Okla. Public Meeting Ends in Scuffle

NORMAN, Okla. – A public meeting to discuss the city’s proposed half-cent sales tax ended in fisticuffs between a former police chief and a member of the city’s planning commission.

About a dozen people attended Monday night’s meeting, which was coming to a close when punches were thrown between retired Norman Police Chief Don Holyfield, 64, who opposes the sales tax, and Planning Commissioner Duane Olinger, 73, who supports it.

Both men acknowledged the scuffle, but claim the other threw the first punch. Olinger told police he suffered a bloody nose in the melee.

“I was a little dazed and a little slow to respond,” Olinger wrote in an e-mail to The Norman Transcript. “Just as well, because I was somewhat enraged. I was completely caught off guard and ready to revert to my Korean War days.”

Holyfield described the incident as “a little pinchin’ contest.”

Norman residents will vote Aug. 22 on whether to extend the city’s half-cent sales tax to fund public safety and economic development projects.