Gee I really hate that it will be almost impossible to attend.That is the day(The last Sat. in June of each year) we have a family reunion.We had such a large family to begin with.5 boys and 5 girls.Now all the boys are gone. The oldest girl will be 93 the 21st of this year.They come from all over. You know I would love to be there with this also.
Hope you got the inv. to the event in our area.On this Thurs. the May 20th Rep.Samson Buck will have a fund raiser & event. Then on Tue.May 25th.Darryl Roberts will have his event at Chickashaw Library.I am so Happy that we are working so hard for the Dem.Party.See you soon.Carter Co.Chair.mae Scott

All Day Saturday • June 26th, 2010

Candidate and Activist Training

Begins at 10am and continues throughout the afternoon.

check okdemocrats.org for information

at 6:30 in the evening

BIG TENT SOCIAL

HOSTED BY

Electricians Local Union 1141

1700 Southeast 15th Street, Oklahoma City, OK

Activist Hall of Fame Dinner

BBQ•FELLOWSHIP•MUSIC

AND ICE COLD BEER

$15 for seniors & $20 for everyone else

The House did take time to debate the resolution recognizing the National Day of Prayer last week.  This passed unanimously by a voice vote, but one member did not want to be a co-author on that unanimous consent request.  I am a co-author as I filed this request electronically and it only takes a few seconds to do this.  Several members threw a fit and tried to rescind the vote by which this passed and instead do a recorded vote to “find out who was against prayer” to mislead people in the campaigns. It is this attitude which has been causing further division at the Capitol and hopefully we will not continue to experience as the politics have been growing stronger and patience is wearing thin with many of us in both parties considered moderate, or middle-of-the-road with our views and our voting records. 

We often pass resolutions to recognize groups or causes which we feel are important, or even to honor our constituents when they have an achievement deemed worthy of recognition, such as recognizing Lupus Awareness Day at the Capitol on Monday.  These things are good to do during the period of downtime, but we cannot let these things become polarizing when they are meant to spread goodwill.  Programs like this and honoring constituents with success-stories are important to highlight the great things about our state when there is extra time allowed in the session agenda.  With that, I hope common sense will prevail and a majority of the members will continue to focus on critical needs in a timely manner, such as stabilizing the budget and implementing legislation with common sense, rather than some of the issues which are purely driven with a political agenda.

One committee on which I serve is still meeting on a regular basis.  The Administrative Rule Review Committee is looking over the tax credits offered by the state and considering options on lowering or withdrawing many of these credits as a solution to the budget downturn.  Several of these do not truly generate savings or provide incentives other than to put more money into programs, which has been compared to the federal bailout of the banks.  I hope we can find some significant programs within this review and help keep many of our state programs seeing success and our educational programs and employees functioning through this next budget year without devastating cuts.

This weekend will be just as busy around the area.  Grady County citizens have organized a TEA Party rally in Chickasha and I will be visiting with several of the participants about issues we are seeing at the Capitol.  I look forward to the discussion on policy and hope to make some new friends.  I will also be visiting Caddo Kiowa Career Tech to discuss current issues with the faculty and staff, then conclude with an assembly of the students to discuss concerns they face.  Also, I hope you have the chance to attend the Elgin Crawds n’ Rods fundraiser benefiting their fire department this Saturday.  There is a poker run, car show and several bands playing, so it should be a fun day for all those who attend.

It is an honor to represent your views at the State Capitol. If you wish to contact me and discuss one of these or another issue, I can be reached at my office in Oklahoma City toll-free at 1-800-522-8502, or directly at 1-405-557-7305. My e-mail address is joedorman@okhouse.gov at work. My mailing address is PO Box 559, Rush Springs, OK 73082 and my website is www.joedorman.com on the Internet. Thank you for taking time to read this column and I look forward to seeing you soon.

The FCC has ruled on our 2007 Dibble application. We won!
FCC Ruling
Call Letters
Prometheus Radio Project
Cordell & Wynnewood
Web Magazine
Founders & Founders Party
FCC Ruling
Of course, the FCC has a 30 day period in which any competitor may file a Petition to Deny. However, our attorney, Mike Couzens, thinks that is unlikely since we have won fairly decisively on points. After 30 days, the FCC will issue a Construction Permit (CP) and we will have three years to build the station and get on the air. More on that later.
Call Letters

Soon, we will get to decide on our call letters. All stations west of the Mississippi start with the letter ‘K’. If the call letters belong to any other station in the US, it will be designated as ‘taken’, no matter how far away that station is. Anyone can check for available call letters at: http://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/callsign/mainch.pl. Send us your suggestions and tell us why! KVOR is taken, of course.
Prometheus Radio Project
Our friends at Prometheus Radio Project may help us build. They support participatory radio and are dedicated to involving the community and broadening the community discussion. They have a history of ‘barnraising’ – having built low-power stations from Spokane, Washington to Greenville, South Carolina. They have held eleven community radio barnraisings to date. This fall Prometheus is planning their first full power radio station barnraising. We hope to be their second full power project.
Cordell & Wynnewood

We are also working on two more applications, one in Cordell and the other in Wynnewood. Because of the national weekly radio conference calls provided by Pacifica’s Affiliates Coordinator, Ursula Rudenberg, we have become friends with a great many radio enthusiasts, owners and engineers around the nation. When the Cordell and Wynnewood frequencies became available, several of these friends offered to help develop applications for free! We quickly searched for friendly, community oriented non-profits and found one close enough to Wynnewood to qualify for the ‘localism’ point – a big advantage when calculating FCC points. After connecting this group to Todd Urick, an engineer with Common Frequency, we then decided to take Al Davis’ offer to file applications for us for both Cordell and Wynnewood. As you probably know, 80% of all noncommercial, educational radio stations are owned by large religious groups. We were determined to not let that ratio get any larger. And we definitely didn’t want any more hate-talk stations in Oklahoma.
In our next Radio Update, we will go into the details of these applications which look very promising. It appears that our competitors may have once again filed bogus applications. Our attorney is currently investigating them.

Web Magazine
We continue to improve the Voices Web Magazine. Take a look at: www.voicesofok.org/. The current feature story is about Oklahoma children and Pennies for Peace, which turned out to be a huge success. Oklahoma youth collected over $18,000 – enough to build a school for children in Pakistan or Afghanistan, both boys and girls. Or follow Asia Scudder’s water series: Beyond the Tap: Preparing for water ‘booms and busts’. Looking for something to do? Visit our Voices Calendar which has a multitude of community events. These are only a few of the interesting items you will find at www.voicesofok.org .

Founders & Founders Party

The proof is in the pictures! Take a look at our party pics: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=20477&id=1780959527&l=6edaa7c7ec
In spite of 40 mph winds and threat of rain, the Founder’s Party was a definite hit. Our caterer outdid herself and Board Member Casey Holcomb’s power point demonstrated our current accomplishments and provided news about the FCC and our new applications.
Now that the FCC has designated us as the winner of the Dibble frequency, we are looking at whether or not to close the opportunity to become a Founder. Almost all Community Radio is supported by grants, underwriters, and donors – similar to NPR. Usually, about 50% of the operation costs come from donors like you. Our current needs include the purchase of materials for a tower and studio. And remember, all donations to NUUF Radio Fund are tax-deductible.  Anyone interested in donating or joining as a Founder may use the form on the next page.
(The attachment has a better format for printing.)

Good things are happening! Stay tuned!
And as usual, simply email me if you want off this list.

Your happy camper,
Mary Francis
mary.francis111@gmail.com
TO: Norman Unitarian Universalist Fellowship
Attn: Radio Fund
1309 West Boyd
Norman, OK 73069

 
VOICE of OKLAHOMA Radio DONATION
You have requested my financial support for your plans to acquire an FCC Radio Broadcast License and build a new non-commercial, educational, full power FM radio station for Oklahoma.
I am pleased to confirm my commitment with the enclosed tax-deductible donation.
I hereby make a Gift to Norman Unitarian Universalist Fellowship Radio Fund, in the amount of ($___________)

_________________________________________________________, to be used exclusively for the construction, operation or engineering and legal expenses of your proposed non-commercial full power FM NCE radio station for Oklahoma.
I understand that your FCC application is pending and that the VOICE of OKLAHOMA Radio project will take months or even years. You may contact me for the purpose of Radio Updates using the information below.
TO THIS WITNESS MY HAND: _______________________________________________
                                                                      Signature
May we use your name? _______
Please print your Name and Address below:

_______________________________________________

_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
Email Radio Updates to: _____________________________________________________________
Emails are used only for Radio Updates and will not be shared.
All donations to NUUF Radio Fund are tax-deductible.
mail to:
1309 West Boyd
Norman, OK 73069

The House voted on a piece of legislation last week which I felt compelled to debate against and point out flaws.  The puppy mill legislation, Senate Bill 1712, would create a board to oversee the breeding of animals by people in the business of marketing puppies and kittens.  This board would have authority, under the State Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners, to implement rules and penalties for those who breed pets.  In essence, the two boards can authorize a punishment of up to $500 per animal per day on a breeder without legislative authorization on those penalties.  I was very disappointed to see such power be taken away from those elected to write such laws and punishments as there will be very little oversight when the legislature is not in session for eight months out of the year.  Above the rulemaking authority, the board also has the authority to hire their own personnel to enforce the rules and punishments or to contract with another entity to do such.  There is also no process for appeals mentioned in the bill should a person be charged with a penalty under this act.  The board also has the ability to set the amount and implement fees on the breeders, not the legislature as is often customary practice to avoid an excessive amount.  This essentially means this board can establish a fee, regulate the membership with private enforcement and not have due processes, except through the courts and charge up to $500 per animal per day for what they feel is a violation.  I’m hoping these, and other flaws, will be addressed in future legislation.
            No one wants to see people act in bad faith with animals, but this bill, in my opinion, steps across too many lines of government regulation and intervention.  Every single dog breeder in my district with whom I have contact was opposed to this bill.  They felt, as I do, that this legislation will punish the legitimate breeders and do nothing to catch the bad-faith breeders who have less than eleven dogs and sell these animals on street corners.  No one wants to see the horror stories about cages stacked on top of each other with animals being mistreated, but we also have to see common sense applied to any regulation.  I do not want to drive legitimate breeders who raise papered animals out of business due to excessive government regulation and unreasonable fees and penalties.  This bill passed the House by a vote of 59-31, with 11 absent.  It now goes to the Senate to consider the House amendments.
            The two bills we have received the most discussion about lately were the pieces of legislation vetoed by Governor Henry labeled as “pro-life” bills.  These were HB 2780, which requires an ultrasound of the fetus before an abortion can occur and HB 2656, legislation to prevent court cases involving wrongful life action or wrongful birth action.  I supported the override of both of these bills to allow them to become law, though I was unable to vote on one due to presiding officer closing the vote before I could get back to the chamber from the Senate during their Breast Cancer Awareness Day recognition.  Governor Henry did bring up points in his veto message which he felt could make the bills better and stand a better chance of holding up against a lawsuit.  We shall see if those points are brought up in a court case this year and if we see those amendments or future legislation in the following years as needed.  Both overrides passed overwhelmingly in the House on Monday.
It is an honor to represent your views at the State Capitol. If you wish to contact me and discuss one of these or another issue, I can be reached at my office in Oklahoma City toll-free at 1-800-522-8502, or directly at 1-405-557-7305. My e-mail address is joedorman@okhouse.gov at work. My mailing address is PO Box 559 , Rush Springs , OK 73082 and my website is www.joedorman.com on the Internet. Thank you for taking time to read this column and I look forward to seeing you soon.

 Edmonson, Democratic candidates for Governor, as its speakers at its Annual

Turn Oklahoma Blue Banquet. The banquet will be held on Friday, May 21 at the

Worley Center at the Great Plains Technology Center in Lawton. Buffet

dinner and program will begin at 6:30 pm. Come early and meet local candidates.

Suzie Q’s Catering will provide the brisket and broasted chicken dinner. Advance

tickets may be purchased by calling 351 4212 or 580 354 9422.. Table group

reservations are available.

We will be finalizing plans for the fund raiser.

What does it mean for you?

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