Sequoyah County was one of the House Districts that we ran a magazine into, over ten thousand magazines, so every home and business for the most part received a 24 page Oklahoma Guardian.
The magazine caused quite a stir after publicizing a covered up wreck that allegedly killed a young woman. The car was owned by the grandmother of the Sallisaw Mayor at the time, a man by the name of Shannon Vann and Vann's brother was in the car at the time of the wreck along with three others according to the OHP wreck report.
However the local paper covered up the story due to the brother of the Mayor being involved, a brother that had a long, long rap sheet including DUI, driving under the influence of drugs, so they guy shouldn't have been near a car much less in possession of grandma's car. A young woman named Desiree was driving and how many people drive someone else's grandmother's car? The reality was most likely that Shannon Vann, also an insurance agent, was unable to get insurance on a car used by his brother so they put the car and insurance in grandma's name.
After the 10,000 magazines were delivered the county erupted over the corruption uncovered with people screaming for justice. There was more than an alleged death that has yet to be proven; two of the four people that were in the car had been found dead in the last few months. One floating in the river with a stab wound and the woman driver of the car dropped dead after walking into a friend's house. Both were 27 years old, highly unlikely to be murdered or drop dead at that age. The woman driver had sent texts warning family that if she died it was not a suicide but that she was murdered and a named suspect that was said to have stomped her until she couldn't breathe has not been questioned by the police.
And it gets weirder. Turned out there was a fifth person in the car, unreported by OHP or unknown to OHP. Another young man that the driver had just picked up from an area nursing home where the guy lived due to a disability. And where is that young man now? Dead….
Three out of five of the occupants in the car are now dead. The young man found floating in the Arkansas River had taken money from being in the wreck but it is unknown who aid the money but one can assume it was the owner of the car. The young woman driver had rejected a settlement, calling it "blood money".
Family members brought up the possibility that the missing dead girl allegations that started our investigation of the wreck might not have been in the car. She could have been walking down the road or in a second car. We do know that the driver was on the phone with a family member when the wreck occurred.
The Monday after the magazine was delivered we were told that the publisher of the local Sequoyah County Times, a family owned newspaper that was pressured to support the Democratic challenger in the House race, walked into his office that Monday morning and slammed down a copy of our magazine. He yelled at his employees that he was certain that they had written a story about the wreck and ordered them to find the proof but despite their motivation they couldn't find a single word written about the wreck. And a small town paper is always desperate for copy. Someone visiting their grandma will make the paper, much less a wreck that sends four people to the hospital in serious condition.
Approximately 50,000 Oklahoma citizens received the October issue of the Oklahoma Guardian. With the corrupt media in control of news and in control of the narrative it is crucial that we keep the magazine going out every month, hitting new districts, and spreading the truth about Oklahoma politics. If you are not involved or not donating we really need you to do one or both. For less than 5 cents per citizen we can reach anywhere in the state and do a lot of good.
