Agency stays busy helping others
AS development coordinator for HeartLine Inc., Eric Herrera gets to promote the agency’s good work, as he did this week during a visit to our offices. The unfortunate other side is that there is so much demand for HeartLine’s services.
Among many other things, HeartLine works to prevent suicide, through a hotline and through education initiatives aimed at schools. In Oklahoma, suicide is the second-leading cause of death among 10- to 24-year-olds. Our state’s overall suicide rate is seventh-worst nationally.
Those who dial HeartLine’s 2-1-1 help line can get assistance for any number of problems. Someone might need a place to sleep, or help with a prescription, or help caring for a loved one, or have a gambling problem, or be considering suicide, or need help keeping the electricity turned on. You name it, 2-1-1 may be able to help.
HeartLine staffers have ready access to 3,000 resources, which greatly improves the chances of being able to help someone right away. Otherwise, people wind up having to make numerous phone calls to disparate agencies — an effort that may or may not be successful.
HeartLine’s mission is “To connect Oklahomans to help, hope and information — 24 hours a day.” In 2016, Herrera said, HeartLine, a United Way agency, did that for 188,561 people in central and western Oklahoma. Kudos.
Tuning in
A decision this week by a Cleveland County judge is a victory for Oklahoma citizens. Judge Thad Balkman ruled that news cameras will be permitted to cover the state’s trial against pharmaceutical companies. The state alleges the companies’ fraudulent marketing practices are responsible for Oklahoma’s opioid problems. The use of cameras during civil trials isn’t prohibited in Oklahoma. The decision is left to district court judges, who generally don’t allow them. The Oklahoma Publishing Co., which publishes The Oklahoman and operates NewsOK.com, made the request in this case. Balkman said his hope is that “by expanding the trial audience beyond the limited seats in the courtroom, the professional proceedings will bolster public understanding and confidence in the judicial system.” The trial is scheduled to begin in May. How many people will log onto their computers each day to watch? No telling. But the fact they will have that option is most important.
Self-funders
Regardless of who wins Tuesday’s Republican primary runoff election for attorney general, no one can say the winner had no skin in the game. Incumbent Mike Hunter and challenger Gentner Drummond have both put sizable amounts of their own money into their campaigns. Less than a week out from the election, Hunter had loaned his campaign about $700,000 while Drummond had put in $2 million. The job of attorney general pays $132,825 a year. Yet we doubt campaign finance critics will see this as a good development. When candidates raise large sums from other people, they’re accused of selling the office to special interests. When they use their own money, they’re accused of trying to buy the office. Such “heads I win, tails you lose” arguments are one reason the public is right to ignore those critics and focus most of their attention instead on candidates’ messages.
School supplies
At the start of every school year, it’s common to hear stories of teachers having to buy school supplies out of pocket. But McKinley Elementary School in Tulsa was recently caught throwing unused basic supplies — such as watercolors, flashcards, Play-Doh and rulers — in the trash. School officials told the local NBC TV affiliate they had bought new supplies and didn’t have room for the unused old materials. One wonders why the school didn’t donate the materials to charitable organizations. The school also threw in a dumpster test results that included the personal information of former students, including student ID numbers, addresses and phone numbers. When KJRH-2 asked about those documents, school officials said mistakes happen. “They encourage community members to bring those materials back to the district,” KJRH reported. The school’s practices in these cases leave much to be desired.
Good news ... or is it?
After her meeting this week with Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said Kavanaugh told her that he shares Chief Justice John Roberts’ view that Roe v. Wade is “settled law.” You might expect this would be well received by abortionrights groups concerned about Roe’s future if Kavanaugh is confirmed. But you’d be wrong. Nan Aron, president of Alliance for Justice, called the news “cold comfort to anyone who cares about reproductive rights.” Aron noted that among other things, Roberts joined the court majority that voted “in favor of fake women’s health centers in NIFLA v. Becerra.” In that case, the high court said California couldn’t compel pregnancy centers that oppose abortion to advertise the availability of state-subsidized abortion. Aron derides these clinics as “fake” health centers because they don’t align with her idea of “reproductive rights” — those in which the developing child is not part of the equation.
School choice support
The release of the latest edition of the annual Education Next poll shows increasing support for educational choice. Support for publicly funded scholarships to private schools, sometimes called vouchers, reached 54 percent this year, including 61 percent of parents. At the same time, opposition to vouchers fell by 13 percentage points. Support for tax credit scholarships to private schools stands at 57 percent. The wording of the poll questions has been kept consistent through the years, a sign that the recorded increases reflect growing support, not methodology. Similar results have been seen consistently in Oklahoma polling. Politicians are often accused of putting their finger in the wind before deciding how to vote. But when it comes to the reluctance of politicians in Oklahoma and elsewhere to embrace and augment school choice policies, it appears they’re ignoring political reality and the will of the voters.
Animal cracker silliness
Mondelez International, the parent company of Nabisco, has redesigned the packaging of Barnum’s Animals crackers after objections from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. PETA officials had written the company to complain about the prior packaging, which portrayed animals in cages. Officials decried the “egregious cruelty inherent in circuses” and urged the company to “update its packaging in order to show animals who are free to roam in their natural habitats.” And that’s what Mondelez International did. This may set some sort of record for empty-gesture political correctness. For one thing, no animals are held in cages or allowed to run free in the making of animal crackers because … we’re talking about crackers. Also, if crackers could talk, one doubts they would object to the picture on the box nearly as much as the fact that buyers plan to eat them.