And it was a fiasco.
On Monday morning the shiny new BOK Center hosted the Get Motivated Seminar featuring among its speakers General Colin Powell, Zig Ziglar, and Joe Montana.
In some media reports the attendance was reported at 16,000 while in others it was reported as 18,000.
In any case it was way too many if you were trying to get to work or conduct business in downtown Tulsa.
How bad was it?
Sally Bell has handed Tulsa County Commissioner Randi Miller an old fashion butt kickin’ in the Tulsa County District 2 County Commission Republican primary.
That Bell defeated Miller is no surprise although the margin of victory for Bell was pleasantly surprising.
Sally Bell received 81.4% of the vote to Miller’s 18.6%, leaving no doubt as to how displeased the voters of Tulsa County District 2 are with the scandal tainted Miller.
That Randi Miller brought about her own defeat with scandal after scandal is without question.
That Randi Miller was defeated by a member of the family that owned and operated Bell’s Amusement Park for 50 plus years is not only justice, it is Karma.
And Karma is something that Randi Miller simply does not understand…
Congratulations Sally Bell…
July 29th will be a big day for Woodward County Sheriff Leslie Morton, shown above, as it is primary election day and he is facing two opponents in the Democrat primary race for Sheriff of Woodward County.
Sheriff Morton may be a bit distracted on election day as that is also the scheduled date of his preliminary hearing on 20 counts of filing false, fictitious or fraudulent claims against the state and 9 counts of embezzlement.
Sheriff Morton’s problems date back to 2005 when it was alleged that he filed false or fraudulent travel reimbursement claims between 2003 and 2005.
Oklahoma Representative Paul Wesselhoft, R-Oklahoma City, who spent years trying to outlaw dogs he does not like while failing time and again has come up with another goofy idea - outlawing outlaw gangs.
Say what?
That’s right, Wesselhoft wants to outlaw criminal gangs, with a misdemeanor law which Wesselhoft admits would probably be unconstitutional on its face.
But unconstitutional has never stopped Wesselhoft before and there is little basis to suspect he is going to change his ways and cease catering to the lunatic fringe.
If Wesselhoft does manage to get his latest stunt enacted into law how many drug dealers, armed robbers and murderers do you think will be “scared straight” by the existence of a misdemeanor law that says they can not associate with fellow drug dealers, armed robbers and murderers all sharing a common goal?
About the only effect Wesselhoft’s proposed law will have on street gangs is to give gang members cause to fall down laughing, for at least a few minutes, before they get back to the pressing matters of daily life, drug dealing, robbing and of course killing each other off at a remarkable pace.
If Wesselhoft’s foolishness ended with nothing more than making hardened criminals laugh it would not be a big deal. The reality is however that if this foolishness gets enacted into law Oklahoma, will be forced to spend millions of dollars defending this it as it works its way through the federal courts to ultimately to be struck down as unconstitutional.
We would be much better off, rather than wasting millions of dollars on Wesselhoft’s foolishness, if we spent the money staffing, equipping and supporting the cops on the street that have to deal with street gangs on a daily basis…
There was big news on the Stipe front this past week.
Francis Stipe, 77, bother of former state senator Gene Stipe, died on Monday.
Francis Stipe pleaded guilty in April to a four-count indictment involving a conspiracy aimed at gaining several hundred thousand dollars in taxpayer money for a McAlester dog food plant. Under the plea deal with prosecutors, Francis Stipe was sentenced to three years of probation, a $500,000 fine and six months home confinement.
Stipe had already paid the $500,000 fine and was serving his home confinement when he became ill and was rushed to a Tulsa hospital where he died.
According to U.S. Attorney Sheldon Sperling it is likely that the case against Francis Stipe will be vacated because Stipe died before he could be formerly sentenced. Sperling says that case law supports what appeals courts have deemed the “rule of abatement”. The U.S. Supreme Court established in a 1971 holding that if a convicted person dies before exhausting appeals, the entire criminal proceeding is abated.
This means that the family of Francis Stipe will likely recover the $500,000 fine and Stipes criminal record would be wiped clean.
Meanwhile the real Pittsburg County Courthouse is undergoing renovation. A temporary Pittsburg County Courthouse has been established in a local building reportedly owned by Premier Property Management Group which the court has leased for the tidy sum of $175,608 a year.
Just a couple weeks after the temporary courthouse was established in its new home, a stone marker was placed on the building.
That marker declares to the world that the building is in fact the “Gene and Agnes Stipe Building Complex”.
Oklahoma Supreme Court Justice Steven Taylor, a McAlester resident and former Mayor of McAlester, has his knickers in a knot, saying “This is a matter of the administration of justice, and I feel strongly about this, and I am personally offended.”
Justice Taylor went on to say, “The courthouse is the sanctuary of justice for the community. It is the place where citizens enter expecting dignified and honorable proceedings. That building should not be named for a convicted felon.”
District Judge Thomas Bartheld, the presiding judge over the courts in Pittsburg and McIntosh counties, said “We leased the building. To have a sign placed on the building two weeks after we move in is wrong.”
Maybe, just maybe, while Gene Stipe was out of the federal prison for a few days to attend his brother’s funeral someone drove him by the “”Gene and Agnes Stipe Building Complex”, for a good chuckle at the taxpayers expense.
One can almost hear the giggling, all the way from Springfield, Missouri…
