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TU softball begins

Staff Report

The University of Tulsa softball team plays host to the Tulsa Select Festival softball tournament to open its 2009 home slate this weekend at the Donna J. Hardesty Sports Complex.

The tournament features Creighton, which competed in the NCAA Regionals in 2008, as well as Louisiana-Monroe, Saint Louis and South Dakota State. Last season, the Golden Hurricane posted a 16-4 record at home, and under head coach John Bargfeldt, TU holds a 54-20 record at the Hardesty Complex since 2006.

It should be noted that times have changed for the tournament, including one game moved from Saturday to Friday. The original Friday schedule is intact, with the exception of one game added at the end of the day at 7 p.m. Game times for Saturday and Sunday will be determined on Friday due to harsh weather forecast for Saturday and will be announced when they become available.
The tournament opens Friday at 11 a.m. with Creighton taking on South Dakota State, and then continues at 1p.m. with South Dakota State vs. Saint Louis, 3 p.m. with Creighton vs. Saint Louis, 5 p.m. Tulsa vs. Louisiana-Monroe and 7 p.m. Tulsa vs. South Dakota State. Games currently scheduled for Saturday are, South Dakota State vs. Louisiana-Monroe, Tulsa vs. Saint Louis and Creighton vs. Louisiana-Monroe, while Sundays games include Saint Louis vs. Louisiana-Monroe and Tulsa vs. Creighton.

Tulsa leads Louisiana-Monroe in the all-time series 12-5 dating back to 1994, and has won the last two meetings, 7-0 in 2006 and 3-0 in 2005. The Hurricane has won seven of the last eight games since 2003 and 8-of-10 since 2000. TU leads Saint Louis 2-0, winning 8-3 in 2004 and 4-2 in 1993. The win in 1993 was one of only two during Tulsa’s first season of competition in softball.

The Golden Hurricane trails the series against Creighton, that dates back to 1993, 5-12. The former Missouri Conference rivals met nine times between 1993 and 1996 with the Blue Jays holding a 8-1 advantage during that time. Since then, Tulsa is 2-4 (since 2001) and has won two of the last three games 7-0 in 2006 and 3-1 in 2007. Creighton won the last meeting 7-2 in 2008. The game against South Dakota State will be the first meeting in softball between the two schools.

Tickets to the Tulsa Select Festival and all Golden Hurricane softball games throughout the season can be purchased by visiting http://www.tulsahurricane.com/ or by calling (918) 631-GoTU.

 

Just shoot the drunks

David Arnett

Analysis:  Republicans have a difficult challenge in the 2009 Oklahoma Legislature.  After 100 years of control by the Democrats; this populist body with more actual power than the governor is now in the hands of Republicans.  Will Republicans prove to be the party of reason and reform or, like the Washington elite, become greedy, bombastic self-promoting disingenuous establishment types – wink, wink, pay-to-play, it matters not what we say.
Making the first case in point, Senator Harry Coates, R-Seminole, includes this quote in his most recent press release, “Our laws have little effect on the amount of drunk driving in our state.  We have to strengthen these laws so that people truly fear the consequences of getting caught driving drunk,” said Coates.
Once again slowly:  Law does not change behavior so Sen. Coats wants more law.
Horrendous safety issues are obvious and well documented anytime people drive under the influence of alcohol and it has long been illegal.  However, at no point does anyone ever plan to drive drunk.  No one first meets the day saying, “I plan to risk my life, health and freedom and maybe kill people today by driving drunk and stupid.”
It is understandable that Sen. Coats would hate drunk drivers after losing a loved-one in 2008.  Yes, more than 17,000 Americans are killed each year by drunk drivers (out of 300,000,000) including approximately 275 Oklahomans. 
However, more Americans and Oklahomans are killed each year by drivers falling asleep at the wheel – the top reason for accidents and death on the highway.  No state legislation has been found by Tulsa Today requiring rest for drowsy drivers.  Maybe that is because there is no sin to slam and no emotional MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) group demanding draconian measures.  Maybe we need DADS (Dads Against Driving Sleepy) which could educate, lobby, etc. to help prevent drivers from continuing a journey beyond their point of exhaustion.

Regardless, law does not change behavior.  Education, personal commitment, individual acceptance of personal responsibility (rather than victim-hood) change behavior.

Sen. Coats bill (SB 1014), also known as the Brandon Burgett Act, is named in memory of Coates’ sister-in-law’s 20-year-old step-nephew.  Burgett was killed and his 17-year-old girlfriend put in the hospital after a drunk driver hit them head on as they were coming back from a Christian concert in Oklahoma City on July 5.  The drunk driver, 26-year-old Brent Johnson, was killed also.  The young couple was a half mile from their turnoff on I-40 when Johnson hit them head on while traveling west bound in the east bound lane.
SB 1014 would require an individual to forfeit all vehicles in which that person has an ownership interest following his or her FIRST DUI felony offense conviction. 

Under the bill, the defendant would be required to pay all the costs associated with the forfeiture including the wrecker and storage.  After paying off all the expenses, any leftover funds from the sale of a forfeited vehicle would be deposited in the Drug Abuse Education and Treatment Revolving Funds for use in the treatment and drug testing of indigent substance abusing offenders participating in the Oklahoma Drug Court Act or for substance abuse prevention.

The maxim, "Equity abhors a forfeiture" is important to understand in this context.  Government sieaure of private property is rarely proper in a free society and most humans hate it.  Forfeiture of “all vehicles” including those not invloved in any law breaking is not likely to be upheld by the courts.
Rich people may not mind losing a vehicle or fleets of vehicles, but the young and the poor facing such coniquences may think, however inapproperitely, it is worth the risk to attempt to flee from police thus increasing danger to the public and law enforcement.
Further, this type of draconian state reaction stands contrary to economic development measures funded by the state and most municipalities.  “Young Professionals” are often a solicited group because they are more likely innovators and entrepreneurs.  They are also the group most likely to misread their own capabilities while under the influence of alcohol. 

Locally loyal, intelligent, productive and innovative Oklahoma youth are already moving to other states if they have ever had trouble with the law to avoid a second such brush with penalties that could forever destroy their reputation and limit their ability to build successful careers.

However, proven criminals like former-Senator Gene Stipe (Oklahoma’s most infamous Democrat) would care less as they know how to work the court system.

Sen. Coats also shows foolishness in this effort noting that the real problem are repeat offenders not, as his bill targets, first time offenders.  His press release said, “According to a 2008 National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) report released in November, there are an estimated two million drunk drivers with three or more convictions in the U.S., including 400,000 drunk drivers with five or more convictions.  Coates pointed out that Johnson had a previous arrest on his record for drunk driving without a license or insurance, but was back behind the wheel that night once again after drinking and again without a license or insurance.”

Again slowly, if law alone worked, it would have prevented the Brandon Burgett tragedy as Johnson was a repeat offender engaged in multiple violations that fateful night.
With all respect and sympathy for the Coats family’s loss, please Senator, use your good office for law that really solves problems rather than that which just sounds good at first reading.

Notorious cookie cutter

Luke Harrington

Notorious

United States, 2009

Directed By: George Tilman, Jr.

Written By: Reggie Rock Bythewood, Cheo Hodari Coker

Starring: Jamal Woolard, Derek Luke, Anthony Mackie, Angela Bassett

Running Time: 100 min.

Rated R for pervasive language, some strong sexuality including dialogue, nudity, and for drug content

2 out of 5 stars

A friend and colleague of mine never misses an opportunity to point out how much he hates the film genre “musical biopic.” They’re all the same, he says, and they rarely (if ever) bother to make any point, other than deification of the subject. What’s the point if every musician’s life was the same, and their shared rise-and-fall trajectory means nothing, except that they were awesome?

 I’m always the first to jump up and defend the genre, but after seeing Notorious—a retelling of the life of hip-hop emcee Chris Wallace/Biggie Smalls/Notorious B.I.G./whatever else—I’m seriously thinking about defecting to his camp. The movie was a blow-by-blow revue of every complaint he has. We see Biggie grow up, rise to fame, and fall victim to a world he never made. We see what a darn nice guy he was, and we see his many romantic and sexual exploits, none of which actually go anywhere. And of course, it’s all filled with lots of boobs, just to give it a hip-hop edge.

In other words, if you’re in the target demographic for the film, you know who you are—and you’re probably already running for the door. The rest of you can stay here, and I’ll explain why this just isn’t a very good film.

Let me start off by admitting that I’m decidedly not in the target demographic for it. I count myself as an appreciator of hip-hop (despite the fact that my whiteness knows no bounds), but 90’s gangsta rap is a subgenre I’ll probably never appreciate. There’s a reason for that, and it’s the same reason I’ll never appreciate hair metal, or emo, or honky-tonk: it’s simply a genre that’s about projecting an image first, and making music second. When N.W.A. pioneered the style in the 80’s, it was a powerful combination of phat beats and acute social commentary, but by the mid-90’s it had degenerated into mindless thug posturing and glorification of a lifestyle that really should only exist as a last resort (and ideally, not even then). In other words, even without the amorality, it was bland and repetitive. I’m not going to say that Biggie’s music was the worst of this, but he definitely helped push it in that direction by projecting the image of a larger-than-life thug from the streets. If that’s the sort of thing you like, I can’t tell you not to like it, but when the image is so big that it overwhelms the music, that’s when my brain checks out.

Unfortunately, Biggie’s image was so big it overwhelmed not only his music, but also this film. The character presented here will be nothing new to fans, or for that matter, to anyone who’s ever seen a movie set on the streets. Biggie’s a good guy in a bad world, he loves his woman, and he only turns to crime because his single momma can’t support him. He can’t help but rhyme, ‘cause it’s all he has. Then he hits it big, and the cloying stereotypes give way to plain ol’ big-shot noxiousness: womanizing, drug abuse, etc. Ugh.

From what I know, this is all fairly accurate, but interesting it’s not. In fact, all I could think while watching the film was, Do famous musicians really all have the same life? Do they really all have trouble staying faithful to their wives and girlfriends? Do so many people really find this story interesting, the sixth, seventh, eight time? Do you have to be a drug-abusing womanizer to make good music?

There’s one moment in the film that shines a bit of light on this: Tupac Shakur (played by Anthony Mackie) relates a story of meeting a boy who tells him that he’s his hero. “I shouldn’t be you’re hero!” he says. “Dr. King should be your hero! Malcom X should be your hero!” True enough, but that’s about as deep as the movie goes, before it turns around and heaps more hero-worship on ol’ Biggie.. There’s probably a good reason for that: producers for the film include Biggie’s mom Voletta Wallace, and his friend and mentor Sean “Diddy” Combs, in addition to a number of other friends and colleagues. In other words, nobody involved in the production wanted to think of Notorious as anything other than a hero, martyr or friend. There’s no way I’m going to hold that against them, but it simply doesn’t make for an interesting film. If no event is ever allowed to mean anything other than “Biggie was awesome!” then the movie just can’t go anywhere.

And it really doesn’t. I have to give director George Tillman (Soul Food, Men of Honor) a bit of credit here for giving the visuals the glossy sheen of a rap video, but the pleasures start and end there. In the end, you’re not likely to enjoy Notorious much if you’re not already a fan. And even if you are, you’ll likely still be longing for a treatment of the man’s life with a bit more depth and resonance.

About the author:

Luke Harrington is a freelance entertainment critic whose work appears regularly in the Tulsa Today and at MovieZeal.com. Contact him at luke.t.harrington@gmail.com This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Mayor Taylor opposes PSO rate hike

Staff Report

Wednesday, 14 January 2009
Tulsa Mayor Kathy Taylor is urging the Oklahoma Corporation Commission to deny a Referee’s recommendation that American Electric Power-Public Service Company of Oklahoma be granted at $92-million dollar electric utility rate hike for its customers.

"Few businesses with significant profit margins have the luxury of asking for increased prices. The increase comes at a time when we must be looking at a way to soften the blow to consumers", Taylor said.

The Referee overseeing the case, Meribeth Snapp, has recommended that the Oklahoma Corporation Commissioners allow AEP-PSO to recover a total of $92-million from its customers; a $70-million rate increase and the remaining $22-million though other recovery mechanisms. The Mayor’s office is urging Commissioners to arrive at a fair solution to all stakeholders which will not create undue hardship on PSO’s customers, including commercial and industrial customers who are providing jobs to thousands of hardworking Oklahomans.

The Tulsa metropolitan area represents 25% of the citizens in the state of Oklahoma. As Mayor, Taylor has worked hand-in-hand with the private sector to create an environment that fosters job creation and economic growth for the Tulsa area. "This increase places current jobs at risk and the City’s economic well-being in jeopardy," she said.

"Whether AEP believes the approach they have taken with PSO is a profitable strategy because of their success in previous rate cases in Oklahoma is unknown, but on the surface, Ohio based AEP, through PSO, appears to have targeted this region to repeatedly seek such rate increase," Taylor said.

Taylor testified in opposition, before the Oklahoma Corporation Commission in December, telling Commissioners, "We must be mindful and protective about cost increases during this time, particularly for those families that we’re seeing falling out of the safety net, lower income families and senior citizens. This economy makes it incumbent on all of us, whether in business or in government, to make sure every dollar that we have been entrusted with from our citizens, is spent responsibly and with our customers’ well-being in mind," the Mayor said.

The Corporation Commission may rule on the rate increase as early as this week.
Last Updated ( Wednesday, 14 January 2009 )
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Fleetwood Mac to play BOK Center

Staff Report

The legendary rockers Fleetwood Mac have added 29 more shows to their upcoming Greatest Hits "Unleashed" Tour in April and May, it was confirmed today by Live Nation.  The new tour dates come on the heels of the first leg of dates announced in December which have nearly sold out.

“We are extremely pleased with the Fleetwood Mac sales to date,” said Jason Garner, Chief Executive Officer of Global Music at Live Nation.  “Their success is another example of the strength of the 2009 concert season.”

The sure to be historic "Unleashed" Tour, beginning on March 1st in Pittsburgh, is an epic cross-country trek featuring 44 shows in major markets.  The tour will include all of the Mac’s many greatest hits from over the course of the band’s extraordinary career.  Fleetwood Mac, the multi-Grammy winning, multi-platinum Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees are back on the road for the first time in five years following several successful solo projects.
Tickets for the Live Nation produced tour go on sale to the public on January 26th at http://www.livenation.com/ and http://www.tickets.com/.   American Express cardmembers will have early access to tickets beginning January 17th at 10am local time through January 25th at 10pm local time. Cardholders will be contacted by American Express with presale link and code if they are eligible. "

We love our band and think the title of the tour "UNLEASHED" perfectly describes how we all feel when we get on stage together – especially in 2009.  We’re so happy to get back out on the road, perform everyone’s favorite songs and see our fans,” said the band in a joint statement.

In other great Fleetwood Mac news, the iconographic ‘RUMOURS’ CD (certified Diamond ® signifying sales of over 10 million units by the RIAA) is scheduled to be re-released as part of a special CD/DVD boxed set on Reprise Records in conjunction with the tour dates.  The boxed set will include several songs from "Rumours" in their original demo form along with unreleased tracks recorded during that time period and never-before-seen DVD footage of the band from the "Rumours" era.

 I Love All Access will provide a variety of VIP packages for the tour, including premium seats accessible via http://www.iloveallaccess.com/.

FLEETWOOD MAC ‘UNLEASHED’ TOUR DATES 2009:

Previously Announced tour dates:
Date                                    City                              Venue

Sunday, March 1st            Pittsburgh, PA                Mellon Arena

Tuesday, March 3rd          St. Paul, MN                   Xcel Energy Center

Thurs, March 5th              Chicago, IL                    Allstate Arena

Sunday, March 8th            Detroit, MI                     Palace of Auburn Hills

Tuesday, March 10th         Washington, DC             Verizon Center

Wednesday, March 11th     Boston, MA                    TD Banknorth Arena

Friday, March 13th             Uniondale, NY                Nassau Coliseum

Saturday, March 14th         Uncasville, CT                Mohegan Sun Arena

Monday, March 16th           Rochester, NY                Blue Cross Arena

Thursday, March 19th         New York, NY                 Madison Square Garden

Saturday, March 21st          East Rutherford, NJ        Izod Center

Monday, March 23rd           Ottawa, ON                   Scotiabank Place

Wednesday, March 25th      Montreal, QC                Bell Centre

Thursday, March 26th          Toronto, ON                 Air Canada Centre

Newly Announced tour dates:

Friday, March 6th                Chicago, IL                  Allstate Arena

Tuesday, March 17th           Toronto, ON                 Air Canada Centre

Wednesday, April 15th         Philadelphia, PA           Wachovia Center  

Friday, April 17th                 Cleveland, OH              Quicken Loans Arena

Saturday, April 18th             Columbus, OH              Nationwide Arena

Monday, April 20th               Orlando, FL                  Amway Arena

Wednesday, April 22nd         Tampa, FL                   St. Pete Times Forum

Thursday, April 23rd             Fort Lauderdale, FL       BankAtlantic Center

Saturay, April 25th               Charlotte, NC                Time Warner Cable Arena

Sunday, April 26th               Greensboro, SC             Greensboro Coliseum

Tuesday, April 28th              Atlanta, GA                   Philips Arena

Thursday, April 30th             Dallas, TX                     American Airlines Center

Saturday, May 2nd               Houston, TX                  Toyota Center

Sunday, May 3rd                        Tulsa, OK                             BOK Center

Tuesday, May 5th                 St. Louis, MO                Scottrade Center

Thursday, May 7th                Omaha, NE                   Qwest Center

Friday, May 8th                     Kansas City, MO           Sprint Center

Sunday, May 10th                 Denver, CO                  Pepsi Center

Tuesday, May 12th                Calgary, AL                  Pengrowth Saddledome

Wednesday, May 13th            Edmonton, AL              Rexall Place

Friday, May 15th                    Vancouver, BC             GM Place

Saturday, May 16th                Tacoma, WA                Tacoma Dome

Monday, May 18th                  Sacramento, CA           Arco Arena

Wednesday, May 20th             Oakland, CA               Oracle Arena

Thursday, May 21st                 San Jose, CA              HP Pavilion

Saturday, May 23rd                  Anaheim, CA              Honda Center

Sunday, May 24th                   Phoenix, AZ                US Airways Center

Thursday, May 28th                 Los Angeles, CA           Staples Center

Saturday, May 30th                 Las Vegas, NV              MGM Grand Garden Arena

Sunday, May 31st                   San Diego, CA              Cox Arena