State Briefs: Friday, July 11, 2008

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has announced it will offer federal disaster assistance to 24 storm-ravaged counties in Oklahoma.

The Thursday announcement indicated the assistance will include foreclosure relief for families whose homes are insured through the Federal Housing Administration in the following counties: Alfalfa, Beaver, Beckham, Blaine, Cotton, Custer, Dewey, Ellis, Garfield, Grant, Harmon, Harper, Jackson, Kay, Kiowa, Major, Okfuskee, Osage, Ottawa, Roger Mills, Rogers, Tillman, Washita and Woods.

For information about the HUD assistance program visit www. hud. gov/offices/cpd/communitydevelopment/programs/dri/.

The Tulsa County sheriff's office is attempting to make arrangements to have two of the three dogs involved in a bestiality case placed in an out-of-state no-kill animal sanctuary.

The sheriff's office received a court order to have the dogs evaluated to determine whether they were suitable for adoption after their owners, Diane Sue Whalen, 54, and Donald Roy Seigfried, 55, were accused of sexually abusing them.

Seigfried is accused of videotaping Whalen, his girlfriend, performing sexual acts with the dogs.

A preliminary hearing for Seigfried has been set for Aug. 5.

Oklahoma State University officials in Stillwater announced on Thursday a $1.86 million gift from the estate of the late Laurence and Georgia Dresser to create four endowed faculty positions in rural medicine, rural health policy, rural sociology and rural teacher education.

The gift qualifies for a full match by the state.

Georgia Dresser received her bachelor's degree from OSU in 1925, and died in 1989. Laurence Dresser was the founder, past owner and president of Dresser Engineering Co. He died in 1980.

A worker is hospitalized after falling from the second story of a construction project at the Cherokee Nation Casino Resort in Catoosa.

The man was flown to St. John Medical Center Thursday morning.

The man's name has not been released.