tAVANTAGE POINT n. : a position or standpoint from which

something is viewed or considered

Too comical to not report

JUST THINKIN' By HAL McBRIDE

Sequestered trying to understand sequestration

Afflicted by both disorder and cure, between coughing, congestion and medication, a substantial thickening of my thinkin' has occurred. I am mostly confined to my comfort-able chair. I have been sequestered.

So here I sat, trying to absorb the collective wisdom of the senate testimony of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke followed by a pleasant viewing to those two post lunch pundits, Hoda and Kathie Lee, with my wife. There is all this talk about sequestration.

Feeling I am sequestered, I thought I knew the meaning of the word.

I checked my old but dependable Merriam-Webster Dic-tionary. As I thought, it meant to seclude, to segregate, to impound or to isolate. You can sequester a jury. You can impound a car. With others keeping their safe distance, you may isolate a germ-infested man to his chair.

None of those seemed to fit the heated exchanges of dialogue I was hearing. So I checked Dictionary.com . I found a noun alternative that stated, "A general cut in gov-ernment spending." Aha!

Being full of cough syrup and curiosity, I wonder about the origin of this noun. Where did it come from? My re-search suggested an origin in our congress, in a bill titled the Budget Control Act of 2011. So it seems this problem-atic sequestration came into existence because our con-gress actually passed a bill.

A long time ago, Will Rogers cautioned us about the dangers of allowing congress to actually pass laws. But I thought he was joking.

It seems that this sequestration, this general cut in gov-ernment spending, will put a lot of people out of work while cutting the pay of way too many others. I've have tried to pay attention, but I just can't hear where these pay cuts are going to bother that top 5 percent very much.

Now, the Good Lord undoubtedly knows, our federal government spends a tad too much money and often not very wisely. But it seems such a general spending cut could be a lot more general.

It kept sounding like we should be reassured that the cuts would be somewhat gradual, but it kept sounding like a nurse saying it will be fine because she is going to pull the bandage off very slowly.

I am certain that the "drop dead" date will have come and gone by the time anyone reads these thoughts. We'll be scratching our heads and wondering what just happened.

A minute ago I got a cold can of Coke Classic and poured it over several ice cubes. Don't you just love the way it fizzes when the cold Coke hits the ice? I'll tell you I liked my Coke. It left a pleasant taste in my mouth. I can't say the same for this sequestration thing.

"The significant problems that we face can not be solved by the same level of thinking that created them." — Albert Einstein

FOR THE COMMON GOOD

From bear wrestling to texting while driving

PERRYMAN

Sometime bills that come before us are just too comi-cal and too stupid not to report to you. Such is the case with HB 1424 by Scott Biggs, R-Chickasha. Ironically, this is labeled the "elevator safety act." I am telling you this even though it may put a "bad light" on the legislature as a whole. Are you ready?

This bill does away with eleva-tor inspections and replaces it with a mandatory $1 million liability policy!

Let's see, a couple of sessions ago we limited judgments to $250,000, so you can bet this legislator is not get-ting on an elevator with more than three people, for sure. It also states that elevators that serve only two sto-ries don't have to be inspected or in-sured. I guess he thinks most people could survive, without bodily dam-age, a fall of two stories.

My third and final bill that was heard in committee, HB 1072, passed 11-4, which was monumental since a rep-resentative from the Department of Education said my bill could potentially cost the state $333 million in federal funds. There were 11 members on the committee who did not believe the education department — and they were right. My bill would keep the state education department from lowering a school's overall grade based on the num-ber of special education students who are tested. There are numerous bills filed to change the A-F grading system and this bill is just one of them.

An interesting bill that passed committee and that is on the House floor (HB 1098 by Shoemake, D-Morris), would allow all-terrain vehicles to operate on roadways within unincorporated areas if approved by the Board of County Commissioners.

HB 2073 by Fisher, R-Yukon, passed out of commit-tee and is subject to a vote on the House floor. This bill makes it a felony for anyone to provide services associ-ated with the Affordable Care Act. The penalties are up to a $5,000 fine and five years in prison. We are talking about CEO's of hospitals, doctors, nurses, home health care employees and just about anyone in the health care professions. This is one of those bills, if signed into law, will have to be looked at by our supreme court to deter-mine its constitutionality.

Today was deadline day to get bills out of committee. All three bills of mine that were heard in committee passed and two have been passed on the House floor and are in the Senate. The third is on the House floor calendar.

The school safety commission that Lt. Gov. Lamb ap-pointed (Wilburton Junior High Principal Trice Butler is a member) gives the legislature their recommendations this coming Tuesday. We are all anxiously awaiting these rec-ommendations on school safety. However, in spite of that fact, HB 1062 by McCullough, R-Sapulpa, was presented to committee on Wednesday in Public Safety.

This bill arms teachers by creating a special reserve school resource officer, which could be a teacher or admin-istrator who goes through a limited CLEET school. This school would reduce by one-half the number of hours of training that we put our reserve deputies through (reduced from 240 to 120 hours). This bill would also give immunity to these officers (teachers), in both civil and criminal cases, from any liabilities for their actions, either accidental or intentional.

I felt, as I have said before, that we are putting the cart before the horse, by passing any bills pertaining to school safety until after we hear recommendations from the School Safety Commission.

The next two weeks will be very busy on the House floor as we have eight days to clear all House bills to the Senate.

Visitors from home this week include Melody Culber-son, Samantha Humphreys, Carla Brunson, Ellen Young, Drs. Clark Grillot, Doug Auld and Michael Auld. Also coming by were Michael Davidson, Dr. Trice Butler, Don Faulkner and Danny Baldwin from KEDDO, along with several senior adults who were here for "Senior Day at the Capitol."

Have a blessed week. Psalms 36:5

capitol greetings

STATE REPRESENTATIVE

MARCH 7, 2013 • STIGLER NEWS-SENTINEL 15

By Rep. David Perryman Oklahoma House District 56

The first live bear I ever saw was on Main Street in Kinta. The year was about 1962 and the Ursus Americanus had not wandered into town from the mountains south of town. Nor was it an escapee from the zoo in Tulsa. Technically, it was not even a part of a circus.

This black bear was chained to a tree in front of a tent and was the property of a promoter of one of those rural American holdovers of the 1800s. The event being promoted was bear wres-tling and the barker was looking for both spectators and contestants. I was not old enough to qualify as either, but tickets were selling like hotcakes.

I don't remember if my older broth-ers were allowed to go, but I am pretty certain that they did not wrestle the bear. We lived seven miles from town and they would not have had transpor-tation at the time. The tent that was set up was not large enough to keep the crowd very far from the ring, but by the looks of the tired old bear, vi-cious animal bites were not likely.

Apparently the sport of bear wres-tling first became popular in France and came to the United States in De-cember 1877. Rural America provided circuits of communities where there was just not a lot of constant commo-tion. To say that times were slow is an understatement and for decades, into the 1960s, any type of entertainment was welcomed.

However, before you get too uppity, please realize that once in a while we did get to attend some really special events. For instance, in my hometown of around 350 residents in the 1960s, we actually got to meet Meadowlark Lemon when the Harlem Globetrot-ters came to our old WPA gym.

My point is that until 1996 bear wrestling was legal in Oklahoma. The statute that prohibits bear wrestling also prohibits horse tripping. I don't

know how bear wrestling and horse tripping were addressed in the same statute. In fact horse tripping doesn't sound fun at all.

Historically, Oklahoma has taken the lead and enacted statutes that are needed for the safety of Oklaho-mans. One of the hottest topics that I

have been contacted about over the past 10 days is the pro-posal to ban tex-ting while driving. Unfortunately the majority leadership of the Oklahoma House of Represen-tatives has its head in the proverbial

sand and is playing politics with lives concerning this extremely dangerous issue.

House Bill 1503 by Rep. Curtis Mc-Daniel, D-Smithville, is a proposal to make texting while driving illegal. More than 80 percent of Oklahomans support a ban on texting while driv-ing. According to AT&T, a Virginia Tech study showed that persons who text while driving are 23 times more likely to be involved in a crash than persons who are not texting while driving. Rep. McDaniels' bill passed out of committee, but is being blocked from being heard on the house floor.

AT&T reported that a Texas Traf-fic Institute study showed that when drivers read or send a text message, their reaction time is doubled and when asked to respond to a flashing light while texting behind the wheel, drivers were more than 11 times more likely to miss the light altogether.

The telephone giant has dedicated millions of dollars to its "It Can Wait" campaign and says that "No text is worth dying for. And that is why AT&T is committed to putting an end to texting and driving." AT&T said, "Our goal is to save lives and to make texting and driving as unacceptable as

drinking and driving." Under current law, an Oklahoma

Highway Patrolman cannot stop a driver who is texting and driving at the very instant that the highway pa-trolman passes the driver. Thirty-nine other states prohibit texting while driving. Should Oklahoma?

According to the Associated Press, House Speaker T.W. Shannon, R-Law-ton, stated last week that he is among those who have opposed a ban on tex-ting while driving in the past because he believes that there is a slippery slope argument to be made about what peo-ple are doing inside their cars.

At this time, the bill is being blocked from being voted on by the full House of Representatives and Oklahoma law does not allow local control by mu-nicipalities across the state. The cities and towns that could otherwise adopt texting and tobacco laws are being stopped by the state legislature.

Ninety-seven percent of teens say that texting and driving is dangerous. What is your opinion? Do you want HB1503 to die without a vote or do you want it to be heard on the House Floor? It is your civic duty to let your voice be heard. Take action for the common good. Call or email a mem-ber of the House Calendar Commit-tee or the Speaker of the House and let them know your opinion about HB1503. Their phone numbers and email addresses can be found at www. okhouse.gov.

If the House Calendar Committee will allow the bill to be heard, I will vote in favor of it. It is my opinion that the need for a ban on bear wres-tling has taken a back seat to the need for a ban on texting while driving.

If there is ever anything that I can do to assist you, please call me at 405-557-7401 or email me at David. Perryman@okhouse.gov

I look forward to seeing you soon. Rep. David Perryman, R-Chickasha, is

a 1975 graduate of Kinta High Schol.

Editor, As I read the paper each week, I notice that several orga-

nizations in our fair city, as well as individuals, are hosting benefits, raising money, generally asking for some type of fi-nancial help in order to make lives better. These acts of strong consideration and hard work are very well appreciated.

What I'm going to ask for has no cost. This deed is very much needed in areas of our home – Stigler.

This past week, as I rode around town running errands, I noticed a great amount of plastic bottles, plastic sacks, cups and overall trash on the sides of the streets and state High-way 9. Please, be more aware of throwing trash out of your cars as you travel around Stigler. We don't need to see trash all over the grassy area between Walmart and McDonald's. We don't need to see it at the stop light area as you turn into Walmart. I'm sure residents along state Highway 9 on the way out of town — east and west — don't appreciate trash in their yards. We certainly don't need to see it in the ditches that surround Stigler Cemetery and along H Street, a "back way" into our home.

The "heart" of Stigler is abounding with generosity — it always has. Our "inside" is terrific, but our "outside" needs work. Let's all start now by saving that cup or sack in our

YOUR LETTERS Clean it up

cars until we can throw it in the trash can. As spring approaches, let's think about cleaning up our

yards. I heard someone make the comment one time they didn't have the money to make their place look better. Well, it doesn't take money to pick up or stack up neatly things in a yard, it just takes work.

Don't throw trash or heap trash on Stigler. It's a great home and we all need to take great care of it.

Teresa McAdoo Stigler

No Mountain Run Editor,

I would like to express my thanks to all who have par-ticipated in the past annual charitable Nabes Mountain Run Events to Benefit the McCurtain City Park. I also want to thank all persons that helped to conduct these events for past years, the city and its staff, also the people who have made donations to the park fund.

I hope that these events have provided good memories for everyone and the park project is able to acquire a funding source for completion.

But there will be no Mountain Run in 2013.

Thank you everyone. Nabe\Dave Self

On the money Editor,

Why won't people work? A lot of people are saying there are no jobs. There are

jobs, but they do not meet the pay people are expecting. A person who has a college education or skills will some-

times not work at just any kind of job. Then a lot of people cannot work due to physical or mental disabilities.

I think that people are lazy a lot of times and just will not work.

The Bible tells us if you don't work you don't eat. There are a few people who sometimes hold two jobs.

I heard the President say on television the other day he wanted to raise pay wages for minimum wage from $7.25 to $9. This sounds good, however, everything else is going up.

I believe there are jobs out there, but sometimes we have to work for less pay.

Work is what jobs do to keep the economy going. Diane Basden

Quinton

ifevvs•sentinel. A member of the Oklahoma Press Association

P.O. Box 549 • Stigler, OK 74462 918-961-4655

(USPS SSN-521-980)

Published every Thursday Periodical postage paid, Stigler, OK 74462

To subscribe, call 918-967-4655 Subscription rates by mail in Haskell

County, Quinton, Briartown and Porum $37.50 one year • $21.50 six months

Out of county $46.25 one year • $33.75 six months

LINUS G. WILLIAMS • Publisher

LINUS G. WILLIAMS JR. Assistant publisher

DOUG RUSSELL • News editor

CYNTHIA CAIN - Sales Manager

EDITORIAL POLICY The Stigler News-Sentinel

welcomes your letters, columns and stories.

Letters may be edited for form or content and should not contain any libelous statements.

All letters should contain the name of the writer, as well as contact information, such as a tele-phone number. Letters that cannot be verified may not be published.

The News-Sentinel does not publish poetry, nor will it publish

unsigned letters. Columns and personal memory

stories may be used on the editorial page or elsewhere in the newspaper.

Proselytizing letters, if used, may be delegated to the religious pages.

Letters that are considered libelous or in poor taste will not be published.

Letters may be mailed to P.O. Box 549, Stigler, OK 74462, or e-mailed to editor@stiglernews.com or news@stiglernews.com .