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Johnston County Industrial Authority Helps Local Company Expand
In the Johnston County Industrial Park, the grinding and clanking of metal is accompanied by the roaring of welding and fabricating machines, reminding people in the area that opportunities exist. TapeMatics, Inc., a metal fabricating company, is one of several businesses occupying facilities constructed by the Johnston County Industrial Authority. The Authority secured financing to construct the facilities through USDA Rural Development. TapeMatics, Inc. exhibits the resilience of hard-working Oklahomans, considering that only a few years ago a tornado took aim at their facility, scattering hopes and dreams in the process. Instead of becoming a victim of the unfortunate circumstances, the company rebuilt and expanded its product line to include trailer manufacturing. Now they provide 20 of the jobs in the industrial park and plan to further expand into a new facility which will be constructed with a $399,999 RBEG made possible through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009; a move that will allow them to create 15 additional jobs. The partnership Rural Development shares with organizations such as the Johnston County Industrial Authority helps to create great places to live and raise families.
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Posted:
05:19PM Nov 04, 2009
by Kathy James in USDA Web Site |
Hughes County Rural Water District #2
This $1,482,300 grant will be used with an additional $840,000 in loan funds to complete the following:
• Rehabilitate 3 existing wells
• Drill an additional 2 wells
• Add a pump and chlorination building and access road to well field
• Add SCADA system
• Add 25,000 L.F. of 8” water line to connect well field to distribution system
• Add a 20,000 gallon water storage tank
Hughes County RWD#2's existing surface water treatment plant on the Upper Boggy Creek Watershed can no longer treat the water to meet Safe Drinking Water Standards and as a result is under a Consent Order for health violations. To rehabilitate existing plant is too costly for the District. They will rehabilitate an existing well field and drill additional wells to provide an adequate quality and quantity to their customers who reside in a pervasive poverty county.
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Posted:
12:45PM Sep 04, 2009
by Kathy James in USDA Web Site |
City of Antlers Fire-EMS
The City of Antlers Fire- EMS is a combination paid and volunteer fire department that provides fire and emergency response within the Antlers Fire District, additionally the Fire Department provides Ambulance service for the Southern two thirds of Pushmataha County and Rescue services for the entire 1397 square miles of Pushmataha County.
The City of Antlers Fire-EMS Division is an agency trained for Mass Casualty Response. They have been assigned the host agency for the Region 5 Mass Casualty Response. They are in need of three components to respond effectively. This $34,615 Community Facility grant will be used with $64,285 from the City of Antlers to provide a new One ton Vehicle, a Rescue Boat, and an All Terrain Vehicle (ATV).
The City of Antlers Fire-Ems will use the equipment as follows:
Equipped Vehicle- this vehicle will be a one-ton chassis with dual rear wheel, a four door cab, a diesel engine with an automatic transmission. The bed shall be a utility type bed to allow storage of technical rescue gear. This configuration will allow multiple firefighters to respond in one vehicle. The vehicle will allow sufficient payload for carrying of equipment and combined with the diesel engine enough power to tow the Mass Casualty Trailer.
The Equipped Boat will enhance the current Swift Water Rescue program. The boat will allow the team to navigate personnel and equipment in flooded waters for the purpose of rescuing stranded, injured victims and transporting them to safety. The boat will be 21ft aluminum boat with a 60 horse power engine designed for rescue that meets NFPA 1670.
The equipped ATV will enhance the current Rough Terrain Rescue, High Angle Rescue, Wildland Search and Rescue as well as provide supplemental fire apparatus on wildland firefighting. This ATV will be six wheel drive, with a bench seat and a bed at the rear. A skid unit will be installed in the bed of ATV.
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Posted:
12:36PM Sep 04, 2009
by Kathy James in USDA Web Site |
Fort Towson Industrial Authority
This Recovery Act investment of $300,000 will be leveraged with $300,200 to provide an opportunity for Fort Towson, Oklahoma, to establish initial medical services in their town. Many of the residents in this 611 population town are of an elderly age. It is a significant hardship on these residents to travel to the nearest medical facility available. The Authority is bringing in an existing Federally Qualified Health Clinic, who will locate in a new facility to be built in the new medical business park. This established clinic will bring 10 new jobs to the community. A local start up business has committed to provide 2 jobs and occupy some retail space in the new medical facility also.
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Posted:
11:15AM Sep 04, 2009
by Kathy James in USDA Recovery Act |
feeding the hungry
Thanks to the President and Congress, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009 included $20 billion in additional funding to provide food to those most in need. It also provides infrastructure support to the National School Lunch Program, Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) and the Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations – to make them even stronger.
We know there are people in every community who face hunger and need help. USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service oversees 15 nutrition assistance programs that form a national safety net against hunger. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly the Food Stamp Program, is our largest nutrition program serving more than 33 million people each month, half of whom are children.
In April 2009, SNAP helped 466,358 people in Oklahoma put more healthy food on the table, reaching nearly 13 percent more people than the previous year. The beauty of the program is that it expands and contracts based on economic conditions. ARRA money provides participating SNAP families of four, for instance, an additional $80 each month to purchase nutritious food.
Helping the hungry in our communities not only provides needed assistance, but helps all of us by stimulating local economies. Every $5 in new SNAP benefits generates over $9 in total economic activity – both within local communities and well beyond.
The diets of low-income Americans are improved every day because of nutrition assistance programs. If you know someone in need, please have them call the SNAP toll-free number, 1-800-221-5689 or visit www.fns.usda.gov. Together, we can work toward the President’s mandate to end childhood hunger by 2015 and improve the lives of our youngest Americans.
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Posted:
12:06PM Jul 30, 2009
by Jean Daniel in USDA Web Site |
Oklahoma Blood Institute
Oklahoma Blood Institute
Rural Development is investing $84,648 in ARRA funds to help the Oklahoma Blood Institute purchase a mobile blood unit commonly known as a bloodmobile. The new unit will replace an old and unreliable unit, stationed at their regional center in Ada, Oklahoma, that must be retired after 17 years and 273,212 miles of service. East Central Blood Institute of Ada, has been borrowing a unit from the Oklahoma City center. The investment of this grant will protect a vital service in Oklahoma.
The Oklahoma Blood Institute is a very large operation offering critical services to Oklahoma and some surrounding areas. In fact, Oklahoma Blood Institute (OBI) is the eleventh largest non-profit regional blood center in America. It projects a need for 220,000 units of blood a year and provides transfusion blood products and clinical services to more than 150 medical facilities in Oklahoma and north central Texas with the help of nearly 700 employees working with as many as 800 volunteers and 2,600 drive coordinators.
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Posted:
11:34AM Jul 23, 2009
by Kim Duncan in USDA Web Site |
Flint Ridge
Flint Ridge
Rural Development is investing $3,860,000 in ARRA funds to help the Flint Ridge Rural Water District replace their main trunk line which supplies the District’s distribution system serving areas in Adair and Delaware counties.
The existing main trunk line is degraded and suffers very high water loss due to the leaks that have developed within the line. The District plans to increase the size of the replacement line to increase their capacity and better meet the demands of the growing district. The project will help the District to promote conservation by decreasing water losses and to operate more efficiently in the future.
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Posted:
09:24AM Jul 17, 2009
by Sandy Gilchrist in USDA Web Site |
City of Antlers
City of Antlers
This $99,750 investment will be used to expand space in an existing business incubator. The expansion is needed because currently the available space does not sufficiently meet the needs of its current tenant, a home health service. The building serves as the primary office space for the organization which also maintains a branch office in Paris, Texas. Several of the company’s new employees have been moved to the Texas office due to the lack of space. If the building wasn’t expanded, it was feared that the home health service would be forced to relocate to the Paris, Texas location. The company expects to add additional employees to keep up with the growing demand once the expansion is complete. The total jobs saved by the expansion along with the new positions that may be added could reach as high as 22.
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Posted:
09:17AM Jul 17, 2009
by Sandy Gilchrist in USDA Web Site |
Atoka County Emergency Medical Service
Atoka County Emergency Medical Service
This $36,714 grant will be leveraged with $68,185 from the Atoka County Emergency Medical Service to purchase a new ambulance. The Atoka County Emergency Medical Service provides emergency medical services to the approximate 13,000 residents in their 990 square mile service area. This additional ambulance will enhance the EMS’s response efforts; without it, residents may not receive the critical care they made need in a timely manner.
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Posted:
09:11AM Jul 17, 2009
by Sandy Gilchrist in USDA Web Site |
Reinvesting in Sugar Creek Watershed Dam No. L-43
Reinvesting in Sugar Creek Watershed Dam No. L-43, Oklahoma
Project Description
Location: Caddo County, 3rd Congressional District
Federal Funding: $1,645,000
Sponsor Funding: $753,850
The dam has been reclassified as high-hazard due to a house and a road downstream that would be inundated if the dam should fail. In August 2007, the area received over 8.3 inches of rainfall in a 6-hour period, causing damage to the auxiliary spillway. Failure of the dam is possible if another large storm occurs. The top of the dam elevation will be raised eight feet and a new principal spillway installed. The elevation of the principal spillway inlet will also be raised, resulting in a 33-acre reservoir. The auxiliary spillway elevation will be raised which will result in a 117-acre flood detention pool. .
Benefits
Rehabilitation of the dam will increase public safety and provide $ 9.5 million in flood-reduction benefits over the dam’s 100-year life.
Economic Opportunities
The construction of the project will create or save jobs for heavy equipment operators, job managers, and other construction personnel and subcontractors. Local businesses such as motels, restaurants and fuel suppliers will also benefit.
Statewide Perspective
Sugar Creek Floodwater Retarding Dam No. L-43, one of 51 dams in the 189,076-acre watershed, is part of a vital network of 2,105 dams in 121 NRCS-assisted watershed projects in Oklahoma. These dams make up a $2 billion infrastructure and provide $75 million in average annual benefits.
For More Information
USDA, NRCS
100 USDA, Suite 206
Stillwater, OK 74074
(405) 742-1204
www.ok.nrcs.usda.gov
Partners
USDA, Natural Resources Conservation Service
West Caddo County Conservation District
Oklahoma Conservation Commission
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Wednesday Nov 04, 2009