• Abstract and Figures
• Public Full-text

• An Independent JournAl of CommentAry • JUNE 2015 • VOLUME 47 NUMBER 6 • $2.50 EMPTY PROMISES A Decade After State Leaders Privatized Lake Texoma State Park, Their Grand Dreams Remain Unfulfilled SPECIAL REPORT Lake Woe-Be-Gone: Privatizing Texoma State Park Proving To Be Nightmare – Pages 24-25 Observations www.okobserver.net Priorities VOLUME 47, NO. 6 PUBLISHER Beverly Hamilton Gov. Mary Fallin recently vetoed legislation that would have prevent- ed private entities from banning guns in parks, recreational areas and EDITOR Arnold Hamilton fairgrounds. On the same day, she signed a measure into law that will permit school board-designated employees to carry handguns on cam- FOUNDING EDITOR Frosty Troy puses. ADVISORY BOARD The governor’s political pecking order is clear: Business interests Marvin Chiles, Andrew Hamilton, trump the gun lobby and gun lobby interests trump school children. Matthew Hamilton, Scott J. Hamilton, Fallin did the right thing vetoing SB 41 – and not just because of its Trevor James, Ryan Kiesel, George Krumme, Robert D. Lemon, potential economic impact. This is a matter of public safety. Gayla Machell, Bruce Prescott, It’s easy to see why organizers of major events often contractually re- Robyn Lemon Sellers, Kyle Williams quire that guns be prohibited. Introducing loaded weapons into a crowd can be a recipe for disaster. OUR MOTTO To Comfort the Afflicted and Afflict the Anyone who’s attended a Bedlam football game can attest to the perils Comfortable. of too much drinking and trash talking. But the governor blew it when she signed HB 2014 empowering school OUR CREDO boards to designate school employees that can carry handguns on cam- So then to all their chance, to all their shining golden opportunity. To all the puses. right to love, to live, to work, to be This was a political consolation prize for Second Amendment zealots themselves, and to become whatever that believe the only thing that can stop a bad guy with a gun is a good thing their vision and humanity can guy with a gun. combine to make them. This seeker, is the promise of America. Supporters of the new law assert safeguards are built in: weapon-car- - Adapted from Thomas Wolfe rying employees must be either a licensed security guard or reserve peace officer. That worked well for the Tulsa County sheriff’s depart- FOUNDING PUBLISHER Helen B. Troy ment, didn’t it? 1932-2007 The arm-the-schools crowd blithely ignores a significant risk: putting [ISSN 0030-1795] students in proximity to loaded handguns in what traditionally was a The Oklahoma Observer [USPS 865-720] is weapon-free zone. published monthly by AHB Enterprises LLC, It’s not difficult to imagine a student overpowering a school employee. 13912 Plymouth Crossing, P.O. Box 14275, High schoolers often are bigger, stronger and faster than their adult su- Oklahoma City, OK 73113-0275. Periodicals postage paid at Oklahoma City, OK 73125. CONTINUED ON PAGE 43 POSTMASTER Send address changes to The Oklahoma Observer, P.O. Box 14275, Oklahoma City, OK 73113-0275. SUBSCRIPTIONS 1-Year [12 issues] $40. Send check to The Oklahoma Observer, P.O. Box 14275, Oklahoma City, OK 73113-0275. Online: Visit www.okobserver.net to use a credit card. UPDATE ADDRESSES Yes! Please send me a one-year subscription for only $40. Please notify us at least two weeks before This special offer includes my certificate for a free book courtesy your move to ensure uninterrupted service. of Full Circle Bookstore [a $20 value]. See page 41 for details. E-mail address changes to subscriptions@ okobserver.net or mail to P.O. Box 14275, Oklahoma City, OK 73113-0275. LETTERS TO EDITOR E-mail to [email protected] or mail to P.O. Box 14275, Oklahoma City, OK 73113- 0275. 2 • JUNE 2015 Observerscope Dart: To Legislature’s self-pro- claimed fiscal conservatives, spar- ing the House and Senate budgets while imposing draconian cuts on most state agencies. Even the Daily Disappointment called it a “double standard.” Hypocrite: In his 2002 Senate campaign, rightwing darling Jim Bob Duggar urged capital punish- ment for incest – while covering up child molestation complaints against son Josh. Last year’s Democratic guber- natorial nominee Joe Dorman is now with Heart Mobile, working with senior nutrition centers and church groups to provide afford- able phone service for eligible par- Will ex-Sen. Jerry Ellis challenge Dart: To OU President David ticipants. Corporation Commissioner Dana Boren, trying to serve two masters Murphy in 2016? Unlike the in- – the university and Continental House Democrats reward Del cumbent, he wouldn’t be a Big Oil Resources [as a board member City Rep. Scott Inman with fourth lapdog – especially on earthquake collecting nearly $1 million since term as minority leader. The 2017- issues. 2009]. The earthquake debacle be- 18 team also includes Beggs Rep. smirches OU’s reputation. Steve Kouplen as caucus chair and Dart: To Tess Teague, declaring Chickasha Rep. David Perryman as her candidacy for HD 101 while Mark your calendars: June 14 vice-chair. still managing the Journal Re- special elections in HDs 73 [Tulsa] cord’s Legislative Reporting Ser- and 85 [OKC]. Seven D’s battle in Ex-Rep. Randy Terrill is now serv- vice. Her ethical lapse got her the winner-take-all primary to replace ing time after Court of Criminal boot from Capitol pressroom. new Sen. Kevin Matthews in north Appeals upheld his bribery convic- Tulsa. The survivor of four-candi- tion. Terrill was a bright guy who Gov. Mary Fallin terms out in date GOP primary faces Democrat lived life on the edge. You knew his early 2019. By then, OSU Presi- Cyndi Munson on Sept. 8 in OKC, political career would end badly. dent Burns Hargis will have served the winner succeeding the late 11 years – longer than most col- Rep. David Dank. Republican lawmakers vowed to lege CEOs. Timing may be fueling be transparent when governing. rumors Fallin is angling to lead Laurel: To the OEA and other They’ve often embraced opacity her alma mater. pro-public ed forces, refusing a instead. Example: HB 1037 would deal-with-the-devil that would restrict public access to police Laurel: To ex-state Sen. Connie have stolen from pension funds to videos – allowing identities of offi- Johnson, new chair of Oklahoma finance teacher pay raises. What cers under investigation to be con- Coalition to Abolish the Death Pen- GOP lawmakers are doing to pub- cealed. The gov was still deciding alty. She long has opposed capital lic schools is criminal. its fate at press time. punishment – including when her brother was murdered in 1981. Someone who can speak slowly Discipline problems at OKC’s enough must tell Sen. Jim Inhofe Roosevelt Middle School are so Wow! The Cherokee Nation’s that concentration of carbon di- acute they could prompt a mass economic impact on northeast oxide in the atmosphere is 40% exodus of frustrated teachers. This Oklahoma was $1.55 billion last higher than when the Industrial isn’t an indictment of public ed – it year, according to an Oklahoma Revolution began. Moreover, 14 of underscores a parenting problem City University study – up more 15 warmest years on record have that isn’t easily solved. than 50% from five years ago. occurred this century. – NOAA CONTINUED ON PAGE 44 THE OKLAHOMA OBSERVER • 3 Letters Here is the conundrum. This year the state’s mental health ser- vices took a 30% budget cut. Mass shootings are traumatic, no doubt. First thoughts are of sympathy for the victims and their families, but think of the class- mates and staff who survived, yet witnessed the killings. They will lose sleep for years. Now, add to this a staff member whose responsibility it is to shoot the assailant. If that staff member is not shot or killed himself and he succeeds at either stopping the assailant or killing him, then that staff member will be a hero who will have to deal with that incident for the rest of his life. I have a theory concerning the taking of another person’s life. No one in their right mind ever kills another person without it taking Editor, The Observer: hold office. its toll on them. [Ask me about a I have yet to see it reported Let’s give district attorneys, family friend who was a career po- whether Tulsa reserve deputy Rob- judges, sheriffs and police statu- lice officer and what he was once ert Bates had his taser and his gun tory term limits, too. forced to do.] on the same hip or on opposite They are very powerful and once Anyone who thinks they can kill hips. We know he didn’t know his intoxicated with power can never another person without it having taser from his gun. If they were on willingly abandon it. an affect on them has watched too opposite hips, he didn’t know his Recent corruption scandals in many action movies. left from his right, either. the Tulsa police department, and Certain things do not mix. Nathaniel Batchelder now the sheriff’s office, should Bleach and ammonia. Liquid and Oklahoma City force us to take corrective action. electronics. Weapons and schools. Virginia Blue Jeans Jenner Adding more guns to schools is Editor, The Observer: Waggoner like throwing gasoline on a fire. The Sheriff Stanley Glanz scan- You do not put a fire out by throw- dal is proof positive that we need Editor, The Observer: ing gas on it. to limit terms of law enforcement Last month, Gov. Mary Fal- I am beginning to think that our to 12 years.

Load more

  48

Copy Link