The state/region in brief

State to auction property on eBay

State Auditor Charlie Daniels will begin selling some of the state’s unclaimed property in an online auction that will start Friday, a news release from the auditor’s office states.

The auction includes items that have been abandoned in safe-deposit boxes around the state and reported to the auditor’s office as unclaimed property, according to the news release.

The online auction will run for seven days and is open to anyone who registers on the online auction website eBay, the release states.

The auditor, employees of the office and their immediate families are not eligible to bid.

Items will be available for viewing on the auditor’s eBay page about 10 a.m. Friday at http://myworld.ebay.

com/ar.unclaimedproperty.

The office will also preview items on the auditor’s Facebook page.

The auditor’s office began selling unclaimed property in monthly auctions in late January.

  • ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTEHead-on crash kills

four in Oklahoma

WYANDOTTE, Okla. - Authorities said four people are dead after a head-on collision in northeastern Oklahoma.

The Oklahoma Highway Patrol said the crash happened Sunday afternoon on U.S. 60 near Wyandotte in Ottawa County. Authorities said a Ford Mustang driven by 39-year-old George Willis Jr. of Webb City, Mo., crossed the centerline and crashed into a pickup traveling west.

Troopers said four people were pinned inside the wreckage for an hour and a half. The highway patrol said Willis was killed in the crash along with two of his passengers, 14-year-old Drake Cobb and 13-year-old Syrrena Sanderson. Both were from Garland, Texas.

Authorities said a 7-yearold girl is in serious condition at a Springfield, Mo., hospital.

Also killed in the crash was the pickup’s passenger, 19-year-old Samantha Delamatter of Fairland, Okla.

  • THE ASSOCIATED PRESSFire razes historic Oklahoma building

VINITA, Okla. - Authorities are investigating after a fire destroyed a historic building in downtown Vinita.

The fire broke out Saturday at the building, which housed the Hartley Law Firm. Owners said the building is more than 100 years old and that it’s previously been used as a federal prison and a candy factory.

Owner Clay Hartley said he was in the process ofremodeling. He said that the law firm lost paper copies of files but that the documents are backed up on computers.

No one was hurt in the blaze. Tulsa television station KOTV reported that fire investigators think the fire was caused by an electrical problem.

  • THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Hearing postponed in hate-crime case

TULSA - The arraignment for two men accused in an April shooting rampage that left three people dead and two more wounded has been postponed until Jan. 9.

Jake England and Alvin Watts face murder and hate-crime charges from the rampage.

All five of the rampage’s victims were black, and authorities said England - who identifies himself as Cherokee Indian - may have targeted black people because he wanted to avenge his father’s shooting death by a black man two years ago.

England has said he has no ill will toward black people.

Arraignment for the pair was reset Monday after prosecutors asked for more time to determine whether to seek the death penalty for one or both men.

  • THE ASSOCIATED PRESSFire destroys three Missouri buildings

OSCEOLA, Mo. - A fire destroyed three buildings near the downtown of the western Missouri town of Osceola.

The Springfield News-Leader reported that the fire started Saturday evening and continued into Sunday morning.

No one was injured.

  • THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Man shot dead at Oklahoma carwash

OKLAHOMA CITY - Oklahoma City police are investigating after a man was shot dead at a carwash.

Police said the shooting happened Sunday night at a carwash in southwest Oklahoma City that’s across the street from Ulysses S. Grant High School.

Police said the man was vacuuming his car when he was shot multiple times.

Authorities said the man was taken to OU Medical Center, where he later died.

Police have made no arrests but said the shooter may be a teenager, based on witness statements.

The death is Oklahoma City’s 86th homicide of the year.

  • THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Northwest Arkansas, Pages 8 on 11/27/2012

Upcoming Events