OKLAHO FEBRUARY 2002 Today \LAWMAN OF THE YEAR -.. ....__ --- --.__ FALLEN COWBOYS VEIGH: A FINAL CHAPTER Where there's Williams, there's a From building sidewalks in 1908, For nearly a century, to now -building energy pipelines coast-to-coast, our Oklahoma roots building strong relationships every place we call have served us well, home -where there's Williams, there's a way. and helped us serve ourI neighbors and neighborhoods A way to be more than a company- a way to be even better. Though it may sound clichkd, we think a vital part of our community. A way to better our the Williams way of integrity and reliability will be surroundings and ourselves. just as important in our next century. Williams people possessthe powers of ilnaginationand deternrinath, plus a desire to accomplish something significant. That's why we succeed -in our industry and our communities. It's just our way. LeadingEnergy Sdutions, (800)Williams NYSE:WMB williams.com energynewslive.com Route -7 --1 i -- -- -. ,' * I ' The Performance Company Where you will always find good things-- for cars and the people who drive them.TM Q CoWrigM Phillips Petroleum Company, 2MH). 4122-00 THE YEAR IN REVIEW LOUISA MCCUNE Editor in Chicf An Dirmr: STEVEN WALKER, WALKER CREATIVE, INC.; Senior Edimc STEFFIE CORCORAN Auociate EdiMc ANDREA LOPEZ WALKER; Edimdhir*ln&: BROOKE DEMETZ and RYAN MARIE MENDENHW; Editorial Inm: HEATHER SUGRUE;AdvmirngDin&c WALT DISNEY; Account &cutivc~: CHARLOTTE ASHWORTH &KIM RYAN; Advmirng InmSHARON WALKER; hd~cffbnManager: COLLEEN MCINTYRE; Adv&ng GraphicA&: SAND1 WELCH General Manager: MELANIE BREEDEN; Accounrant: LISA BRECKENRIDGE Ofit Manap BECKY ISAAC; @ccAahnt: KATHY FUGATE JOAN HENDERSON Publisher JANE JAYROE, Ewccutiue Dircmr Oklahoma Tourism and Recreation Dqamt Toutinn and Recreation Cmnrnish LT. GOV. MARY FALLIN, Chair ROBYN BATSON, STAN CLARK, JOE HARWOOD, BOYD LEE, JOE MARTIN,JANIS RICKS, HAL SMITH, ROBERT WATSON FRANK KEATING, Gournor FEMA Director Joe Allbaugh is a busy man. But chance prevailed, and Oklahoma Today was able to photograph the Washington, D.C., power player when he was home for Thanksgiving. While his wife, Diane, and their three children relaxed upstairs, Allbaugh was photographed by contributing editor John Jernigan (far left). Writer Adam Cohen (far right), who wrote the profile about Allbaugh, stayed on for a lengthy interview after the photo session. Editor in chief Louisa McCune (second from left) and intern Heather Sugrue (second from right) also attended the photo shoot. Oklahoma Today(lSSN 0030-1892) is published seven timesa year: in January, Feb~ary,March, May, July, September, and November by the State of Oklahoma, Oklahoma Tourism and Recreation Department, 15 N. Robinson, Suite 100, P.O.Box 53384, Oklahoma City, OK 731 02173152, (405) 521 -2496 or (800)777- 1793. Subscription prices: $16.95 per year in U.S.; $26.95 outside U.S. U.S. copyright O 2002 by Oklohoma Today. Reproduction in whole or in rt without permission is prohibited. POSTMASTER: Snd address changes b Oklohomo TodqCimlotion, PO. Boa 53381, Olohotna City, OK 731 52. visit ~EhomaTo- day on ke Internet at oklahomatoday.com. THE YEAR IN REVIEW 1 3 A vital part of our community.. ...and of Touchstone Energy? There's only one reason a guy like Eddie Lee gives the time and energy it takes to be a volunteer fireman: because he cares about his community. That's the spirit that runs through Rural Electric Cooperative in Lindsay, Oklahoma, and through every other I Touchstone Energy Cooperative - in r Oklahoma and across the country. FddieLee Key Accounts Executive Rural Electric Cooperative Lindsay, Oklahoma Your Touchstone EnergymCooperatives 6-tk Aifalfa Electric Co-op Northfork Electric Co-op Caddo Electric Co-op Northwestern Electric Co-op Central Rural Electric Co-op Oklahoma Association of Choctaw Electric Co-op Electric Cooperatives Cimarron Electric Co-op Oklahoma Electric Co-op Cookson Hills Electric Co-op Red River Valley Rural Cotton Electric Co-op Electric Association East Central OK Electric Co-op Rural Electric Co-op Harmon Electric Association Southeastern Electric Co-op Indian Electric Co-op Southwest Rural Electric Kay Electric Co-op Association Kiamichi Electric Co-op Tri-County Electric Co-op Kiwash Electric Co-op Verdigris Valley Electric Co-op I Northeast OK Electric Co-op Western Farmers Electric Co-op Touchstone Energy" OKLAHOMA Today EDITOR'S LETTER A difficult year behind us. By Louisa McCune OKLAHOMAN OF THE YEAR 8 By Adam Buckley Cohen FALLEN COWBOYS 1 6 A $one crash forever changes the OSU men's basketball team. By Damon Gardenhire A FINAL CHAPTER 0 The execution of Timothy McVeigh. By Julie DeKour THE YEAR IN PHOTOGRAPHS From OSUts bia win over OlJ to the arrival of Krispy Kreme ih~klahomaCity, Oklahoma Today presents the pictorial version of the year's ncws. By Jay Swearingen THE END 71 Tulsa mayor Susan Savage plans her exit from city hall. By P.J. Lassek Cover (left to right): Joe Allbaugh, John Jernigan; Aren Almon Kok, AP/Wide World Photos; OSU men's basketballteam, John Clanton/Tuba World; American flag at Owen Field, the Daily Oklahoman. CONTENTS 5 Supporting a variety of arkorchestrating a complete cast of energy solutions. That's OGE. I www.oge.com 02001 OGE Energy Gorp. NYSE:OGE J wntability. stability. rdiabili . i .accountabili .power atYt 8itv. accountab~Yitv. flexib'dditv. The Land of Plenty 4 BOUT ONCE EVERY SIX WEEKS,MY TWO SISTERS, THEIR HUSBANDS, AND MY BROTHER Aand I receive propaganda from our father. Like clockwork, his neatly typed envelopes are dropped into our mailboxes like leaflets from World War I1 military aircraft. No note is attached, nothing underlined. It is simply material which, in my father's opinion, demands to be read ("I'm seldom correct but never in doubt," he loves to say). Most often, the propaganda springs from a recent col- umn in a newsweekly. Usually it's conservative in tone, and often about the "greatest generation." Around December 15, the postman delivered a column by my own writerly inspiration, Anna Quindlen, op-ed columnist for Newsweek and former New York Timeseditorial page editor. Before I share her wisdom, I'll briefly provide the backstory. Four short days before that neatly typed envelope arrived at my office, a friend and I were having a casual Saturday lunch at Taco Cabana after my weekly guitar lesson. We discussed the upcoming holidays, the parties to attend, gifts to be pur- chased. Spontaneously, we began listing all the things we wanted for ourselves. Not a Christmas list, but things we wanted right then. My abridged list included Kiehl's Ultra Facial Moisturizer, a cat-scratching post, a makeup mirror, a Martin guitar (or maybe a Baby Taylor), a duvet cover, Donald Pliner knee-high boots, a new dress to wear at my Christmas party, tin trash cans for birdseed, and the Jack Welch autobiography. My friend's equally lengthy list started with a food processor and ended with a beagle puppy for his nine- year-old son (her eight-week-old highness sits on my lap as I write this). can Z 3 An exercise like this be fun because of its safe self-indulgence (no, 5 I'm not $10,000 poorer), but as Quindlen so deftly pointed out in "Hon- I S estly, You Shouldn't Have," her Newnueek essay from December 3, 2001, that kind of realized shopping (Christmas or otherwise), billed by some as patriotic, borders on addiction and lacks basic self-control. "If maxing out your plastic at Gap is what patriotism has come to, then all the stealth bomb- ers in the world can't save us from ourselves," writes QuindIen. She then quotes Adlai Stevenson: "With the supermarket as our temple and the sing- ing commercial as our litany, are we likely to fire the world with an irresist- ible vision of America's exalted purpose and inspiring way of life?" With the year 2001 behind us-haven't we collectively expelled a great big sigh of relief?-perhaps we can all find the necessary motivation to learn the lesson of desire versus need. Blind consumerism is an easier answer than genuine choice and restraint. But it's like the destructive evil of gossip or four pieces of chocolate cake: For the first ten minutes it feels -good, but what usually remains is remorse, casual disregard, and a fullness not of wonder but of excess. In the face of temptation, Quindlen (and, by association, my dad) implores us to remember the deeper meaning of life. In Oklahoma in 2001, we saw firsthand what really matters: the strength of a university in the face of tragedy (page 16), a farmer's son from Blackwell who met national disas- ter with composure and assurance (page S), and a possible step toward closure with the demise of a terrorist (page 20). These stories of disaster and heroism and healing, all definitive symbols of 2001, reveal the heart of a nation and state. Rather than indulgence and the parade of ego, we see humanity, grace, and community. Don't deny yourself that perfect little black dress or power tool, but spend the bulk of your re- sources on fullness born of the virtues-Oklahoma virtues--of friendship, forgiveness, and forti- tude. There, excess applies. EDITOR'S LETTER 7 Cool Under Fire FOR HIS LEADERSHIP, HIS TENACITY, AND HIS GRACE IN THE FACE OF AMERICA'S' DARKEST HOUR, OKLAHOMA TODAY NAMES BLACKWELL NATIVE JOE ALLBAUGH THE 2001 OKLAHOMAN OF THE YEAR. BY ADAM BUCKLEY COHEN EN JOE ALLBAUGH'S PMETOUCHED DOWN AT LAGUARDIA AIR- wport on September 12, all he could think of was an old war movie. He'd seen it as a kid.