Several GOP officials in McCurtain County, Oklahoma were caught on tape discussing hiring hit men to kill a reporter and complaining that it is no longer acceptable to hang Black people.
The conversation took place after a county commissioners meeting last month between Sheriff Kevin Clardy, his investigator Alicia Manning, Commissioners Mark Jennings and Robert Beck, commissioners’ secretary Heather Carter and jail administrator Larry Hendrix, according to the McCurtain Gazette-News.
In audio clips and transcripts published by the print-only newspaper, the group was first heard discussing a fire that killed Dannette Stoewe, 43, and her two dogs in graphic detail. The group talked about recovering Stoewe’s body and joked about how parts of her body were falling off like a barbecue.
“So we get her in the body bag and Kyler goes, you do know what we gotta do now, right? Faith goes, no, what? He goes, you gotta pre-heat the oven 350 degrees, leave her in there for 15 minutes,” Clardy said. “And she went (vomit sounds, laughter). Bless her heart. It was… and then the medical examiner asked her, said hey we’re fixing to go eat. And he looked her in the face and said you wanna go with me and go eat barbecue?”
The conversation then turn to Jennings expressing a desire to return to the days when lynching was an appropriate form of justice.
“It’s like somebody wanting this job, they don’t realize, like your job. I heard it the other day, said I heard two or 12 people were going for sheriff. I said fuck, let’s get 20. They don’t have a goddamn clue what they’re getting into” Jennings said. “Not this day and age. I’m gonna tell you something. If it was back in the day, when that when Alan Marshton would take a damn black guy and whoop their ass and throw him in the cell? I’d run for fucking sheriff.”
Clardy tells Jennings, “It’s not like that no more.”
“I know,” Jennings responded. “Take them down to Mud Creek and hang them up with a damn rope. But you can’t do that anymore. They got more rights than we got.”
Later in the conversation, they started discussing hiring hit men to kill Gazette-News reporter Chris Willingham whose reporting has been critical of the sheriff’s department. Willingham also broke the story about the comments.
“I know where two big deep holes are here if you ever need them,” Jennings said. Clardy told them he has an excavator, to which Jennings replies the holes are “already dug.”
Jennings then said he knows “two or three hit men, they’re very quiet guys,” and “would cut no fucking mercy.”
They then discussed who would get blamed if authorities found out about the hit.
“Yeah, but here’s the reality,” Manning said. “If a hair on his wife’s head, Chris Willingham’s head, or any of those people that really were behind that, if any hair on their head got touched by anybody, who would be the bad guy?”
The FBI has launched an investigation into the sheriff and county officials.
Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt (R) has also called on the officials to resign.
“There is simply no place for such hateful rhetoric in the state of Oklahoma, especially by those that serve to represent the community through their respective office. I will not stand idly by while this takes place,” Stitt said according to the Hill. “In light of these events, I am calling for the immediate resignation of McCurtain County Sheriff Kevin Clardy, District 2 Commissioner Mark Jennings, investigator Alicia Manning, and jail administer Larry Hendrix.”
