OKC FRIDAY Vol. 57 No. 52• One Section • 12 pages • May 3, 2024 $1 per copy
www.okcfriday.com facebook.com/okcfriday OKC’s only locally-owned legal newspaper with all local news Serving affluent far north Oklahoma City, Nichols Hills and The Village for 50 years
Village looks at options for Cathy Cummings memorial
National champ hoopster!
By Eric Oesch Staff Writer
Village resident Ayden Birch won the national Elks Hoop Shoot competition, earning the honor of having his name inscribed on the Elks trophy in the Basketball Hall of Fame. Ayden was sponsored by the Midwest City Elks Lodge and had previously won the Southwest Regional Elks Hoop Shoot Free Throw Contest. At nationals, he scored 29/30 free throws, 24/25 and then 5/5 in a tie-breaker. Ayden attends Grind Prep Academy, a new basketball prep school in OKC. “I’ve been playing basketball since I was six years old, Ayden said. “I practice every day. If you want to be good at something, practice it a lot.” He is the son of Jennifer Birch and Gary Birch.
Hazardous waste event a resounding success Six hundred and forty-five Oklahoma City residents dropped off 250,612 pounds of ammunition, medications, computers and tires during the city’s annual Special Collection Event at the OKC Fairgrounds. Residents delivered 227,268 pounds of tires, 22,000 pounds of computers,
600 pounds of ammunition and set a new record of 744 pounds of medications. “This was our 47th Special Collection Event since 1995,” Environmental Protection Superintendent Derek Johnson said. “We are always excited to see increased community participation, and we are already
planning for next year’s event.” Oklahoma City partners with the Department of Environmental Quality to provide environmentally friendly tire disposal options. The Oklahoma City Police Department and See WASTE, Page 7
Councilmembers in The Village are considering several options to memorialize former mayor and councilmember Cathy Cummings who passed away from cancer in February. While no action was taken, the council did ponder the pros and cons of five options. “I think the general consensus is that we want to do something around the Civic Plaza in memory of Cathy and we have multiple options,” said City Manager Dave Slezickey. “I have a feeling that Sean (Councilman Cummings) would prefer the city formally takes action after he is off the council. “I think we will probably defer to what he thinks is most fitting (to honor Cathy),” Slezickey said. “There are a lot of opportunities for signage or a plaque, but we want to do something of long-term benefit that both locals and visitors will appreciate.” One option would create the Mayor Cathy Cummings Corridor along Vineyard Boulevard and Manchester Drive with the placement of signage at the intersection of the two streets. Signage would also be considered for the intersection of Vineyard Boulevard and Pennsylvania. The pros for this option include no impacts of renaming a street for address changes. Cons include the possibility signage could obstruct visibility for traffic. Option two proposes renaming South Vineyard Boulevard from Manchester Drive to Pennsylvania as Mayor Cathy Cummings Boulevard. The pro of this proposal
Nearly $90k in lunch debt paid By Eric Oesch Staff Writer Village City Councilman Sean Cummings has given away nearly $90,00 to eliminate school lunch debt across Oklahoma in memory of his wife Cathy who passed away last February after a brief battle with cancer. When Sean’s wife, former Village Mayor Cathy Cummings, succumbed to an aggressive form of gallbladder cancer her family asked that instead of flowers those who wished could donate to a GoFundMe page to eliminate school lunch debt. Since he first announced his intentions on Facebook to See DEBT, Page 3
is the passing traffic on Pennsylvania would visibly observe the honor. Cons include the Love’s Event Center, the only addressed property of Vineyard Boulevard. While Love’s is the only addressed property on Vineyard Boulevard, it does receive mail and deliveries at this address. Love’s has shared their support for honoring Cummings but said it would be an inconvenience if a new address is generated. See VILLAGE, Page 3
OKC FRIDAY: Fabulous at 50 FRIDAY’s Dog of the Week Paper made clients happy for ad agency Greta is a 5-year-old German Shepherd, adopted from Angels Bark Rescue. She's a seasoned traveler, having lived in California, New York and Oklahoma with her family, Madison Patterson and Barak Federman. Greta's favorite pastime? Enjoying car rides and accompanying her parents to the office every day. With her loyalty and loving nature, she's captured hearts as the ultimate companion Email Dog of the Week, Baby of the Week and Cat of the Week submissions to rose@okcfriday.com.
By David Bennett Village City Councilman I first heard of FRIDAY newspaper when I was just out of college, having completed my military active-duty obligation, and I returned to Oklahoma City to pursue my desired career. My degree was in advertising/public relations from Oklahoma State University and I was fortunate to have joined David Tarpenning at Tarpenning Associates. And one of our clients was Nichols Hills Bank. At that time, I didn’t know
FRIDAY was just 2-years-old but I did know it had a well-defined audience and did not compete directly with the Daily Oklahoman. Instead, it served the northwest area of Oklahoma City - “Fridayland” - with stories of specific interest to its target audience. It had stories that didn’t seem significant enough for the much larger Oklahoman territory to cover, but were, indeed, important stories for Nichols Hills, The City of The Village, northwest Oklahoma City See 50, Page 3