THE OKLAHOMAN’S HYPOCRICY & OKLAHOMA’S CONSTITUTION NULLIFIED

++  AGENDA FOR THIS WEEK’S MEETING
++  ANNOUNCEMENTS
++  CONGRATS TO EMOLY WEST, MISS OKLAHOMA
++  THE OKLAHOMAN’S HYPOCRICY
++  OKLAHOMA’S CONSTITUTION NULLIFIED


++  AGENDA FOR THIS WEEK’S MEETING

Our 12 noon luncheon for Wednesday, January 19th will be held at
Italiano’s restaurant, 4801 North Lincoln in OKC. Our Speaker this
week will be Mr. Jeff Massey. Jeff is an attorney and the former
National Commander of one of the confederate soldier organizations. He
has spoken to us a couple of times over the past 12 years or so and is
always an excellent speaker.

++  ANNOUNCEMENTS

*  TUESDAY EVENING  -  TULSA AREA  -  The Tulsa Area Republican
Assembly will hold their monthly meeting Tuesday evening, January 18th
at the Golden Corral, 71st and Mingo Street. Members will gather at
6:00 for dinner and the program will begin at 7:00 p.m. The speaker
will be Amanda Teegarden. She will be conducting a mini seminar
titled: Citizen Involvement in the Legislative Process. They had about
50 show up for the training this past Saturday in the Village, and
several have reported to me that it is very good information. Besides
the training, questions will be taken from the audience.

*  THURSDAY MORNING  -  OKC AREA  -  The Business and Professional
Chapter of the John Birch Society will hold their monthly meeting at
the Character Inn, 520 West Main in downtown OKC. A buffet breakfast
is served at 7:15 and the meeting will start at 7:40 a.m. We lack
confirmation, but it is expected that newly elected State Senator
Ralph Shortey will be the speaker. He will be briefing us on up-coming
legislation dealing with the invasion of illegal aliens. I have also
asked him to comment on OKC police Chief, Bill Citty.

On the front page of Sunday’s Oklahoman, there was an article with
Chief Citty was calling for stricter gun control laws. In my opinion,
OKC needs a new police Chief. It appears he is using the recent
shooting of a female officer as his launching pad for greater gun
control restrictions. Sources on the OKC police force tell me Citty is
a really nice fellow, (I agree, he grew up a half block away from me
and was best buddies with my younger brother) but that he is not all
that conservative. That should be no surprise as almost all cities of
any size have a liberal in place as a police chief.

Here is the real problem with Citty. After passage of HB 1804, law
enforcement offices all across the state were allowed to cross train
some or all of their officers and deputies with ICE (Immigration,
Control and Enforcement) agents to help ICE apprehend and deport
illegal aliens. As far as I know, Chief Citty and Sheriff Wetsel have
both refused to do so, thus basically making OKC a sanctuary city.

The person stopped during the time the officer was shot was an illegal
alien. He had been deported more than once but keeps coming across our
border as if it leaks like a sieve. It was his sons who shot the
officer (you know they were only doing jobs Americans just won’t do).
Had Citty and Sheriff Wetsel taken HB 1804 seriously, perhaps this
worth less family would not reside in our City and perhaps the officer
would never have been injured. Fortunately she is doing well though
shot several times. We hope and pray she obtains a full recovery. The
Mayor and City Counsel need to order Chief Citty to get serious about
the illegal alien issue or replace Chief Citty with someone who
will.

*  THURSDAY EVENING  -  MOORE AREA  -  Our friend Elza Jones will be
doing another Fair Tax presentation this Thursday evening, 7:00 p.m.
at the Earl’s Rib restaurant, 920 Southwest 25th street in Moore. If
you don’t know about the Fair Tax as yet, you owe it to yourself to
find out what it is all about. There is serious talk in Washington
about some level of tax reform. I am a huge supporter of the Fair Tax
as it would significantly reduce the cost of doing business in America
and thus bring back some of the jobs we have lost in recent years.
That is just one of many reasons the Fair Tax is so important. Please
try to attend this meeting and lend your support to this growing
movement.

*  STARTING SUNDAY  -  DURANT AREA  -  The Fairview Baptist Church in
Durant will host THE BATTLE FOR TRUTH conference in Durant which will
run from Sunday January 23rd until the 26th. The featured speaker will
be Brian Catalucci, one of the presenters with Answers in Genesis
located in Northern Kentucky or just South of Cincinnati Oh. That is
also the home of the Creation Museum. The battle over Creation and
Evolution is at the root of whether or not the Bible is a reliable
source of Truth. The church is located at 1200 West University Blvd.
For more information about times of the seminar, contact Pastor
Ledbetter at (580) 924-2148.

*  TRIP TO GETTEYSBURG  -  Last week I mentioned the edu-vacation trip
to the Creation Museum, then Gettysburg and back to the Shiloh
battlefield in Western Tennessee. The tour will begin on March 13th
and return to Oklahoma on March 19th. The trip is sponsored by Trinity
Baptist Church in Yukon with pastor Dan Fisher acting as the tour
guide. I talked with Dan on Saturday and he only has 6, maybe 8 seats
left open, so if you are interested I would advise you to move quickly
on this. The cost for the bus, 6 nights in hotels, all admissions and
breakfast are included in the price of only $600 per person. Plan on
around another $100 or more per person for lunches, dinners and
relics. If you are interested, call the church office and ask for
Linda (405) 354-4839. My wife and I so enjoyed a similar trip last
October, that we are going again. I can’t wait to see the world class
creation museum that so accurately portrays the Biblical account of
Creation.

++  CONGRATS TO EMOLY WEST, MISS OKLAHOMA

Long time OCPAC friend Emoly West, the reigning Miss Oklahoma, made
the final 5 contestants in the Miss America pageant. This year’s
pageant was held in Las Vegas and broadcast live on ABC this past
Saturday evening. Emoly was the 4th runner up.

Her talent was a beautiful and lively ballet dance. The question given
to Emoly was well suited for her as it was about putting something on
face book as a young person and then possibly regretting it later on.
Emoly explained the importance of and defined the word discretion. She
gave as an example how the Miss America contestants have to learn to
think about their actions, before doing them, having discretion and
that would be wise for others as well.

Emoly also won the swimsuit and fitness part of the pageant, which
earned her a $1,000 scholarship for just that part of the pageant. As
a point of interest, she also won that distinction all five times she
competed in the Miss Oklahoma pageant.

Of course we would have loved to see her win the crown, but to finish
4th runner-up out of 52 contestants is a tremendous accomplishment.
Congratulations to you Emoly and the best for your future. The
Oklahoman dedicated 6 lines to the Miss America contest on page 2 of
Monday’s paper (nothing in Sunday’s edition). They did get around to
mentioning Emoly’s name on line 6. The Edmond Sun had a great article
in Friday’s edition. You have just learned far more about Emoly’s
performance than the Oklahoman had to say.

++  THE OKLAHOMAN’S HYPOCRICY

Over the past several months the Oklahoman has used untold barrels of
ink and truck loads of paper to publish articles about the necessity
to focus on the economy and for our elected officials not to get side-
tracked by those pesky social issues. However, it appears Governor
Fallin’s first order of business after the swearing in and inaugural
activities was to hold a press conference about her effort to collect
food and funds to feed Oklahoma’s needy.

In Sunday’s Oklahoman, they congratulated her on those efforts. I
guess it just goes to show you can focus on the economy and take care
of social issues at the same time. That is assuming you are focusing
on the economy. Monday, Governor Fallin was busy ringing the liberty
bell during the Martin Luther King Jr. festivities. I’m sure the
Oklahoman will report on that activity in a positive light.

I think the food drive was fine, but a word of warning for Mary. There
will be many organizations trying to take advantage of you for their
own purposes. During her press conference, she mentioned that 1 out of
every 4 children in Oklahoma was hungry. Mary, Mary, Mary please don’t
get suckered again with that kind of baloney. I am sure there are a
few children across Oklahoma’s vast expanse of OBESE kiddies that are
hungry. However, 1 in 4 has got to be one of the biggest exaggerations
ever heard.

Over the years, I have known of two families who had nothing in the
fridge and nothing in the cabinets, our church quickly took care of
that problem. I know a very large number of people and lots of
children. I don’t personally know of 1 child that is hungry, other
than those instances when little Johnnie or Susie won’t eat their
broccoli so mom sends them to bed without dinner and then the next day
they tell their teacher: muma won’t feed me, I’m hungry.

If anyone knows of children who are hungry, please send me an e-mail
with the number of children in that category. Please send it to
charliemeadows7@gmail.com. If there is evidence that 1 in 4 children
is hungry, I will admit my mistake.

++  OKLAHOMA’S CONSTITUTION NULLIFIED

There has been a lot of attention brought to bare on the situation of
lawmakers having just left the legislature and then going to work for
state government. I believe the law which calls for a 2 year waiting
period before a lawmaker can go to work in state government was
intended to keep a lawmaker from creating a job for him or herself. I
believe such a situation occurred when Kevin Easley left the House a
few years ago to take a job as the head of the Grand River Dam
Authority.

If my memory serves me correctly, Representative Mike Reynolds asked
for an Attorney General opinion on the legality of that case and Drew
Edmondson’s office ruled it was legal as his salary was paid with
federal funds and not appropriated state dollars. Edmondson referenced
a U.S. Supreme Court decision rather than issuing a ruling by simply
examining and up-holding the State Constitution for what it says.

I have a mixed opinion about whether it is good or bad to prohibit a
lawmaker to serve in state government after leaving the legislature.
Some lawmakers have a lot of talent and would serve the taxpayers
quite well. On the other hand, sometimes ex-lawmakers have found a
home in higher education or some other position, simply to draw a pay-
check and increase their retirement.

One lawmaker told me, that serving is a public trust and as such
former lawmakers should avoid any impropriety by not going to work for
the government for at least 2 years after leaving the legislature.
Bottom line, the new Attorney General can take another look at
Edmondson’s decision and change the ruling if it is warranted.

In the mean time, the Oklahoma Constitution has been largely
nullified, as it has been determined that non appropriated funds can
be used to pay the salaries of such individuals. If this is
unacceptable, the legislature can change that this session. In the
mean time, former lawmakers taking state jobs are not violating the
law as interpreted.

I look forward to seeing everyone this Wednesday.

Charlie Meadows
Charliemeadows7@gmail.com