So I believe they had worked with park staff to limit access to only their group,” said Blair.
“They were the only ones that were camping in that area. “We are a governmental body so we cannot deny a group use of public property due to their beliefs or associations,” Blair said.Īlso, she says rental groups are allowed to block off public access in a state park. Tourism spokesperson Leslie Blair says even if the group is a known “hate group” they are entitled to rent out Oklahoma State Park camping areas. However, the state redacted all information about the renters.Īccording to Tourism all rental information is redacted per Oklahoma Open Records Act. NewsChannel 4 obtained the rental permit from the state in order to track down the members of this group and sort it out. If this guy was in some kind of danger why didn’t he call 911?” “I’m the one who called 911,” Fenwick said. The ranger requested criminal charges for both the group-member and for Fenwick. The ranger investigated and filed an incident report with the Tourism Department.Īccording to the report, after Fenwick called for help, the renters told the investigator that Fenwick tried to “assault” their gate-keeper when he drove around that barricade. Initially, the Cleveland County Sheriff’s Office responded to the incident because there was no park ranger on site on a Monday morning at 9 a.m.įenwick says he was told the ranger was coming from Newcastle, Oklahoma and waited almost an hour for the ranger to arrive. When Fenwick spotted the loaded bow and arrow he called 911. At that point I thought ‘I’m getting out of here.'”įenwick says the group called themselves “12 Tribes” which is recognized by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a separatist hate group.Īccording to the Oklahoma Department of Tourism and Recreation the group rented out the entire south campgrounds.
Then, I look over and this guy drew this bow and arrow and he pointed it at me. (The truck) blocked the road in front of me.
“I shrugged my shoulders and drove past him. Then a big black pickup came barreling toward me. “I thought, ‘Who is this guy? Why is he stopping me? What is this about?'” said Fenwick. One hiker is warning others to watch out for questionable practices at the State Department of Tourism.īen Fenwick went hiking at Lake Thunderbird State Park when he had a run-in with an allegedly violent group which had taken over a part of a camping area.įenwick lives nearby and drives over to hike regularly.īut, a few weeks ago he tried to drive into the park when a man with a homemade road block tried to restrict all public access. It is Fall Break in Oklahoma and many families will be spending the weekend at a state park. Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated. This is an archived article and the information in the article may be outdated.
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