Mother's Day is the 10th. See everyone next weekend!

Butch Bridges
Ardmore, Oklahoma
ICQ Number 7140238

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From: butchbridges@oklahomahistory.net (Butch Bridges)

Saturday, April 25, 1998 (weekly) Vol 2 Issue 53

At the courthouse this week we had an 800 number put in for public access. This will allow citizens living within Carter county to call the courthouse toll-free. (The number does not work inside the Ardmore city limits.) We are the first county government in Oklahoma to take advantage of this type of program administered and paid for by the Oklahoma Universal Services Fund. The toll free number is 1-800-231-8668. We have several more really good things about to take place there... I cant say anything right now, but soon....... soon I'll be able to tell you.

I've been testing several Net phone programs, let's see, there is IPhone, Webphone, Iris Phone, and a couple more. I think that Microsoft's Netmeeting version 2.1 works just about as good as any of the commercial programs. It works with video cams and its FREE!! Just go to http://www.microsoft.com and download it.

Got my ColorCam installed and it's working great! Pretty neat. It works great with Netmeeting too.

Looks like the scratch ticket program is still going fine. I got a couple more in the mail this week... with several friends telling me they have more distributors coming under them! Check it out at
http://sunridge.net/index.phtml?id=88219

The National Arbor Foundation has a great program if you need some trees to plant. They will send you ten trees ready for planting in your area for a ten dollar donation. Great buy. Check it out at http://www.arborday.org

LYE SOAP WINNER

102447.3102@compuserve.com wins a genuine bar of Ranchman's Lye Soap!

A GLIMPSE INTO THE PAST

I was given a photo this week to scan that sure was a find! Between Oklahoma and Texas is the Red River. Going south out of Ardmore toward Texas you will cross the Red River just south of Thackerville, Oklahoma into Texas. A friend gave me this photo of that bridge between OK and TX that was probaby shot around 1930. You will see an old car, about a 1930 model, under the bridge, so we are assuming the photo was taken about that time period. One thing unusual in the photo is this ladder extending from from the almost dry river bed to the bridge. Here's the old 1930 Red River bridge. http://www.brightok.net/~bridges/redbri30.jpg

SOME OF THIS WEEK'S MAILBAG

"I'm now living in Ireland, love to do their crossword puzzle everyday. You might mention it in your Bits and Bobs." http://www.irish-times.com

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"HI ALL! Just hadda say "HOT DANG" this is fun I aint won a thing heck I aint scaratched a ticket yet but I am havin a ball!!!! Thanks all"

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"Oh thankyou so much for your sat news again, I so look forward to your interesting little stories, even the fish sticks, LOL...good one, at least you know your smoke alarm works!!! And thats a very good thing!!!"

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"The Best Freeware Site World Wide Web offers a collection of the best Freeware for windows 95/98 Windows.NT also Drivers Games MP3 Midi download." http://pigeons.net/software.htm

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"Got my soap and preparing to use it for a good cleaning before I leave for Washington, D.C., tomorrow morning! Thanks so much."

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"The ultimate list of FREE software for the Internet Free chat, FTP, newsreaders, and much more. http://www.jooky.com THE BEST DOWNLOAD SITE - PERIOD."

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"I found this web site that let's you know the traffic rating on the internet with 0 being the slowest and 100 being the fastest. If your computer is slow on the Net you can tell whether it is your local server or the global traffic slowing things down." http://www.andovernews.com/trafficreport.html ----------------------------------------------------------------

"Arlo Guthrie was here in Canberra last week and I went down to listen to him. It was a great show with lots of his old songs from the 60's abd 70's plus some new ones and several other good old folk songs. He played quite a few that his dad, Woody Guthrie wrote as well. He is now on tour with son Abe who is 26 and plays the keyboard. Arlo does some really good fingerpicking on both his 6 and 12 string acoustic Martin's. He has an interesting website with links to other folk music sites." http://www.arlo.net

The SwanCam located in Oklahoma City still shows the swan sitting on her eggs. But guess what? A couple of swan chicks have hatched! http://www.ionet.net/~epworth

It amazing the friendships I have, both on the Net and here in town. And how each week they bring new surprises and smiles. I installed some super nice Microsoft programs at this one office at the courthouse. And the next day this friend gave me a whole coconut cream pie as a thank you!!!! I ate on it all weekend! It was only 500,000 calories! But it sure was good!!

One new friend who used to live in nearby Sulphur, Oklahoma 30 plus years ago mailed me this 1972 Murray County History book this week. Told me he didnt need it anymore, and for me to make good use of it, sharing some history with everyone. I've never meet this man, he is retired down in Florida, so we may never meet face to face. But our friendship is as genuine as if we had known each other all our lives, and he lived next door. You know who you are... thanks friend.

Received a beautiful wav file this week from another friend. It's a song about angels and it goes like this:

"I believe there are angels among us,
Sent down to us from somewhere up above.
They come to you and me in our darkest hours,
To show us how to live... to teach us how to give,
And guide us with the light of love."

To hear the wav file just click on the link below. Hopefully your browser will play it..... if not, right click on it, and you can down load it to your hard drive and play it with Media Player. Enjoy! http://www.brightok.net/~bridges/angels.wav

I've been walking nearly every night this week. Nice weather to walk. It gets me away from all these computers and some time to be alone and to think. It is strange how one's mind can flash back to something years ago. A few weeks ago a friend died. He and I grew up over in the northeast part of town. Back in grade school we all bought our school books at one place here in Ardmore, the City Drug Store at NE corner of Main and Washington streets. We were probably 12 years old, standing in line at the drug store with our moms to get our books for that school year. He turned around and said to me "your mother sure is pretty". Of course at that age I didnt think much about the comment. But reflecting back I see what he meant. My mother was a beautiful woman. She was always happy, and had a good outlook, loved to laugh. I never remember her saying a bad word about anyone. I lost my mother in 1990. Sure miss her. But I can tell mother's day is getting near. In the front of my house is a large rose bush. This week about a dozen beautiful roses popped out. Mother's Day is May 10. If you still have your mother with you, start now to plan something special for her. Someday she will be gone. Here's a photo of my mother taken when she was a young lady. http://www.brightok.net/~bridges/louise5.jpg

Family and friends, they make life worth living.

See everyone next weekend.

Butch Bridges
Ardmore, Oklahoma
ICQ Number 7140238

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From: butchbridges@oklahomahistory.net (Butch Bridges)

Saturday, April 18, 1998 (weekly) Vol 2 Issue 52

Last week I told about ICQ and it taking me several months to get it working on my home computer. I never cease to be amazed at email and it's power. In less then 48 hours, over 60 of you had sent me a request to be added to my ICQ Contact List. It was not just overwhelming, but a humbling experience for me. You people are wonderful...... please have patience with me... if I cant get right back to you on chat requests or instant emails. I did have a typo on the Mirabilis Website where you can find out about ICQ... its http://www.mirabilis.com

The other night I decided to pan fry some fishsticks. Some one sent me an instant message through ICQ, I went to read it and before I knew it, my smoke alarm went off. hahahahahaha

This week has been a busy one for me at the courthouse. We been working on some really neat electronic things at the courthouse, and I thought I could pass along some of it today, but things just didnt work out..... so be watching next weekend!

Not really sure if the scratch ticket thing is working or not. One day their website was down for about 24 hours. It did come back up but I had lost one Distributor. And it seems they are not updating their records database like they were. Oh well.... it was worth it, I got a lot for my $6 dollar investment with just new friendships! Guess I'll just have to watch it on a day to day basis.
http://sunridge.net/index.phtml?id=88219

Spending lots of hours on the computer? Let Happy Fred entertain you as he does things across your screen. Freeware. http://prog-net.com/fred/

I just received my ColorCam, but havn't had time to install it yet. Can't wait to give it a try. Anyone got a camera hooked up to their home computer? Anyway......... here's some This & That

LYE SOAP WINNER

tkk@ardmore.com wins a genuine bar of Ranchman's Lye Soap! If anyone wants to purchase some lye soap... I will send you one bar for $3 bucks, which includes the $1.50 for postage. A case of 20 bars is $30 plus $4 postage. Just let me know by email, and mail the money to me at: Lye Soap P.O. Box 2 Ardmore, OK 73402

A GLIMPSE INTO THE PAST

In the early morning of Thursday, July 13, 1972 a Norman, Oklahoma man, Marvin Martin Fisher, age 49, hijacked an American Airlines Boeing 727. Fisher demanded a ransom of $500,000 and a parachute. The jet had just left Oklahoma City enroute to Dallas when the hijacking took place. There were 51 passengers and a crew of 6 aboard the plane. The plane returned to Oklahoma City to land, where Fisher allowed the passengers to leave. The ransom money, a parachute and pilot Charles N. Dodds and stewardess Dani Darnell would forced to remain and the plane took off again. It would circle Oklahoma City for several hours, Fisher decided not to make the jump from the plane, and it would land around 5am in Oklahoma City, after Fisher surrendered his gun to the stewardess. Even though Fisher had demanded $500,000 in ransom, there was only around $200,000 actually loaded on the plane. Rumors would circulate that some of the $200,000 was missing. But officials would later report that all of the ransom money was accounted for. The gun that Fisher had with him, would later be found to be unloaded.

SOME OF THIS WEEK'S MAILBAG

"I have a question. Actually I just want to stir things up a little. But isn't that scratch ticket a pyramid scheme? Good thing your using the internet, that kind of stuff is illegal......."

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"I'm out of it...to many server problems, and a gray area as to who is backing this program. good luck!"

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"Even if it is a pyramid scheme, it is probably not illegall on the internet. I think the reason that sort of thing is illegal through the mail is because when they were not illegal and were very popular the mail got clogged up with just that type of mail."

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"Just to let you know how much i enjoy your newsletter....Just saw the swan cam thought it was great!! will be watching on the 16th... keep up the good work."

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".....I are receiving & really enjoying your Sat "This & That". I probable like it the most, since I spent all my childhood days in Ardmore."

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"Hello, have really been enjoying all of your news....just thought I would send something different for you to check out...and if you or anyone knows of any 5K's coming up would appreciate the info.... http://www.tds.net/imriley check out RunBMG thanks for your dedication each Saturday."

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"I have a Murray County History book with lots of good things in it. It was published in 1978 by the Murray County Historical Society. If you would like to have the book, I will send it to you......"

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"Try this awesome web site. http://www.copykat.com

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"I don't know why your shortcuts disappeared. However, as a safety technique, I generally put user's shortcuts within a single desktop folder. You can then make a copy of the folder and store it in a directory"

The SwanCam located in Oklahoma City still shows the swan sitting on her eggs. They were suppose to hatch on the 17th. She removed 2 bad eggs, leaving 4 she is still sitting on. Maybe soon! http://www.ionet.net/~epworth

This past week I seem to have appreciated more the friends I've made through my T&T. It's been one year now, I started with only twelve friends and now mailout to over 400. Several of you have told me my T&T probably goes to over 3,000 by use of Forwarding. One friend has been forwarding my T&T to his friend in Arkansas. This man from Arkansas was in town visiting his friends... and came by to see me.... said he just wanted to meet the man behind the newsletter. That was nice... that people think enough to take time from of their busy schedules to visit. I appreciate each and every one of you...... you bring me lots of smiles with your emails..... just be sure to share them with those who are close to you. They can mean so much in this push and shove world we live in.

Sure been some nice cool evenings for my downtown walks. When it's over 100, I just don't seem to enjoy my walks as much.

See you all next Saturday!

Butch Bridges
Ardmore, Oklahoma
ICQ Number 7140238

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From: butchbridges@oklahomahistory.net (Butch Bridges)

Saturday, April 11, 1998 (weekly) Vol 2 Issue 51

Ater four months of trying to get ICQ to run on my home computer, I finally succeeded! It has a lot of nice features... if you have ICQ give me a shout on ICQ sometime... my number is 7140238 If you dont know what I'm talking about or dont have ICQ yet... you can check it out at http://www.mirabilis.com

I talked to a friend in New York this week using ICQ... when I used the words yep... and nope... I think she thought us Okies were uncouth or something to that effect. Well, I assured her the "The rain in Spain, falls mainly on the plain". hahahahaha

I've been experimenting with Webphone and Iris, two voice programs. You need to have Win95 and a mic to use them. Very interesting.... Webphone has not been nearly as clear as the Iris program. Fun though, let me know if you have either and want to try a voice chat. Now I'm planning on getting me a ColorCam. They're less then $100 now.

One thing I haven't mentioned in a long time, is be careful when sending big files or messages overseas. Remember to ASK FIRST before sending them to friends over there. Most of us here in the United States get unlimited internet access for around $20. But overseas, that may not be the case... and they may even be paying by the minute. So ask before you send someone overseas a megabyte file as an email attachment, etc.

My scratch ticket experiment seems to be going great. I never cease to be amazed at the power of email. Eleven of you have responded and signed up under me as a Sunridge distributor. In three weeks I have come a long way. Let's see..... A friend went to Texas and picked me up 6 scratch tickets ($6.00), which I have mailed off to six people (my sponsors), I have already received five tickets in the mail, and two were winners..... one for $1 and another for $6. The other 5 should arrive any day. Guess I'm doing pretty good, and I havent even got started! Anyway, if your interested in what this is all about, go check out http://sunridge.net/index.phtml?id=88219

This past week a friend gave me a giant bottle of Dr Pepper! Another friend came by the courthouse and brought me some homemade cookies and a cold DP in a can. When we sometimes dont even know what tomorrow will bring..... friendships mean so much. Be a friend to someone when they least expect it..... and watch the smile.

Hope everyone is enjoying these Easter Holidays. Here's some T&T...

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THE TECH CORNER

For weeks now, I was unable to run two or three programs, including ICQ and Tracer. When I click to load them, they started to run, then immediately rebooted my computer. I have search high and low trying to find the answer to this problem. Last Saturday, I decided it was time to take drastic measures, so I looked inside my computer. I really couldnt find anything wrong. I did remember that I installed another 16 meg SIMM chip about four months ago, and that is when the reboot problem started. I decided to take out my two 16 meg SIMM chips for a closer look. One was a 70 nanosecond chip, the other was a 60 nanosecond chip. I decided to take out the second chip, the 60 nanosecond and try my computer. Everything worked fine. So I assumed I had a bad SIMM chip. Next I decided to reverse the SIMM chips, change slots. Put the 70ns in the first SIMM slot and the 60ns in the second slot. Turned my computer on and viola! No more rebooting! All that was needed was to take the two SIMM chips and switch slots.... switch slots, ain't that a tongue twister! Sometimes a big problem can have a simple answer. Computers....

A GLIMPSE INTO THE PAST

Around 4:30am on Friday morning, January 31, 1919 at shootout took place in the California Cafe at the corner of Main and Mill street in Ardmore. Police Chief Les Segler had just left the station walking downtown and came up to Deputy Sheriff Bud Ballew. Ballew asked Selger to breakfast at the cafe. Upon entering the cafe, ex-U.S. Marshal Dow Braziel opened fire, firing one, then a second shot. Bud Ballew immediately returned fire, shooting six times, and hitting Braziel's body with each round. It seems there had been a long standing fued between Braziel and Ballew. There were a dozen witnesses in the California Cafe when the shooting took place including the manager Harry Brown, a Windy Lane and a Louis Eaves. Chief Segler would place Ballew under arrest. Ballew would post a $10,000 bond the following day, following charges of attempted murder by County Attorney Russell Brown. Bud Ballew was the chief Deputy for Sheriff Buck Garrett. Ballew would overcome his attempted murder charges, only to be killed in a shooting incident in Wichita Falls, Texas by it's chief of police and a detective in 1922.

Note: There is a historical brick in front of where the California Cafe used to be in 1919. Today stands Stolfa Bros Hardware Store.

LYE SOAP WINNER

grranch@phoenix.net wins a genuine bar of Ranchman's Lye Soap! If anyone wants to purchase some lye soap... I will send you one bar for $3 bucks, which includes the $1.50 for postage. A case of 20 bars is $30 plus $4 postage. Just let me know by email, and mail the money to me at: Lye Soap P.O. Box 2 Ardmore, OK 73402

SOME OF THIS WEEK'S MAILBAG

"We have had the same thing happen a couple of times. It seems if you turn off the power before it says it is now safe to shut off your computer it looses all or part of the bookmarks. During the shut down process bookmarks reload some way and at what ever point you shut off the power you lose what has not yet reloaded. We also learned the hardway and now have a backup."

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"Someone wrote they just uploaded their web page and would appreciate a look over of the html code for any bugs.... I bet they will luv this site, because it will not only check your code for bugs, email you a report on the site, but show you in detail all the work you still have to do to get the code up to the web standard. Best of all it's free!!!" http://www.netmechanic.com/

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"Sorry you couldnt access that site. Here is how I got there. Hope this helps: Go to http://www.rootsweb.com/~okgenweb/okindex.htm This is the Oklahoma genealogy website. After you are there select "Oklahoma Maps"."

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"Butch, I did some more research, and am sending you the page I logged on to.....hope this helps. It about Oklahoma being Twin Territories." http://www.rootsweb.com/~itgenweb/maps.htm

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"...I was born and raised around Sulphur with a few side trips to Addington, Carter, and Terrel. Wish it was still Platt National Park and the swimming pool was still there. I met a lot of girls in that park in the 50's and early 60's and spent a lot of time in the old Artesian Hotel lobby. I've been lost in Fl for over 25 yrs and am happy to see your web site and really enjoyed all the pics and history. I think I drove by that pony express stop a thousand times in my teens and never thought about what it was." http://www.brightok.net/~bridges/mailhse.jpg

Last Saturday we had a lol of excitement down on Main Street here in Ardmore. It was a parade and celebration of our annual Chile Cookoff. Main Street was all a buzz.... there were plays and skits being conducted at Central Park, and most prominent was the Chili Cookoff being held at Main and Washington streets. There must have been several dozen cooking chili. A person would buy a $4 coffee mug with Ardmoredilla Chile Cookoff on the side. Then carry that cup from one chili contestant's booth to another getting free samples. I bet I tried two dozen! Main Street was packed and everyone was having a lot of fun.. and the weather was beautiful!

I found an interesting event going on here in Oklahoma (at least I think Oklahoma). This beautiful swan is sitting on six eggs.... suppose to hatch around April 16th. You can see it all happening on the Web. The SwanCam pictures are updated every two minutes until dark. Take a pick at this forthcoming miracle of birth at http://www.ionet.net/~epworth

The last couple weeks I have been overwhelmed with emails and chat requests. Bear with me, I'm trying to get back to everyone. Either by email or with my This & That. I appreciate all of you.

Now some words for thought...... You can not make someone love you, all you can do is be someone who can be loved. The rest is up to them.

See everyone next weekend!

Butch Bridges
Ardmore, Oklahoma
ICQ Number 7140238

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From: butchbridges@oklahomahistory.net (Butch Bridges)

Saturday, April 4, 1998 (weekly) Vol 2 Issue 50

Something strange happened to my computer last Thursday. It had been working fine the day before. Then Thursday when I turned it on, all my "shortcuts" on the Desktop where gone. Nothing else, only the couple dozen shortcuts. So one by one I had to put them back on. Guess I'll never know what happened there, I even checked my hard drive for a virus..... found none.

Speaking of hard drives, my 850mg is about full. I'm in the market for a bigger one.

I found a really neat website with all kinds of free help. I can't even begin to tell you the advice and help that is available there, so you must go check it out yourself. http://www.myservice.com

Last week I mentioned I entered a program that is suppose to get me free scratch tickets. Well, guess what? I got my first one this week and three more should be here in a couple days. So maybe I will get some free tickets. If you are into the scratch ticket thing.....

And the other day a nice gift came to me at the courthouse. It was a case of Dr Pepper from a friend whose computer I helped her with several times! Then a letter came this week from a friend who sent me some info on Celine Dion. And Friday a reader who lives in Alaska, but raised in Healdton, Oklahoma stopped by to see me. I took him up to see the Seth Thomas Tower Clock. Jerry Lewis is retired from the U.S. Coast Guard there in Alaska after 30 yrs. Sure nice to have friends. They truly do make life worth living, and I think I have been blessed with more then my share, world-wide. DPs are nice too. http://www.drpepper.com

A few things to pass along.....

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TITANIC AND CELINE DION WEBSITES

Found two awesome websites that feature the movie Titanic and also Celine Dion who sang the theme song "My Heart Will Go On". The first one even has a map of the crash site, and much more. There are so many pics, it takes awhile to load.... but worth the wait!

http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Hills/4260/titanic.htm

http://www.celineonline.com

A GLIMPSE INTO THE PAST

One November 19, 1930 Pauls Valley, Oklahoma sheriff W.A. Rose and his deputy, W.A. Loveless, were transporting a Pauls Valley man, Bert King, to jail in Pauls Valley. King had been charged with attempting to kill a deputy Sheriff in Garvin county. King was found a year 1/2 later in Texas. Returning from Texas, The three stopped in Lone Grove, Oklahoma to repair a flat tire. Being lunch time, it was decided to eat. Bert King asked to have his handcuffs removed so he could eat easier. But instead of eating, King bolted and ran. Garvin county sheriff Rose shot King in the hip as he fled. Bert King was not thought to be seriously wounded, and was transported to the Garvin county jail by the Harvey Bros ambulance.

LYE SOAP WINNER

jowinters@juno.com wins a genuine bar of Ranchman's Lye Soap! If anyone wants to purchase some lye soap... I will send you one bar for $3 bucks, which includes the $1.50 for postage. A case of 20 bars is $30 plus $4 postage. Just let me know by email, and mail the money to me at:

Lye Soap
P.O. Box 2
Ardmore, OK 73402

SOME OF THIS WEEK'S MAILBAG

"This message has been automatically generated to publicize the World Alumni Net http://www.alumni.net This website contains an alumni e-mail registry and bulletin board service for colleges and high schools all over the world. It is a very useful resource for finding school friends and for organizing alumni events."

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"I thought I had lost a reliable link to the local past when I moved to Lake Murray from Houston and out of the Houston Chronicle's circulation area. For, you see, Leon Hale's column, which I had read religiously for 16 years, was no longer on my doorstep each morning. I followed his journey to find Spring each year (he would drive toward South Texas with a friend in February looking for signs of greening), and he kept me updated on country ways & places and reminiscence of "things of the past". Upon discovering your Web Page & Newsletter, I felt compelled to introduce you two to each other - true soul mates. Please follow the link to some of his recent columns and you will discover what I mean." http://www.chron.com/content/chronicle/metropolitan/hale/home/index.html

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"I was just telling my son yesterday about the crash. He was really interested when I showed him your bit about it. Although I wasn't here then, as I understand it they hit one of the mountains behind the airpark when the pilot had a heart attack. Is that correct?"

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"For Beanie Baby enthusiasts and collectors of all ages! For any parent who has a son or daughter that is interested in beanie babies, you're going to want to check this out. It's the best deal on the internet." http://members.xoom.com/beaniepalace/

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"Just printed a picture of you by the clock! Wow, what a young handsome man! But, then at my age, everyone looks young!!"

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"ArdNet is the web site for busy Ardmoreites. Designed with less graphics for quicker loading, ArdNet is ready to help you get to where you want to go. Take less than a minute to check us out at http://www.ardnet.com/ Why ArdNet? Ardmore's Most comprehensive E-Mail Directory, Oklahoma Education links from Elementary School to Universities, Ardmore Cable channel guide with links to the stations and networks to get to the News, Weather, Sports, and Finance sites faster than ever."

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"I just spent the morning getting my web page uploaded and working. Man, those little details will really kill you. Sure would appreciate it if you'd give it a look and report any bugs you find. Also would be interested in your opinion." http://www.chickasaw.com/~blantrip

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"I don't know if I have informed the members of the list, but I have a message forum setup for ham radio information." http://www.redriver.net/hamradio

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I had to do manual labor this week..... mowed my grass, or should I say weeds... hahahaha. Boy, I hate that, goes back to my childhood. My creampuff (74 Chevy PU) had to go to the doctor this week. Had a tailpipe leaking.... only cost $45 to fix, so I guess I lucked out. Some friends of mine are going to Dallas to see Michael Bolton on May 20th at the Starplex. He's made some beautiful songs.

Let me fix some hot tea, sit down, and see if my crazy computer sends everything out ok. It's been doing some weird things this week. Everyone enjoy the Spring..... it's a good time for re-newing old friendships. Give that special someone in your life a call, tell them how much they mean...... it's the little things that mean so much.... "love can touch us one time and last a lifetime".

See everyone next weekend!

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