PAGE 2 THE BOISE CITY NEWS January 09, 2014 CAPITOL CORNER

The Boise City News

P.O. Box 278 105 W. Main Street Boise City, Oklahoma 73933 Voice: 580-544-2222 Fax: 580-544-3281 email: bcnews@ptsi.net, bcnewssales@ptsi.net or bcnews2@ptsi.net USPS No. 059-860

CAPITOL CORNER
by Gus Blackwell, Rep.-61 Rules Comm. Chairman 12-30-2013 The primary directive of government is to protect and safeguard the people that comprise that society. The first line of defense is the armed forces that protect us from invasion from without. But of no less importance are the public safety officers that protect us from anarchy from within. The kingpin holding this internal public safety enterprise together in Oklahoma is the Department of Corrections (DOC). Without their due diligence and efforts it would be impossible to punish and correct the behavior of those who have been arrested, tried, and found guilty in court. In effect, our rule of law would crumble without this infrastructure of protection for the public. Imagine a serial killer that is caught, tried, found guilty, and then released immediately because there was no room in the penal system. It would not only endanger every citizen, but make a mockery of our code of conduct reflected in the criminal code. Last week a correctional worker was attacked and beat up by a prisoner in one of our facilities. This is after a couple of years of large budget cuts or stagnant budgets for DOC. This has caused dwindling numbers of correctional officers and workers while the number of those incarcerated has continued to rise. In fact, in the last 5 years the number of Correctional Officers has dropped by 25% while the inmate count has risen by over 1,000 people! For the last several years

by Gus Blackwell, Rep.-61 Rules Comm. Chairman

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MINISTERS MUSINGS
Dwight Odell Keyes Methodist The purpose of creation is the preparation of a people to receive from God. God is agape love. Being agape He has a hunger to give love and blessings. Being holy He gives us blessings in the role of our Heavenly Father. A good father can give great blessings freely to children that are not spoiled by the blessings. Children that are not spoiled by rich blessings are thankful and they praise their father. On the other hand, the rebellion of proud hearts limits giving from a righteous father. The people that God calls out to receive the blessings of His love are the Church. Praise the Lord in all things every day, but also make plans to be in Church on Sunday. You may not see Jesus in everyone, but if two or more of you came to honor Jesus He is there! Salvation and all of the gifts are a work of God on the heart. Use thankfulness and praise to open the doors of your heart to receive the rich blessings of Father God! Reverend Dwight Odell, Keyes/Marella U.M.C. In 1979, debris from NASAs Space Station Skylab crashed in to the small town of Esperance, Western Australia. The town then fined NASA $400 for littering.

Thunder Insider
By: Will Spell Sorry I am just now getting this message out, but I did not get a response until after the newspaper deadline. Many of you who may have watched the Thunder play the N.Y. Knicks on Christmas day may have seen the Thunder were not in uniform. Well that is because the jerseys both teams wore were especially made just for Christmas, and were approved by the NBA. So that is why neither the Thunder nor any of the other teams were wearing the team jerseys Bowl Games Re-cap By: Will Spell On Thursday January 2nd #11 Oklahoma Sooners played #3 Alabama Crimson Tide both teams came into the game 11-2 in the Sugar Bowl at Mercedes Benz Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana. Now I have to admit that I did not watch the bowl game because I was watching the Thunder play the Brooklyn Nets that night. Heres how the game went quarter by quarter the first quarter OU led Alabama 14-10 going into halftime OU led 31-17. At the end of the third OU led 31-24. The final score for that game OU wins it 45-31. On Friday, January 3, the Oklahoma State Cowboys played the Missouri Tigers in the Cotton Bowl at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. At the end of the first it was tied 7-7. Going into halftime Missouri led 177. At the end of the third, Missouri led by 3, 17-14, the final score for that game was Missouri wins it 41-31.

The Legislative branch, by Constitution, is charged with formulating laws for the state and the country. The process is overseen by any number of legislators and the proposed laws must pass by a majority in all chambers of the legislature. This sets a very high bar in making new laws. That is the way it should be in order to change the law of the land or in a particular state. Recent actions by the Executive branch in both instances have tried to usurp this authority. Executive orders by the President of the United States, the Governor of the State of Oklahoma and the State Superintendent of Education have tried to circumvent the normal legislative process. This process allows a single person to mandate, by fiat, what they desire to happen. This is called a dictatorship, not part of our representative democracy. It is anathema to the Constitution. The Presidents Executive Order delaying the implementation of the Affordable Health Care Act (Obamacare) is clearly in conflict with the law, passed by Congress and signed into law by the President. The Constitution does not allow such power by the President. The law itself also did not allow such latitude. The same type of dismissive attitude toward Congress is also reflected in the present US Department of Education toward the No Child Left Behind Act. Although I dont like this law, it is nevertheless the law of the land. For the US Department of Education to give waivers to this law is not legal. Even worse is the fact these waivers are then treated as the law of the land. The present State Superintendent of Education, Janet Barresi, continually states to legislators we may not pass state laws because of the federal law, which is simply an approved waiver for Oklahoma. This unconstitutional attitude toward present statutes only further contributes to the decline of the rule of law in both our state and nation. Violation of national law is not more palatable because it is done by a President or a state official. The Governors recent ban on vapor products and e-cigarettes falls under the same category. These items are legal to both possess and use. No legislation restricts their use in any way. For the Governor to unilaterally ban the use of these items on all state property is an abuse of power, undermining the separation of powers by the three branches of government. The proper course of action is to present legislation to the legislature to be signed into law and accomplish the desired result. The misuse of executive orders to accomplish legislative ends should not be accepted either at the national or at the state level. The heart begins beating at four weeks after conception and does not stop until death. - Provided by RandomHistory.com

many voices have warned of such an incident and tried to get raises and even signing bonuses (like Texas does) for officers to raise their numbers to make the prisons safer for everyone. But in the last four years the DOC budget has risen less than 1%. Other state agencies have seen much larger increases. Consider the case of William S. Key Correctional Facility in Fort Supply. When I entered the legislature the inmate count was about 600. It now stands at close to 1100. Yet the number of Correctional Officers and other workers is LESS than it was ten years ago! It is routine to have only 13 officers watching over 1,000 inmates! A five day 12 hour work week is considered normal because of officer shortages. That more incidents of a violent and destructive nature to officers, inmates, and the public at large has not occurred is due solely to the dedication and diligence, of Correctional Officers, Case Workers, Administrators, and others employed by the DOC. They have routinely sacrificed their time and given herculean effort that would have won them a purple heart in the field of combat. What was the Governors reaction to such a tragedy in the key agency of governments first responsibility? Her spokesman said she was not concerned about safety in prisons. The question is what is being done to make our prisons safe for those who put their lives on the line daily to guard those who have murdered, assaulted, raped, and stolen from the most vulnerable in our society. Right now nothing is being done. Our correctional officers and DOC employees deserve better. You deserve better.

WHO YOU WANT TO CALL:

President of the
United States
White House Washington, D.C. 20500

U. S. Senate
James Inhofe 453 Russell Senate OB Washington, D.C,. 20510-3602 202-224-4721 fax- 202-228-0380 Jim_Inhofe@inhofe.senate.gov Tom Coburn 172 Russell Senate OB Washington, D.C. 20510-3602 202-224-5754 fax- 202-224-6008 coburn.senate.gov

U.S.House of Representatives
Frank Lucas 438 Cannon HOB Washington, D.C. 20515-3606 202-225-5565 fax- 2023-225-8698

Oklahoma Governor
Mary Fallin
Rm 212 State Capital Oklahoma City, Okla. 73105 405-521-2342 fax-405-521-3353 www.state.ok.us/~governor www.state.ok.us/-gfov

Lt. Governor Todd Lamb

Rm 211 State Capital Oklahoma City, Okla. 73105 405-521-2161 fax-405-521-3353 www.state.ok.us/~ltgov/

Okla. Senate-49
Bryce Marlatt
Rm 427 State Capital Oklahoma City, Okla. 73105 405-521-5626 marlatt@oksenate.gov

Okla. House- 61
Gus Blackwell
Rm 305A Oklahoma City, Okla. 73105 405-557-7384 Fax- 405-962-7660 gusblackwell@okhouse.gov

Attorney General
Drew Edmonson
Rm 112-state capital Oklahoma City, Okla. 73105

ARMED FORCES MEMBERS WITH A CONNECTION TO CIMARRON COUNTY SERVING IN THE WAR ON TERROR:
ARMY
Major Shawn Plowman Capt. Corbin Copeland Capt. Jennifer Smith W.O. Laura Plowman TSgt. Aaron Roberts Sgt. Bradley Maddy SSgt Justin Keith Smith SSgt Ryan Hines Sgt. Larry Don Scott Sgt. Pete Teintende, Jr. Sgt. Eric Rosas Sgt. Micah Nelson Spec. Tyler Stafford Spec E4 David A. Spell PFC Jeremy Moore PFC Cervado Rosas PFC Aaron Green Pvt. Mathew Smith Pvt. Coty Cooper Pvt. Justin Henry

BJ Munsch a member of the Boise City HS academic team was recently recognized as the red carpet conference all-star for Boise city.
Yarbrough Public Schools Hosts Oklahoma Educational Technology Trust Representatives Site Visit to View Technology Updates from $65,000 Grant Representatives from the Oklahoma Educational Technology Trust (OETT) will visit Yarbrough Public Schools on Wednesday, January 15, 2014, to participate in a site visit to see the 2013 OETT grant in action. The$65,000grantprovides technology and professional development to Yarbrough Public Schools students and teachers. The OETT grant will provide every student with Samsung Google Chromebooks, cases, and Google Apps. It will also purchase a magnetic console to make student machine maintenance and software updates more efficient, and update teacher laptops for use with classroom presentation systems. Students will use the technology for collaboration, project-based learning, and student weekly broadcasts. Yarbrough Public Schools joins 187 other schools in Oklahoma and their combined 75,000 students that have received the OETT grants since 2003. In addition, more than 5,500 teachers have received professional development training to assist with the new technology. OETT was established 12 years ago as a result of an agreement between then Attorney General Drew Edmondson and AT&T Oklahoma during the companys transition to a modern form of regulation. As part of the agreement, AT&T contributed $30 million to establish the trust. TrusteesofOETTarePhil

NAVY
Cmdr Susanne Blankenbaker Lt. John Ross Jackson Lt. William Barth Lt. Stephanie Barth Lt. J.G. Peggy LeGrand HM1 William D. Parker, Jr POFC Matt Miller MMSC Travis Miller CPO Wil Sappenfield E4 Orie Dunn

AIR FORCE
Maj Cornell Penn MSgt Ryon Miller TSgt Ace Miller TSgt Kelly Miller SSgt Heather Miller SSgt Matthew Strasner SSgt Blaine Goodwin SSgt Reuben Bocock SSgt James L. Thompson SrA. Kristie Bocock SrA. Nicklas Webster SSGT Tavis Scheller Amn Jose Rodriguez A1FC Alicia David

MARINES
Col. Chris French Capt. Zeb Barth 2nd Lt. Scott Weibling Mstr Gny Sgt. Todd Boydstun Sgt Roger Hoplin II Sgt.Matthew Nelson Sgt. Ramiro Serna Cpl Reed Gore Cpl. Ty Pruitt LCpl Destery Apple LCpl Matthew Daniel LCpl. Nathan Conner

John V. Smith P.O. Box 207 Boise City, OK 73933 580-544-3628

PFC Logan A. Jenkins

SERVINGIN THE NATIONALGUARD OR RESERVES Sgt. Troy Price Pvt. Derrek Nye Spec. John Grice
The Boise City News will honor your loved ones service; please send us their name and rank.

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