Here are excerpts from recent editorials in Oklahoma newspapers:
Muskogee Phoenix. Oct. 28, 2018.
- Decision cost OK money
Muskogee’s loss hopefully will not become Arkansas’ gain after the city was not chosen for relocation of a Veterans Affairs assisted-living facility.
The Oklahoma Veterans Commission selected Sallisaw over Muskogee and Poteau on Friday. That decision will have an economic impact for decades.
Muskogee had much to offer when the commission was considering moving the Veterans Center here from Talihina.
We are a health care hub including the Jack C. Montgomery VA Medical Center. Veterans could have received emergency care faster had the commission chosen Muskogee.
The VA has its regional center and call center here. That means some higher-ups in Veterans Affairs think Muskogee is a good place to operate.
Muskogee had much to gain with the relocation of the Veterans Center.
Construction of the facility was estimated at a cost of $100 million. That’s would be quite a boost to the Muskogee economy.
The facility would have created 250 jobs averaging approximately $50,000 annually.
Not all of those employees would have lived in Muskogee. Some would have commuted to work from as far away as Tulsa.
But that certainly would have been the same had the commission selected Poteau. Many of the employees would have lived in Fort Smith, Arkansas, and much - maybe the majority - of their salary would have been spent there.
Sallisaw is about twice as close to Fort Smith as Muskogee is to Tulsa. So it is reasonable to think some would will choose to live in Fort Smith and many will spend a lot of salary there.
But had employees worked here and lived in the Tulsa area then much of their earnings would have been spent in Oklahoma.
There would been time to build a new subdivision with market-rate homes in Muskogee in the time it would have taken to construct the Veterans Center.
That could have kept more salaries in our community.
Sallisaw included money in its proposal that would have helped employee retention by paying relocation costs.
“Continuity of operations during transition and transfer” was supposed to be 5 percent of the total score for a city’s proposal.
The commission was right to consider retaining as many jobs as possible. But economic development of Oklahoma should have been a bigger factor in the commission’s decision.
We feel Oklahoma would have benefited more by having the Veterans Center relocated here.
We hope our Arkansas neighbors don’t gain an economic boost that should have fallen Oklahoma’s way.
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Tulsa World. Oct. 30, 2018.
- Time for reflection on how hostile speech impacts communities
Once again, the nation mourns innocent victims of a mass shooting on the heels of an arrest of a failed serial bomber.
A link between them is living in a nation ramped up on using speech filled with hostility, division, meanness and a lack of empathy or understanding toward differing thoughts and opinions.
The blame for the actions of the criminally accused men lies with them, but as Americans, we cannot give ourselves a pass for the everyday language and actions taken.
On Friday, a man was arrested in Florida on allegations he mailed 13 potentially explosive devices to prominent Democrats including former President Barack Obama, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Rep. Maxine Waters, D-California, and billionaire liberal funder George Soros. The man posted online about his scorn toward those President Trump deems enemies and lived in a van covered in pro-Trump and anti-media stickers.
The following day, another man burst into the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, killing 11 worshippers while shouting anti-Semitic rants. He also fed into the fringe part of social media that touts conspiracy theories and hate.
Unfortunately, heinous acts of hate are not uncommon. Presidential administrations cannot be singularly held accountable.
Still, words matter. Those in leadership have an added burden of their speech being weighed more heavily than others.
When a president, governor or other high-ranking official talks, everyone is listening - even the unhinged, mentally unstable and evil. Leadership is often about using a measured, thoughtful and inclusive response.
This is not just about people in public life. Everyone plays a role in setting the tone for our communities and nation.
An echo effect comes from smaller interactions, from what is posted or forwarded online to conversations with neighbors.
It’s time to pause and reflect on our individual contributions to this growing state of discord and strife.
This doesn’t mean infringement on free speech and expression. It means thinking about the consequences of the words we use.
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The Oklahoman. Oct. 30, 2018.
- Contraband adds to Oklahoma prison strains
The Department of Corrections has a big problem with crowding. A recent story underscores some of the headaches that result when prisons are filled beyond capacity and there aren’t enough correctional officers to keep adequate watch.
DOC officials report that three inmates at the minimum-security Jess Dunn Correctional Center in Taft overdosed on synthetic opioids one night last week. Their lives were saved by first-responders using the anti-overdose drug Narcan.
The overdoses were reported in the span of about 15 minutes - first one inmate, then another, then another, was found in various stages of distress in various parts of the prison. All three men were taken to an area hospital for assessment and treatment, and were back behind bars the next day.
DOC Director Joe Allbaugh thanked the Legislature for providing the funding this year to place supplies of Narcan at all 24 state prisons. “Three people are alive today thanks to that drug and our staff’s training,” Allbaugh said.
Yet the fight to keep contraband out of prisons is never ending, and is made especially challenging by the fact the DOC has only 62 percent of the corrections officers it needs. The Legislature this year provided the funding for a small bump in pay (96 cents per hour) for these men and women, but the starting wage of $13.74 per hour remains less than what most convenience stores pay for help.
The percentage of correctional officers is shrinking quickly. Allbaugh has had to close one unit at the prison in Sayre because of a lack of manpower. “That unit represents 360 beds we desperately need,” he said.
The manpower shortage plays a role in the number of cellphones that make their way into prisons. Access to these phones doesn’t just give convicts the chance to call home, but also allows them to continue their criminal enterprises from behind bars, including getting drugs smuggled into the prisons.
The Corrections Department has seized about 5,900 cellphones this year. In 2017, 6,873 phones were confiscated. The year before that, the total was 9,766.
Allbaugh traveled to Washington, D.C., recently to speak with the Federal Communications Commission about using available technology to block cellphone transmission within prisons.
“Cellphones, as well as drugs, come into prisons through drops, visitation and even staff members,” Allbaugh said. “We do what we can with the resources available, but more must be done before someone dies.”
Keeping prisons packed to the rafters comes with a cost. It’s not unreasonable for Allbaugh to hope - even expect - that as Oklahoma’s economy continues to improve and additional revenue flows into state coffers, lawmakers will consider steering a bit of that his department’s way to pay for technology, provide substance abuse treatment for inmates, and to perhaps attract more security staff.
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