Hey Ted,
I don't know if my mom told you about my trip to Joplin, MO, but I figured I would share it with you. Me and my other friend who also joined the Army took a trip there on Friday night of May 27th. We stayed the night on a bench in the Missouri Southern State University which had been changed from a college to a tornado relief shelter. We woke up the next day not knowing what we were going to do. But since we were both in the military we where able to perform search and rescue. We took a school bus the the Joplin high school which was the search and rescue headquarters. Our first task was to go to the Sonic drive in and search for a two month old and a 6 yr old kids that a mother had called in missing in that area. Before we showed up they had already found 3 dead in the freezer which I would not like to explain how they died. Way too graphic. And dead in a Pizza Hut next to Sonic in the drive in they found a man tossed by the tornadoe dead on top of the car after searching for well over 9 hrs and 4 search dogs later. We didn't find the kids the next day Obama came and screwed up the whole search and rescue so me and a team we put together got in the pickup and drove to the high school where we found out we were the only search and rescue team that showed up. We were sent on numerous calls through out the day about scents of deaths at homes there. We kicked in doors looking for hurt or dead people still nothing found. We went back home that Sunday afternoon and spent Memorial Day with the family.

Me and my buddy didn't feel like we should have left so I sold some stuff for gas and drove back Tuesday night. From there we did debris clean up that Wednesday. That group I was with needed help lifting up a floor from what used to be a shed and flip it over onto a trash pile. There were 4 people on both sides of my as we walked this floor up. When we almost got it flipped over the bottom of it slipped out and fell back down. Everyone else got out of the way except for a lady beside me. She put her hands up to block her face and she tripped and fell. I had noticed her fall and when I looked back up the floor hit me in the face. I knew if i didn't catch the floor it would crush both of us so i kept my strength and out of shear adrenaline I held up a 500lb+ floor until she got out of the way. Shortly after the others lifted it off of me I had a busted up bloody swollen nose. The paramedics told me I needed to go to the ER so I did. Ended up there was no break in my nose. The next day we went out and did debris clean again until that evening, then we decided an almost broken nose was enough and that we did all we could.

You are welcome to take any of the pictures from my Faceook. I will label them so you know what buildings are which.

Thank you,
Jake Graham (6/18/2011)

As many citizens realize, there are road crews working on highway 20. They are working on the project known as the highway 20 alignment. Those that live in Collinsville will recognize it as “Straightening of the S-curve”. This curving stretch of road has been a safety hazard for a long time. The city was involved in relocating the city electric poles and lines, however the project is the Oklahoma Department of Transportation’s not the City of Collinsville. ODOT’s project officially began with the notice to proceed on May 31st and is slated for 180 day completion. In an effort to keep citizens informed, we will update information concerning the ongoing project on a regular basis. Please check back.

Two week projection on Highway 20:
Road Crew is close to completing one half of phase 1 which provides the detour lane to be used during road construction. This work is occurring on the south side of highway 20 between 14th street and 17th street. Excavation and road base work is nearing completion and asphalting of the created detour lane will follow.

Road Crew will then begin the same process on the north side of highway 20 between 20th and 22nd street to create the detour lane there.

The Project Superintendent believes this phase will be completed in the next two weeks barring any unforeseen circumstances or weather events.

The first progress meeting for the project is slated for Wednesday June 22nd. The meeting will occur at the EST Inc Tulsa office. City staff will be in attendance.

TIME: SHUTTLE BUS WILL START @ 6:30PM FROM THE COLLINSVILLE HIGH SCHOOL. DROP OFF AT COLLINSVILLE PARK FOR CELEBRATION AND THEN RETURN TO THE HIGH SCHOOL AFTER

LIVE BAND! FREE WATERMELON! CONCESSION STAND!
BALLOONS AND FACE PAINTING!

FIREWORKS AFTER DARK SO BRING LAWN CHAIRS & BLANKETS AND GET READY FOR A SHOW!!!!!

For more information call 918-371-1010 (City of Collinsville)