Special to the paper

Over the last three years state legislation to repeal tobacco preemption has been introduced. Each time the measure has failed to be heard by the full Oklahoma Legislature, despite demonstrated support from the more than 30 communities who have enacted city ordinances to ban tobacco use in areas of their communities where family and youth events typically occur. Municipalities have routinely and successfully utilized local forms of governance to ensure that the ordinances reflect the desires of the citizens closest to the issue at hand.

Now waiting action in the legislature is SB 36, which could be the single most influential piece of legislation in the state. It would provide the opportunity for local municipalities to have the freedom and responsibility to respond to the needs and desires of local residents and take action beyond the minimum standards established by state law. Repealing tobacco preemption does not set the stage for “creeping legislation” and “outlawing tobacco” across the state as one legislator remarked. On the contrary, restoring local rights puts the authority and responsibility with municipalities and their elected officials. Precedent has been set for local control in matters that impact education and economic development. Yet it appears that allowing local control in matters related to tobacco is exempt from the traditional attitude of the legislature to reduce the role big government plays in our lives.

A recent opinion released from the Attorney General’s Office highlights the need to restore local rights. The opinion, further interpreting the impact of the misguided 1987 state law preempting local rights on smoking in public places, has rendered these community efforts ineffectual. Despite grassroots efforts led by local government and citizens to reduce the harmful effects of tobacco use on our communities, we are once again putting faith and trust in our state elected officials. It would appear that even with support from multiple and diverse stakeholders, including the state’s highest ranking official, Gov. Mary Fallin, the measure may be poised to fail again.

Restoring local control to cities and towns regarding tobacco use in public places is critical to continuing our national reputation as a strong and independent state. We have refused to allow the federal government the power to dictate how we run our state; it is time to extend that attitude to the communities that represent us. At some point, we need to stand up for what is right, put aside agendas and politics, and look at our state and federal constitutional rights. This is the time we as constituents must require our elected officials to consider the communities they represent before the interests of the tobacco lobby. This is the time to require public debate around a matter that is critical to reduce the costly effects of first and secondhand tobacco use and its influence on the continued growth and economic development of our state. We are asking our Senators and Representatives to allow SB 36 to be heard so that all valid points of discussion can be addressed.

This commentary was provided by:
Stephen Cagle, MD, Chair, Oklahoma City/County Board of Health
Thomas H. Flesher III, MD, President, Oklahoma County Medical Society
Eric L Cottrill, MD, Tulsa County Medical Society
John A. Robinson, MD, President, Oklahoma State Medical Association
R. Murali Krishna, MD, President, Oklahoma State Board of Health

Doug Cox

To The Editor:

Thirty-three year old Jane is lying on the emergency room bed complaining of stomach pain. This is her third ER visit in two weeks. She is worried about losing her job from missing work. We know what is causing the pain. Jane has a bad gallbladder that is full of stones. It is easy to fix. In the hospital Friday morning for surgery, home Friday afternoon, back at work Monday morning.

Like hundreds of thousands of hard working Oklahomans, Jane has no insurance and no way to pay for the surgery. With two kids, she and her husband work at minimum-wage jobs for small companies that do not provide health insurance. They would be covered by the expansion of Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as ObamaCare. Oklahoma has decided not to participate in this expansion, leaving Jane and her family in the lurch.

By now you are well aware that Gov. Mary Fallin has decided that Oklahoma will not participate in expansion of Medicaid which would provide health care insurance for all Oklahomans making less than 133 percent of the federal poverty level. For a family of four this comes out to $30,657. The cost of health insurance for this family averages $5,167 a year.

It is simply unaffordable.

I have no doubt that the governor made the right decision from a political standpoint. Emails and calls from constituents are overwhelmingly against ObamaCare. Fact is, now it is the law, whether we like it or not.

I would have made the opposite choice from the governor. But then again my decision would not have been made based on politics, but rather on the predicament many of my constituents find themselves. Contrary to popular belief, people who would have been affected by the expansion of Medicaid are not deadbeats, but hard working Oklahomans trying to raise their children and make a better life for themselves. They have lower wage jobs, without employer-provided insurance.

The federal reimbursement for expansion of Medicaid would have been 100 percent of the cost through 2016, and then gradually decreasing to 90 percent by 2020. This means the estimated cost to Oklahoma, if 75 percent of those eligible participate (some estimate that only 57 percent will sign up), would be $27 million in 2017 and increase to $56 million by 2020. This is a doable number.

Oklahomans will still have to pay federal taxes and penalties for not having health care insurance. With the governor’s decision, our money will now be used to expand the program in other states, while our own citizens continue to be uninsured and lack access to care.

Presently Oklahoma hospitals receive supplemental Medicare money, called disproportionate share (DSH) payments, to offset the cost of caring for the uninsured. These payments are going to be decreased or eliminated as a way to finance the federal share of the health plan. Since the governor chose not to participate, Oklahoma hospitals will still lose the DSH payment, and not be able to recoup the loss through the Medicaid expansion. Hospitals will face closing or raising prices to those with insurance, or paying with cash to make up for this lost revenue.

I respect Gov. Fallin’s decision, but I work on a daily basis with good people who need, but cannot get, access to medical care. Right or wrong, my compassionate heart overrules my political mind.

Sincerely,

Rep. Doug Cox, Grove

Editor’s Note: Rep. Doug Cox, a Grove Republican, is a medical doctor. He represents Delaware and Mayes County in the Oklahoma House of Representatives. He is a practicing emergency room physician at Integris Grove General Hospital on Grand Lake.

www.CapitolBeatOK.com

Oklahoma County District Attorney David Prater spoke at a luncheon held at the Raindrop Turkish House on Classen Boulevard last week.

By Bill O’Brien

The event began with Orhan Kucukosman of the Raindrop Turkish House telling the assembled guests that the people who  were responsible for the death of the American diplomats in Lbya were not Muslims but were in fact terrorists, and he said that he, and the organization that he is affiliated with, the Insitute for Interfaith Dialogue,  are  dedicated to building bridges to people of other faiths.

Prater began his presentation by pointing out that every group he speaks to expresses concern about violent crime, and said that he believes that much of the  criminal violence that occurs can be traced to the conditions that many young people grow up in. More than 25,604 people are currently incarcerated in the state of Oklahoma,  and many of them have worked hard to get there, the prosecutor reported, and if they were on the streets they would be  committing more crimes.

But some of them, Prater believes, could have been steered away from a life of crime if there had been people willing to give them guidance and support when they were children. Currently, 4,624 children  in the state of Oklahoma have mothers who are incarcerated, and a total of 21,482 children here have father’s who are in the custody of the Department of Corrections And those children, the district attorney said, are likely to end up in the juvenile criminal system and eventually into the adult criminal justice system.

More than 9,131 children are currently in foster care system administered by the Oklahoma Department of Human Services, and those children are also likely to have contact with the  juvenile court system.

Prater said that he was fortunate to have grown up in a loving home with two parents, and that he and his wife are seeking to  provide  such an environment for their children. But the children who are in foster care or have parents who are incarcerated are likely to have a home environment in which substance abuse and domestic violence are part of daily life. And males who grow up in a home where the witness domestic violence are likely to engage in such violence themselves, and girls who grow up in such environments are likely to marry a man who abuses them,  Prater said.

The pattern of substance abuse repeats itself as well, and the district attorney asserts that 85% of the crime that occurs in Oklahoma County are tied in some way to substance abuse. Many of these young people have difficulties in school due to their stressful home environments and some of them turn to  criminal youth gangs that give them a sense of security that they do not get at either home or school.  The district attorney shared figures from the juvenile justice system that indicate that more than 85 % of the juveniles  who interface with  it are functionally illiterate. He estimates that there are currently between 4,500 to 9,000 gang members in OKlahoma County, and that the violence between those gangs is resulting in the death of  so many Black and Hispanic males that a 25 year old gang member is considered elderly .  The solutions to this problem, Prater asserts, include  having caring adults mentor at risk children, and adults being invovled with faith based organizations that help young people.

He also believes that more loving foster and adoptive homes are needed for those children  as well.

The district attorney also spoke of how his office is currently working to proivde alternatives to incarceration for non-violent offenders, and  said that  the Oklahoma County court system  now has drug, mental health, and veterans courts that are providing such alternatives.

Abbie Smith will be voicing opposition to the resolution: "Intelligent Design should be taught in public school science classrooms" during the debate hosted by the Americans for Separation of Church and State at Oklahoma City Community Communit College. Photo provided

By Darla Shelden
Contributing Writer

The Oklahoma City Chapter of Americans United for Separation of Church and State has announced its second annual hot-button debate on Thursday, March 15, from 7 to 8:30 p.m.

The event features a debate on the resolution “Intelligent Design should be taught in public school science classrooms.” The debate will be held on the campus of Oklahoma City Community College (OCCC), 7777 S. May, in rooms CU2 and CU3.

James Nimmo, OK-AU Communications Chair said, “One task of Americans United is to offer educational opportunities on hot button issues involving First Amendment state/church separation. All Americans are free to exercise their private beliefs with others who share them.


“However, to impose those private beliefs, through the power of law or with tax money, on others who have different beliefs is not in the spirit or the letter of the First Amendment.”

The event debaters will be Abbie Smith and Dr. Steve Kern will be voicing opposition to the resolution: “Intelligent Design should be taught in public school science classrooms”.

Smith is a graduate student studying the molecular and biochemical evolution of HIV within patients and within populations. She also studies epigenetic control of endogenous retroviruses (ERV). Smith has a BS in Biology from Truman State and is currently finishing her Ph.D in Microbiology and Immunology at Oklahoma University.

“Honestly, this isn’t going to be an actual ‘debate’, because there is no actual scientific ‘debate’ on this issue. This is going to be a fantastic science outreach opportunity for me to tell a bunch of folks about how scientists use evolution every day in the lab to extend/improve our lives,” said Smith.

Debating in favor of the resolution will be Dr. Steve Kern, pastor of Olivet Baptist Church in Oklahoma City. Kern, a musician and author, has written several theological non-fiction works including “No Other Gods.” Dr. Kern was in the opposing position at the 2011 debate where the resolution was whether the United States was established as a Christian nation. Dr. Kern is married to Oklahoma State Rep Sally Kern.

Kern states on his blog, “Evolution contradicts the biblical message that God created all things good (without the presence of sin and evil), man fell into sin thus bringing about the curse of death as Paul declares in Romans 5:12, which then God began His work of redemption that culminated in the person His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.”


Intelligent design parallels, but is not identical to creation science. It is the view that there is scientific evidence to support the Biblical Genesis account of the creation of the earth and of life.

The event moderator will be Rev. Jim Shields, board member of the Interfaith Alliance of Oklahoma. This debate is a free educational public event and all are invited to attend regardless of religious, political, or scientific viewpoints.

Recommended parking for the event is available at Area “D” – Entrance “CU1” to access debate rooms CU2 and CU3.

Americans United is a religious liberty watchdog group based in Washington, D.C. Founded in 1947; the organization educates Americans about the importance of church-state separation in safeguarding religious freedom.

For more information about the Oklahoma City Chapter of Americans for Separation of Church and State and the debate contact OK-AU Communications Chair James Nimmo at 405-843-3651 or visit www.okau.org.

John Scripsick, from Wayne, OK, lost his son on September 7, 2007 in the Iraq war. Photo provided.

To the Editor:
 
My son was sixteen at the time Bin Laden’s crew of twenty some hijackers, sixteen or so from Saudi Arabia, the rest from Yemen, who trained to fly in America, executed the 9-11 attacks.
 
The wise men we elected to office waged war on Afghanistan to get Bin Laden. Our military had him trapped at Tora Bora, but the head office held up air strikes for twenty four hours and he got away.
 
No need to be alarmed, because a larger threat loomed with weapons of mass destruction that threatened to kill us all.
 
In March 2003, America waged war on Iraq with shock and awe. Joining the military was the “in’”thing, as even professional football players changed careers. It was patriotic.
 
My son joined after ‘Mission Accomplished’ in Iraq, but was killed in Iraq in September 2007. He was number 3,757 killed, age 22, which was the average age killed in the war on terror.
 
With over 6,000 of our young men and women and hundreds of thousands of people in Afghanistan and Iraq dead, it makes me ask, “What’s war good for?”
They tell me Bryan (Scripsick’s son) died for my freedom. So with my freedom of speech I ask “Who gained and who lost?”
 
I heard of a military contractor charging $900 for $7 switches. Recently &60 billion dollars in spending were unaccounted for, but I think the switches were accounted for.
 
We all now pay $3.50 to $4.00 for fuel compared to $1.00 to $1.25 before the wars, because now there are different players in the Iraq oil fields.
 
No one in particular is responsible. Because it’s someone else’s fault. But if we are a democracy of the people is it our fault for not holding someone accountable?
If it’s taxpayer funded, what about the weapons of mass destruction?
 
Only if all Americans sons and daughters were to serve in the military instead of one in 200 would parents band together and say, “ No, you’re not using my children in wars for material wealth.”
 
John Scripsick
Wayne,OK