EDITORIAL: Communities grateful for help
Feb. 26—THUMBS UP to everyone who assisted with the search for a McIntosh County teenager who went missing Monday.
Some of those involved include Federal Bureau of Investigation, Muskogee Nation Lighthorse, Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation, and more.
Ethan McIntosh, 13, was reported missing after being last seen around 5:45 p.m. Monday, and multi-agency searches overnight were unsuccessful. Ethan was found alive Tuesday in the Texanna Road area more than 20 miles from where he was last seen in Stidham.
He and his family have been hoping that his mother, Peggy McGuire, would be found. McGuire, a Eufaula nurse, has been missing since November 2015.
Although no details were released about why the teen went missing or how he ended up 20 miles from home, we're just happy he was located. We're happy for him and his family. They have endured so much in the search for Ethan's mother. We hope the family has a resolution in her disappearance soon.
----THUMBS UP to the McClellan-Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System, which will celebrate their 50th anniversary this year.
The Port of Muskogee kicked off the golden anniversary in January, and Tulsa Port of Catoosa will celebrate the 50th anniversary of its inauguration in June.
The MKARNS was dedicated on June 5, 1971, by former President Richard Nixon. The 445-mile inland navigation channel represents an ambitious plan to connect eastern Oklahoma with the Mississippi River, creating a viable route for shipping waterborne commerce through Arkansas.
Port of Muskogee Director Scott Robinson said it would be difficult "to overestimate the impact of the port and the waterway." He gave MKARNS credit for investments worth more than $2 billion made by local industry developed during the past 50 years along the waterfront.
"Early waterway pioneers in Oklahoma and Arkansas invested their time and money, their shoe leather, and in some cases their hearts and souls to make what we now — sometimes — take for granted but benefit from greatly," Robinson said.
And for their efforts, we are grateful.
