A county commissioner in southeast Oklahoma who was identified by a local newspaper as one of several officials caught on tape discussing killing reporters and lynching Black people has resigned from office.
In this photo provided by the Southwest Ledger, people from Idabel, Okla., call for the resignation of several McCurtain County officials, early Monday, April 17, 2023, after tapes with the officials' racist comments surfaced over the weekend.
The threatening comments by Jennings and officials with the McCurtain County Sheriff’s Office were obtained following a March 6 meeting and reported by McCurtain Gazette-News earlier this week in their weekend edition. They have sparked outrage and protests in the city of Idabel, the county seat. During the conversation that included Sheriff Kevin Clardy, sheriff’s Capt. Alicia Manning, Jennings and Jail Administrator Larry Hendrix, Clardy, Manning and Jennings appear to discuss Bruce Willingham — the longtime publisher of the Gazette-News — and his son Chris Willingham, a reporter.
The Associated Press could not immediately verify the authenticity of the recording. None of the four returned telephone calls or emails from The Associated Press seeking comment. Separately, Chris Willingham has filed a federal lawsuit against the sheriff’s office, Clardy, Manning and the Board of County Commissioners alleging Manning slandered him after he wrote an eight-part series of articles detailing problems inside the sheriff’s office. The lawsuit claims after the first few articles were published, Clardy and Manning began investigating which office employees were speaking to the newspaper and were attempting to get a search warrant for Willingham’s phone.
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