Storm, winds hit G Fest in Muskogee

The Oklahoma City Council on Tuesday will consider asking voters for a quarter-cent sales tax increase, as part of a revised tax plan, with proceeds primarily devoted to building up police and fire services.

The sales tax increase would be coupled with a plan to extend the 1-cent MAPS 3 sales tax for 27 months, for street resurfacing and related improvements.

Ward 8 Councilman Mark Stonecipher said Friday the sales tax proposal promises to be a “renaissance for neighborhoods.”

It would produce vastly improved streets — a leading concern for residents — that are “safe to be on” as fire and police

Weather turned from delightful to dangerous late Thursday night in Muskogee.

A severe storm hit G Fest’s Hatbox Field, located near 4100 Border Street, and evacuated hundreds of concert patrons when a large white tent collapsed over one of the music festival’s side stages.

G Fest organizer and Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame executive director Jim Blair shared this statement shortly after the storm occurred:

“At approximately 10:50 p.m., we alerted fans from the main stage that due to severe weather we were cancelling the rest of the evening and instructed everyone to exit the premises.”

There was some structural damage to nonpermanent structures and a few minor injuries reported.

Oklahoma-based songwriter Kaitlin Butts was at theRed Dirt Relief Fund side stage when the tent covering began to collapse.

“I saw portable toilets tip over with people in them and people just started screaming,” she told protection is enhanced, he said.

“It’s looking out for everybody,” Stonecipher said.

The new plan would revise a sales tax proposal crafted by the city council over several months and introduced in May.

That plan would fund public safety, and streets at a reduced level, without an overall tax increase.

The revised plan follows the outline of a proposal brought forward for the first time last week by the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber, the city’s leading business organization.

Ward 2 Councilman Ed Shadid, who wants funding for struggling public schools to be part of the tax package, was critical of the timing of the business community’s proposal.

“We live in an oligarchy

“Then the tent lifted up and collapsed. I ran out, seconds before. Several people left on stretchers.”

Butts said at least one festival crew member was taken to a local hospital. The tent wasn’t full because the storm hit between concert sets and, at the time, very few patrons were standing under the large white covering, she said.

“I’m just glad there wasn’t a crowd of people in there when it happened because it went from slight wind to tornadic-feeling wind in there,” she said. on steroids,” he said.

The council’s original sales tax proposal and the revised plan both will be considered Tuesday. Once the council settles on a proposal to put before voters, plans are for a Sept. 12 election. A vote that day would enable the city to keep collecting the 1-cent MAPS sales tax uninterrupted after MAPS 3 expires Dec. 31.

The revised sales tax plan and the proposed 2017 general-obligation bond package together would raise an estimated $785 million for streets and related improvements over 10 years.

The city’s intention is to have voters cast ballots on the sales tax plan and bond package the same day.

The proposals would raise:

G Fest organizers said Friday morning that they received no reports of portable toilets falling over with people inside them or multiple patrons leaving on stretchers. It was confirmed that one person was taken to the hospital and further injuries to concertgoers and crew were minor.

Thursday’s storm cut Blackberry Smoke’s main stage headlining set short and prompted cancellation of a couple of other sets, but festival organizers confirmed Friday morning

• $26 million per year, with provisions that proceeds “shall” be used for public safety. The quarter-cent sales tax would become a permanent part of the city’s sales tax rate, currently 3.875 percent.

• $240 million over 27 months for streets. The temporary 1-cent extension would expire March 31, 2020.

•$967.4 million over 10 years for projects ranging from street and drainage improvements to libraries, parks, and a police/ fire training center. Borrowed funds would be repaid with property taxes.

Street work would be front-loaded by combining the temporary sales tax with bond proceeds, for an accelerated program of road resurfacing, along with construction of sidewalks, bike lanes and trails. that G Fest will continue with only slight delays. Organizers also said that a few side stage sets might be moved to a new location in Hatbox Field.

Damage to the festival’s enormous main stage was minimal, organizers said.

G Fest continues throughout Saturday with headlining sets from NEEDTOBREATHE and Creedence Clearwater Revisited. Dozens of Oklahoma acts and regional acts are also scheduled to perform at the three-day festival’s second year.

A man accused of accidentally shooting a 13-year-old boy told investigators he deliberately pointed a gun at the boy’s chest and pulled the trigger, thinking it was unloaded, court records show.

Boone David Buben, 31, was arrested on charges of second-degree manslaughter Tuesday in connection with the May 30 death of Andrew White, 13, according to police reports.

The boy was shot around 1:30 p.m. while visiting his neighbor in the 1200 block of W Chickasha Avenue, when a friendly, routine visit turned fatal.

The story Buben initially told police was proven false by a polygraph test. Buben later apologized for lying and said he did so in an effort to “make himself feel better,” an affidavit stated.

According to the affidavit, White showed up at Buben’s door in the early afternoon May 30, as he often did. The two were good friends and spent a lot of time together at each other’s homes, Buben told police.

White showed up wearing paper claws on his fingers, his own creation, and went into Buben’s bedroom, where there was a Glock semiautomatic pistol sitting on a shelf at the foot of his bed.

In his original story, Buben told police that he noticed the gun and, not wanting his young friend around it, picked it up to put it away in the safe under his bed.

But the gun slipped from his grasp, Buben said, discharging as he reached to catch it and hitting White in the chest.

Later, while taking a polygraph test, Buben told investigators White was standing feet in front of Buben, who sat on the bed. The boy made a clawing motion with his hands toward Buben, at which Buben picked up the gun and pointed it at White.

Not thinking it was loaded, he pulled the trigger. A bullet to the chest killed White.

Buben said the gun was loaded because he had loaded it the previous night when he thought someone was outside his residence.

The slain boy’s greatgrandmother, Gail White, said Tuesday she blames Buben for negligence and is glad for the charges against him.

“(Buben) knew better than to point a gun at my grandson,” Gail White said. “He was 31 years old, and my grandson was 13.”