Friday, September 24, 2010

Why we do it..

I've been a reporter for a decade. You do a lot of stories in that time. Some of them stick with you and some of them remind you what you love about this business and why you keep doing it.

This video by Tanner Herriott was for a story we did in 2008 about the execution of Jessie James Cummings. Traveling, talking to people and hoping to represent that in the most accurate way.

Cummings died by lethal injection on Sept. 25, 2008.


Thursday, September 9, 2010

Chicken farmer enjoys giving back to nature

This was one of my favorite stories. It published in The Oklahoman, March 11, 2007. The family was very nice. We had to eat brownies before I got a tour of their farm. Of course the scenary around Heavener was breathtaking as well.


Chicken farmer enjoys giving back to nature
Man with 92,000 chickens receives an environmental award.
By Julie Bisbee
The Oklahoman

HEAVENER — It's quiet at Homer Lee Marrow's farm. A few dogs laze in the warm sun, keeping watch over the pasture and ridges that surround the house, and the air is crisp.

Not bad for a farm that raises more than 92,000 chickens at one time in four separate houses. Marrow, a retired science teacher, is proud of the fact that his poultry operation doesn't smell like a chicken farm. Aside from the four metal houses a ways down the driveway, it really doesn't look like a chicken farm either.

Marrow Farms recently was given the Family Farm Environmental Excellence Award by the U.S. Poultry & Egg Association.

Marrow's farm is one of five family farms across the country to have received the award at this year's International Poultry Expo. The award recognizes farms that find ways to manage waste created by chickens, enhance the natural wildlife habitat around their farms and participate in outreach and education programs.

Poultry companies sued

While an Oklahoma farmer is being recognized for his environmentally friendly efforts, Oklahoma's Attorney General Drew Edmondson is suing 14poultry companies he claims were polluting a watershed in northeast Oklahoma by applying too much chicken waste on more than a million acres in the Illinois River watershed.

The lawsuit was filed in June 2005. Poultry producers in northeastern Oklahoma and Arkansas are paying companies to haul the waste away from their watershed.

Most aspects of poultry production are regulated by state and federal agencies. Farmers must comply with restrictions to ensure phosphorus-rich waste created by chickens isn't polluting soil and running off into lakes, rivers and streams.

Too much phosphorus in the water can promote the growth of algae that dies and becomes food for bacteria. With more food available, bacteria multiply, using up oxygen. This kills fish and plant life that rely on oxygen to survive.

For some, restrictions can be bothersome. For Marrow, improving the habitat around his farm is something he enjoys. He's sprouted native grasses, and planted turnips and ryegrass for whitetail deer that live on the 670 acres of Marrow's farm amid wooded plots of pine trees, prairie grass and wildflowers.

Marrow and his wife, Jean, can name the flowers that grow in their meadow plots: black-eyed Susans, Indian paintbrushes and a smattering of bluebonnets that have appeared over the years.

"Every poultry grower appreciates good water and wholesome food and fresh air. I love nature just as it is," Marrow said. "But we have to make a living in it."

Waste piles up high

Where there are thousands of chickens, there are millions of tons of chicken waste that need to be disposed of. Many producers, like Marrow, use the phosphorus-rich litter to fertilize pasture and crop land. In good years, chicken waste helps boost Marrow's production of hay, or greens up pasture land for the cattle the graze on.

In fact, Marrow, 71, became a chicken producer with two poultry houses in 1992 so he would have access to a cheap fertilizer. Two more houses were added in 2005, after Marrow's son Benny joined the operation full-time.

"Ironically, they were added to provide more economic nutrients to the soil in addition to diversifying the farm's income," Marrow wrote in his application packet for the environmental award.

Chicken litter is piled up nearly 8 feet high in the two open-air store houses near Marrow's poultry houses. It's crumbly and flaky and nearly odorless as Marrow steps across a pile of the litter. A federal conservation program helped pay for the storage barns. With the litter barns, Marrow and his son can clean out the poultry houses and store the chicken waste until conditions are right to put it on fields. The barns also keep the litter dry. Marrow also can use the litter to compost the carcasses of dead chickens.

Using chicken litter as a fertilizer isn't an easy process. Producers don't just spread the waste out over the land and hope for the best, said Kenneth Risenhoover, district conservationist for the Natural Resources Conservation Service in Poteau. Producers test their soil and adjust the amount of chicken litter they put on the land, he said.

In central Le Flore County, where Marrow has his farm, about 85 poultry producers live in the Lake Wister watershed, Risenhoover said. The lake also is where most people in the area get their drinking water.

"I think the fact that poultry producers drink the water of Wister Lake, they're just as concerned as anybody about protecting their water," Risenhoover said.

Time to practice

Inside one of Marrow's poultry houses, thousands of chickens crowd around feeders placed on the ground and scurry each time Marrow takes a step farther into the barn. He's slipped a special plastic boot over his brown leather cowboy boots in hopes of keeping germs out of the house filled with young chickens. Viruses spread easily among the birds and can take out a whole flock if gone untreated.

Each poultry house is equipped with a computer system that regulates the temperature and ventilation of the barn. Too much ventilation and too much wind can cause the odor of the chicken house to drift to near by homes, something Marrow doesn't want to happen.

Marrow is modest about being recognized for his environmental practices.

"I'm older, and I've had more years to practice and enhance the environment in our area," Marrow said. "This is an award about who did the most. I don't really think of myself as an environmental expert."

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Terry Nichols defense team seeks higher office

BY JULIE BISBEE
THE OKLAHOMAN
Published June 27

The attorneys who once defended convicted Oklahoma City bombing conspirator Terry Nichols have both filed to run for public office this year.
Brian Hermanson and Creekmore Wallace II want to help enforce the law.

Hermanson is running as a Republican for district attorney in a district that includes Kay and Noble counties. Wallace is among three people seeking a judicial seat in Creek County. Judicial elections are nonpartisan.

The men worked together for nearly a decade defending Nichols as the state brought 161 counts of murder against him. They successfully avoided a death sentence for Nichols, who is serving a life sentence in prison without the possibility of release for his role in the bombing. Hermanson and Wallace said they didn't confer before deciding to run for office.

"We didn't talk to each other; it just happened," Hermanson said.

Hermanson, 57, said he decided to run for district attorney because he wanted to see a change in his local district attorney's office.

Wallace, 66, said he made a last minute decision to run for office when the sitting associate district judge announced her retirement. For Wallace, who has made a name for himself defending high-profile death penalty cases, working as a judge will be an opportunity to focus on other endeavors.

The legal careers of both men have lasted nearly 30 years. But to many they will always be known as the attorneys who defended the rights of a man who conspired with Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh to blow up the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. The explosion resulted in the deaths of 168 people. McVeigh was put to death after being convicted in a federal court.

"People still talk about it," Hermanson said. "The courts asked me to take that case. I didn't get rich. I didn't write a book about it. I provided the constitutional defense for somebody charged with a crime. Would it have been easy to walk way from it? Absolutely. Would it have been the right thing to do? No. You can't leave your client hanging like that."

Hermanson said his experience as a defense attorney would only enhance his ability to enforce the law as a prosecutor.

"Just because you're a defense attorney doesn't mean you don't want criminals to be punished," he said. "A defense attorney knows the ins and outs of criminal law and would be very successful as a prosecutor."

Wallace was a well-known defense attorney in eastern Oklahoma before he represented Nichols; the case only heightened his name recognition.

"I've represented ONG, oil companies. I've represented every head shop in the state," Wallace said. "And I've represented over 200 people who have chosen homicide as a problem solving technique."

Both men will face opponents in the July 27 primary election.