April 1978: Although no arrest is eminent, police believe they are homing in on a prime suspect of the Friday night fires that damaged the third and fourth floors of Ardmore’s Carter County Courthouse. Authorities are still speculating as to the motive of the fires, but the primary target was the office of court reporter Yvonne Richards (wife of Carter County Deputy Ralph Richards 1924-2016) for District Judge James Dillard. It was believed the fire had been burning in Richards office for at least an hour before it was discovered at 9 p.m. Richards lost about 4 years of records and the office was gutted. Another fire was set in a pile of papers in the office of the Judge’s secretary, Jane Nance. There is evidence the suspect spent a lot of time in the courthouse before igniting the series of fires. Early estimates of damage range from $30,000 to over $100,000.
In the 1970 I made an emergency 100 MPH run to University Hospital in OKC. Deputy Ralph Richards was riding in the ambulance with me since I was transporting an inmate. The patient was a jail inmate who rammed his head into the steel door of his jail cell. What an experience I’ll never forget, but then that’s another story for another time (most people wouldn’t believe me anyway). Ralph Richards (1924-2016) was a deputy sheriff for 24 years. He was buried in Hillcrest Cemetery. Click here for—> Ralph Richards Obituary
“Davis High School students will find a completely new and remodeled school when classes resume in September 1953.”
Madill, Oklahoma 1939
Simon Westheimer & Co. store in Marietta, Oklahoma 1906
Photograph of the Wilson, Oklahoma Fire Station with two hook and ladder trucks and crews.
W. J. Milburn was a key figure in the founding of the town of Milburn in Johnston County, Oklahoma, in 1901–1902. As a druggist from Emet, Oklahoma and eventual state representative, he facilitated the town’s development by negotiating with the Choctaw, Oklahoma and Gulf Railroad, ultimately naming the town after himself.
Milburn population 252 as of the 2020 Census
HAM Radio Talk By Butch Bridges KC5JVT
Allstar node # 58735 – Echolink # 101960 – HamsOverIP # 103010
Several years ago I have touched on this question of “are we ready for the next one”. The answers I heard were pretty weak. What this guy says is important and needs addressed at the local level all across this nation.
Click on link for video —> The Storm Proved It – ARES & RACES are DEAD
From This Weeks Mailbag
“Butch: Oh, how I remember mellorine ! The old man loved mellorine because it was cheap ! If you wanted the real stuff, it meant a trip to Miller’s Dairy Queen or wait till pappy made the real stuff with the ice cream churn. We all took turns crankin’ that churn. It took one to crank, and one to sit on the churn so it wouldn’t wobble around. He finally got an electric churn. When the ice cream was ready, the electric churn would grind to a halt. Ah, those memories of hot, dry summer days in Ardmore, USA. Remember those big evaporative water air coolers in windows during the 50s and early 60s ? They were called swamp coolers because the air they produced reminded you of a swamp. We even had one for the family station wagon. It was a round tubelike thing that hung on a rolled up window. The force of the air blowing thru it turned the round squirrel like fan blade and kept water circulating over the spanish moss covered vents as you drove down the road. Pappy finally got an a/c unit that straddled the transmission hump under the dash. We thought we had died and gone to heaven!” -Steve Miller (like the band)
“Your historical Ardmore Airpark El Paso 10 tidbit (newsletter Issue 1,517 February 26, 2026) about Woody Harrelson’s father being a hitman was quite the revelation. The fact that his father killed the federal judge over that whole smuggling operation was a shock.
Back in the day, when I was a wee lad, I would often visit with my dad
when he was stationed there during the Cuban Missile Crisis. He was one of the command officers during this conflict. Most folks don’t know how important the base was during this time. It was kept a secret at the time, as Ardmore was to recover the bombers if bombs were dropped on Russia. The Recovery Squadron logo was a mushroom cloud from an atomic bomb blast. Interesting lost Ardmore historical event.” -Steve Miller (like the band)
“The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched – they must be felt with the heart.” — Helen Keller
See everyone next week!
Butch and Jill Bridges
Ardmore Oklahoma
580-490-6823
https://oklahomahistory.net