Robert Charles Bates
A Tulsa County reserve deputy who shot and killed a man during an undercover operation on April 2 was charged today with Second-Degree Manslaughter in the death.
Second-Degree Manslaughter charges were filed against Robert Charles Bates, 73, in the shooting death of Eric Courtney Harris, 44. Bates has been a reserve deputy since 2008, and was assigned to the sheriff’s Violent Crimes Task Force.
Jonathan Townsend has announced his candidacy for the Oklahoma House Of Representatives District 73.
District 73 represents much of North Tulsa, parts of Downtown Tulsa and the Pearl and Kendall Whittier Districts. The seat became vacant after Tuesday’s election, where State Representative Kevin Matthews won the special election for the open seat for Senate District 11 after Jabar Shumate vacated his seat.
Cherokee Nation Supreme Court Building.
The first hearing by the Cherokee Nation Supreme Court on the eligibility of Julia Coates to stand for election and serve as Deputy Chief of the Nation was held yesterday.
A motion to dismiss filed by the Cherokee Election Commission was itself dismissed and the Court set a time of 10 a.m. on April 13 to hear the case’s merits.
The first in a monthly series of public meetings was held last week and the video is now available online below.
Speakers included; Gary Jones, Oklahoma State Auditor and Inspector on the good governance and financial reports his office produces statewide, Charity Marcus on youth and minority involvement in public issues, Jonathan Bartlett on Homeschooling challenges in Northeastern Oklahoma and Tulsa Today Publisher David Arnett on local and national journalism challenges.
Julia Coates, candidate for Deputy Chief
A challenge to the candidacy of Julia Coates for the office of Deputy Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation has been filed and heard by the Cherokee Nation Election Commission. They ruled against Coates, but from the transcript released yesterday it is clear the Commission cared little for Cherokee Law.
Undisputed are the facts that Julia Coates currently works as a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) teaching Native American Studies. She was born in Pryor, Oklahoma and first worked for the Cherokee Nation in 2000 teaching the forty-hour Cherokee history course to over 7,000 students. She helped organize twenty-two “At Large” Cherokee communities and, in 2007, Coates was elected to the Tribal Council by a 75 percent margin an office she still holds.