Author Archives: Admin

A lesson in leaving

Tracy Crain, managing editor

There are secrets in the ocean. Perhaps that is why I’m compelled to visit as often as I do.

When I go to the beach, I always curl my toes up in the sand. Then, I test to see if the water is inviting.

As constant as the waves, I watch as water rolls out to me. It always seems like a game of chase.

“Come on in,” the tide says… I do. Time and again. That is, until a fish swims by me. At which point, I start running out of the water, shrieking.

The drive to the Alabama coastline is one that I have been making for most of my life.

I’ve been to both Orange Beach and Gulf Shores as well as the Florida coastline.

While I have also visited Galveston, Virginia Beach and have spent time out west in California, I always return to Alabama. I don’t really know why.

Since last week was, for many, the last week before the hustle and bustle of back to school activities, it seemed a perfect time for one last hoorah.

With stresses mounting, I consider my work at the paper. There’s projects galore. So, I pack up the laptop and head to the beach. A little vacation is better than none.

As I headed South, Kevin, one of our Tulsa Today photographers, is heading off with a sports team to shoot a sporting event in Washington. Immediately following, he’s scheduled to return for the McCartney show.

Luke, Brent, and Justin all have their assignments and everyone is excited about what they have planned.

We all exchange emails in route. And, with business squared away, I focus on the trip ahead, thinking of the drive. Fortunately, I have some very good directions courtesy of a friend. There are a few navigational angels who see me through just about every trip I take and to them I am always grateful.

In route, I think about a dog I once had named Jessie–how he loved the beach.

It wasn’t uncommon for the two of us to hop in the car, get on the freeway, find a safe spot behind an 18 wheeler, and cruise on into the shore–where we’d chase waves into the nightfall.

Jessie was a traveling dog. It’s hard to find a good traveling dog. Even harder these days to find a place that allows animals.

Most condo owners do not.

It’s a consideration on my mind as I make my 10 hour drive to the Alabama/Florida coastline.

Although it’s redundant to state the obvious, I love road trips.

Always, I’m reminded of the Jackson Browne song, “Stay,” that seems to illustrate time spent in the car so poignantly.

"But the band’s on the bus,
and they’re waiting to go.
We gotta drive all night
And do the show in Chicago… or Detroit.
I don’t know, we do so many shows in a row.
And these towns all look the same.
we just pass the time in the hotel rooms
and wander around backstage.
Till those lights come up, and we hear that crowd, and we remember why we came.
Now we got country and western on the bus,
R & B, we got disco in 8-tracks and cassettes in stereo
We’ve got rural scenes and magazines
And we’ve got truckers on CB
We got Richard Pryor on the video
We’ve got time to think of the ones we love
While the miles roll away
but the only time that seems too short is the time that we get to play”

It’s a great song to sing while traveling. It reminds me of time.

And, this trip was all about –finding time.

To say goodbye to the season. To finally take that vacation there was never time to take.

Sometimes we all have to take a big, deep breath and exhale slowly.

So, I sang my songs. All my lost favorites, like the cds made two years ago. I put them in the cd player and played each one through to completion.

When those played out, I listened to other music. To NPR. To whoever happened to be on my radio in any given town.

It didn’t really matter as most everything was secondary on that long, rural highway through Louisiana and Mississippi that I was traveling to reach the glistening shores.

In route, I pass through a town called Transylvania, Louisiana.

I’m fascinated by it. Fascinated by the name. By the rows of crops. The tractors on the side of the roads. The man driving the locomotive alongside the highway.

It all seems so rustic.

It doesn’t seem possible that a coastal area could exist at the end of this destination, but it does.

And, as always, I arrive to find that I’m glad I’ve made the journey. In many ways, this vacation was better than most.

I was able to spend time in the sun and surf. I saw beautiful skies and glistening earth. I even slept until 3p.m. one day, with the balcony door open, just listening to waves.

Paradise, yes, if only for a brief few hours.

One of the highlights of the vacation included a dolphin cruise, which was quite affordable.

On the boat, I met the nicest lady, who looked just like Sandra Bullock. Perhaps it was, but she said her name was Becky.

Becky is beautiful and funny. Really funny. To me, funny people make vacations worthwhile. What is that saying? Laughter is the best medicine….

In the time that we shared, we exchanged not only laughs, but stories. New conversation is.…a welcome change sometimes.

All in all, time spent with my vacation buddy ended far too soon.

As my vacation drew to a close, plans were made for packing. All was set to go. Then, as usual, the unexpected happend. The weather took a really strange turn.

In all my visit’s to the shore, I have never experienced bad weather. I guess what they say is true….there is a first time for everything. It seems on the day that I was planning to depart, a tropical storm decided to arrive.

Before I knew it, my plans for leaving became plans to stay.

Little did I know that staying longer would be the downfall. Or, more appropriately, just in time for the “landfall.”

I thought long and hard about how I wanted to report on Tropical Storm Claudette or if I even wanted to.

As I know all too well, these types of storms can have some devasting impacts on the communities that endure them. Further, Tropical Storm Claudette was not the only concern. There were additional reports on storms Anna and what people were referring to a possible Hurricane Bill.

As I listened to news in regard to the weather, there were tornado and flood warnings, as well as inland wind watches. With all those advisories, I didn’t quite know what to expect.

So, I ventured out to get some insight. I spoke to other folks nearby…the security guard, the man on the 1st floor.

They each had stories to tell.

The security guard talked of past hurricanes. For instance, he was there when Ivan struck. He said they had experienced 90 foot waves.

I can only imagine.

Since the parking lot was filled with license plates from Oklahoma, Missouri, and every other place one could live, I knew I was not the only tourist around.

As the evening progressed, weather reports jammed the TV every five minutes. And, I wonder what everyone else is thinking.

Interestingly enough, the storm warnings were not just for a specific amount of time –like a few hours. They were in effect for a few days.

Overall, I made it safely through the night as Claudette crashed into the Florida Panhandle a little after midnight.

For the most part, I thought that was it. I did not expect the storms that followed.

It wasn’t until I was driving down the main highway from Florida into Gulf Shores, that I saw the true power of the wind as the sand started flying, amid the rain.

It was a sight I have never really seen. So, I stopped my car to get a quick picture.

I was outside for only a minute. Yet, that’s all it took to get covered in sand completely.

I was shocked to see the wind blow sand so furiously through the air as the waves crashed hard along the shoreline.

If that were not enough, odd rain bursts appeared.

One minute you could see the road. The next minute you could not.

As quickly as the rain set in, it also departed. Then, it would reappear on another road for brief moments of time.

Trying to drive out of town, I passed utility trucks. I assumed they were driving into the gulf to repair phone lines. Visibility was low, so driving around them was difficult as sand and rain circled around like mini tornadoes.

I was completely fascinated and scared… Yet, those who live along the coastline, seemed prepared. Calm.

Everyone had generators, window panels…emergency kits. At least, that is what the TV reporters on the local NBC and FOX News Stations were saying.

On the night of Tropical Storm Claudette, I watched as eight to 10 foot waves crashed onto the shore.

I stared as abandoned beach chairs were covered with water and waited to see if they would be carried away with the currents.

At the same time, I watched as the shoreline disappeared further and further into a dark, foreboding ocean…and I wondered what the rest of the evening would bring.

Waiting with the rest and listening to the ever urgent weather reports, I was wondering if we would get evacuated.

Those along the shoreline, I’m told, are usually the first ones required to pack.

Turns out, in the Gulf Shores/Orange Beach area, they evacuated those who were staying in nearby cabins and a few streets were closed as well.

In those hours, I sent messages to my friends via the computer.

One or two were kind enough to stay up communicating with me as I watched the weather–ever curious about the new weather terms I was hearing.

That next day, I awoke to find that I was safe and sound. Yet, there were interesting pieces of debris along the beach and flooding was evident.

Somehow, I managed to escape the worst part of the storms that followed Claudette.

One thing I know for certain…it took nearly a day to get all of the sand off that blew onto me in that one minute that I stood outside.

Although I am aware of their seriousness, I’ve never truly given the storms down at the coast much thought.

An earful of sand later, they definitely have my attention now.

Last Updated ( Monday, 31 August 2009 )

New York professor presents “Shipwrecks as Fossils” research at AAAS Pacific Division Meeting

Staff Report

Mariners call the continental margin off the North Carolina coast the "graveyard of the Atlantic." Syracuse University’s first Professor of Interdisciplinary Sciences, Cathryn R. Newton, sees the area as rich with fossils for paleontologists, marine archeologists and historians to study.

Newton was invited to deliver the plenary lecture at the 90th Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Pacific Division, in San Francisco. She presented "Shipwrecks as Fossils" during a special session on Monday, Aug. 17, at 7 p.m. at San Francisco State University.

AAAS is the world’s largest scientific organization and publisher of Science.

The lecture provided the first view of a new, searchable database she has developed of some 2,038 ships that sank off the Southeastern coast of the United States, the earliest of which dates from 1526.

"This is the largest database on shipwrecks ever known for this area of the ocean-by a factor of two," says Newton, dean emerita of SU’s College of Arts and Sciences (). "It is a scientific tool that enables us to look at shipwrecks and what they can tell us in entirely new ways."

The database includes ship names; type and size of the vessels; dates of sinking; information about the cargoes, passengers, ship departure points and intended destinations; and other information.

"Shipwrecks can be imagined as large fossils that sink to the sea floor much as deceased whales sink to the ocean floor and become part of the fossil record," Newton says. "Like other marine fossils, shipwrecks provide clues to the part of our history that lies beyond the shoreline."

Newton created the database from some 5,000 hand-written data cards on shipwrecks compiled by her father, oceanographer John Newton of the Duke University Marine Laboratory, and his research partners-Dorothy Nicholson of National Geographic, Harold "Doc" Edgerton of MIT, Gordon Watts of the state of North Carolina and Robert Sheridan, now of Rutgers University-more than 30 years ago.

These scientists, two of whom are deceased, were part of the Duke University-National Geographic research team that discovered the legendary Civil War ironclad the U.S.S. Monitor a few miles off Cape Hatteras in 1973. Newton, then a 16-year-old sophomore at Duke University, was a member of that team.

Since the death of her father, Newton has sought to make this shipwreck information widely accessible to scientists and non-scientists alike. New database technologies and the Internet have helped bring the project to fruition.

The database will be published on the Web with the release of a book Newton is completing about selected shipwrecks, unlocking the information hidden in these fossil records.

The stories include the circumstances surrounding the 1971 sinking of the Texaco Oklahoma off Cape Hatteras, German U- Boat attacks on passenger and merchant vessels during World War II, Newton’s first-person account of the discovery of the U.S.S. Monitor, and a discussion of shipwrecks and the arts.

"German submarines off the coast of North Carolina, babies born in lifeboats, people clinging to ice- laden rigging-every=2 0sinking is a human story," Newton says.

"The database allows us to pose new questions about these stories and to reach new understanding of the historical, cultural and scientific circumstances surrounding shipwrecks. From Shakespeare’s "The Tempest" to the sinking of the Titanic, shipwrecks hold endless fascination for us, and have been deeply woven into many aspects of our culture. We are now able, for the first time, to understand them not just as isolated events, but as populations amenable to quantitative scientific study."

Last Updated ( Tuesday, 18 August 2009 )

Fallin Tours Tinker Aerospace celebrates new building

Staff Report

Congresswoman Mary Fallin (OK-05) today joined Air Force personnel, state, county and local officials in celebrating the grand opening of Building 9001, the newest addition to the Tinker Aerospace Complex.

"I am proud to celebrate the opening of this new facility and am grateful for the partnership and collaboration between Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma County, the state of Oklahoma, and the Air Force in making this vision a reality.

I continue to be incredibly happy with the quality of our military programs and facilities in Oklahoma and am appreciative of their continued good work for our country," said Fallin. "The success of this project is a true testament to the wonderful community support that surrounds Tinker and all of Oklahoma’s military installations."

The new space will allow the Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center (OC-ALC) to realign maintenance workloads and increase space for future acquisitions at Tinker.

By the end of this year, the 600,000 square foot building will house shops from the 76th Propulsion Maintenance Group, the 76th Maintenance Support Group, the Defense Logistics Agency and the 76th Commodities Maintenance Group. Officials expect to hire several new employees over the next year, citing an immediate need for 500 new employees and additional hires proceeding future workload increases.

"I am extremely proud to have the opportunity to represent our military men and women on the Armed Services committee, and I will do everything in my power to ensure they receive the support and funding they deserve from our federal government and community."

The purple people beaters

Ernest Istook

That would be the purple-shirted members of the SEIU–the Service Employees International Union—who (literally) swung into action outside a town hall meeting in Missouri and became infamous on YouTube and national media.

“Town Hall Protestor Roughed Up by SEIU Members” read one headline. The legal system will sort out what happened to David Gladney, the victim of the attack.

But public opinion will sort out whether SEIU is sending thugs to town halls.

The union “Purps” also turned out in force at President Obama’s town hall in New Hampshire. SEIU brought its people in by chartered buses after getting special tickets from the White House.

And why shouldn’t the president give ‘em freebie tickets? He owes them! After all, the SEIU spent $61-million to help elect him.

The union also set aside $10-million to push Obama’s agenda in its post-election “Change That Works” campaign, and pledged more, including 30% of the union’s resources and hiring over 1,000 workers in 35 states.

Oddly, that level of orchestration goes unremarked by mainstream media, while conservative organizing gets critical coverage.

But liberal members of congress are well aware of the SEIU’s resources and commitment.

Rep. Tim Bishop (D-NY) loudly refused to hold town halls, but instead scheduled a rally at an SEIU union hall. Many, like Rep. Kathy Castor (D-Fl), have asked SEIU to be a “sponsor” of their town halls. “Enforcers” might be a better word.

One news account of a Castor’s town hall reported, “Tractor sized bouncers (union thugs) manhandled the overflow crowd, injuring several. . . . Eyewitnesses report SEIU/ACORN members roughing up seniors, pushing little old ladies against a wall and literally tearing a man’s shirt.”

But now the SEIU’s website newly proclaims, “Stop the Violence at Health Care Town Halls.” It features an edited version of the Missouri video to create an impression that SEIU people are victims rather than perpetrators.

Still, union members are now asked to take an online pledge not to be “disruptive or disrespectful” at town halls, and “to allow the opinions of fellow attendees to be heard even if I disagree.”

Other unions have been household words for years; SEIU is quickly becoming one. SEIU led a breakaway from the AFL-CIO in 2005, bringing others like the Teamsters into its rival Change to Win Federation. Who are the people of the SEIU, who call themselves the “Purple Ocean?”

This spring the Associated Press dubbed SEIU the nation’s fastest-growing labor union as it passed the 2.2-million member mark.

The growth has come largely through mergers as SEIU swallowed up other groups. About half its members are in health care—hospital and nursing home workers especially.

Estimates say 17% of American health care workers are now in SEIU. It would like to sign up the other 83%.

SEIU is also building a dominance among public service employees—clerical and janitorial workers in schools, bus drivers, child care providers—and among those who provide services to commercial property—security personnel and janitors in particular.

Its website declares, “56 percent of SEIU members are women, and some 40 percent people of color. SEIU represents more immigrant workers than any other union in the United States.”

Strong-arm tactics are SEIU’s strong suit, even outside town halls. In her book, Culture of Corruption, Michelle Malkin writes, “The SEIU seeks membership growth through aggressive ‘corporate campaigns’ that have a blun t message to employers, “Let us unionize your workforce or we will destroy your reputation.”

Its president, Andy Stern, sums up his leadership philosophy thusly, “We prefer to use the power of persuasion, but if that doesn’t work we use the persuasion of power.”

Stern told the Las Vegas Sun, “We spent a fortune to elect Barack Obama–$60.7 million to be exact—and we’re proud of it.”

SEIU aggressively recruits workers away from other unions and has been accused of coveting the financial assets of the unions it acquires. SEIU needs the money because its National Industry Pension Fund is in big trouble.

In April, it announced that the fund lacks the money to pay promised benefits and is in “critical status.”

Its big-spending ways nevertheless have bought SEIU a seat at the table, especially as a major player in President Obama’s push for a health care makeover.

They have a lead role within the HCAN (“Health Care for American Now”) coalition, alongside ACORN, the Center for American Progress, MoveOn.org, Children’s Defense Fund, La Raza, plus several other unions.

They’re going for broke with SEIU’s “Change That Works” campaign. According to its January announcement:

“SEIU members have committed to more than 1,000 members and staff working full-time in the field and dedicated 30% of the union’s resources to the campaign.

Already approximately $10 million has been set aside to build and mobilize public support in key states."

“SEIU has hired or assigned full-time state campaign directors . . . in 35 states."

“SEIU has created a "war-room" at its headquarters in Washington, DC to facilitate the Change That Works program."

“In coalition with other organizations, SEIU will participate in multi-million dollar paid advertising campaigns this month and throughout 2009.” SEIU’s overt orchestration should be remembered when people like Sen. Harry Reid (D, NV), complain about the huge crowds of private citizens at town hall meetings.

“This is not grass roots,” Reid claimed as he held up Astroturf and pronounced the crowds “about as phony as this grass.”

So how phony is it when SEIU has hired over 1,000 people? At least grassroots and Astroturf are both green. We need a new term for the SEIU mob. Perhaps “Riders of the Purple Rage?”

Ernest Istook calls himself a "recovering Congressman" from Oklahoma. He is now a Distinguished Fellow at The Heritage Foundation and chairs the National Advisory Board for Save Our Secret Ballot, www.SOSballot.org www.SOSballot.org.

Congressman Cole talks tribal sovereignty, business

Dana Hudspeth

TAHLEQUAH, Okla.–The link between tribal sovereignty and Oklahoma’s prosperous economy was explained to members of the American Indian Chamber of Commerce of Oklahoma (AICCO) by United States Congressman Tom Cole, recently.

Cole (OK-04) was the keynote speaker of the AICCO Oklahoma City Chapter Wednesday, Aug. 12.

The meeting was conducted at the Gardner Center at the Meinders School of Business at Oklahoma City University in Oklahoma City.

"Watching the Oklahoma economy, we have our series of challenges, but not like the rest of the country," Cole, a Chickasaw citizen, said.

When his Washington colleagues discover Oklahoma’s low unemployment rate, Cole said, "They look at me and ask ‘what in the world is going on in Oklahoma."’ One factor in Oklahoma’s strong economy, explained Cole, is tribally-owned businesses.

"The tribes contribute so much to the Oklahoma economy; they are a huge reason why Oklahoma is prosperous. There are thousands of jobs with tribes. They are here and they are anchored, corporate headquarters will never be moved to Dallas or Houston and jobs will never go to China."

Collectively, Oklahoma Indian tribes are the fourth or fifth largest employer in the state, Cole said.

"That’s a pretty phenomenal number."

Tribal sovereignty is critical to maintaining a healthy Oklahoma economy, Cole said.

"There is an enormous interest in maintaining tribal sovereignty as a state, because of the enormous wealth that is flows into the state, (because of tribal business)."

Tribes, according to Cole, have been working with Washington lawmakers, both Democrat and Republican.

"Tribes are dependant on federal status and tribal issues are not partisan issues at all."

Cole, who is the only Native American in Congress, also touched on other issues facing Indian County during his 20-minute talk.

"A lot of Native American issues are festering or ripe for movement," he said, such as the Indian Health Care Reauthorization Act, which was approved last year by the Senate, but not by the House.

"That bill will come back again, it is working its way through committee," he said.

Another important issue, Cole explained, is a renewed government focus on 8 (a) contracting, a federal business development program that focuses on minorities.

"We need to really keeping an eye on it, because it could really blow up a lot of investment and a lot of opportunity."

He also touched on a recent the Carcieri v. Salazar Supreme Court decision that ruled the Narragansett tribe in Rhode Island was not a nationally-recognized tribe under the Indian-Reorganization Act of 1934.

As a result this tribe cannot put land into trust, he explained.

"We are going to try to get that fixed, legislatively."

That issue, he said, underscores the importance of tribal government and federal government relations.

"Tribes are dependant on federal status; you are what the Congress wants you to be."

He also stressed the importance of keeping Indian County tax credits as a law. "It’s not a permanent law; it comes up every two years.

It is not a tribal issue, its an Oklahoma issue that encourages jobs in Indian Country," he said.

Cole also mentioned the federal budget for Indian p rograms up 14-15 percent, describing it as "catch-up spending."

The meeting ended with the Congressman answering a few questions from chamber members.

Several Chickasaw citizens and business owners attended the meeting. The American Indian Chamber of Commerce of Oklahoma’s purpose is to assist American Indian businesses to expand and grow their business. The Chamber actively supports and nurtures well-planned, long-term business opportunities for members by providing organized access to public sector agencies and private industry.

The Chamber also acts as a collective voice for American Indian businesses on important issues.

For more information about the AICCO, log on to aicco.org.

About Tom Cole

Tom Cole, a Chickasaw citizen, has been Representative for Oklahoma’s Fourth Congressional District since November 6, 2002.

He is an advocate for a strong national defense, a defender of the interests of small business and taxpayers, a proponent of education at all levels and a leader on issues dealing with Native Americans and tribal governments.

Cole was appointed to the House Appropriations Committee in 2009. Cole has previously served on the Armed Services Committee, Natural Resources Committee, Rules Committee and Education and Workforce Committee.

Cole serves as a Deputy Whip in the U.S. House. In this role he helps line up the votes needed to pass the legislative agenda of the House Republican Conference. Cole recently served as Chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee for two years.

This made him a member of the House GOP Leadership. Cole also serves as Republican Co-Chairman of the Native American Caucus.