Not making progress toward top 10
Oklahoma is making no progress toward becoming a top 10 state with Kevin Stitt as governor. Instead, he had replaced agency heads with decades of experience, hired by citizen governing boards that were appointed by previous governors and legislative leaders. In their place he put a crop of sons of his corporate friends and industry insiders, who have no practical knowledge of or commitment to state service, critical citizens' needs or the billion-dollar agencies that they are now supposed to lead. His latest plan is to end merit protection rules put in place to protect citizens from the incompetence and corruption of ever-changing state employees who were appointed and replaced by the latest elected officials faster than they could learn their jobs.
Citizens' taxes are paying for competent government service at least at the front-line level by employees who know what they're doing and how and why government works like it does. No, state employees aren't perfect, but many of the problems are due to budgets that asked them to do “more with less.” Gov. Stitt needs to know that state government is not big business where everyone bows down to him. There is no profit margin here. Government should be serving the people, not the boss. His job is to balance the demands of his corporate carpet-bagging peers with needs of the Oklahoma citizens who are his real employers.
Phyllis Bryant, Yukon
Eye-opening story about basketball deal
Regarding “Schools `in a bind' over new basketballs” (Sports, Jan. 23): I found this story disgraceful and just another eye opener for why Oklahoma is not a top 10, or even top 20 state. David Glover, assistant director of the Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association, stated the OSSAA has a contract with Wilson. The contract apparently has a clause, accepted by the OSSAA, holding it (the customer) hostage to the whims of Wilson (the vendor), such that whenever Wilson needs more revenue, its customers are forced to buy new equipment.
I call on the governor to immediately remove all present board members of OSSAA for being so obtuse as to enter a contract giving the vendor such power over the customer. Furthermore, I'd like to ask the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation to investigate the contracts agreed to by the current board to ensure there are no other contracts giving the vendor such power over a state association.
Bill Veitch, Yukon
Chris Paul provides an example of patriotism
I have been a season ticket holder for professional basketball since its inception when the New Orleans Hornets came to Oklahoma City and Chris Paul was on the team. I have taken notice that when our national anthem is being played at Thunder games, Paul is the only individual who places his hand over his heart. The respect he shows for the United States of America has been noticed and appreciated by Thunder fans and spectators. Paul has proven to be a patriotic example for all who attend. Louis M. Dakil, Oklahoma City
Recommendations to improve our government
Concerning the situation with our federal government in Washington, D.C., it would be better for our country if we did the following: Limit the president to one term of six years with no option of succession; limit senators to no more than two six-year terms; limit House members to no more than six two-year terms; any campaign contributions remaining after an election is final are to be contributed to a public nonprofit charitable organization.
Bill E. Taylor, Enid
History repeating itself with Trump presidency?
As Christianity spread through Europe, it supplanted many beliefs held by native peoples. However, some pagan beliefs made their way into Christian practices. Generally, those pagan practices came to the front when something happened that was unexpected and did not follow the normal order of things. In early America, witchcraft was one of those pagan beliefs that was accepted by wellmeaning Christians. People were accused, tried, found guilty and executed for witchcraft because something happened out of the ordinary and a neighbor with prejudice testified against an innocent person. History looks upon those events with criticism and promises that this will never happen again.
Well, it is! The election of Donald Trump was unexpected and his leadership style does not follow the normal order of things. Accusations have been made and witnesses have testified that his unconventional approach is evidence of a high crime or misdemeanor and that he should be “executed” from office. I expect history will look on these events with criticism much like the historical views of the witch trials. William Edwards, Oklahoma City
Living in a blue city in a red state
I have lived in Norman for almost 50 years and, although I knew it would always be somewhat liberal because of the university, I never thought it would come to this. It appears that in December in a meeting for the Inclusive Community Subcommittee of the Norman Human Rights Commission, a list of “recommendations” was made that included the following:
Become a Sanctuary City. Renegotiate current laws so that County jails do not detain individuals for civil violations of federal immigration laws.
Develop relationships with other sanctuary providers (i.e., churches, city services, and state nonprofits).
Adopt a Family First Policy to keep immigrant families intact.
I support legal immigration but would venture to say that most Norman citizens are not aware of this and probably would not agree with the recommendation. We've seen what happens to cities when the local government declares “sanctuary” status. Crime rates increase and the city suffers. I am hopeful that our local law enforcement community will not support this.
Do we really want to attract a criminal alien element to Norman? Will your city be next?
Tim Abram, Norman