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■ Vol. 120 ■ Issue 59 ■ ■ 2 Sections ■ sot

regress HIGH : 84 PRECIPITATION: None LOW: 60 See STATE WEATHER map 2A

The Dal 2012

BETTER NEWSPAPER CONTEST

Awoken Presented by the

OKI AHOMA PRESS ASSOCIATION

The search for a new city manger hits another milestone as the applica-tion process was closed last week.

More than 50 applications were received including a few applications right before the deadline, Mayor Mickey Perry said.

"The last minute applicants have slowed the review process, but we are happy to have them," Perry said.

The city council was set to meet in executive session Monday to start reviewing the applicants that were selected for second interviews.

The late applicants delayed that meeting, as those applications will be fully reviewed to determine if they meet qualifications.

Of the original applicants, 26 were eliminated based on qualifications alone.

Phone interviews were conducted

See SEARCH page 3A

MAYOR PERRY

Texting While Driving Awareness Day."

"A text can wait. This message can't," said Randall Stephenson, AT&T CEO. "In the United States, someone is killed or injured once every five minutes on average in a crash that happens while a driver is texting and driving."

Since Aug. 15, when AT&T announced plans for No Text on Board Pledge Day:

• A national ad campaign, aired during the Olympics, shared person-al stories of those whose lives were impacted by a texting-while-driving crash.

• New ads were created with

celebrities who appeal to teens including Victoria Justice, Ryan Beatty and Olympians Gabrielle Douglas and Jordyn Wieber. In addi-tion, American Idol finalists and oth-ers are participating in events throughout the country.

• More than 140 organizations including USAA have pledged to help share a simple message: no text is worth dying for. (Full list at ItCanWait.com .)

• Social media through Twitter, Facebook and YouTube has reached more than 75 million user accounts.

• Thousands of people have par-ticipated in "It Can Wait" events

See PLEDGE page 3A

Cattle larceny near Claremore By MARK FRIEDEL mfriedel@claremoreprogress.com

Rogers County Deputies spoke with a resident at 18481 East 430 Road in Claremore who informed offi-cials Tuesday that two bull calves

were missing from his property. One calf went missing Sunday

while the other has been missing since the end of June.

The man advised the deputies that he had searched his property and found no carcass' or cut fences and believes someone has stolen the calves

and/or butchered them. No other evidence or witness' have

been reported at this time. If anyone has information on the

larceny contact the Rogers County Sheriff's Office Tip Line at (918) 341-3620.

Covering Rogers County for the past 120 years

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2012 www.claremoreprogress.com

ODOT's Hwy. 20 plan not considered a loop

RSU Art on the Hill

See Page 2A

City officials have not received any information on route realignment By SALESHA WILKEN swilken@claremoreprogress.com

Recent information updates from the Oklahoma Department of Transportation have provided more clarity regarding the realignment of

Hwy. 20 around Claremore. ODOT officials contacted the

Claremore Progress to clarify previ-ously published information claiming that the initial reports were incorrect.

Division 8 Engineer Randle White and Public Information Officer Kenna Mitchell do not agree with published reports; however, both are unable to provide enough information to dis-pute the sources.

After further discussion with offi-cials, it was determined that the route around Claremore is not considered to be a "loop" by ODOT officials, despite the reports that it would travel along the southern border of the city and not through downtown Claremore.

Sources within ODOT have pro-vided additional information about proposed route and White personally

acknowledged that the area in ques-tion is included in the environmental studies.

The route is proposed to split from the current five-lane section of Hwy 20 west of Keetonville near 206th Street. It will then run southeast toward East 490 Road and down Keetonville Hill.

After the roadway passes down the

See HWY. 20 page 3A

Claremore city manager

search continues

Crash and delay

By SALESHA WILKEN swilken@claremoreprogress.com

Traffic was briefly diverted Wednesday afternoon as an accident on Will Rogers Blvd. and Hwy. 20 delayed motorists near Rogers State University.

PROGRESS PHOTO/Salesha Wilken

Lady Zebras spike Rejoice

See Page 1B

THOUGHT OF ME DAY Dignity consists not in

possessing honors, but in the consciousness that we

deserve them. — Aristotle

GOOD AFTERNOON RANDY FLOYD

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OOLOGAH — In celebration of the national "No Text on Board Pledge Day," Oologah-Talala High School (OTHS) leadership students Wednesday hosted and joined forces with wireless provider AT&T* to tackle a dangerous practice that puts millions of Americans at risk: tex-ting while driving.

At the event commemorating No Text on Board Pledge Day, OTHS's approximately 600 students were urged to make a lifelong commit-ment to never text and drive again at an AT&T hosted booth in the school's Commons area.

Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin this week declared Sept. 19 "No

AMR expects about 4,400 job cuts, warns 11,000 By DAVID KOENIG AP Airlines Writer

DALLAS (AP) — American Airlines is sending layoff warning notices to more than 11,000 employ-ees although a spokesman says the company expects job losses to be closer to 4,400.

The notices went out to mechanics and ground workers whose jobs will be affected as American goes through a bankruptcy restructuring.

American Airlines spokesman Bruce Hicks said Tuesday that fewer than 40 percent of those getting notices will lose their jobs. Hicks said federal law requires the company to notify anyone whose posi-tion could change, including those who could get "bumped" by more-senior employees whose jobs are eliminated or outsourced.

American said in February that it planned to cut 14,000 jobs, including 13,000 held by union work-ers. But if Hicks is right, the final job losses will be about a third of that.

Over the summer American accepted slightly smaller cost-cutting measures as it negotiated new labor contracts, and it agreed to give bonuses to flight attendants and ground workers who quit. So far 1,800 flight attendants and 800 ground workers have applied to take the money and leave.

Layoff notices went to nearly 3,000 workers in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, where a maintenance facility will close, and nearly 3,000 more at a base in Tulsa, Okla. Also receiving notices were about 1,200 workers in Miami, 1,100 in New York and Newark, NJ., 900 in Chicago, and smaller numbers elsewhere.

"As bad as this is — and we knew this day was coming — we've been able to lessen the pain," said Jamie Horwitz, a spokesman for the Transport Workers Union.

Separately, the leader of the pilots' union blasted the company, saying it is "paying lip service" to negotiating a contract while using the bankruptcy process to wring punitive cost-cutting concessions from pilots.

Eight other labor groups approved long-term contracts that will help AMR cut annual labor spending by about $1 billion. Pilots, however, voted overwhelmingly against the company's last contract offer, and a federal bankruptcy judge allowed

See LAYOFFS page 3A

Adopt A Pet See Page 6A

Oologah-Talala hosts 'No Text On Board' pledge

6 3

THE NUMBERS PINK SLIPS: American Airlines is notifying 11,159 employees whose jobs could be lost or affected by layoffs. It says actual layoffs among mechanics and other ground workers will be less — no more than 4,400.

MAINTENANCE WORKERS: American plans to close a maintenance facility in Fort Worth, Texas, and cut jobs at another base in Tulsa, Okla., and at airports around the country.

HERE'S WHERE: Layoff notices will go to 2,994 workers in Tulsa, 2,913 in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, 1,201 in Miami, 1,135 in New York and Newark, N.J., 887 in Chicago, and smaller numbers elsewhere.

American Airlines Layoffs Coming