Mayes County man charged for shooting to death sculptor father

PRYOR, Okla. (AP) -- A Mayes County man has been charged for fatally shooting his artist father, who designed commercial props including the well-known "limon" from a national soft drink ad.<br><p align="justify">Hardy

Tuesday, February 6th 2001, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

PRYOR, Okla. (AP) -- A Mayes County man has been charged for fatally shooting his artist father, who designed commercial props including the well-known "limon" from a national soft drink ad.

Hardy Cornwell, 32, was charged with first-degree murder Monday for the shooting death of his father, 77-year-old Jack Cornwell, said Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation spokeswoman Kym Koch.

The shooting happened late Friday or early Saturday at a rural residence six miles southeast of Pryor near Lake Hudson, Koch said.

Koch said Hardy Cornwell's neighbor called sheriff's deputies after Cornwell came over and said he shot his father.

Hardy Cornwell then went home and called his mother -- Jack Cornwell's ex-wife -- and told her about the shooting, Koch said.

Deputies arrested him at his home.

Jack Cornwell was a local sculptor and artist who specialized in designing television commercial props.

Mayes County Sheriff Frank Cantey said one of his best-known projects was designing the fictional "limon" -- half-lemon, half-lime -- for a nationally televised soft drink commercial in the 1970s.