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H elping students aspire to successAT&T is honored to help America's children Aspire to success.One in four s tudents - more than 1 mil l ion s tudents a year - fa i lsto graduate high school with their class. This is one of our nation'smost cri t ical problems, part icularly in an era w hen comp eti tion forjobs among people and, indeed, among nations is becom-ing evermore intense.Over the las t four years , our Aspire program hasworked w ith organizations across the country to helpreverse this trend to reach the national goal of a 90% high

school graduation ra te by 2020. AT&T Aspire has a lreadyimpacted over 1 mil l ion s tudents with $100 m ill ion inves t-ed s ince 2008.Although the high school dropout ra te has shownimprovement, we can do more. In fact , we 're doublingdown on American s tudents and Am erica 's future .In our continued effort to address this critical issue, weare excited to launch a new phase of A spire - a $250 m il-lion investment planned over five years that will furtherbuild on our existing initiative to help more students graduate fromhigh school prepared for careers and college, and to ensure ournation is better prepared for global competition.Here in O klahoma, public of f ic ials and educators have placed apremium on education, and we are delighted to have had an opportu-nity to play a role in their success.With our new phase of Aspire , we ' l l take a "socially innovative"approach that goes beyond traditional philanthropy, engaging peopleand technology to create new and dif ferent solutions to socia l prob-lems.In today's world, the mobile Internet is omnipresent. Students -of all ages - are adept at using this powerful resource, and it is criti-cal that its potent power be harnessed for the cause of education.Our AT& T Foundry innovation centers wil l work with educators andother companies to f ind f resh or a typical approaches to improve edu-cation. The new A spire wil l a lso leverage technology to connect withs tudents in new and m ore ef fective ways . And you can expect to seea part icular emphas is on gamif icat ion (us ing game techniques toteach students math, science, and other applications), mobile applica-t ions , video and social media - the communications environments in

which m any of today's s tudents are most comfortable - to ins t i ll anew level of excitement into learning.But technology alone w il l not solve the education challenge. I ttakes people too.We plan to take our current Job Shadow program to anew level with the Aspire M entoring Academy, a programthat will provide more opportunit ies for our em ployees towork closely with s tudents most a t- risk of dropping out tohelp them succeed in their c lass rooms and in l i fe . S tudentsand mentors w il l be matched on the bas is of shared inter-ests and will work together to explore and solve real-life,on- the- job bus iness problems. They wil l a lso have theopportunity to participate in e-mentoring, specifically in thefields of science, technology, engineering and math(STEM). Some 100,000 s tudents part ic ipated in the AT&TJob Shadow init ia t ive with Junior Achievement to date ,including over 2,100 in Oklahoma.Local comm unity organizations wil l be vi ta l to the suc-cess of Aspire and our plans call for providing financial support tothose groups that deliver genuine results in helping students learn.Thanks to the commitment of our employees and manyOklahoma organizations , our ini t ia l $100 mill ion inves tment in highschool success and college and career readiness has made a pos i t iveimpact . The Oklahoma Aspire inves tment has amounted to over $3.3mill ion s ince 2008.We're excited to expand our inves tment in this great resource -our children 's education - with our new commitment.

There 's no doubt that our inves tment in Aspire is an inves tmentin America 's future , and, indeed, our own. A t AT& T, we believe thatpeople are the critical differentiators in our industry, especially giventhe lightning-fast pace of technological evolution. And Aspire helpsto create a pipeline of diverse talent for all U.S. companies, includ-ing AT&T.Our children are the key to our future . And joining together in thecommun it ies where our employees and cus tomers l ive and work, wecan make a dif ference in the l ives of s tudents and families and in ourown com munit ies and across the nation.Bryan Gonterman is pres ident of AT&T Oklahoma.

B R Y A NG O N T E R M A N

S e n . S e a nB u r r a g e

R E P . B E N S H E R R E R

Th e 2012 G erry Ford testI t was rightly said of Pres ident Harry Trum an that he l iked beingHarry Truman: He w as comfortable being Harry Truman; he neverthought about being anybody else but Harry Truman.Equally comfortable in his own skin was Pres ident Gerald R.Ford, who m ore than once quoted Harry Truman on the iso-lation of flattery to which occupants of the Oval Office soregularly succumb: "The Pres ident hears one hundred voiceste l ling him that he is the greates t man in the world. He m ustlisten carefully indeed to hear the one voice that tells him heisn't."In the 12 pres identia l campaigns I have been luckyenough to work in or cover, I have never observed a pres i-dentia l nominee more emotionally healthy than Gerald Ford.Most pres identia l candidates are so consum ed by ambit ionA R K Sfor the office they lust after that they end up spending toomuch o f their t ime and l ives plot t ing or m anipulat ing to get there .As a R epublican representat ive f rom G rand Rapids , Mich. , and asthe GOP's H ouse minori ty leader, Ford had the then-unrealis t ic goalof becoming speaker af ter leading Republicans to a majori ty in theHouse. Along the w ay, he ins tead af ter the forced res ignations ofVice Pres ident Spiro Agnew and Pres ident Richard Nixon became

the president of a divided and disheartened nation.Gerry Fo rd, ref reshingly f ree of neuroses or se lf - importance, wasMidwestern open and American natural . Voters responded. His 71percent job-approval ra t ing som e 44 points above the res igningNixon's w as the highes t given any pres ident in 10 years .Then Gerald Ford l is tened not to any White House palace guardor campaign mavens .He put principle over poli t ical populari ty and conscious ly sabo-taged his own chances for re-elect ion by p ardoning Richard M.Nixon.Like too m any others a t the t ime, I s l ipped f rom skeptic ism intocynicism, sure that the pardon must have been part of a secret deal

for Nixon to leave and F ord to rise . Pres ident Ford 's poll numbersbegan the s teep drop down to 37 percent approval .I , and every other cynic , was absolute ly wrong. What Pres identFord did in pardoning Nixon was both courageous and w ise .Thus did the m an who took pride in the fact that he onlyhad mo mentary adversaries and no poli t ical enemies save hisfe l low A mericans f rom continuing to tear themselves apartover Richard Nixon. His m oral courage (he had a lready, ashis 10 Wo rld War II battle stars attested, proved his physicalcourage) made it possible for the healing of the nation tobegin.After the 1976 Kansas City Repub lican convention,where a switch of jus t 59 of the 2,257 delegates to Ronald

H I E L D S Reagan would have cos t him the nom ination, President Fordon Labor D ay tra i led his Democratic challenger, J immyCarter, by 30 points in the polls.That year, more than 81.5 m il l ion Am ericans voted for pres ident .That meant Ford in September was m ore than 24 mil l ion votesbehind Carter.By a bri l l iant campaign ef fort , Ford c losed the gap to the pointwhere on E lection Day, w ith a switch of only 12,740 votes in Ohioand Miss iss ippi , he would have won the White House. The b ad tas telef t f rom the N ixon pardon changed his tory.Regardless of your personal leanings or loyalties, are you opti-mistic, let alone confident, that your preferred 2012 presidential can-didate would jeopardize vic tory in November to say nothing ofhis entire political career by daring to stare into his own politicalgrave and to put principle above populari ty and the health of thenation ahead of his own am bit ion?Is i t too much to ask for a pres ident in 2013 who could pass theGerry Ford test?Mark Shields is a political columnist and regular contributor toPBS's NewsHour .

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PAGE 4A CLAREMORE PROGRESS SUNDAY, APRIL 8, 2012 PINIO Nwww.claremoreprogress.com

"Broad-minded is just another wayof saying a fellow is too lazyto form an opinion."- Will Rogers

"Where the press is free andevery man able to read,all is safe."

- Thomas Jefferson

Senate R eviewThis past week, the State Treasurer held his monthlypress conference to discuss the la tes t report on Oklahoma'srevenue collect ions . These numbers are one way to m ea-

sure how the s ta te 's economy is doing. For two yearswe've seen Oklahoma's revenue moving upward m onthlyeach month 's report has been welcome news in the wak e ofthe wors t economic dow nturn s ince the Great Depress ion.Las t month that two-year grow th s treak ended. Collect ionsfor March tota led $920.6 mil l ion, which is about $2.6 mil-l ion less than a year agothat 's a drop of about 0.3 percent .Gross production tax collect ions fe ll by m ore than one-third. That 's the fourth consecutivemonth gross production taxes have beendown. For the f irst t ime in e ight months ,collection of income taxes was low er aswell . The only category that performedbetter than the same t ime a year ago wassales tax collect ions . One of the m ainfactors of concern is low natural gasprices. Just a few days before this reportwas issued, the details of a plan toreform child welfare in Oklahoma w erereleased. According to the set t lementagreement in a lawsuit agains t theDepartment of Human Services by achild advocacy organization, DHS had to com e up with aplan that better protected children in state foster care.It is the job of DHS to investigate reports of child abuseand neglect , and if necessary, remove children f rom theirhomes and place them in shelters or fos ter care . Thetragedy is s ince 2002, 41 children who w ere in fos ter caredied. We've known for years we haven' t had enough peopleor resources to do this job right . This plan cal ls for hiringabout two hundred addit ional caseworkers and more super-visors, with licensed professionals involved in training newhires.The plan cal ls for lower caseloads for new caseworkersand an additional 500 foster families so that shelters can bephased out . None of this can happen without funding. Thefirst year alone will require an additional $30 million, andonce ful ly implemented, the s ta te wil l have to come up w ith$100 mill ion a year.Doing nothing is not an op tionthe s ta te wil l s implywind up back in court facing even greater expenditures .Worse yet, if nothing changes, more children will likelycome to harm even death because of the very sys tem thatis supposed to save them. We've seen a d ip in collect ionsand several months of lower gas prices that wil l impact ours ta te 's revenues . We have tremend ous needs in child wel-fare, not to mention other services that have endured severalyears of cuts . These are a l l things that m ust be cons ideredcarefully as the Governor and Legis la tive leaders workthrough negotia t ions on the 2013 budget and on any contin-ued push to further reduce available revenues through addi-tional income tax reductions.Thanks again for reading my "Senate Review." I f youhave any ques t ions on a legis la t ive m atter, please do nothesitate to contact my Senate office at the Capitol by calling(405) 521-5555 or writ ing me with your concerns a t :Senator Sean Burrage, 2300 North Lincoln Blvd. Rm. 529-B State Capitol Building, Oklahoma City, OK 73105. Ia lways enjoy hearing f rom m y cons ti tuents and cons ider itan honor to be your voice in the Oklahoma State Senate .May G od bless each of you.Sean Burrage is s tate senator for Rogers C ounty .

W e lc o m in g ho m eour veteransOklahoma has a long tradit ion of honoring and takinggreat pride in the noble sacrifices that members of the mili-tary have made to protect our f reedoms and way o f l i fe.And legis la t ively we have a nationwide reputat ion as a vet-eran's friendly state.As we welcome hom e our members of the 45th thepurpose of this column wil l be to advise concerningSB 1222, the Oklahoma Veteran's Treatment Act.Studies have shown that mil i tary service exacts atremendous psychological toll on m em-bers of the mil i tary who are faced withthe constant threat of death or injuryover an extended period of t ime.This includes mental health injuriessuch as traumatic brain injury, post trau-matic stress disorder, depression, anxi-ety and acute stress disorder. Such ser-vice related injuries, including the use ofdrugs and alcohol to cope w ith suchinjuries, can lead to encounters withthe criminal justice system.While these encounters are few, andi s t r i c t 8

i t i s a small percentage of the pop ula-tion we are talking about, as a grateful state we must con-t inue to honor the mil i tary service of our men and wom enby providing them with an a l ternative to incarceration andtreatment programs w henever poss ible as they re integrateto c ivi l ian l ife . That 's why I w as pleased to co-authorSenate Bil l 1222 with Rep. Tommy H ardin (R-Ardmore).The Oklahoma Veteran 's Treatment Act authorizes anydistrict or municipal court to establish a Veteran'sTreatment Program. These programs w il l operate very s im-ilar to our exis t ing Drug C ourts . When a veteran success-fully completes the program, their criminal case may bedismissed, reduced or differed.Under the proposed law a program team , af ter makingsome assessments and cl inical evaluations, wil l make a rec-omm endation whether the applicant is appropria te of theprogram. Persons charged with violent crimes would beineligible . As w ith any of our special ized courts , there wil lbe challenges with funding and manpower - but i t musts tart somewhere.I am proud of Oklahoma's s teps to continue reachingout to our V eterans after they re turn home f rom their ser-vice . SB 1222 honors o ur long s tanding tradit ion of supportfor those veterans.If you need assistance or would like to visit about thisor any other issue pending before the legislature, pleasefeel free to contact my capitol office at 1-800-522-8502 oremail me at bensherrer@okhouse.gov. U nti l next week,God bless you.Ben Sherrer is state representative for District 8.

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Opinions, Viewpoints & Columnists"Broad-m inded is just another way of saying afel low is too lazy to form an opinion." W ill R ogersEditorials from The Daily Progress staff representthe position of the local newspaper managem ent.Other featured columnists, personal colum ns, let-ters to the editor and editoria l cartoons do n ot neces-sary represent the opinion or viewpoint of manage-ment.Al l are provi ded t o s t i mul a t e publ i c d i scuss ion ,conversation and action.

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