
9/11 at 20 … 5 and 51; Anniversaries of Remembrance and Joy
Click on the headline to read the full article at CapitolBeatOK
![]()
Joe Dorman, Oklahoma Institute of Child Advocacy
OKLAHOMA CITY – Anniversaries recognize very different events. They can either be a celebration of joy or a painful memory of something lost.
Just weekend, Americans held solemn recognitions for the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, as well as the crash of United Flight 93 in Pennsylvania.
Four American Presidents spoke at these ceremonies, each delivering messages paying tribute to the victims, and all calling for unity in our nation. Their speeches hearkened back to the after September 11, 2001 and the sense of unity felt by our nation in the attacks’ aftermath.
Watching the 9/11 ceremonies, this anniversary struck me more than in past ones. The reason was that it was noted this generation of kindergarten through 12th grade students is a group yet unborn when these attacks occurred. All their knowledge about this comes either from outside sources.
The 9/11 attacks are one of the “where were you” moments, like Pearl Harbor, or President John F. Kennedy’s assassination, the space shuttle Challenger explosion, or Oklahomans’ recollection of April 19, 1995. The lessons we teach the youth of our nation about our history correlate directly to the outcomes in how they treat these anniversaries and in how these events shape their views.
We succeed as a nation when we do this correctly. Educating future generations accurately about these lessons is what scares those who would seek to tear apart America’s sense of unity. These lessons make us stronger and more resolute as a whole and drive future generations to do better than past ones.
This past week also held two very special anniversaries for me personally.
Monday, September 12, 2016, was my first day on the job with the Oklahoma Institute for Child Advocacy. Over these past five years, I have been very fortunate to work with a team to improve awareness across that state about children’s policies and issues. Our work with policymakers to shape the state for the better for our children is incredibly rewarding.
OICA could not do this work without those of you who read this column, contribute donations to our work, and who also deliver on improving the lives of Oklahoma’s children with the work that you do yourselves.
Please help me celebrate this special anniversary by making a donation to the youth nonprofit of your choice, and also sign up at oica.org to receive the OICA weekly email newsletter.
Another anniversary is my upcoming 51st birthday on September 18. I appreciate how fortunate I have been through those years. It seems unbelievable to me at times that a small-town kid from rural Oklahoma could have the opportunities that I have experienced.
I credit this back to having great parents, loyal friends, wonderful teachers, a strong support system in my community and sense of not believing people when they said something was not possible.
If we instill these concepts in the roughly 900,000 youth of our state, where might they also be as they grow older? That is my birthday wish for you and all Oklahomans: please do your part to positively inspire a young person like was. And, let’s hope they also can look back on a future anniversary at what they accomplished, knowing they made our state an even better place to live, work, and raise a family.
About OICA: “The Oklahoma Institute for Child Advocacy was established in 1983 by a group of citizens seeking to create a strong advocacy network that would provide a voice for the needs of children and youth in Oklahoma, particularly those in the state’s care and those growing up amid poverty, violence, abuse and neglect, disparities, or other situations that put their lives and future at risk. Our mission statement: “Creating awareness, taking action, and changing policy to improve the health, safety, and well-being of Oklahoma’s children.” Joe Dorman, whose essays appear regularly on CapitolBeatOK.com, ran for governor of Oklahoma in 2014. He is now executive director of OICA.
9/11 at 20 … 5 and 51; Anniversaries of Remembrance and Joy Click on the headline to read the full article at CapitolBeatOK
0 Comments
![]()
Steve Fair
On Thursday, September 9 President Joe Biden announced sweeping new COVID vaccine mandates. In an Executive Order (EO), the President of the United States ordered all business with more than 100 employees to require their workers to be immunized or face weekly testing. Biden also said he would require health care facilities that accept Medicare or Medicaid funding (pretty much all of them) to vaccinate their employees.
The EO also compels all federal employees to get vaccinated- without the weekly testing option available to private business employees.
Biden’s tone was more antagonistic toward the unvaccinated on Thursday. “We’ve been patient, but our patience is wearing thin,” Biden told the unjabbed.
Three observations:
First, Biden’s position on mandating vaccinations has changed.
In July 2020, candidate Biden said he would not force anyone to be vaccinated. “No, I don’t think it should be mandatory. I wouldn’t demand it be mandatory,” he said when questioned by reporters.
In fact, he was critical former President Donald Trump had rushed the vaccine for use. As late as July 23rd, the White House maintained Biden’s position had not changed on mandatory jabs. “There will be no nationwide mandate,” WH Press Secretary Jen Psaki said.
What changed in six weeks? “We’re in a tough stretch and it could last a while,” Biden said on September 9.
The truth is Biden’s position changed because his approval numbers dropped. He has failed to deliver on his campaign promise to slow the spread of COVID. According to the CDC, the highly contagious delta variant has resulted in 150,000 cases a day in the U.S. and 1,500 deaths daily.
Biden’s senior advisors believe his not delivering on his campaign promise to stop COVID could derail the rest of his presidency.
Second, Biden’s EO will not stand up to scrutiny in the courts.
It is not the job of the federal government to force Americans to take the vaccine. The Executive Order violates the U.S. Constitution. That opinion is shared by many that are advising Biden.
Earlier this year, Dr. Anthony Fauci said, “We don’t want to be mandating from the federal government to the general population. It would be unenforceable and not appropriate.”
Psaki said in that same July news briefing, “Mandating vaccinations is “not the role of the federal government. Our interest is very simple, from the federal government, which is Americans’ privacy and their rights should be protected.”
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, (D-CA), said last month; “We cannot require someone to be vaccinated. That’s just not what we can do.” Several governors have already said they would challenge Biden’s EO in court.
Hopefully the U.S. Supreme Court will take quick action and strike down Biden’s EO.
Third, COVID has been politicized.
Politician types never let a crisis go to waste- even a pandemic. “These ‘pandemic politics,’ as I refer to it, are making people sick, causing unvaccinated people to die,” Biden said.
“We cannot allow these actions to stand in the way of protecting a large majority of Americans who have done their part.”
Biden is right. He has played politics with COVID. His flip flop on mandatory vaccinations is a classic example.
Biden’s EO creates a Constitutional crisis. If a president can, with a stroke of the pen, force Americans to put something in their body they don’t want to put in it, then America ceases to be America. If the courts ignore the Constitution and rule in Biden’s favor, America is doomed. Individual liberty is the foundation of the republic.
It is not the job of the government to protect ourselves from ourselves. Each person has a right to make their own decision on vaccination.
Note: Steve Fair’s commentary regularly appears around Oklahoma in newspapers and on policy-oriented websites, including CapitolBeatOK.com. Steve can be reached by email at [email protected]. His blog is stevefair.blogspot.com.
Pandemic Poltics: A Commentary Click on the headline to read the full article at CapitolBeatOK ![]()
Patrick B. McGuigan
Oklahoma City, September 2021 – As you see this, friends and readers, Constitution Day has neared, arrived or just passed.
On September 17, 1787, 39 men fashioning the greatest instrument for human governance yet devised ended their deliberations in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Benjamin Franklin, the religious skeptic who advocated prayer at a crucial moment of division during the Constitutional Convention promised an inquisitive lady as he left the last meeting that he and the other Framers had crafted “A Republic … if you can keep it.”
In what must have seemed like lightning speed at the time, the document went into practical effect with New Hampshire’s passage on June 21, 1788.
The new American gestation – like a pregnancy took nine months. (Nine months, Nine states.)
The new Constitution fashioned a stronger central federal government to replace the Articles of Confederation, under which early American governance was a fractious mess. But that new document was promptly amended to include an explicit Bill of Rights to push back against too much centralized power. And then, the scourge of human slavery – a common affliction in world history – was a central factor in the Great Divide between north and south.
And so it goes. Of late, Constitution Day is also deemed Citizenship Day.
A fractious mess. Words that might be used to describe the present state of the Republic. Respect for the Constitution – considered a “great liberty document” by Frederick A. Douglass, the former slave and perhaps the best-known abolitionist in American history – is eroded amidst deepening divisions over matters great and not-so-great.
A fractious mess. Words that might also be applied to the new condition of journalism as practiced within the boundaries of the Republic.
A fractious mess – not the words we would use to describe the 12 year history of CapitolBeatOK.com. Independent journalism in the public interest has been our goal from the start. And thus it remains.
The U.S. Constitution has been amended and tweaked along the way, through both formal revisions and through changes or adaptations in process.
Being a human enterprise, the time has come for an upgrade in this website’s frameworks.
Give us a few days and you’ll see the results. We retain diverse categories of subject matter.
The primary focus remains, as from the start, the governments of Oklahoma – state and local. Increasingly over time, the CapitolBeatOK product has touched upon national matters, and even sprinkled in reports about what were deemed “foreign” lands, and American Indian Country, and reflections on the most fundamental of spiritual matters.
The new website framework and projected reporting/commentary will include matters of culture and the arts, and the emerging archive of this writer’s works.
The founder of CapitolBeatOK.com – that’s me – is old-school enough that he still employs quotes from Thomas Jefferson, to wit: “Our liberty cannot be guarded but by the freedom of the press, nor that be limited without danger of losing it.”
He finds wisdom and a glimpse inside himself in the words of a man of the Left, James Baldwin, an essayist who defended himself from critics with these words: “I love America more than any other country in this world, and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually.”
There’s that word, love.
As we do our part to report on and contend over means to build a better Republic and a better nation while remaining tethered to the Constitutional framework, be patient with this once-ink-stained-wretch whose eyes now work and strain as much with pixels as with print.
I spoke recently at a community event supporting a cause and organization I cherish (the Santa Fe Family Life Center). That night I shared anew the wisest words I have yet written: “The trouble with love, in heart or many, is that it requires vulnerability.”
God knows I love my country. And I love being a reporter and a commentator, a friend and a neighbor – a citizen of this great country. I love my family. I love to write.
As for that “love those who hate you” part – I’m trying.
Stick with us on CapitolBeatOK.com and of course the community newspaper, The City Sentinel, where my reports and observations still have a home.
Under Construction: Seeking a more perfect union for us all -- and a stronger website platform for the labor of love known as CapitolBeatOK Click on the headline to read the full article at CapitolBeatOK ![]()
CapitolBeatOK Staff Report
On the heels of an interim study dedicated to examining Oklahoma’s agricultural sales tax exemption, Sen. Casey Murdock, R-Felt, said he’s preparing to file a measure ahead of the next legislative session to make it easier for farmers and ranchers to renew their sales tax exemption card.
“When the Oklahoma Tax Commission (OTC) began requiring a Schedule F for agriculturalists to qualify for their sales tax exemption, we passed Senate Bill 422 to add additional documentation farmers and ranchers could provide to OTC in lieu of the Schedule F,” Murdock said.
“After working with the tax commission, I’ve found these changes are working – there’s no backlog of producers getting their card, and denials are typically because the applicant hasn’t correctly filled out the form. However, we also learned the vast majority of the 110,000 ag sales tax exemption cards issued each year are renewals, so now we need a way to make the renewal process easier and more convenient.”
Murdock said his proposal will include an additional option on the agricultural sales tax exemption application that will allow the farmer or rancher to check a box if the application is a renewal, as well as confirm there’s no change to the agricultural operation from the prior year. If there’s no change, the renewal will be automatic.
“This small change would help make the renewal process convenient for the farmer or rancher, as well as streamline the process for OTC,” Murdock said.
“I also would like to include a provision in the measure that would clarify the term ‘farming for profit,’ to ‘intend to farm for profit.’ I’m hopeful that together with the OTC and the support of my colleagues in the House and Senate, we can make these changes that would be beneficial to everyone involved in the process.”
During the study, there were several comments and concerns about potential legislation stripping the agricultural sales tax exemption all together. Murdock said he wanted to make it clear that this is not a current threat.
“All tax incentives are looked at by the legislature, especially during years of budget downfalls,” Murdock said.
“However, I want to ensure our agricultural community that I will do everything in my power to protect rural Oklahoma by keeping this exemption intact. Doing away with this tax exemption would be a death sentence to our small towns, especially those close to bordering states, since this exemption is offered in the states that surround us. There are no current discussions about eliminating this exemption, and as long as I’m in office, I’ll work to keep it that way.”
Note: Bills for the 2022 legislative session must be filed by Jan. 20, 2022, at 4 p.m. Session will begin on Feb. 7, 2022, at noon. These opinions from Senator Murdock were in a press release sent to CapitolBeatOK.com and other news organizations.
Oklahoma State Senator Casey Murdock to file legislation after findings of Ag Sales Tax exemption interim study Click on the headline to read the full article at CapitolBeatOK ![]()
CapitolBeatOK Staff Report
OKLAHOMA CITY – Oklahoma Gross Receipts to the Treasury in August grew by almost 20 percent over the year with a rebounding fossil fuel industry leading the way, State Treasurer Randy McDaniel announced early this month.
Total monthly gross receipts of $1.17 billion are higher than August of last year by $191.2 million, or 19.5 percent. Collections from the gross production tax on oil and natural gas are up by more than 150 percent. Individual income tax, sales and use tax, and motor vehicle receipts also grew by double digits during the month.
“Oklahoma’s economy is doing well, but there’s concern about the resurgence of the coronavirus,” Treasurer McDaniel said. “In regard to the energy industry, demand continues to be strong worldwide.”
The gross production tax comprises less than 10 percent of August gross receipts, but the economic activity generated by the oil and gas industry impacts all revenue streams. August remittances are from oil field activity in June, when West Texas Intermediate Crude at Cushing was set at $70.46 per barrel and Henry Hub Natural Gas was selling for $3.15 per million BTU.
In July, the latest data available, the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics reported there were 27,900 jobs in Oklahoma oil fields. That is the highest level of oil field employment since June 2020, but is still significantly lower than its peak of 65,000 in December 2014.
Twelve-month total collections of $14.29 billion show ongoing economic expansion with all major revenue sources higher than the previous 12 months.
Other indicators
The Oklahoma Business Conditions Index for August points to anticipated economic growth. The monthly index was set at 68.4, down from 72.7 in July. Numbers above 50 indicate expansion is expected during the next three to six months.
The July unemployment rate in Oklahoma was reported as 3.5 percent by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The state’s jobless rate was down from 3.7 percent in June and from 7.2 percent in July 2020. The U.S. unemployment rate was set at 5.4 percent in July.
August collections
Compared to gross receipts from August 2020, collections in August 2021 show:
• Total monthly gross collections are $1.17 billion, up $191.2 million, or 19.5 percent.
• Gross income tax collections, a combination of individual and corporate income taxes, generated $310.8 million, up by $31.9 million, or 11.4 percent.
• Individual income tax collections are $294.6 million, an increase of $33.4 million, or 12.8 percent.
• Corporate collections are $16.2 million, down by $1.5 million, or 8.3 percent. Wide monthly variances in corporate income tax collections are common.
• Combined sales and use tax collections, including remittances on behalf of cities and counties, total $538.7 million – up by $72.3 million, or 15.5 percent.
• Sales tax collections total $466.6 million, an increase of $65.6 million, or 16.4 percent.
• Use tax receipts, collected on out-of-state purchases including internet sales, generated $72.1 million, an increase of $6.6 million, or 10.2 percent.
• Gross production taxes on oil and natural gas total $103.1 million, an increase of $62.3 million, or 153.1 percent.
• Motor vehicle taxes produced $77.7 million, up by $13.5 million, or 21.1 percent.
• Other collections composed of some 60 different sources including taxes on fuel, tobacco, medical marijuana, and alcoholic beverages, produced $140.5 million – up by $11.2 million, or 8.6 percent.
• The medical marijuana tax produced $5.5 million, up by $36,795, or 0.7 percent from August 2020.
Twelve-month collections
Combined gross receipts for past 12 months compared to the trailing 12 months show:
• Gross revenue totals $14.29 billion. That is $1 billion, or 7.7 percent, above collections from the previous period.
• Gross income taxes generated $5 billion, an increase of $256.9 million, or 5.4 percent.
• Individual income tax collections total $4.25 billion, up by $151 million, or 3.7 percent.
• Corporate collections are $757.9 million, an increase of $105.9 million, or 16.2 percent.
• Combined sales and use taxes generated $5.95 billion, an increase of $483 million, or 8.8 percent.
• Gross sales tax receipts total $5.1 billion, up by $354.6 million, or 7.5 percent.
• Use tax collections generated $880.4 million, an increase of $128.4 million, or 17.1 percent.
• Oil and gas gross production tax collections generated $876.3 million, up by $140 million, or 19 percent.
• Motor vehicle collections total $841.8 million, an increase of $63.9 million, or 8.2 percent.
• Other sources generated $1.62 billion, up by $79 million, or 5.1 percent.
• Medical marijuana taxes generated $66.5 million, up by $18.7 million, or 39 percent.
About Gross Receipts to the Treasury: The monthly Gross Receipts to the Treasury report, developed by the state treasurer’s office, provides a timely and broad view of the state’s economy.
It is released in conjunction with the General Revenue Fund report from the Office of Management and Enterprise Services, which provides information to state agencies for budgetary planning purposes.
The General Revenue Fund, the state’s main operating account, receives less than half of the state’s gross receipts with the remainder apportioned to other state funds, remitted to cities and counties, and paid in rebates and refunds.
Fossil Fuel prices drive Oklahoma state gross receipts higher Click on the headline to read the full article at CapitolBeatOK ![]()
Patrick B. McGuigan
Oklahoma City – In wake of Monday’s historic Pardon and Parole vote favoring commutation (to a sentence of life with the possibility of parole) for death row inmate Julius Jones, there was widespread rejoicing among his advocates.
Critics of capital punishment and of Oklahoma’s death penalty process quickly embraced the 3-1 vote recommending commutation to Governor Kevin Stitt.
Rev. Cece Jones-Davis, who leads the "Justice for Julius Jones" movement, said in a statement sent to CapitolBeatOK and other news organizations:
“We are thankful that the Pardon and Parole Board recommended Julius’ sentence be commuted to life with the possibility of parole. Although that recommendation means he will not be walking out a free man as soon as we hoped, Julius would be able to spend his days inside prison no longer on death row and, in the future, be eligible for parole.
“We pray that Governor Stitt will accept this recommendation or commute his sentence to time served so that Julius is able to return home to his family for the first time in over 20 years.”
Oklahoma’s Catholic bishops, defenders of the sanctity of human life from its start until natural death, also embraced the board’s recommendation.
The Most Rev. Paul S. Coakley, Archbishop of Oklahoma City, and the Most Rev. David A. Konderla, Bishop of Tulsa, said in a joint statement:
“We are encouraged by the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board’s recommendation today for commutation of the death sentence for Julius Jones. We have an opportunity to end capital punishment in Oklahoma and to use other means to protect society and seek justice for victims of crime and their families without violating each person’s God-given dignity. We urge Gov. Stitt to accept the board’s recommendation.”
A spokesman for Stitt – who had defended his appointees to the Pardon and Parole panel as persons of integrity – said after the board vote the governor would not comment on the case until he announces his decision on the commutation request.
After Monday’s vote, defenders of Jones, and indeed advocates for his execution, pointed to past instances when chief executives have not followed commutation recommendations.
Before Monday’s proceedings, Jones lawyers, legal analysts and journalists who have reported on the case anticipated that a vote favoring Jones with some form of commutation was possible, and perhaps likely.
However, the actual vote was a direct and practical affirmation of the impact that accumulating concrete evidence of Jones’ actual innocence had eroded the case for implementing the Ultimate Sanction, at least in this case.
While Oklahomans reaffirmed the death penalty in a statewide vote within the past decade, opinion polls have indicated a majority do not support Jones’ execution. And, overall support or the death penalty per se has eroded.
Oklahoma County District Attorney David Prater had pressed to prevent a majority of the five-member board from even voting on the submitted commutation for Jones.
He sued Pardon and Parole Board members Kelly Doyle and Adam Luck and petitioned the state High Court to remove them from voting.
The state Supreme Court, in a succinct order last Friday (September 10) slapped down the Prater litigation, with Chief Justice Noma D. Gurich writing, “Petitioner’s request for an order directing Respondents [Luck and Doyle] to refrain from participating in the commutation proceedings relating to Julius Darius Jones, including the commutation hearing … set for Monday, September 13, 2021, is hereby denied.”
Despite that Court denial, D.A. Prater sought the recusal of the board’s newest member, Scott Williams, asserting the Williams’ relationship with an attorney arguing in favor of Jones amounted to a conflict of interest.
Although not agreeing a conflict of interest existed, Williams announced he would not to vote on the Jones commutation matter.
The Pardon and Parole Board is a constitutional agency, and the state’s chief executive has explicit constitutional powers in the death penalty process. In fact, governors have power in most states that retain capital punishment to impede or prevent executions, or to impact their timing.
Governor Stitt’s nominees to the Pardon and Parole Board bring to the panel long-stated perspectives on criminal justice issues that incline toward reform of the state’s legal system, including the matter of capital punishment.
Aside from this particular case the controversy of recent months raised a lot of issues, including contentions that Jones must be executed for process reasons (finality of judgment) no matter what happened in the administrative process and in spite of evidence his attorneys have gathered that a person other than murdered Edmond civic leader Paul Howell in the driveway of his home in 1999.
Statutory and other provisions for pardon, parole and commutation – including for the execution process – have evolved in recent years, while remaining rooted in the state’s constitutional strictures.
In this particular proceeding, attacks and public pressure – on the governor's appointment powers, on the Pardon and Parole Board as a body and on its individual members, and ultimately on the state chief executive’s powers – fell short.
Advocates for Julius Jones respond to commutation vote, as Pardon and Parole proceeding affirms Oklahoma’s legal provisions: News Analysis Click on the headline to read the full article at CapitolBeatOK ![]()
CapitolBeatOK Staff Report
OKLAHOMA CITY -- Three state lawmakers hosted an interim study last Wednesday (September 8) on Oklahoma’s absentee voting processes.
Rep. Andy Fugate, D-Del City, Rep. John Waldron, D-Tulsa, and Sen. Joanna Dossett, D-Tulsa, used the study to better understand the state of elections in Oklahoma, problems Oklahomans face when voting, and solutions that ensure wide participation while maintaining election security.
Study presenters included Paul Ziriax, Secretary of the Oklahoma State Elections Board, the Oklahoma League of Women Voters, the National Conference of State Legislatures, and the Honest Elections Project.
“More than 5,000 absentee ballots were rejected in 2020 because of simple mistakes,” Fugate said. “One in four Oklahomans voted absentee last year. They deserve the same protections and privileges as those who cast a traditional ballot on election day. That’s why I ran House Bill 1843 this year, which gives those voters the opportunity to have their votes corrected and counted.”
Oklahoma has one of the most efficient election systems in the country. However, many feel that efficiency is enabled by the relatively small number of Oklahomans who actually vote.
“Oklahoma elections are already free and fair - but a few reasonable reforms can make it easier for more citizens to vote. We owe it to them to offer better access,” Waldron said.
Moving forward, the lawmakers who hosted the study identified a common goal of improving voting availability for all eligible Oklahomans.
“Oklahomans should be proud of our already reliable and secure elections,” Dossett said. “It’s now time, and we have the capacity, to focus on increased voting accessibility for all Oklahoma voters.”
One piece to the puzzle is expanding access to public transportation for Oklahomans with disabilities.
“People with disabilities rely on public transportation,” said Lindsey Spoon, a member of the Oklahoma Disabilities Council. “That’s a fundamental barrier for many to appear in person or to even get to a notary.
“Voting should be accessible to everyone.”
The study was presented in the House Elections Committee, under the direction of Chairman Jim Olsen, R-Roland.
“Access, security and integrity are critical aspects of the election process. Access must be reasonable and appropriate for all qualified voters,” Olsen said.
“Security and integrity must be very strong, so that we all can have confidence that the final vote tally is indeed an accurate reflection of the will of the people. This study was both productive and insightful, as these issues were looked at from different vantage points. I appreciate the hard work of everyone that initiated and contributed to this study.”
Absentee Voting Focus of Legislative Interim Study Click on the headline to read the full article at CapitolBeatOK ![]()
CapitolBeatOK Staff Report
OKLAHOMA CITY - Oklahoma Senate President Pro Tempore Greg Treat, R-Oklahoma City, released the following statement in opposition to the president's vaccine mandate:
“This is a gross overreach by President Biden and I support our state’s efforts to protect Oklahoma employers and employees from this federal mandate. The vaccines are safe and effective, but it should remain a choice for each of us to decide whether to get vaccinated. The federal government should not interfere in the decision-making of a private business on the steps it takes to protect the health and safety of its employees and customers."
Senator Treat concluded his statement of opposition to President Biden’s vaccine mandates, saying:
"A federal mandate is a terrible way to convince more people to get vaccinated, and I am disappointed the president would choose this path rather than working alongside state and local officials, and private business, to further address this health care crisis.”
Senate President Pro Tempore Greg Treat opposes president's vaccine mandate Click on the headline to read the full article at CapitolBeatOK ![]()
CapitolBeatOK Staff Report
Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt and several lawmakers held a ceremonial bill signing recently for nine pro-life laws.
The laws include banning abortions if a doctor can detect a fetal heartbeat, and only doctors board-certified in obstetrics and gynecology can perform an abortion.
All nine bills and their authors are listed below:
1. Senate Bill 918 restores Oklahoma’s prohibition on abortion if Roe v Wade is overturned. Effective November 1, 2021, SB918 was authored by Senate Pro Tem Greg Treat, R-Oklahoma City, and Rep. Jon Echols, R-Oklahoma City.
2. House Bill 1102 adds the performance of an abortion under state statutes for “unprofessional conduct,” with exceptions for the life or significant physical impairment of the mother. Effective November 1, 2021, H.B. 1102 was authored by Rep. Jim Olsen, R-Roland, and Sen. Julie Daniels, R-Bartlesville.
3. House Bill 1904 requires abortionists to be board certified in obstetrics and gynecology. Effective November 1, 2021, H.B. 1904 was authored by Rep. Cynthia Roe, R-Lindsay, and Sen. Jessica Garvin, R-Duncan.
4. House Bill 2241 prohibits abortion once a fetal heartbeat is detected. Effective November 1, 2021, H.B. 2441 was authored by Rep. Todd Russ, R-Cordell, and Sen. Julie Daniels, R-Bartlesville.
5. Senate Bill 778 provides safeguards surrounding the use of abortion-inducing drugs. Effective November 1, 2021, S.B. 778 & S.B. 779 were authored by Sen. Julie Daniels, R-Bartlesville, and Rep. Mark Lepak, R-Claremore.
6. Senate Bill 779 provides safeguards surrounding the use of abortion-inducing drugs. Effective November 1, 2021, S.B. 778 & S.B. 779 were authored by Sen. Julie Daniels, R-Bartlesville, and Rep. Mark Lepak, R-Claremore.
7. Senate Bill 960 protects relinquished children by extending the time frame they can be relinquished to rescuers from 7-30 days. It also directs the Oklahoma State Department of Health to award grants for the child to be placed into a “Baby Box” where the newborn can be relinquished. Effective July 1, 2021, S.B. 960 was authored by Sen. President Pro Tem Greg Treat, R-Oklahoma City, and Speaker of the House Rep. Charles McCall, R-Atoka.
8. Senate Bill 647 created Lily’s Law. Lily’s Law requires birthing centers and other medical facilities to keep a written policy to allow for the family to direct the disposition of the remains of the child who was stillborn or miscarried. Effective November 1, 2021, S.B. 647 was authored by Sen. Adam Pugh, R-Edmond, and Rep. Merilyn Stark, R-Bethany.
9. Senate Bill 584 prohibits fetal trafficking. Effective July 1, 2021, SB 584 was authored by Sen. Nathan Dahm, R-Broken Arrow, and Rep. Jim Olsen, R-Roland.
Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt signs nine pro-life bills into law Click on the headline to read the full article at CapitolBeatOK ![]()
Jehovah's Witnesses of the United States
Diane Coxe’s mind could not accept what her eyes were seeing
Running late for her job at a law firm in the World Trade Center, Coxe had just emerged from a train station when a plane struck the North Tower. “For a second, I thought, ‘Maybe they’re filming something,’” she said. “I didn’t think it was really happening.”
In the chaos that followed, Coxe only vaguely recalls making it home. Twenty years after 9/11, though, she has never forgotten how she spent that night. “I did a lot of crying and a lot of praying,” she said.
Relief came from reaching out to help others who were struggling as she was.
Sharing comforting words from the Bible “was like medicine for me,” said the Uniondale, New York, mother of two.
The ministry that she had shared in for years as one of Jehovah’s Witnesses took on a new role for her and many others. “What I was telling my neighbors was sounding down my own hope for the future and helping me deal with my feelings,” she said.
Helping others has long been linked to better emotional well-being in psychology research. The book “The Healing Power of Doing Good: The Health and Spiritual Benefits of Helping Others” describes “powerful” effects, even for helpers who have experienced trauma themselves.
Trauma was all too common among the many volunteers at Ground Zero. Roy Klingsporn, a Brooklynite who volunteered at Ground Zero nearly every day for two months, recalled on one occasion approaching a man who sat slouched in a golf cart near the site's makeshift morgue.
“When I asked him how he was doing, he burst into tears,” said Klingsporn, now of Fort Lauderdale, Florida. “He said, ‘I’m tired of picking up body parts.’”
Within days of the attacks, Jehovah’s Witnesses set up teams that spent hours each day in Lower Manhattan, Bible in hand, consoling everyone from the families of victims to first responders battling physical and emotional exhaustion. It was a work that changed how the organization approaches disasters, with an organized comfort ministry now being an integral part of its response to natural disasters, and even to the pandemic.
Recalling the gut-wrenching days he spent as one of those volunteers near the smoldering remains of the Twin Towers still stirs deep feelings in Robert Hendriks.
“It was very emotional and extremely difficult for me, but the faces of those I passed on the street said it all,” said Hendriks, now U.S. spokesman for the Witnesses. “They needed comfort, and the best thing I could give them was a hug and a scripture.”
For Brown “Butch” Payne, the events of September 11, 2001, tore open old wounds, bringing back vivid wartime memories the Vietnam veteran had tried to forget.
From his East Village apartment, Payne recalled the crowds of frantic people streaming north from Lower Manhattan. “That sight stirred up a lot of emotions in me,” he said. “It shook me to the core.”
Payne found relief in rendering aid the best way he knew how. “Sharing the Bible’s message of hope softened the blow for me,” he said.
Offering a shoulder to cry on brought Klingsporn comfort too. “It was satisfying to be of help to my community,” he said.
Two decades later, Coxe continues to find comfort from reaching out — this time in talking with pandemic-stressed neighbors while coping with the death of her sister in February.
“With every trauma I’ve been through, the ministry has soothed my heart,” she said, although now doing so through letters and telephone calls instead of going door to door. Jehovah’s Witnesses paused their in-person preaching in response to the pandemic in March 2020.
Payne feels the same. In 2016, after 50 years of marriage, he lost his beloved wife to cancer. On days when his grief feels overwhelming, Payne writes heartfelt letters that lift his neighbors’ spirits — and his own. He shares scriptures and resources that have helped him, like articles on coping with trauma and loss on jw.org, the official website of Jehovah’s Witnesses.
“Encouraging others to look to the future helps me to do the same,” he said.
NOTE: Submitted to CapitolBeatOK.com by Jehovah’s Witnesses, Oklahoma.
After 9/11, some found healing by helping Click on the headline to read the full article at CapitolBeatOK |
Pat McGuiganThe dean of all Oklahoma Journalism, Mr Patrick McGuigan; has a rich history of service in many aspects of both covering the news and producing the information that the public needs to know. Archives
September 2021
Categories |