Sapulpa Times-Line

Veteran journalist and editor Don Diehl launches a Facebook Page called "Sapulpa News and Views," for the purpose of giving the community an alternative news source for real and relevant issues to everyday people.

Sapulpa News and Views tops 1600 Likes, just 30 days after launching on Facebook.

• Don and Micah Choquette, former Web Designer and blogger for the Tulsa World, meet for the first time to discuss the idea of creating a website for Sapulpa News and Views. The Facebook Page now has over 3000 Likes.

• A post titled “An Open Letter to the Sapulpa HS Class of 2015” from Gina Coates Justus generates a reach of 6.8K on Facebook; Sapulpa News and Views' most widely circulated post up to that time.

Don turns over operating control to Micah, choosing to remain as a contributor.

• Micah rebrands Sapulpa News and Views as Sapulpa Times and hires local artist Heathyr Chenoweth to create the logo, a custom spin on the “Sapulpa Time” clock located at Martha's Corner in Sapulpa.

• SapulpaTimes.com launches with a story about WWII soldier-POW Paul Morgan's 90th birthday. Gains 445 views in first 24 hours.

• Sapulpa Times passes 4500 Likes on Facebook, is now the largest local news outlet Page.

Sapulpa Times sees a traffic surge of 2.5x the traffic it started with in August.

Sapulpa Times reaches almost 10,000 Views in a single month, more than double the previous two months combined. It is our most popular month yet.

Sapulpa Times Facebook Page passes 4800 Likes on Facebook. Sapulpa's sister group Shop Sapulpa, begins hosting meet-ups at The Coffee Shop to help the local businesses serve our community better.

Sapulpa Times paid tribute to a fantastic year with a “Best of” series that highlighted stories from our most-read and most-shared categories, as well as the top stories from our founder.

Sapulpa Times passes 5,000 Likes on Facebook.

• A submitted photo of Phoenix, the 4-year-old boy who cleans the local parks became the first photo to be "Liked" more 1,000 times.

• A story about the resignation of Holmes Park Elementary principal Bobby Alfred becomes our most widely-read story of all time.

• We live-streamed the Special Meeting where Sapulpa Schools Board of Education fired Superintendent Kevin Burr. That video has been watched near 5,000 times.

• SapulpaTimes.com shatters it's monthly viewing record at 36,794. The previous record had been 14,072.

• The Sapulpa Times Facebook Page gained nearly 200 new Likes during June, surpassing 5900.

Sapulpa Times Facebook Page passes 6,000 Likes.

SapulpaTimes.com celebrates it's first full year online. Sapulpa Times Facebook Page passes 6,200 Likes.

Sapulpa Times articles are now automatically being published to Apple News and Google News.

Sapulpa Times welcomes it's first in-house contributor, Klent Campbell.

Sapulpa Times welcomes new contributors A.L. Long and Caity Robb. Our coverage now more readily covers not only Sapulpa, but also nearby communities Bristow and Kellyville.

SapulpaTimes.com gets it's second major redesign—this one is done completely in-house. The new format increases the number of headlines and stories that are accessible without scrolling, and allows for better storytelling in future articles.

SapulpaTimes.com again shatters it's monthly viewing record, topping 42,000 view after several high-profile stories hit the news:

• A Sapulpa Elementary teacher was arrested for having drugs at the school;
• Later discovered that the administration was made aware of her habit 2 years prior;
• Community outcry over the event led us to launch our Opinion Section.
• Later that month, pipe bombs were discovered at the Creek County Courthouse. Sapulpa Police brought a swift end to that case.

 

Sapulpa Times launches it’s new job board SapulpaJobs.com—we call it “the Number 1 Job Board for Sapulpa and surrounding communities.” It gains over a dozen postings in it's first 2 weeks.

July sees our most-read story so far at over 8,000 views about Sapulpa Police arresting two people over the abuse of a 4-year-old.

Our new Opinion section continued to gain traction when a woman wrote in saying that she'd been stereotyped by our County Treasurer.

Sapulpa Times is at the scene shortly after a Semi-trailer careens into the Sunset Strip off of New Sapulpa Road. Thankfully, nobody was seriously injured. Ironically, it happened again, just months later.

Sapulpa Times publishes a series on Raising Wilder, a television show filmed in Sapulpa about descendants of the Laura Ingalls Wilder family, of Little House on the Prairie fame. The first of it's kind to be published by Sapulpa Times, the four-part series tells the story of how Paula George and Jason Wilder moved to Sapulpa to start their show.

A man arrested for stealing a car and driving it to a trailer park only to fall asleep in it has even more charges brought against him—by the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife of all things—it's a story to remember for sure.

Local Author Kirk McCracken publishes his book about the 1976 murder of Sapulpa Coach Jerry Bailey titled "Because of the Hate". The book sells well in Sapulpa and on Amazon.

Sapulpa Police Department quadrupled the number of female officers in their roster with the hiring of several recruits into their ranks. Nearly all of them already have experience, and they were warmly welcomed.