
Another wasteful special election
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This is not what democracy looks like. Sixteen Oklahoma jurisdictions -- Sapulpa, Pawhuska, other cities and towns, two school districts, a technology (vo-tech) district, and a county -- had propositions on the ballot today. Mostly bond issues, I suspect. State law allows for 11 election dates in odd-numbered years, and...
![]() Another wasteful special election Click the headline to read the full story.
In a recent public letter, Michael Wallis, historian of Route 66, Oklahoma, and the American West, has called on Tulsa government leaders to keep the Midland Valley Pedestrian Bridge over the Arkansas River. Wallis was a member of the advisory committee that considered designs for a replacement for the...
![]() Michael Wallis: Save the Midland Valley Pedestrian Bridge Click the headline to read the full story.
Edited from the version originally published on December 25, 2012 Merry Christmas to anyone who happens by BatesLine today. As a Holland Hall high school student, I attended and sang in the annual service of Christmas lessons and carols at Trinity Episcopal Church, modeled after the annual Christmas Eve service...
![]() A bidding prayer for Christmas, A. D. 2020 Click the headline to read the full story.
In 1966 and 1967, a trio of researchers, Glenn White, Bob Healy, and Bob Pinson, published a series of articles in Record Research: The Magazine of Record Information and Statistics, covering the life and career of Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys. The introduction to this four-part series mentioned that...
![]() Bob Wills discography in Record Research Click the headline to read the full story.
Recently I've returned to the habit of reading a book before bedtime and when eating on my own, leaving aside the digital device and focusing my attention on the printed page. In the past few weeks I've finished Calvin Coolidge's autobiography, Arnold Dallimore's biography of Charles Haddon Spurgeon, a short...
![]() Charles Spurgeon resources Click the headline to read the full story.
From the Oklahoma Taxpayer Alliance, news on the vindication of the late Owasso City Councilor Patrick Ross in his fight to release a report investigating alleged wrongdoing by City Manager Rodney Ray, whose 20-year tenure ended in 2013 under an ethical cloud but with a hefty severance package from the...
![]() Owasso city manager malfeasance matter of public interest, court rules Click the headline to read the full story.
Tulsa's Midland Valley Pedestrian Bridge and Zink Lake Dam viewed from the west bank, south of the bridge and dam, February 14, 2016 Resistance is gathering to the plan to demolish the Midland Valley Pedestrian Bridge across the Arkansas River. Although an engineering analysis from 2015 shows that the 110-year-old...
![]() Preserve the Midland Valley Pedestrian Bridge Click the headline to read the full story.
A happy Thanksgiving 2020 to all and sundry. Ours was immediate family only, with one away at school; our nearest extended family were elsewhere today, and many more of our extended family are of advanced age. So four of us did all the cooking, eating, and cleaning. We intended to...
![]() Thanksgiving and the 400th anniversary of the Mayflower's arrival Click the headline to read the full story.
I voted in person yesterday at 9:35. The line was out the door, but not very far, and I slid my ballot into the scanner and was finished in 20 minutes. The other, larger precinct that votes at the same church had a line across the parking lot, but I...
![]() Election Day 2020: Notes Click the headline to read the full story.
Pat Campbell with Daryl Simmons and Jarrin Jackson, on Election Day 2020. Photo from TalkRadio1170.com Introduced by Aerosmith's "Back in the Saddle," Pat Campbell, long-time morning host on Talk Radio 1170 KFAQ, was back on the air this morning after a four-week absence. He was in studio for the full...
![]() Pat is back Click the headline to read the full story. |
Michael Bates "I blog about local politics, urban planning, western swing music, and other stuff at Archives
January 2021
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