Courtroom battle splits star’s Oklahoma hometown

Courtroom battle splits star’s Oklahoma hometown

YUKON, Okla. (AP) — A courtroom fight between country music superstar Garth Brooks and a hospital in his Oklahoma hometown has divided local residents who say the roots of both run deep in the community.

Jurors awarded Brooks $1 million this week in his lawsuit against Integris Canadian Valley Hospital, which sits along Garth Brooks Boulevard in Yukon. Brooks says the hospital broke a pledge to use his $500,000 donation to build a women’s health center in honor of his late mother.

But the trial was held 140 miles away, near a town where Brooks now lives.

The decision left Yukon residents in the middle. Although Brooks left town in the 1980s, his name adorns a water tower. The hospital is among Yukon’s largest employers and its logo is on the other water tower.