The Daily Oklahoman from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma • 13

Local State NEWS0K.COM FRIDAY, JANUARY 6, 2006 Teacher dies after collapse at school MUSKOGEE Ex-jailer admits to cruelty Educator has heart attack in elementary classroom By Michael Bratcher, Staff Writer An Oklahoma City elementary special education teacher died Thursday morning after collapsing in her classroom. Frances Draper, 63, died at Integris Southwest Medical Center, hospital spokeswoman Quin Tran said. It appeared Draper had a heart attack, school officials said. She had a history of congestive heart failure, a spokesman for the state medical examiner's office said. students in her classes throughout the school day, but most Adams students knew the special education teacher.

"Some of them wanted to go to special ed just to be around her," Violett said. "If you got to see Mrs. Draper, you knew that's a good thing." Violett said a physical education teacher had visited with Draper about 7:45 Thursday morning in a school hallway. About 8:10, Violett was called to Draper's classroom, where another teacher discovered she had collapsed. "People who didn't get to know her, it's a shame.

She was a great girl and will be hard to replace," Violett said. A memorial service is planned for 2 p.m. Saturday at Paylor Funeral Home in Midwest City. Michael Bratcher: 475-3948, mbratcheroklahoman.com Draper began working with the Oklahoma City School District in August 2001, working solely at Adams Elementary, district spokeswoman Sherry Fair said. 'She loved the kids' Counselors were available Thursday for students, and Fair said two students who were extremely upset by her death were sent home.

Principal Dorothy Violett also was expected Thursday afternoon to send letters home with students explaining what happened. "She's one of those teachers who is always here early and stays late," Violett said. "She loved the kids. You couldn't really find any faults." The principal said Draper probably had about 30 A former Muskogee County jailer pleaded guilty Thursday to a charge of cruelty to a prisoner and received an 18-month deferred sentence for arranging to have four inmates beat up another inmate, Assistant District Attorney David Pierce said. Trial for Stacy Lynn Gray, 26, was scheduled to begin Thursday in Muskogee County District Court.

In addition to her sentence, she was fined $200, Pierce said. Gray arranged for four inmates to beat up Alicia Mackey because Mackey had allowed her husband to sexually abuse two children. The four inmates pleaded guilty in November to assault charges and received 90-day suspended Seeking local support Financial aid is available for college Oklahoma Heritage Association has funds that go unused. By Michael Bratcher, Staff Writer 0WASS0 Officials cancel tree burning The annual burning of Christmas trees has been canceled, and officials are planning to shred them. Assistant City Manager Tim Rooney said Thursday the 10-year-old event was canceled because of a statewide burn ban.

The shredding should occur Jan. 14 or 21. Residents are encouraged to drop off their holiday greens at the Owasso Sports Park, 10320 116 St. North. After that, they can pick up the mulch.

Rooney said the city will rent a shredder, so the event will cost more than a burn. Up to 250 residents attend the annual burn. Anyone with questions on the shredding can call (918) 376-1509. BYJACONNA AGUI Artist Bruce Caesar stands outside the Southern Plains Indian Museum in Anadarko. The museum association president said he'll fight to keep the 60-year-old facility open in spite of federal promises to eliminate funding by October 2007.

Thousands of dollars in college scholarships and tuition waivers from a statewide organization go unused each year because students don't know they exist. The Oklahoma Heritage Association offers more than $400,000 to high school students each year who compete by taking a multiple-choice test. Gini Campbell, education director with the association, said about half of the money goes unawarded because students don't know about the tests. Students compete against peers who live within their county. Each county has a specific number of scholarships and tuition waivers to award.

Campbell said most counties offer at least three awards. Students can earn up to $1,000 in scholarship money and $1,000 in a waiver through the Oklahoma Heritage Scholarship Competition. Interested students who are in grades nine through 12 take a 100-question test based on state history and geography. Those with the highest scores in their respective counties receive the awards, she said. The association has offered scholarships since the 1970s.

The Oklahoma Education Association reported that 505 students participated last year and more than $200,000 in scholarships were not awarded. Testing dates soon will be announced. Campbell said they're typically the first or second Saturday in April. Michael Bratcher: 475-3948, mbratcheroklahoman.com Arts and Crafts Board museums Southern Plains Indian Museum, Anadarko. Sioux Indian Museum, Rapid City, S.D.

Museum of the Plains Indian, Browning, Mont. PAWHUSKA Men ordered to stand trial Indian museums facing loss of federal funding By Carrie Coppernoll, Staff Writer ANADARKO A federal agency's plans to eliminate funding may close the 60-year-old Southern Plains Indian Museum. The plan is to divert the $1 million budget to fighting Indian arts and crafts counterfeiting, according to the Indian Arts and Crafts Board, a Department of the Interior agency that runs the Anadarko museum and two others in South Dakota and Montana. The museums will close in 2007 if alternate funding isn't found. What seems misfortune could be a blessing for Oklahoma tribes, said Fred Nahwooksy, the museum development manager for the Comanche Nation, a tribe leading the way on a $3 million endowment campaign that would keep the museum open permanently.

Advocates statewide are figuring out how to take the reins from the federal government. "This should be an opportunity that we should want to take hold of," he said, "not just be afraid of." Effects weighed Federal money pays the entire museum budget, about $150,000, Curator Eva Williams said. Williams and a groundskeeper are the only employees. But the federal offices aren't as lean, said Jesse Two men accused of killing a Missouri man in Tulsa are being ordered to stand trial on murder charges. Louis Young and Reggie Phillips are charged with first-degree murder in last June's shooting death of Jerry Doyle.

Doyle's skeletal remains were found in September near Tulsa Central High School in northwest Tulsa. Monongya, Arts and Crafts Board commissioner and Arizona artist. About half the $1 million budget is spent on keeping the three museums open. The other half is for administration. When the museums close, the $500,000 will be spent on preventing counterfeiting, he said.

But Monongya said it's hard to stop, especially when it isn't a high priority. On a surprise visit to the Montana museum, Monongya was shocked by what he saw: fake jewelry for sale. At the next commissioner meeting, he was promised the problem had been fixed. But, he said, it should have never happened. Artist Bruce Caesar, who is president of the Southern Plains Indian Museum Association, said counterfeit prevention is important.

But $500,000 isn't nearly enough, he said, and that money would be better spent keeping the museums open. "This style of jewelry is easily copied," Caesar said. "Other places in the world make jewelry. There will always be knockoffs." Scott Cameron, a deputy assistant secretary of the In- See MUSEUM, back page Test sites At least 12 cities will host testing sites for the Oklahoma Heritage Scholarship Competition. They are Guymon, Fair-view, Stillwater, Tulsa, Bartles-ville, Edmond, Altus, Ada, Ardmore, McAlester, Durant and Lawton.

More information: www.oklahomaheritage.com Former mayor wins building dispute BUTLER Controlled hunt planned at refuge Washita National Wildlife Refuge will host a special controlled hunt for antlerless deer today and Saturday, refuge Manager David Maple said. Twenty-five hunters, ranging from 12 to 14 years old, will take part in the hunt. The participants were selected from applications submitted through the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation's Controlled Hunts Program. Hunting on the refuge will help reduce the overall number of deer and provide a more balanced buck-to-doe ratio, Maple said. Since deer hunting began on the refuge in 2001, 193 participants have taken 338 deer.

Because of the potential hazard to visitors, most of the refuge will be closed to the public both days, Maple said. From Staff and Wire Reports By John David Sutter, Staff Writer Former Oklahoma City Mayor Kirk Humphreys returned to City Hall on Thursday to try to trudge through a system he helped sign into law as the most prominent man in city government. He won. A growing dispute between the former mayor and some of his historic-minded neighbors ended, as the Oklahoma City Board of Adjustment voted 3-1 to let him tear down a 100- year-old horse carriage building behind his $1.38 million home. The horse carriage building had been a point of dispute between the former mayor who plans to demolish and rebuild it and the Historic Preservation Commission, which wanted to save the original.

The two parties had met before with a different outcome. The Historic Preservation Commission pre- See DISPUTE, back page BY BRYAN TERRY, THE OKLAHOMAN Former Oklahoma City Mayor Kirk Humphreys' home in Oklahoma City's Heritage Hills neighborhood. Humphreys had been in a dispute over a horse carriage building behind his home that he planned to demolish and rebuild. Index Woman sentenced in fatal crash ATahlequah woman was given a five-year deferred sentence Thursday after a judge's harsh admonishment for a drunken-driving accident that killed a Northeastern State University student. page 16A Jailed minister on leave, officials say A Baptist minister arrested Tuesday after being accused of propositioning an undercover police officer is on paid leave church officials said Thursday.

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