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Sometimes ignorance is bliss
One evening last week I ran across a post selling a nice looking 2012 car with 77,000 miles on it for $2,500. I had a friend looking for a car and this would fit the bill. One of my other friends was...
Nothing civil about it
Every year when April rolls around, it is time to start thinking of pleasant things like the start of a new baseball season and the optimistic weather of springtime with new growth signaling that wint...
Doubt does not equal unbelief
This past Friday and Saturday evenings I attended a men’s conference in Laverne. Somewhere around 75 men from different churches and different communities came together and enjoyed fellowship, worship and scripture. It was a great couple of e...
Locked up and secure – or scary?
Do they bother you? Do walls and fences cause claustrophobia in you? How about locked doors and gates? Do they bring about a fierce need to find the key and escape? The obvious answer for most of us...
Escaping boring conversations
Have you ever been dragged into a one-sided chat that droned on with no end in sight? There is an art to extracting yourself graciously without insult or injury. According to Elizabeth Bernstein in...
4-H, ag, military kids recognized in busy week at the Capitol
Last week started with “Purple Up! For Military Kids Day.” Representative Dobrinski and I authored Senate Concurrent Resolution 20 (SCR20), which designates April 15 as Purple Up! For Military Kids Da...
University and community combine for impressive musical production
Wow, northwest Oklahoma has a lot of talented people! Friday night, I attended the musical “Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella” at Northwestern Oklahoma State University in Alva. I’ve been to musical...
Protecting our courts
The House last week failed Senate Joint Resolution 34, which sought to dismantle the Judicial Nominating Commission (JNC) and would instead have asked voters to allow the governor to appoint judges...
Carl's Capitol Comments
The House last week failed Senate Joint Resolution 34, which sought to dismantle the Judicial Nominating Commission (JNC) and would instead have asked voters to allow the governor to appoint judges...
University and community combine for impressive musical production
Wow, northwest Oklahoma has a lot of talented people! Friday night, I attended the musical “Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella” at Northwestern Oklahoma State University in Alva. I’ve been to musical...
Senate Review
Last week started with “Purple Up! For Military Kids Day.” Representative Dobrinski and I authored Senate Concurrent Resolution 20 (SCR20), which designates April 15 as Purple Up! For Military Kids Da...
Something to remember
None of the money sent overseas, "free" programs, and handouts are government funded. They are all taxpayer funded. I had a good time going to garage sales with my brother, Jeff, last Saturday. I...
A different kind of strike, part 3
As we have seen, Ray Caldwell was a really good pitcher in baseball’s major leagues although he was not always diligent in remaining sober and being focused on having a successful athletic career. In...
What the heck is going on?
We used to say “The world is going to hell in a handbasket.” Now I am wondering “What the heck is going on in our part of the state?” It has been a wild couple of weeks out in this part of the state, and I don’t say that in a good way. A double mu...
Putting others on a pedestal
The other morning, while I was sipping my coffee and trying desperately to wake myself up, I was watching the news about a topic that didn't interest me. So, I decided to flip through the channels to...
Exhausted wings bring on clipped wings
If you work and work hard, you will understand this topic – exhaustion. Too much constant physical or mental work, with no relaxation for your body and brain, can bring on serious exhaustion. And t...
Gold
“The Midas touch,” “Goldfinger,” “The goose that laid the golden egg” – all these phrases are familiar to our culture as, again, gold has taken center stage as an investment tool. Gold has always be...
Appreciating the results of the next generation 911 law
Last week marked the tenth week of session, and much of the week was focused on committee work as we crossed the deadline to advance House bills to the Senate floor. We’re also still working to reach a budget agreement for Fiscal Year 2025. With h...
'Fast and furious' two weeks for Senate to consider 230 House bills
The deadline week for bills to make it out of committee is over. The next two weeks will be fast and furious. We have over 230 House bills to consider on the Senate floor, and I am sure there will be...
Solving the mystery of missing emails
Email is both efficient and frustrating. More and more, we rely on email at the newspaper office to send and receive information in advertising and news. Last week, our email host stopped working for...
The complicated budget process often gets contentious
It's the time of year when much of the focus in the Legislature turns to the state budget process. It's the one constitutional duty we have each year – to pass a balanced budget. As it does most y...
Americans love the automobile
America’s love of the automobile dates back to the early 20th century. The horseless carriage was born, and Henry Ford revolutionized mass production making them affordable to the masses. The n...
You failed, but you aren't dead
Yes, you failed. It ended badly for you – bankruptcy, nervous breakdown, divorce, the loss of any relationship with your kids, or maybe a physical adventure that went sideways and ended in your g...
Life lessons learned from a houseplant
I awoke one morning early this week with the knowledge that I had to write a new article. I was having a hard time figuring out what I was going to write about – until I walked through the kitchen and...
Everyone needs some encouragement
We are hoarders. Maybe we’re not in the dirty, unlivable sense, but definitely in the keep-everything-because-we-might-use-it-one-day sense. This goes along with old paperwork, especially something with our family’s names on it. We cleaned out a roo...
