Every Memorial Day the Henryetta Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 539 makes sure over 2,500 deceased local veterans have their graves marked with an American flag. The effort covers not only Henryetta’s Westlawn cemetery but nine others around the area.
The number of veterans who have passed on is increasing every year and many of the existing flags are needing to be replaced.
The VFW post is holding a flag drive to raise money to purchase new flags according to post commander Bill Goodner.
He said each flag has three to four year service life and it costs $1.50 to replace each one of them.
VFW members will be manning tables at Homeland andWalmart Saturday, Nov. 11 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. to accept donations.
In addition to the cemeteries the VFW supplies and maintains the flags on the main street city light poles.
“Please assist us to honor our veterans who have given their all” VFW Flag Chairman Hugh Jackson said.
He pointed out donations can also be mailed to the VFW Post at P.O. Box 1027, Henryetta.

Costumes ranging from William Tell to Freddie Krueger roamed Main Street Tuesday as youngsters trick or treated local merchants. The annual event draws out over 2,000 youngsters as well as their parents and has become a looked forward to celebration of Halloween. The fire and police department personnel were on hand along with America's Guardians to hand out hot dogs and candy as well.

In the coming weeks, a number of area stores are going to be visited by representatives from the Alcoholic Beverage Law Enforcement board. They will be sending people who look under the age of 21 to try and buy alcoholic beverages.
Prior to those checks, the Okmulgee County Consortium will be working with store owners to make sure they comply with the laws.
The training is free and is designed to educate sellers and servers about alcohol laws, the importance of not selling alcohol to minors, how to recognize fake IDs, and how to read IDs.
“Providing alcohol to youth not only has legal consequences for the merchant, but there are also harmful effects for the child. Youth who drink are more likely to do poorly in school, engage in risky sexual behavior, get in accidents, become violent, and do poorly in social situations,” said Consortium Secretary, Margaret Black.
Responsible Beverage Service and Sales Trainings are important to increase the compliance of state alcohol laws at local vendors. Black also expressed that Okmulgee County is fortunate to have so many agencies committed to protecting local youth from the harmful and addictive problems associated with underage access to alcohol. “We have merchants wanting to learn new ways to not sell products that are harmful to kids,” said Black. “We also have dedicated local, county and state law enforcement officers that work hard to protect our youth.”
Okmulgee County’s Community Based Prevention Services are funded by the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, Prevention Division and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. For more information about getting merchant training contact Stacy Potter at (918)256-7518 or go to www.rocmnd.org/rbss-training to sign up for training.
The Okmulgee County Consortium meets every third Wednesday of the month at 12pm in the conference room of the Moore Detention Center, 111 S Alabama Ave, Okmulgee.

Even though the weather did not allow the first ever Henryetta Monster Mash to be held on Main Street, the fun was still in abundance Saturday night. Chamber officials moved the venue to the civic center and, by the time it ended, well over 2,000 adults and children made their way through the games, vendor booths and even got to pet some wild animals. A disc jockey provided music that had young and old shaking their bones.