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CONTENTS 43

LIFE

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City: panhandling

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nEws city in OKC, said Dan Straughan, executive director of the Homeless Alliance. Straughan characterizes the voucher program — used by Bitsche and many others — as a pipeline for connecting panhandlers with shelter, healthcare, substance abuse treatment, mental healthcare services and a warm meal.

No simple fix Proposed changes to city panhandler ordinance raises concerns as a public input opportunity set for Tuesday. by Laura EastEs

Oklahoma city council meeting 8:30 a.m. tuesday city Hall third floor 200 n. walker ave. okc.gov

Ask anyone and they’ll name intersections where panhandlers stand in Oklahoma City. “You can’t drive anywhere in the metro area and stop at an intersection and see it free of panhandling,” said Ray Bitsche Jr., the executive director of Upward Transitions. “When I pull up to the intersection, there is the faith side of me that wants to roll down the window and give them something. But there is the other side of me that knows there is an abundance of resources in this community for those that are homeless.”

Seeking change

As the head of Upward Transitions, a nonprofit that serves people on the verge of homelessness, Bitsche is well informed of such resources in this community. Last year, the organization alone served 5,500 people through assistance programs such as rent, utilities and transportation. The services it provides might not be the best fit for all the panhandlers he encounters while waiting for a green light. That’s why he carries “Real

Change, Not Spare Change” vouchers, which provide a free bus ride to City Rescue Mission, Grace Rescue Mission or the Salvation Army. Launched in 2005, the program was started by the Homeless Alliance in its attempts to guide people to the services they need. “I’ve had some just wad them up and throw them down,” he said. “I’ve had other put them in their pockets.” His gesture is one way of working to eradicate panhandlers. The Oklahoma City Council is exploring another way through changes to an existing ordinance that would make it unlawful for people to solicit a donation, ride, employment or other business from a city street median. At the Sept. 15 meeting, the author of the ordinance, Councilwoman Meg Salyer, the Ward 6 representative, proposed adding and striking language to an existing motor vehicle and traffic ordinance. Her proposal would also eliminate exceptions for permits, which are typically obtained for soliciting charitable donations. Salyer believes the issue of panhandlers in city medians is a citywide problem and gets “phone calls five times a day concerning this issue.” She is not the only one. Citizens contact city government over safety concerns when some panhandlers move into busy streets to collect donations. Panhandlers also pose a threat to traffic flow, as some drivers slow down in

4 | september 23, 2015 | OklahOma Gazette

A man folds up a cardboard sign that reads “Homeless and hungry, please help, anything,” as he accepts a cash donation at the intersection of Northwest Expressway and Belle Isle Boulevard. efforts to hand out a couple of dollar bills, according to city documents. Salyer described OKC residents as generous in their desire to help those less fortunate, but she also believes in existing social service organizations providing aid to the poor and displaced. The ordinance change, which has been backed by six council members and Mayor Mick Cornett, is “one tiny piece of what we hope will be a larger effort to try to solve the problem and help those most needy,” Salyer said following the introduction of the ordinance at the meeting. “My hope is that it continues a dialogue and we continue to explore creative ideas and solutions. This isn’t perfect. It is just an idea. I think the public education piece is the most important piece we can do.” The public will get its chance to be heard on what many are calling the “panhandlers ordinance” at a public hearing during Tuesday’s council meeting, which begins at 8:30 a.m. The final hearing is set for the Oct. 13 council meeting. Creative solutions to affecting panhandling are already implemented

Straughan, like many others who work with the displaced, said not all panhandlers are homeless; however, enacting the ordinance would further hurt people in poverty. Panhandlers are likely to move into downtown, Bricktown and parking lots to interact with potential donors. “They are using their income from panhandling to make ends meet,” Straughan said. “If you take away that venue for getting income, we think the ordinance — if rigorously enforced — would increase homelessness in our community.” Under the proposed ordinance, a panhandler would be ticketed for soliciting and could face a fine with a maximum penalty of $500, in addition to court costs. Those cited can pay a $167 fine to the court clerk to avoid the Class A offense going before a judge. Panhandlers can claim indigence and request a hearing for a judge to determine the ability or inability to pay the fine. In the event that a panhandler is deemed free of the fine by a judge, they would still be out court costs. Failure to pay fines calls for a bench warrant. With a warrant or outstanding fees attached to a name, it becomes difficult to qualify for social services. At the Homeless Alliance, donors contribute to rent and utility payments. “None of them will pay outstanding fines,” Straughan said. “That in and of itself becomes a barrier for housing.” VOICE OKC, a coalition of nonprofits, congregations and other various groups, also finds trouble in the citations issued to panhandlers. Leader Suzanne Nichols believes those cited will not pay fines and likely not appear in court. That cycle will then repeat. “What happens the next time they are on the street?” asked Nichols. “(The ordinance) doesn’t talk about repeat offenses. It just doesn’t seem like the way to approach a problem like this.” VOICE OKC believes in an education campaign, which it approached city leaders about in June. It calls for a series of community meetings to educate the public, alternatives to giving cash, and programs curbing the practice. One organization that is curbing panhandler populations is two-year-old The Curbside Chronicle, a bimonthly magazine featuring stories written by

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Potential impact

displaced people and covering social issues relating to the issue. The Chronicle works to end panhandling by exchanging cardboard signs pleading for money for stacks of the magazine. Vendors — many former panhandlers — sell the latest issue from street medians and keep a portion from each sale. The bimonthly publication program has helped many local residents build sales skills, improve confidence and get back on their feet, said Rayna O’Connor, editor-in-chief. The organization’s success stories vary from vendors leaving The Chronicle for traditional employment to financing apartment rental. For vendors to achieve their goals, they must sell the $2 publication, often on street medians. The proposed ordinance threatens the success of the vendors and the future of the magazine, which was spurred by the national success of similar street publications. “Street papers have been very successful at eradicating panhandling in other communities,” O’Connor said. “This is a positive alternative and a legitimate form of employment.” She said, in Nashville, Tennessee, the community rallied behind its publication

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and circulation has soared. The result is a city with very few panhandlers as many former panhandlers became involved with the publication. “That is something we would love to see in Oklahoma City because panhandling is an issue,” she said. If the ordinance passes, The Curbside Chronicle could have to move to sidewalks. However, O’Connor said vendors would still face breaking the law. “The sides of the streets are problematic,” she said. “You are selling to the passenger side of the car instead of the driver. It requires moving into the street to make a sale. “There is already an ordinance that exists that if you step into the street there is a fine. If our vendors were on the side of the road, it would make it very difficult for them to make sales without breaking the ordinance.”

Public safety

The Oklahoma City Council is not

alone in exploring measures to reduce the number of panhandlers. Recently, some cities have enacted ordinances to fine drivers giving to panhandlers. In Charleston, South Carolina, a law was passed to keep panhandlers safe and traffic moving. Beginning last Friday, drivers are now required to pull into a permitted parking area to hand a panhandler a donation. If police see street exchanges, both the panhandler and driver are at risk of a maximum of 30 days in jail and a $1,092 fine. City leaders in Somersworth, New Hampshire, also passed a law calling for both panhandlers and drivers to be fined up to $500. The Oklahoma Department of above A woman sits on a milk crate as she panhandles from a city street median at the intersection of Classen Boulevard and Northwest Expressway.

Transportation recently posted signs in the medians of roadways maintained by the state that read: “State property, no trespassing.” The signs are an effort to curb the practice. At the council meeting, Ward 2 Councilman Ed Shadid suggested the city seek alternatives, including signage. He is the only council member who did not sign off on the proposed ordinance. “What would happen if you put up signs in the most plagued and beleaguered (medians) that would educate the populous and told them not to give? What would be the consequence of that?” Shadid asked during the meeting. “Pick your most beleaguered intersection and try to see if they work before you start assessing fines.” Many think educating the public on giving habits is a measure to minimize panhandler populations. Others believe supporting The Curbside Chronicle and social services organization is a step in the right direction. “It is a complex issue,” said Bitsche after naming areas at which he sees panhandlers, including ramps to the interstate and parking lots. “Is the real solution in an ordinance? If the ordinance is passed will it go away? Probably not.”

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… help parents prepare their kids with reading and math at home,” said Huerta. However, Super Saturdays goes beyond providing tips for homework. The workshops cover topics such as protecting children from predators, family health and wellness, child support and paternity issues, family relationship advice, life after high school for students with disabilities, resources for undocumented students and education advocacy.

You have to have parental involvement. — Bob Hammack

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Seated around a classroom table, a halfdozen moms share their best advice for getting in touch with teachers. The parent of a 12th-grader recommends joining elementary students on their morning walk. A John Marshall High School parent emails her children’s teachers because she works fulltime. The email responses keep her in the loop for upcoming assignments. One mother group texts with her daughter’s teacher about important classroom happenings. As parents offer different methods of communication, other parents nod and wait to give personal testimonies of developing relationships with teachers, which helped their children be successful in school.

6 | september 23, 2015 | OklahOma Gazette

Parents participate in a recent Super Saturdays event. These mothers, representing a variety of district schools, were just a small number of the parents that attended the first Super Saturday workshop at John Marshall High School on Sept. 12. The workshop, “The What, Why and How of Family Engagement for Student Success,” was facilitated by Teach for America’s Marissa Alberty, who addressed the impact of parent involvement in schools. She cited a 2010 University of Chicago study that found schools with strong parental involvement are 10 times more likely to improve substantially in math than schools with weak parental involvement. Leaders of the Oklahoma City Public Schools district, home to 46,000 students, understand the significance of parents in building successful schools. As part of the district’s five-year strategic plan called the Great Commitment, staff created professional development events with the goal of helping parents become active in their child’s education. The sessions take place this fall.

One-stop shop

Judith Huerta, a parent and community specialist with the district, said Super Saturdays was developed after collaborating with a Houston school district that conducts a similar event, and describes it as a one-stop shop for parents to find resources addressing family wellness and leadership, learning at home and college and career readiness. “The type of workshops included

Tierney Tinnin, the district’s communications and community relations officer, said a parent survey fueled the workshop topics. In response to parent’s seeking help with money, three financial institutions volunteered to offer workshops, one of which focuses on understanding credit scores. “If that is a barrier that is preventing parents from being engaged in their child’s education, we will seek community partners to offer that education,” Tinnin said. More than 30 organizations participate in the weekend work groups, including Gear Up, University of Central Oklahoma, Rose State College, Latinos without Borders, Oklahoma Parent Center and YWCA. Many provide parents with additional information and an opportunity to ask questions at the resource fair, which highlights services offered in health, education and social programs in Oklahoma City. More than 200 families registered to participate in the first Super Saturday, Huerta said. The district’s goal is to reach 1,200 families at the six events planned through November. As parents left the first seminar, staff collected surveys to assess the class and learn about obstacles parents face. The survey results could trigger the district to return Super Saturdays in the spring or create future parent events, Huerta said. School leaders urge parents to take part in Super Saturdays. While the district’s strategic plan calls for changes in curriculum to improve educational outcomes, parent involvement is a valuable component to the district’s success, said school board member Bob Hammack, who attended the first Saturday group. “For us to do our job on the school board, it takes good teachers, it takes talented principals, but it takes a third group and that’s parents,” he said. “You have to have parental involvement.”

p hoto p rovi de d

Active allies The Foundation for OKCPS connects donors with schools in need.

by brEtt DickErsOn

Often, individuals and groups want to contribute supplies to Oklahoma City schools but have difficulty finding reliable, well-established channels by which to do it. Partners in Action, a joint effort of Oklahoma City Public Schools (OKCPS) and the Foundation for Oklahoma City Public Schools, is a technology-based outreach program that can now connect the community with education-minded businesses throughout the metro. “These are our kids and our schools and our city,” said Mary Mélon, foundation president and CEO. “The goal here is to connect the community with the school so … there is a sense of ownership and responsibility whether they have children in these schools or not.”

This is our community and the schools are our community. — Ramiro Vasquez Padilla

The desire and intent has always been there, but the mechanism for making the connection was not, she said. Partners in Action celebrates its launch with a special event, 11 a.m. Thursday at St. Luke’s United Methodist Church, 222 NW 15th St. Already, more than 300 community donors, or partners, are ready to help over 46,000 OKCPS students. The schools are in desperate need and there isn’t just one

Ramiro Vasquez Padilla owns La Oaxaqueña Bakery in south Oklahoma City and has found numerous ways to support local schools. solution to the problem, said Ashleigh Arnall, community relations manager for OKCPS. “There are two huge components ... the community and the school site,” she said. The two entities are now rolling out EZ Partner, new software by Relatrix, as a key component to help make the connection between partners, donors and schools. The software has been used in several other districts with success, Arnall said. It allows school staff to upload their needs into the database while enabling potential donors in the community to search for needs that they can meet. It augments the existing affiliation between the foundation and Donors Choose, a nationwide database that allows donors and teachers to connect across state lines. Percy Kirk, regional manager for Cox Communications, explained why it is investing its time and money as a sponsor partner. “When we build strong schools, we build strong citizens who will stay in our community and forward us through the next generation of success in Oklahoma City,” he said. Kirk also chairs the foundation’s Partners in Action Committee. “We can all make a difference,” said Ramiro Vasquez Padilla, owner of La Oaxaqueña Bakery on OKC’s south side. “This is our community and the schools are our community.”

OklahOma Gazette | september 23, 2015 | 7

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Through combinations of past city planning initiatives, successful efforts with private industries and organizations, along with civic pride, downtown Oklahoma City has emerged as a word-class district. In efforts to continue the momentum and direction of past development policies, the City of Oklahoma City Planning department created a new policy to define the vision of downtown and guide its future growth. The Downtown Design Framework, a 70-page strategy document, was unveiled at last month’s city planning meeting. It guides land use, urban design, transportation and infrastructure in downtown areas. The planning department views it as a “developer’s guide” and a policy document that property owners, private industry leaders, architects, city leaders and design review commissions will turn to when deciding future projects. The framework, which is not a plan, is the first of its kind for the city. It does not call for specific projects, but instead defines downtown areas and districts with the ideal type of development, explained Ian Colgan, OKC’s assistant planning director. “This document is very much meant to be a message and a

partnership with the development community,” Colgan said during a special presentation with members of the Urban Land Oklahoma Institute on Sept. 14. “By it’s very nature, it is a message of what we want. Without that message, development is possible, but can be a lot harder when (developers) don’t understand what (the city) wants to happen in different areas of town.” The framework garnered the approval of the city’s planning commission and will appear before the nine-member Oklahoma City Council for a vote Tuesday. The framework links together past planning efforts, such as the Downtown Streetscape Master Plan and Project 180, with newer visions for downtown. It also intends to inspire decisions for downtown revitalization, clarify design standards and better integrates land use and transportation in development projects. Colgan expects Oklahoma City decision makers, those that serve on design review and planning commissions, to look to the framework before moving to approval on development plans. For successful implementation, the framework must be incorporated in all city planning decisions, which could pose a challenge with the volume of plans

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Ian Colgan on Sheridan Avenue in downtown Oklahoma City. submitted for review. “If you don’t consistently connect this type of document into the dayto-day work of the city and other organizations, you will always lose connection with a vision,” said Colgan when addressing challenges. “It is up to us collectively to always connect those decisions with a theoretically adopted plan.” The framework encompasses the downtown area beginning at the Oklahoma River and continuing to

This document is very much meant to be a message and a partnership with the development community. — Ian Colgan NW 13th Street. That area already consists of a range of development and the framework breaks the development into seven typologies, which include downtown core, high intensity mixed use, commercial corridor, general urban, special destination historic, special destination new and neighborhood. Each typologies focuses on types of structures, architecture styles as well as building height requirements. Street frontage, pedestrian and vehicular

traffic, and parking are also explored in specific typologies. To create the framework, the planning department and the Public Works Departments collaborated with Downtown Oklahoma City, Inc., the Alliance for Economic Development of Oklahoma City and the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce. A vote of approval by the council would push the plan into implementation. As an adopted document, the framework is a strategy for downtown, but not binding. However, the city planning office will use the framework to have conversations with developers, Colgan said. Feedback from various downtown property owners, developers, business leaders and design review commissions was characterized as positive by Colgan, who acknowledges aspects of the framework may need to be tweaked as downtown evolves. “This document is meant to be updated every year,” Colgan said. “It is meant to be reviewed. What did we get wrong? What did we get right?” In the mean time, the planning department is also tasked with updating the Downtown Streetscape Master Plan. The goal is to replace the plan with a Downtown Street Design Manual. Continued planning initiatives, coupled with support by private industries and groups, will keep Oklahoma City on the path to continuing innovation.

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ray Elliott

Lockup lockdown

For any jail facility to succeed, county and city leaders and the public must be involved in its planning. by Jack MOnEy

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Editor’s Note: This is the fifth installment of an ongoing series about Oklahoma County Jail, its development and history, ongoing structural issues and possible remedies. Visit okgazette.com for ongoing coverage. UN

“The politics of the issue are very difficult,” said Oklahoma County Commissioner Ray Vaughan as he described political arguments over whether or not voters should be asked to foot another sales tax to replace the county jail. Many argue the debate must go beyond bricks-and-mortar to include a new jail’s operations, its potential impact on the county’s justice system and on its surrounding community. Oklahoma County Chief District Court Judge Ray Elliott said he understands concerns county commissioners have about the current facility. He also worries about where a new one might be built. “Right now, the jail is right over there; I can open my window and see it. Sometimes, it takes three hours to get a prisoner from there to here,” he said. “If a new jail is built five miles from here, or 10 miles from here, are we, as a judiciary, going to have major problems?” Elliott said a core responsibility of the Oklahoma County Sheriff’s Office is to assist the court system by getting inmates before judges on time. “You see the potential problem? Do you think that was something the group sat around the table and discussed?” he said. “I suspect not, because they don’t have to deal with that.” Discussions must include judiciary,

10 | september 23, 2015 | OklahOma Gazette

district attorney and public defender representatives, he said. Each would add valid requisites as to how a new facility should be operated. Oklahoma County Chief Public Defender Bob Ravitz agreed. As a daily player in the local criminal justice system, Ravitz witnesses the intense manpower load required to run the current lockup. He also experiences frustration (as do some of his clients) at its lack of adequate booking facilities, attorney-client meeting space and medical and psychological services. “Most of these issues can’t be remedied, short of building at least an annex building,” Ravitz said. “But that only touches the surface of problems that we see on a daily basis.” He said Oklahoma County’s Conditional Bond Release Program works with his and the district attorney’s offices to release inmates while they await trial. The office is located within the county’s administrative building instead of the jail, where people could be more efficiently evaluated to determine if they qualify for the program. Ravitz also said there are not enough assistant district attorneys or public defenders for indigent clients who can’t afford legal representation. “We only have a finite number of lawyers. If you keep increasing the number of detainees – they arrested more people the first 20 days of August then they did the whole month of July – it just causes more problems,” he said. “My people are walking around with stacks of files, and don’t have enough time to see their clients to even work out a plea bargain with prosecutors.” He also believes any worthwhile discussion about jail’s future must include his office, the DA’s office, a judge, county commissioners,

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Professional Dog Training by K9 University Certified Trainers local police and community representatives. Russell M. Perry, editor and publisher of The Black Chronicle, senses the time may be right for that type of discussion to happen. Perry believes lack of input from the county’s political leadership at the time the current jail was built resulted in a chaotic rush to complete a building that ended up not serving the community as well as it should have. He said he sensed a similar urgency more than 10 years ago when Oklahoma County Sheriff John Whetsel convinced commissioners to call an election to ask voters to again fund the construction of a new facility. Now, however, he said the county’s elected leaders are open to considering and planning a lockup in a broader context that incorporates its role in the criminal justice system. “There is a lot to be said and done in our justice system when it comes to the image of police and our urban community, specifically African-American young men,” he said. Perry highlighted President Barack Obama’s recent visit to the federal prison in El Reno and his move to commute nonviolent crime sentences, and added that in Oklahoma County’s jail, the majority of inmates are nonwhite. “We need a criminal justice system that is balanced and fair when it comes to policing, and jailing and punishing,” he said. Oklahoma County Commissioner Brian Maughan was the only commissioner to appoint a non-county official to the latest jail task force. He, too, believes a broader discussion is needed. “Any hope of us getting anything passed is going to require a coalition to build public confidence,” he said. “We need blue-ribbon panel of citizens to talk about this issue.” Vaughn, who created the latest jail funding task force, said he favors considering the lockup’s future in a broader context, and added that proposal evaluations are becoming more global in nature as state law, county court system and Oklahoma County services are considered. “We know where we are headed, and working on it piece by piece, but it is really hard to do without any funding,” Vaughn said. Gov. Mary Fallin also formed a task force earlier this year to evaluate how the state deals with crime, including its criminal statutes. “They are looking at what state laws need to be amended to make sure we are using our resources correctly,” he said.

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OklahOma Gazette | september 23, 2015 | 11

CHiCKEN CKEN For love

We here at the Chicken-Fried News are always up for a good love story and appreciate those that end with “happily ever after.” Sadly, the tale of two inmates who found love in the state slammer reminds us of the ironic tragedy of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. Earlier this month, FBI agents met one of the “star-cross’d lovers,” a 19-year-old man, who found love while serving under a year at the Joseph Harp Correctional Center in Lexington. NewsOk.com reports Demetrious Scott Nero was separated from his “significant other” when he was released on Aug. 21. We can’t even begin to imagine the misery the young Romeo experienced as he was back in custody just three days after release. Nero admitted to agents that he robbed a bank in hopes of going back to the state jail. Sounds foolproof, right? Nero seemed to think so, but he forgot robbing a bank is a federal crime – one that carries with it federal charges and federal punishment.

FRiED NEWS As a result, Nero is likely to end up in the federal pen. Like Shakespeare’s tale, Nero did it for love, but it ended in misfortune.

We’re No. 49!

Oklahoma ranks almost last (sorry about you, Kentucky), when it comes to emotional and physical well-being, according to a new study from financial social media company WalletHub. When considering overall emotional health, job satisfaction, recreational activity, volunteerism, sleep rates and more than a dozen other quality-of-life factors across the 50 states and District of Columbia, the Sooner State floats up a few notches to No. 45. Arkansas, Tennessee, Mississippi, Kentucky, Alabama and West Virginia fill out the bottom of the barrel. Believe it or not (we’re not sure why we’re so scrupulous about these findings), Utah ranked No. 1, followed by Minnesota, Hawaii, Colorado and North Dakota, the report shows. Sigh.

12 | SEPTEMBER 23, 2015 | OKLAHOMA GAZETTE

We imagined that most people who live north of us barricade themselves indoors in winter months, surf the ’net, date exclusively online and eat venison jerky from oversized tubs. Boy, were we shocked when we looked in the mirror.

Calling dibs

It is possible that Oklahoma City might soon celebrate Native American history and culture instead of a day when some Italian explorer first set foot on their land. “This is a good step in telling the truth about Columbus and his legacy and also honoring the first inhabitants of this land,” Choctaw Nation member Sarah AdamsCornell told Red Dirt Report. “To form a holiday around someone who committed atrocities — murder, rape, mutilation — it’s something that needs to be addressed.” More than a dozen Native American activists attended last week’s City Council meeting to propose Indigenous Peoples’ Day on the second Monday in October, which would relegate Columbus Day to history. “We are talking about genocide,” she said. Councilman Ed Shadid voiced his

support for the move, telling the website: “Even for that time he was off the charts when it came to violence.” The issue is expected to again be addressed at Tuesday’s council meeting.

Logo letdown

This month, Grantland released its definitive list of worst NBA logos, and Oklahoma City Thunder bottomed out at No. 30. The boxy logo features “OKC” across a shield-like, abstract basketball and swaths of orange and blue. “It might be the best D-League logo ever made,” Tom O’Grady, told Grantland. He was the association’s first creative director, and now works for Chicago-based Gameplan Creative. The logo was blasted for its vagueness, neither embracing the imagery of its mascot bison nor lightning or storms. “We didn’t feel like having professional players represented by [an] animal was where we wanted to be,” Brian Byrnes, the Thunder’s senior VP of sales and marketing, told the blog. That won’t stop Nike from mounting a full-court press to revamp its look once

it replaces Adidas as the league’s “apparel partner” in 2017. The Chicago Bulls earned the No. 1 slot. Grantland said the logo is “perfect, right down to the red on the tips of the horns, which suggests that this mean motherfucker just gored some poor sap.” Perhaps OKC’s logo could feature a slain bull.

Okie doke

“Okie” was once a word used to describe a lot of things, namely “thieving migrant workers that come to take jobs, screw our women and murder our children,” or something to that effect. Esther Cepeda’s syndicated column, which ran on ChicoER.com, examined the term, quoting John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath, to explain that current anti-immigrant angst is stoked by economic fears, not racism. Cepeda likened the current hostility toward Hispanic immigrants to the views on Okies during the Great Depression.

“Whites being treated as if they were nonwhite,” Cepeda quoted literature professor William Conlogue. Cepeda said that fear and hatred seem to be cyclical and in tandem with the economy. Luckily for everyone, except maybe Donald Trump, Cepeda claimed that anti-immigrant sentiment will “ebb, as it always does, when the economy finds itself on more stable ground” and — ahem — when oil prices start to climb back up.

Clucking mad

Chicken is very popular. We have boneless, skinless breasts for dieters, eggs for breakfast, wings for football games, nuggets for children and fried chickens for people who enjoy being happy. It seems the only way we don’t like our chickens is alive, at least within city boundaries.

But 14-year-old Raelin Russell wants to change that. As Oklahoma County’s 4-H Club poultry grand champion, she’d like to see urban chickens in someplace more than just grocery stores, which is why she ended up addressing the Oklahoma City City Council on Sept. 15. Her chickens had to be sent away after she received notice from the city that her birds had run afoul of the law. “I’m just hoping that they change it and update it to where they can just be in the city even if there are some regulations,” she said to KWTV. “I just hope that they realize that a chicken isn’t just a chicken.” She’s right. Poultry can be pets, livestock, soup stock, teaching tools and — maybe this is why there’s a controversy — alarm clocks for weary neighbors. Which means urban chickens are an issue this city can no longer sleep on.

Get outta here

Okay, but this time for realsies, guys. Oklahoma County district judge Thomas Price said the Ten Commandments

monument on state Capitol grounds really, truly, actually, sincerely and superduper-especially has to be removed within 30 days. State officials have until Oct. 12 to take down the 6-foot-tall granite monument, despite Attorney General Scott Pruitt’s blatant panderi — er, we mean allegations that removing the Christian symbol would express an “unconstitutional hostility” toward religion. What will happen if the monument isn’t removed by the deadline? Judge Price’s office said it didn’t have that information. Maybe Pruitt can come up with a fitting punishment for himself. In the meantime, the AG is already calling for the state Legislature to put a measure removing Article II, Section 5 of the Oklahoma Constitution on the ballot for the people to decide. While we’re at it, maybe we can ban Sharia law again, so long as we’re looking for new ways to get the state sued.

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COMMENTARY

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Learning from Ahmed Mohamed BY ADAM SOLTANI

Oklahoma, much like Texas, is an environment ripe for opportunities to let Islamophobia get out of control if we don’t learn from the mistakes of others. Sept. 14, Ahmed Mohamed, a 14-year-old ninth grader, was arrested at MacArthur High School in Irving, Texas, for bringing to school a clock he built himself. The teen was accused of having what school officials and police described as a “hoax bomb,” and he was led out of school in handcuffs. Although police decided they will not charge Mohamed and he has received support from social media (#IStandWithAhmed was the toptrending Twitter topic in the days following his arrest), celebrities and academics, his arrest points to a bigger problem plaguing our state and country. I have written and spoken about the growing concern of Islamophobia

in Oklahoma countless times over the past three years. However, I have not been without my critics, who claim our concerns are overstated. We have even heard fellow Oklahomans attempt to advise us by mentioning we “should not be overly sensitive” and that this is something “all minority groups must go through in our country.” We can pretend all we want that Islamophobia in Oklahoma is not a real problem, but the xenophobic environment that led to Mohamed’s arrest in Texas exists in our state and if we are not careful, we have the potential to commit the same sin against one of our young people. In the last year, this state’s Muslim community has witnessed the following: >> verbal attacks from Rep. John Bennett, who called Islam a “cancer that needs to be cut out of our country.” >> an unprecedented number of hate

mail, calls and death threats following the tragic incident at Vaughan Foods in Moore, which the Muslim community swiftly and vehemently condemned. >> several anti-Muslim town hall meetings with the most notable one taking place at Edmond’s Fairview Baptist Church and headed by fear-mongering pastor Paul Blair >> coming face-to-face with hatred and animosity as Oklahoma Muslims were met with protestors at their first Capitol Day >> in the weeks before the third time a proposed Edmond Mosque expansion would go before the City Council, the religious center was vandalized with bacon And, most recently, a gun range in Oktaha followed the example of several others around the country and publicly banned Muslims from their business. As a community, we should be

Opinions expressed on the commentary page, in letters to the editor and elsewhere in this newspaper are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of ownership or management.

outraged that we allow this hatred to happen to a people that consider Oklahoma home. We should stand in support of one another in the way people have stood with Ahmed Mohamed before we have to deal with a young Muslim being arrested for expressing a curious, creative and inventive spirit. The interfaith community and social justice organizations have diligently supported this state’s minority groups, but unless the majority of the public does the same, it will never be enough. Mohamed has quickly become a hero for many Muslims in Oklahoma and around the country. Let us allow him to be a hero not only for Muslin rights, but let the lessons we learn drive us towards embracing diversity, pluralism and that which others tell us we must fear. Adam Soltani is the executive director of the Oklahoma chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

LETTERS Oklahoma Gazette provides an open forum for the discussion of all points of view in its Letters to the Editor section. The Gazette reserves the right to edit letters for length and clarity. Letters can be mailed, faxed, emailed to jchancellor@ okgazette.com or sent online at okgazette. com. Include a city of residence and contact number for verification. No Hillary

Hillary, in an interview with Andrea Mitchell regarding her multiple email accounts … (“Hillary Clinton Tells NBC News She is ‘Sorry’ for Email Confusion,” Sept. 4, nbcnews.com) “At the end of the day I am sorry that this has been confusing to people and has raised a lot of questions but there are answers to all these questions.” “I certainly wish that I had made a different choice and I know why the American people have questions about it.” “I take responsibility. I should have had two accounts, one for personal and one for work-related.” Work-related!? She sounds like she was working at Starbucks. She was the Secretary of the United States. “Classified” or not, is not the question. It appears certain that email of the United States was being housed and running through a server shared by

Hillary, husband Bill, daughter Chelsea (one can imagine friends of Chelsea as well), and former aides of Hillary. If you doubt the security of this server, the server that was wiped before being turned over to the FBI, an intelligence source states they are confident the wiped server can be restored because whoever did the wiping may “not be a very good IT guy.” Let’s be honest, the “not very good IT guy” is most likely the guy who plans on invoking his Fifth Amendment privilege when he is questioned by Congress. I take better care, employ better security, of my employers email than she did of our countries email, of our country’s security. She understands why we have questions. What she doesn’t understand is why people question the self-serving manner in which she lives her life. She put us all at greater risk than the law intended, or in my opinion, the law allowed. She should not be president. — Frank Jeldy Oklahoma City Sad state

The $120 million bond to repair the state capitol is woefully inadequate. Press reports and TV newscasts show an alarming and ever-growing series of structural, electrical and plumbing problems which compromise the health

14 | SEPTEMBER 23, 2015 | OKLAHOMA GAZETTE

and safety of elected officials, state employees and visitors. The magnitude of the disrepair is shocking and inexcusable. Proper maintenance and timely repairs would have avoided the current sad situation. With pieces of concrete falling through the basement ceiling, in addition to chunks of material from the outside walls falling on the grounds surrounding the building, it is a miracle that nobody was injured or killed. The legal costs of any such accident could be catastrophic. Regular inspection of all our public buildings should be instituted, and annual reports of needed repairs, their relative urgency and costs estimates should be made public and submitted to the legislature for inclusion in the state budget. The current dismal stewardship of our

state buildings is unacceptable. — Raoul Carubelli Oklahoma City Praiseworthy

I read the Gazette every week and find it to be the most important news source in the OKC area. Mr. Aaron’s commentary on Aug. 12 (“Income inequality at all-time high”) is a perfect example of why I love this paper. He succinctly summed up what is likely to become the state’s largest challenge in the future, and why we are so far behind our peers. Well Done! Please pass along my best to him, and encourage him to keep up the good work. — Brad Croy Oklahoma City

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s October creeps ever closer, legends — true and false — are coming out of the woodwork to scare Oklahoma City residents. The Skirvin Ghost. The Gatewood Hatchet House. And now, the Lost Lake Terror. “We can’t find any records of it, but there are stories,” said Bill Smith, who is part of a team developing KATT’s Haunted Forest attraction on the north end of the Lost Lake Amphitheater & Water Park, 3501 NE 10th St. “In 1915, a surveying team was hired to stay out here and map the area.” All through the summer, the group checked in regularly, but by September their reports became erratic and in October suddenly stopped, Smith said. Legends tend to rise up around disappearances, he said. It’s just as likely the team found other work and left or got into an argument and split up. “People didn’t keep great records back then,” Smith said. “We haven’t found any skeletons on the property, at least.” Still, when he announced he was working with attraction designer Travis Brown to create a month-long haunted forest event, his friends told him he was tempting fate. “One guy said he’d grown up hearing about a group of campers traveling cross-country in the ’60s who stopped there,” Smith said. “Apparently it was quite the local ghost story.” Travis Brown, who worked with the Hellzapoppin Circus Sideshow Revue, said he’s used to working in haunted areas. While touring, they spent a few nights in a Civil War-era hospital where “nobody had stayed in a hundred years.” “We encountered several unexplained phenomena — things some folks might call paranormal activity. I had my box cutter next to my sleeping bag as I went to bed one night and it was gone in the morning, just disappeared. Things like that continued to happen. I admit, even I was a little spooked.” Growing up in Enid, he also spent time building sets and working backstage with his dad at the Gaslight Theatre — home of a rumored hanging death — and working on independent horror movies, including Night of the Pig. Whether or not this area is cursed is a matter of opinion, Brown said. Strange occurrences continue to happen on the property, reinforcing the conviction of many that the Lost Lake area is haunted. “I know they lost an $80,000 excavator in the water,” he said. “That’s no joke.” The giant machine can be easily seen on the water, its arm reaching high in the air. Smith said as much as he’d love the publicity, that’s too expensive an accident to stage just for kicks. Whatever did or didn’t happen to visitors in the past, Smith said he’s sure the Halloween event can scare up some screams from guests on its own. “Travis and his team have designed some great attractions out here. We joked about selling adult diapers out front to all the people who might lose control inside,” he said. “And if somebody happens to go missing again, then maybe we’ll know if the ‘Lost Lake Terror’ is more than just a story.”

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BOOKS Justin Wren Book Signing, in a tale that screams Academy Award for best film, Justin Wren was an MMA fighter before finding God and becoming a missionary for Christ; join him for a signing of his book, Fight for the Forgotten: How a Mixed Martial Artist Stopped Fighting for Himself and Started Fighting for Others, 6 p.m., Sept. 24. Best of Books, 1313 E. Danforth Road, Edmond, 3409202, bestofbooksedmond.com. THU Melissa DeCarlo Book Signing, Mattie Wallace is flat broke and pregnant with nowhere to go but up when she learns new information about her late alcoholic mother that makes her question where it all went wrong; join author Melissa DeCarlo for a signing of her mysterious and dramatic novel, The Art of Crash Landing, 3 p.m., Sept. 26. Full Circle Bookstore, 1900 Northwest Expressway, 842-2900, fullcirclebooks.com. SAT Story Time With Julie, kid friendly story time with the latest children’s books, 10:15 -11 a.m., Dec. 27. Full Circle Bookstore, 1900 Northwest Expressway, 842-2900, fullcirclebooks.com. SAT

FILM Tokyo Twilight, (1957, Japan, dir. Yasujiro Ozu) set amid a snowy, nocturnal Tokyo, this piercing melodrama stars Setsuko Hara (unhappily married this time) and Ineko Arima, as her college-student younger sister in this far darker work, begun after the conclusion of the U.S. occupation of Japan, 8 p.m., Sept. 24. Oklahoma City Museum of Art, 415 Couch Drive, 236-3100, okcmoa. com. THU The Manhattan Short Film Festival, this is not a touring festival; it is an instantaneous celebration that occurs simultaneously across the globe, bringing great films to great venues and allowing the audiences to select their favorites, 8 p.m., Sept. 25; 5:30 & 8 p.m., Sept. 26; 2 & 5:30 p.m., Sept. 27 Oklahoma City Museum of Art, 415 Couch Drive, 236-3100, okcmoa.com. FRI-SUN

HAPPENINGS Oklahoma State Fair, wrap your mouth and mind around new, heart-stopping bacon-wrapped, deepfried culinary creations, experience the spinningest, swingingest, upside-downingest carnival rides and catch the carnies with a nice, relaxing game of state fair bingo, all day through Sept. 27. Oklahoma State Fair Park, 3221 Great Plains Walk. THU-WED Jewelry Making Demo, join Sheridan Conrad, an Art Moves artist, for a jewelry making demo at the Oklahoma Expo Hall at the Oklahoma State Fair, and check out wonderful jewelry booths on your way, noon, Sept. 25. Oklahoma State Fairgrounds, 3001 General Pershing Blvd., 948-6700, okstatefair.com. FRI

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DOWNTOWN

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Day Out with Thomas: The Celebration Tour 2015 Thomas the Tank Engine stops at Oklahoma Railway Museum Friday-Sunday for themed events for little engineers and their families. Now in its 20th year, the tour makes 42 stops across the U.S. and Canada. Activities feature train rides, crafts, mini golf, model trains, art, storytelling and more. It runs Friday-Sunday and Oct. 2-4 at 3400 NE Grand Blvd. Tickets are $16-$18. Visit oklahomarailwaymuseum.org or call 424-8222.

Friday-Sunday, ongoing

ZooBrew VII, this is an opportunity to get downright wild and wooly at the Oklahoma City Zoo; come taste more than 30 beers from local breweries and distributors and enjoy appetizers, live music and a silent auction, 7 p.m., Sept. 25. Oklahoma City Zoo, 2000 Remington Pl. FRI

Museum Day Live, enjoy the sights at Oklahoma History Museum for free as part of Smithsonian Magazine’s 11th Museum Day Live; see the exhibits and learn about your state's history by downloading your ticket at smithsonianmag.com/museumday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Sept. 26. Oklahoma History Center, 800 Nazih Zuhdi Drive, 521-2491, okhistory.org/historycenter. SAT

Drop-In Art, pay homage to the late great Faberge himself by creating your own versions of his decadent and intricate jeweled egg designs; as a safety disclaimer the Gazette reminds its readers that jeweled egg sculptures should never be scrambled, fried, poached or eaten, 1 p.m., Sept. 26. Oklahoma City Museum of Art, 415 Couch Drive, 236-3100, okcmoa.com. SAT

Miniature Gardens Workshop, because the evolution of culture is completely inexplicable, succulent dishes and terrariums are all the rage in the hipster gardening community; join TLC Garden Centers to learn how to create and care for your own minigarden, 2 p.m., Sept. 27. TLC Garden Center, 105 W. Memorial Road. SUN

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Coaches Clinic

16 | SEPTEMBER 23, 2015 | OKLAHOMA GAZETTE

Oklahoma City Thunder coaches join together for its 2015 Coaches Clinic, 8 a.m. Saturday at Chesapeake Energy Arena, 100 W. Reno Ave. Professionals from across the U.S., including Thunder head coach Billy Donovan, lead workshops about personnel maximization, competitive guidance, drills and player performance, health, coaching roles and more. Registration is $25 and includes breakfast. Visit nba.com/thunder/ coachesclinic.

Saturday

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LIKE US!

Julius Caesar Oklahoma Shakespeare in the Park presents its student matinee series, 10:30 a.m. Tuesday and Wednesday, Sept. 30, at Oklahoma City Community College Performing Arts Center, 7777 S. May Ave. Julius Caesar is the final production of the company’s season. Tickets are $8. Students and teachers are admitted free. Teachers can download study guides and learn more at oklahomashakespeare.com and by calling 235-3700.

Tuesday-Wednesday, Sept. 30

Pay right!

Free Zen Meditation Class, find the zenith of zen in this free meditation and Buddhist teachings class offered every week until the end of November; the monastery is supported entirely by the generous donations of its students, 10 a.m.-noon & 7-9 p.m., Sep. 8. Buddha Mind Monastery, 5800 S. Anderson Road. TUE

FOOD Saturday Cooking Class, summer is barely over, but if you already miss those hot Hawaiian luaus, then Gourmet Grille has good news; learn how to take a little island with you into those slightly cooler nights with teriyaki pineapple porkchops, 1 p.m., Sept. 26. Buy For Less, 3501 Northwest Expressway, 946-6342, buyforlessok.com. SAT Fall Favorites Taste Fair, join Whole Foods to find out why there’s more to fall flavor than pumpkin spice at this free tasting fair, 1 p.m., Sept. 26. Whole Foods Market, 6001 N. Western, 879-3500, wholefoodsmarket.com. SAT Uptown Cooking Class, it’s breakfast and dessert and sweeter and spicier than its bacon-topped, deep-fried, frosting-laden State Fair counterpart; join Uptown Grocery to learn how to bake and take home your own cinnamon rolls, 10 a.m., Sept. 26. Uptown Grocery Co., 1230 W. Covell Road, Edmond, 509-2700, uptowngroceryco.com. SAT Uptown Farmers Market, established to engage communities, promote sustainability and provide a family-friendly atmosphere; vendors and artisans sell goods alongside family-friendly activities, live music, workshops and other activities, 11 a.m.-4 p.m., Uptown 23rd Farmers Market, Walker Avenue & 23rd Street, uptown23rd.com/farmers-market/. SUN

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Fresh stART Artists experiencing homelessness present Fresh stART noon-8 p.m. Friday at Homeless Alliance, 1724 NW Fourth St. The show is a program of the alliance and City Care, and includes mixed media, acrylic, colored pencil, collage and watercolor. Admission is free, and sale proceeds are split 90-10 between the artist and the Fresh stART studio. Visit homelessalliance.org or call 415-8410.

Friday

YOUTH Crafts for Kids, for those too allergic to enjoy actual fall foliage, luckily there are construction paper pieces and pipe cleaners; trip and tumble face-first into fall by making adorable autumn themed crowns out of everyday craft supplies, 11 a.m., Sept. 26. Lakeshore Learning Store, 6300 N. May Ave., 858-8778, lakeshorelearning.com. SAT The Tortoise and the Hare, if your immediate response to this classic fable with a humorous twist is “I like turtles,” then you will receive a firm slap on the wrist, because tortoises live exclusively on land while turtles spend most or all of their time in the water, 11 a.m., Sept. 25; 2 p.m., Sept. 26 & 27. Oklahoma Children’s Theatre, 2501 N. Blackwelder Ave., 606-7003, oklahomachildrenstheatre.org. FRI-SUN Art Adventures, children can experience the world of art through stories and projects in this event series; this week’s story is Little Blue Truck by Alice Schertle, 10:30 A.M., Sep. 29. Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art, 555 Elm Ave., Norman, 325-3272, ou.edu/fjjma. TUE Grossology: The (Impolite) Science of the Human Body, exhibit based on the best-selling book by Sylvia Branzei; lets visitors see the good, bad and ugly facts about the human body from runny noses to body odor and more. Science Museum Oklahoma, 2100 NE 52nd St., 602-6664, sciencemuseumok.org.

PERFORMING ARTS Jason Russell, growing up watching the likes of Eddie Murphy, Richard Pryor and Jim Carrey, Jason Russell has developed a highly physical comedy style that's also good, clean fun, 8 p.m., Sept. 23 & 24; 8 & 10:30 p.m., Sept. 25 & 26. Loony Bin Comedy Club, 8503 N. Rockwell Ave., 239-4242, loonybincomedy.com. WED-SAT

18 | SEPTEMBER 23, 2015 | OKLAHOMA GAZETTE

Acts of War: Three One-Act Operas, join University Theatre and School of Music at the University of Oklahoma for a unique trio of operettas with tones ranging from humorous to tragic, and focuses on aspects of a nearly universal theme: war, 8 p.m., Sept. 24-26; 2 p.m., Sept. 27. Reynolds Performing Arts Center, 560 Parrington Oval, Norman. THU-SUN Julius Caesar, when his best friend returns from war, Brutus is faced with a difficult decision: Should he fail his country by allowing Caesar to continue his dictatorial reign, or should he do what is best for the state by betraying his friend and stabing Caesar; Shakespeare in the Park performs this classic, 8 p.m., Sept. 24-26. Myriad Botanical Gardens, 301 W. Reno Ave., 445-7080, oklahomacitybotanicalgardens.com/events. THU-SAT Peter and the Starcatcher, based on the novel of the same name, this play follows a young, neglected orphan who goes on to become Peter Pan; Peter and his mysterious friend Molly go on a quest to protect a secret and save the world, 8 p.m., Sept. 25, 2 p.m. & 8 p.m., Sept. 26, 2 p.m., Sept. 27. The Burg Theater, 2501 N. Blackwelder Ave. FRI-SUN Rickey Shaw Presents: Open MIC, watch brave comedians, singers, performers and poets fight to the death for your attention, affection and a top prize of $100; sign up begins at 9:30, 10:30 p.m. show, Aug. 14. Kangs Asian Bistro, 6600 Olie Street. FRI The Dinner Detective, this improvised, interactive murder mystery dinner show features just another ordinary dinner, with one exception: Someone is guilty of murder and just might be sitting across from you, 6 p.m., Sept. 26. Sheraton Hotel, 1 N. Broadway Ave, 2352780, sheratonokc.com. SAT Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead, the Peanuts gang goes Perks of Being a Wallflower in this unauthorized dramatic parody of Charlie Brown and his pals as grownups and dealing with sexuality, drugs and depression, 8 p.m., Sept. 25 & 26. Carpenter Square Theatre, 806 W. Main St., 232-6500, carpentersquare. com. FRI-SAT

ACTIVE Adult Bubble Soccer, if you haven’t always wanted to play soccer while wearing a giant inflatable bubble, then you haven’t been using your imagination; OKC Parks and Recreation invites you to do that every Wednesday this fall, 6 p.m., Sept. 16 & 23. Foster Recreation Center, 614 NE Fourth St. WED NFL Youth Skills Competition, if you want to find out if you have what it takes to play with the pros, then head to Yukon for the Punt, Pass & Kick competition; free and open to girls and boys ages 6-15, 6 p.m., Sept. 25. Yukon High School Practice Field, 1777 S. Yukon Parkway, Yukon. FRI Cardio Pilates, if you are one of those rare magical beings who doesn’t feel waves of nausea just hearing the words “cardio” and “pilates” next to each other (unlike a certain blue-haired Gazette staffer with who shall remain nameless) then bring your unicorn self down for a fun and high-energy exercise class, 8:30 a.m., Sept. 26. INTEGRIS Fitness Center, 5520 N. Independence Ave. SAT SWOSU Disc Dawg Fundraiser Tournament, come support your favorite bros as they raise money for their competition fund; participants can sign up in one of four divisions, and entry includes a catered barbecue lunch, 8 a.m., Sept. 27. Rader Park, 3500 Lyle Road, Weatherford. SUN

VISUAL ARTS Art Awakening, this show highlights the artistic talents of adults living with mental illness, trauma and addiction; this September, NorthCare hosts its third Art Awakening Show, which is free and open to the public, 5:30-8 p.m., Sept. 25. NorthCare, 1140 N. Hudson Ave. FRI Bert Seabourn: American Expressionist, a full-time painter since 1978, Seabourn brings a unique approach to color and line in his postmodern expressionist works; of Cherokee descent himself, Seabourn often uses Native subjects and imagery. Gaylord-Pickens Oklahoma Heritage Museum, 1400 Classen Drive, 235-4458, oklahomaheritage.com.

Dislocated Histories, in this eclectic collection of David Crismon, Joseph Mills and Jose Rodriguez’s urban photography and mixed media masterpieces, images from the past have been altered to symbolize the bias and human element present in any historical reproduction or retelling. JRB Art at The Elms, 2810 N. Walker Ave., 528-6336, jrbartgallery.com. Dylan Bradway, Bradway’s unique Oklahoma sunsetinspired look is achieved through a variety of waterbased media; his works often feature abstract characters ranging from the curious to the unsettling. DNA Galleries, 1709 NW 16th St., 525-3499, dnagalleries.com. Faberge: Jeweler to the Tsars, exhibit featuring more than 230 rare and storied treasures created by the House of Faberge; showcasing Peter Carl Faberge’s fine craftsmanship in pieces of jewelry and adornments once belonging to the Russian Imperial family. Oklahoma City Museum of Art, 415 Couch Drive, 236-3100, okcmoa.com. Just Watercolors, watercolor painting can be difficult, demanding and unforgiving, but that hasn’t discouraged Jim Pourtorkan, a watercolor artist whose love of the medium shows in his bright, dreamy and skillfully painted works depicting flowers, houses, animals, and more. Edmond Library, 10 S. Boulevard St., Edmond, 341-9282, metrolibrary.org. Kay Smith & Jane White Exhibit, this month’s featured artists include Kay Smith, a watercolor and oil painter who takes joy in creating contemporary impressionist works that feature bright colors and a dreamy quality in both still life and with living models and animals. The Studio Gallery, 2642 W. Britton, 752-2642, thestudiogallery.org. Ode To Art, this exhibit features a collection of 2-D works inspired by music, as well as many new glass works in various color schemes. Jann Jeffrey Gallery, 3018 Paseo St., 607-0406. Robert Peterson Exhibit, both realist and surrealist, Oklahoma painter Robert Peterson immortalizes media, sports and music figures in brighter-than-life portraits; in his short time as an artist, Peterson has garnered worldwide fandom with his supernatural and highly detailed depictions of pop culture icons. 50 Penn Place Gallery, 1900 Northwest Expressway, Suite 113-R, 8485567, 50pennplacegallery.com.

PROVIDED

Cale Chadwick, Cale Chadwick creates pieces using her drawing, painting and photography skills and organic elements found throughout the original Chickasaw allotment that her family still resides on, plays a role in her artwork. Exhibit C, 1 E. Sheridan Ave., Ste. 100, 7678900, exhibitcgallery.com.

Color Outside the Lines, dive into the colorful magical pastel television test screen that is Rita Ortloff’s art; occasionally featuring animals and always featuring imagination. In Your Eye Gallery, 3005 Paseo #A.

Country Festival This festival, hosted by Eden Mennonite Church, 21905 E. 600 Road in Inola, kicks off 7 a.m. Saturday with a 30-mile bike ride through Amish country, followed by a pancake and sausage breakfast, bake sale and silent auction, as well as youth activities, demonstrations on making apple butter and food booths selling everything from kettle corn to homemade ice cream. Admission is free. Visit edenmennonite.com or call 918-543-2739.

Saturday

For OKG music picks see page 46

OKLAHOMA GAZETTE | SEPTEMBER 23, 2015 | 19

WE SELL BOTTLES, EVEN ON

SUNDAY!

Owner, Sarah Edwards

712 N BROADWAY WED 11AM-7PM 20 | SEPTEMBER 23, 2015 | OKLAHOMA GAZETTE

405.232.WINE (9463) THURS-SAT 11AM-11PM

WEWOKC.COM SUN 1PM-7PM

LIFE FOOD & DRINK The Mont 1300 Classen Blvd., Norman | 329-3330 | themont.com WHAT WORKS: Queso, Swirl, Cuban WHAT NEEDS WORK: The black bean burrito needs a flavor boost. TIP: A fun time to go is on game days. A smart time to go is any other time.

Cuban sandwich

Full Mont-y

PHOTOS BY GARETT FIS BEC K

Swirl cocktail

For anybody but Texas fans, this Norman staple offers plenty of charms. Queso at The Mont in Norman.

BY GREG ELWELL

During lunch at a doomed Mexican restaurant on 23rd Street a few years back, my friend coined the term “cheese jelly” to describe the yellow goo that some restaurants regrettably call “queso.” As that substance has become de rigeur, so, too, has people’s excitement grown for “the good queso.” You know: the kind with cheese in it. For me, not being cheese jelly isn’t enough to qualify as good. Queso made with real cheese can still be greasy, gluey and flavorless. So when people started telling me I had to get the queso at The Mont, 1300 Classen Blvd. in Norman, my enthusiasm was subdued. “Sure it’s good,” I sarcastically thought to myself. “What wouldn’t a bunch of drunk Sooners on game day think was good?” I’ll give you the answer to that at the end of the review. As for the queso ... yeah. That is good. At $6.99, the chili con queso is a lot more expensive than free cheese jelly, but a very fair price to pay for a substance you actually want on your

tongue. Like cheese and minced jalapeños and crumbled sausage. You know: food. I wasn’t particularly enamored with the black bean burrito (a regularly recurring special), but mostly it suffered by comparison to everything else. It was OK, but with so many other options on the menu, OK isn’t OK. Not when you could have the Cuban sandwich for $7.99, a play on the classic lunch of cigar rollers and Scarfaces. Here, pulled pork takes the place of roasted pork, and is married to smoked ham in porcine fandango. Traditional Swiss cheese, pickles and spicy brown mustard are joined by sweet, grilled onions on a toasted roll. This is a good sandwich. A bit messy, as pulled

Macaroni and cheese

As a patriot, I encourage you to get the macaroni and cheese.

pork tends to fall apart, but a really solid choice. If I had one wish, though, I would wish for immortality. But if I had several more wishes, after ending poverty and disease and hate and giving Firefly unlimited seasons on TV, would be that the entire sandwich be pressed. A Cuban is uniquely suited to the panini treatment, allowing the cheese and pickle to fuse with the ham and pork. You are allowed to choose your side dishes at The Mont, because this is America. And as a patriot, I encourage you to get the macaroni and cheese. “Didn’t I just eat queso?” you are probably wondering. “Yes. Are you complaining about too much cheese? Maybe it’s you who should be proving your devotion to this great country!”

Don’t be a traitor to the U.S. of A. Just eat some of this ridiculously creamy and intensely cheesy macaroni. It’s made with a blend of cheddar and Monterrey Jack and it’s a completely different creature from the queso, though I’d have been fine with just queso over pasta, honestly. As I am not allowed to charge drinks to Oklahoma Gazette and its parent company, Tierra Media Group, let me tell you that this next one was my pleasure and I’m glad to take one for the team. The Swirl is a mix of frozen margarita and sangria. They are powerful, but hidden behind a blend of sweetness, tartness and ice. If your friend was going to meet you at the game “right after I get a Swirl at The Mont,” then you can go ahead and find someone else to sit there. He or she is sitting three deep on the patio, ordering another drink and blissfully unaware that the game is even happening. And speaking of “the game,” I can now tell you what doesn’t taste good to a bunch of drunk Sooners on game day: Any single point scored by the Longhorns, who are literally the worst beings on earth or something. Boo, pointy cows! Booooooo!

OKLAHOMA GAZETTE | SEPTEMBER 23, 2015 | 21

ARTonTAP returns Oct. 2 for its 12th year at Oklahoma City Museum of Art.

Scarfing artists ARE YOU FEELING CREATIVE? Oklahoma Gazette is looking for a GRAPHIC DESIGNER with one or more of these demonstrated skills:

AD DESIGN | EDITORIAL LAYOUT ILLUSTRATION AND WORDPRESS KNOWLEDGE A PLUS with a flair for creativity. If you like to work (and play) hard, want to get paid for it, and receive generous benefits, make the connection with our team by sending your resumé and portfolio samples to:

3701 N. SHARTEL AVE. OKLAHOMA CITY, OK. 73118 OR EMAIL MHARRISON@OKGAZETTE.COM

NO PHONE CALLS PLEASE! 22 | SEPTEMBER 23, 2015 | OKLAHOMA GAZETTE

ARTonTAP adds drinking and dining to OKCMOA’s draw.

ARTonTAP 7-10 p.m. Oct. 2 Oklahoma City Museum of Art Roof Terrace 415 Couch Drive okcmoa.com 236-3100 $45-$1,500 NOTE: Tickets must be purchased in advance.

BY GREG ELWELL

The beer gets you in the door. The art brings you back. That’s the plan, at least, as the Oklahoma City Museum of Art readies its Oct. 2 ARTonTAP fundraiser. Museum event coordinator Kimberley Worrell said the party, which features 80 varieties of beer, food from local restaurants and museum admission, is a great opportunity to introduce those who might not otherwise be there to the collection of fine art housed in Oklahoma City. “People are still impressed with the rooftop terrace,” which is where Heineken USA will set up a beer garden, she said. Other beers and food from local restaurants are located throughout the museum, giving visitors more reasons to explore the venue. When people get a glimpse of the treasure sitting in the middle of the city, many want to become members, she said. Featured sudsmakers such as Roughtail Brewing Co., COOP Ale Works, Anthem Brewing Company and more will be on hand, as will

eats from Brown Egg Bakery, Fassler Hall, Dust Bowl, Fuzzy’s Taco Shop and others. In addition to food and drink, the 12th annual event also features DJ Brian Smith and live music from Hook. Worrell said the event is its largest annual fundraiser and the only one that takes place at the museum. Becky Weintz, museum marketing and communications manager, said it’s an especially fun evening for staff, many of whom purchase tickets and attend as guests. “It’s the one time we get to have an event at the museum, so it’s really fun for us to get to show it off to others,” she said. Because ARTonTAP sells out of its 800 tickets almost every year, organizers said they must be purchased by Oct. 1. Tickets will not be sold at the door. Guests must be age 21 or older to enter. Learn more and purchase tickets at okcmoa.com.

P ROVI DED

LIFE FOOD & DRINK

FOOD BRIEFS

P HOTOS BY GA RETT FI S BEC K

BY GREG ELWELL

New chef Chef Jonathan Groth is the new executive chef of Slaughter’s Hall and WSKY Lounge in Deep Deuce. Groth, who worked at both the Tasting Room and Lobby Bar as part of Kurt Fleischfresser’s Western Concepts Restaurant Group, said he loved working for one of Oklahoma’s most-decorated chefs, but that the time is right for him to strike out on his own. “Outside the Box, which owns Slaughter’s and WSKY, [has] goals to expand in the future and I want to be involved in expansion possibilities,” Groth said. “I want to make a run at the Oklahoma City market, stand on my own and make my food sing.” At Slaughter’s Hall, he will fine-tune recipes and techniques while refining the menu. He will add menu items to WSKY, including a trio of sliders, fried macaroni and cheese balls and fresh pretzel sticks, which will enhance the bar’s stellar alcohol service.

Home made

Phish phood After a month in business, Guyutes, 730 NW 23rd St., now serves lunch, too. Owners Wayne Perotka and Jarrod Friedel wanted to make sure the venue was ready to accommodate expected crowds. “We always planned on opening for lunch,” Perotka said. “We just needed to ease into it.” The jam-band inspired eatery, with menu items including Catphish Wontons and St. Stephen salad, took two years of construction to complete before opening in late August. Now open from 11 a.m. to 2 a.m., Guyutes already has a hit dish from head chef Patrick Hart. Tequila Sunfryz are “like nachos, but made with waffle fries and topped with pulled pork and a fried egg,” he said.

Oklahoma State Fairgoers will find twice as much to love at the Made in Oklahoma (MIO) Store this year thanks to a big sales surge at last year’s event. “In 2014 … we hit [our] sales goal by the first Sunday, just four days into the fair,” said Kerry Barrick, an Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry market development coordinator. “We went on to almost double the goal.” That success means this year’s store is now housed in a 10-by-60-foot booth that includes two demonstration stations, located at the front of Oklahoma Expo Hall. MIO also expanded its selection to include gift items in addition to food, Barrick said. The MIO program is a part of the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture, Food and Forestry, which works with state agribusinesses to promote retail, institutional and gourmet sales.

OKLAHOMA GAZETTE | SEPTEMBER 23, 2015 | 23

Mighty dogs Have you no shame? We hope the answer is “no,” because we have a list of delightfully decadent foods that cannot be consumed by those encumbered with embarrassment. Delve deep into that bag of fried pork, lick the gooey cheese off your fingers and shout to the heavens: “Yes, I will have another corn dog!” — by Greg Elwell, photos by Mark Hancock and Garett Fisbeck

Chelino’s Meat Market

Anchor Down

Bricktown Brewery

2101 S. Robinson Ave.

30 NE Second St. 605-8070

1 N. Oklahoma Ave. bricktownbrewery.com | 232-2739

There’s something kind of magical about seeing a whole pork rind in its original piggish shape. Chelino’s takes that enormous hide and fries it until it becomes puffy, crisp and flavorful. Plus, it’s always good to take revenge on your enemies by eating their skin. And if you think that pig wouldn’t turn around and do the same to you, then it’s time to wake up, pal! It’s swine o’clock and you better start chowing down.

Corn dogs go by many aliases. They’ve been called “Dagwood dog” and “Pluto pup” and “cozy dog.” In Argentina, they are called panchukers. Those are all, we can agree, very dumb names. Especially when “corn dog” is so easy to say. Try it. Go ahead. If you’re in Anchor Down when you say it, the cooks will probably make one for you to eat. Hint: Hold it by the stick and eat the fried part. Great job, champ.

Every time you say “fried cheese,” a heart surgeon buys another Lexus. And yet, every time you say “fried cheese,” a thrill runs down your spine. Perhaps it is the knowledge that there’s no redeeming nutritional value in this delicacy. It is an exercise in pure, unadulterated flavor. Bricktown Brewery understands this. Fried cheese exists outside the boundaries of good health, but not outside the boundaries of a healthy appetite.

Athens Greek & American

RESTAURANT WEEKLY SPECIAL

Gyro

With Fries & a Drink

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EVERY 3RD SATURDAY FROM 6:00PM-9:00PM NEXT ONE WILL BE 10/17/2015.

BRING YOUR EXOTIC VINTAGE CARS AND HANG OUT!

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WITH THIS AD. DOES NOT INCLUDE TUES/WED SPECIALS

Call in orders available for pickup.

6014 N MAY | 947-7788 ZOR BA SOKC .COM 24 | SEPTEMBER 23, 2015 | OKLAHOMA GAZETTE

Closed on Sunday Follow us on Twitter @bhcajun and like us on facebook at Bighead’s in Edmond, OK

617 SOUTH BROADWAY • EDMOND • 405-340-1925

LIKE US ON

Coney Island 428 W. Main St. 239-8568

The good people at Coney Island had a decision to make. They could continue selling Corn Chip Meat Sauce Cake or they could take a chance on a young upstart called Frito Chili Pie. People said they were fools and heretics, but then those people had a taste of gooey melted cheese, hearty chili, the sharp bite of chopped onion and the buttery crunch of Fritos ... and shut up. The rest, dear readers, is history.

San Marcos Mexican Restaurant 2301 SW 59th St. oksanmarcos.com | 685-7773

A petition is going around to rename Thursday as Nursday and we are all expected to sign it. Tuesdays, rightly, have been associated with tacos. But without a compatible day, what has become of the noble nacho? Until Congress, U.N., Hardy Boys and National Association of Chip Handlers Onanymous (N.A.C.H.O.) act on this resolution, we’ll have to celebrate Nacho Nursday in secret at San Marcos.

Jamil’s Steakhouse

Smokey’s Midnight Express

4910 N. Lincoln Blvd. jamilssteakhouse.com | 525-8352

125 Ron Norick Blvd. | 359-3663 smokeysmidnightexpress.com

“That’s a load of baloney!” is an acceptable thing to shout when your waitress brings you the Senator’s Smoked Bologna sandwich at Jamil’s. “Sir, could you keep it down? Others are trying to eat,” is an acceptable reply from your server, who doesn’t need your crap, thank you very much. There are too many people ordering these sweet, smoky, meaty hunks of goodness to put up with all your commotion.

With dishes like The Morning Bowl and Roll Your Own wraps, the folks at Smokey’s don’t care about subtlety. They know their clientele, which is why this restaurant is open 6 p.m. to 3 a.m. and serves pizza, sandwiches and bountiful breakfasts like chicken and waffles. Nothing tamps down on a late-night craving like chicken fingers, sweet potato waffles and Smokey’s secret syrup. (The secret is you should ask for more syrup.)

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26 | SEPTEMBER 23, 2015 | OKLAHOMA GAZETTE

LIFE COVER

Family, extended The Plaza District reaches its pinnacle at Saturday’s festival as an expected 30,000 guests pack the arts and entertainment corridor. BY GREG HORTON AND LAUREN EASTES

Noon-10 p.m. Saturday Plaza District 1700 block of NW 16th Street plazadistrictfestival.com Free

In 2007, Amanda and Dylan Bradway were among the second wave of pioneers to own property in Plaza District. In those days, the neighborhood’s Plaza District Festival was “very grassroots” and she remembers the eclectic and sometimes seemingly incongruous artists and entertainers featured. “The festival was a smorgasbord of stuff,” she said. Since the event’s launch in 1998, attendance rocketed from several hundred to over 5,000 just three years ago. In 2014, an estimated 18,000 visitors packed the corridor for the party. Organizers expect around 30,000 guests at this year’s Plaza District Festival, which runs noon-10 p.m. Saturday. Its growth, as well as the district’s, is by design.

‘Blank slate’

The Bradways opened DNA Galleries in 2008. Theirs was not the first establishment to open in the newly renovated area, but it was the first to take advantage of mixed-use zoning that enabled the couple to create a living space in the back of the shop. The couple moved to Plaza from The Paseo Arts District. “We were in our mid-20s at the time,” Amanda Bradway said. “We were looking to purchase a house and settle down. The mixed-zoning made it affordable, because we only had to [find] one place for work and home.” Dylan Bradway saw Plaza as a “blank slate,” and the opportunity to help rediscover and re-establish the locale appealed to him. “We could see it becoming an area of relationships between creative business owners and [a place] for the city and tourists to visit and enjoy,” he said. Before that, in 2008, Lindsay

Zodrow, owner of Collected Thread, opened her shop. She also created a living space at the rear of her store. The zoning change attracted career-minded artists to the district, and was one of many changes that allowed a group of committed residents to repurpose an historic but neglected sector. Zodrow and the Bradways are the type of people the Plaza District Association needs: young, creative and entrepreneurial. Susan Hogan, the association’s executive director from 2003-2008, said a diverse district best enables the area’s long-term development. In 1997, Plaza District did not resemble the upwardly mobile, eclectic community it is today. In the 1970s, as desegregation remapped metros across the nation, “white flight” also put many city neighborhoods onto a downward path of neglect, falling tax revenues and incomes. The homeowners association of the Gatewood Historic District, adjacent to Plaza, took a leap toward revival in 1997 when it created a 501(c)3 nonprofit. “We thought it was our neighborhood, and it could either go up or go down,” Hogan said. “We agreed to do something about it.” Development ideas included transforming the area into a “campus corner” for Oklahoma City University (OCU), Hogan said. In fact, OCU Meinders School of Business eventually helped with revitalization efforts, although Plaza isn’t exactly a student hub. It became more. Today, nearly three-dozen eateries, galleries, retail shops, studios, theaters and other businesses fill the area along 16th Street between Classen Boulevard and Pennsylvania Avenue.

‘Full circle’

From 1997-2006, several major changes laid the foundation for what Plaza is today. During that time, Jeff Struble, owner of Struble Construction Inc., began purchasing structures along the corridor. “The Strubles did a lot of the heavy lifting,” Hogan said of Struble and his wife Aimee. “Those buildings … sat vacant for a long time, and there was so much cleaning to be done in those years. They cleaned the

Lindsay Zodrow of Collected Thread buildings out and got them ready for renovation.” Keith Rinearson, a commercial photographer, said he worked on a magazine story about a district street improvement project that started in 2002. “I thought the neighborhood would begin to show growth as a result,” he said. “Three years later, there was still no one new in the neighborhood. People just didn’t see any investment money flowing into the district.” Rinearson and Kevin Creel bought the property at 1738 NW 16th St. and opened PhotoArt Studios. They said its distinctive red-and-blue sign became a “beacon of hope.” “There was no neon down there,” Rinearson said. “We didn’t need the neon, but we thought it might inspire people to invest in the area.” With help from Oklahoma City Councilwoman Ann Simank, Plaza Theatre, opened in 1935 and closed in 1979, was sold to Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma. Familiar with development happening around the country, she approached the Lyric board and convinced it that the purchase was a smart investment, Hogan said. “We needed businesses and organizations with the financial

Susan Hogan

wherewithal to renovate,” Hogan said. “The Lyric was a definite turning point.” Similarly, a 2000 general bond issue brought about the streetscape project and provided $2.75 million to improve infrastructure and aesthetics, said Aimee Ahpeatone, who worked more than 10 years with the Plaza District Association. The association also participated in a Main Street program, a national CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE

OklahOma Gazette | september 23, 2015 | 27

pH OtOs bY mArK HANCOCK

Plaza District Festival

p HOtOs bY m A rK HA N COC K

LIFE COVER

top Cayla Lewis, Plaza District executive director bottom Roxy’s Ice Cream Social initiative to improve historic downtowns by teaching businesses and communities about revitalization practices. “The program was really designed to help small towns, and Plaza was too urban for it to be very useful for us,” Ahpeatone said. It showed less impact than organizers hoped, but streetscape efforts were successful in drawing positive attention to the district. The Bradways were early settlers in what became a land rush of tenants that went on to reshape Plaza into one of the city’s most energetic neighborhood commercial districts. “Artists are more accustomed to mixed-income districts than suburbs. They recognize the potential for inspiration in mixed areas,” Hogan said. “We were looking for young artists and creative types when we brought Kristen Vails in.” In 2008, Vails became Plaza District Association’s first full-time executive director. The Main Street initiative had just ended, and her role was to recruit even more young visionaries to the area. “To do that, we had to convince the property owners to be even more

patient,” Hogan said. “They had already invested a great deal of … money — the kind you have to wait for years to see a return on — but they agreed.” Her first few years, she convinced property owners and association members to work together at a grassroots level, which ended up as one of the district’s strengths. The unity served the area well and helped bring in two restaurants. “Saints was first and that was important,” Vails said. The Mule followed in 2012. “They gave us a second option in the neighborhood.” Amanda Bradway also remembers the additions as a big deal, especially The Mule. “The concept was groundbreaking for Oklahoma City,” she said. “They were always on a wait, and the overflow crowd would come see us or Lindsay [Zodrow]. You don’t always need a shirt, but you always need food.” Businesses rushed into the area. Before Vails left her post earlier this year, however, she had another goal to reach. “I saw a picture of the district from the 1930s, and there was an ice cream

28 | september 23, 2015 | OklahOma Gazette

shop on the street,” Vails said. “When Roxy’s Ice Cream Social opened, it was … a sign that we had come full circle.”

‘Hard-working people’

The district no longer needs to wheedle prospects or reassure entrepreneurs, as growth has nearly filled the district. “In the near future, the Plaza should be at full business capacity,” Dylan Bradway said. “I like to think it will allow for new planning and developments to take place, which can help the district continue to move forward.” Cayla Lewis, previously the association’s community relations coordinator, is now its executive director. She oversees growth, Live! on the Plaza events and the Plaza District Festival. “As the district has grown so has the festival. Not everyone is coming just for the music or just for the children’s activities,” Lewis said. “It is a chance to come be with family and friends.” Altogether, Plaza District drew an estimated $15 million in investments from property and business owners, Lewis said. Most of the area’s businesses

are locally owned, and two more are expected to join the district by the end of this year. Amanda Bradway said she is stunned by the growth. She feels that the district and DNA Galleries have bright futures ahead of them. “Last year, I was finally able to walk the district during Live! [on the Plaza],” she said. “I’m usually behind the counter, but I had a chance to get out and see the Plaza during an event. I was amazed at the number of people.” Saturday’s family-friendly festival features around 20 music and dance acts, including Tallows, Kierston White and the Dirty Dishes, Sardashhh, Gregory Jerome, Quil, Kyle Reid and The Low Swingin’ Chariots, Gum and Lyric Academy. Close to three dozen artists and retailers join the mix in booths and shops throughout the district as studios host organized art exhibits. District restaurants and bars will serve eats and drinks, as will food vendors such as Klemm’s Smoke Haus, Taste of Soul Egg Roll and Bayside Coneys N Cones. Also, children can participate in story time, beginner art classes, yoga and other activities. Today’s event isn’t what Ahpeatone or the Bradways experienced when they arrived in the district. In those early days, Ahpeatone said it was a struggle to convince people it was safe to just walk down the street. Hogan agreed, and expanded on her thought. “One of the things that made Plaza great is that the property owners, residents and business owners have done something that is … rare in business,” she said. “They worked together to make changes that benefited everyone and not just themselves. You almost never see that anymore.” Lewis also believes district members have grown into a family, exemplified CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE

JACK DANIELS WHISKEY, HONEY JACK, AND JACK FIRE

in the ways they support and encourage each other, especially during festival season. “There is [an] … aspect about this district that I have noticed here over other places,” Lewis said. “I work with people who genuinely care about what they are doing and the products they are making — a lot of strong and hard-working people. It is inspiring every single day.”

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moving pictures Kris Kanaly and Dylan bradway started a plaza District mural project based on simple principles: public art is good for a neighborhood’s morale and aesthetic. It’s also good for business. Kanaly, born and raised in Oklahoma City, spent much of the past decade traveling around the country. In cities like san Francisco and baltimore, as well as along route 66, he encountered what he called “permission-based mural areas.” “there are traveling street artists and muralists who like to take advantage of these areas to create public art,” Kanaly said. saturday at plaza District Festival, the pair will launch plaza Walls, a rotating community art project. Locations include seven “underutilized” spaces, bradway said. “High profile” pieces will face Indiana Avenue and Lyric theatre. “since we’ll stack their work, we can probably get 12-20 artists’ work there simultaneously,” he said. they will curate local and traveling muralists, as well as create works themselves. pieces will be added and viewed, then removed and replaced with new pieces. the application process is easy: email proposals to plazawalls@gmail.com. people can follow the #plazaWalls hashtag across social media platforms as the project develops, Kanaly said. Added bradway, “We don’t have a line-up set yet. there will probably be a little bit of work done prior to plaza Festival, but we’re using that event as the kick-off point.” the two gained project approval through the city’s Arts and Urban Design commissions, as well as Oklahoma City’s planning and Arts & Cultural Affairs departments, they said. “public art screams, ‘Hey, look at this!’” bradway said. “It says that creative energy is in this place, and it uplifts the district and the culture. that’s very important as this city grows.”

— Greg Horton

OklahOma Gazette | september 23, 2015 | 29

LIFE HEALTH

Breathe easy Kathleen Thomas wants to help Oklahoma businesses learn more about the dangers of secondhand smoke. She is campaign manager for Free the Night, a Tulsa-based nonprofit devoted to encouraging venue owners to voluntarily restrict smoking in their establishments. “We are not working on laws [or] bans,” she said. “All we are trying to do is present the facts to bar and club owners and hope that they make the best decision for the health of their customers, employees and entertainers.” Free the Night uses statistics to illustrate the added costs of allowing smoking in bars and night clubs. “Studies consistently show that it doesn’t hurt bar patronage or profits to

Kathleen Thomas

go smoke-free,” Thomas said. “Cleaning costs are lower and employee productivity is higher.” According to a Free the Night poll, 79.6 percent of Oklahomans say they do not smoke. Eight city venues have gone smokefree since February. Thomas said Free the Night’s most recent addition is Baker St. Pub & Grill, 2701 W. Memorial Road. Management chose to change its smoking policy after a decade of accommodating the habit. “We feel the decision allows us to present a more comfortable, healthy and clean option where our guests can socialize and enjoy our ambiance,” said Steve Riley, chief operating officer of Hospitality USA, the venue’s parent

company. Although some bands won’t play venues that let patrons light up, some, like Oklahoma City-based Red City Radio, play just about anywhere. Garrett Dale, the band’s guitarist and lead singer, said no one in the band is a smoker. “It’s a non-issue,” Dale said. “I never have a problem playing in front of anyone who has paid to see me play.” Dale has mixed feelings about the initiative, however. “I believe segregation of any type is wrong, but second-hand smoke hurts people,” he said. “That’s what’s great about this city: If you don’t want to be [in] a bar full of smoke, there are plenty … that are nonsmoking.” Bartenders who work with

secondhand smoke are 20-30 percent more likely to develop cancer than those in smoke-free environments, according to cancer.gov. Chuck Pritchett, former OKC Farmers Public Market employee, believes bans are bad for business. Insurance rates spike for smoking venues, but so do liquor sales, he said. “I will always choose a higher insurance rate than have people not want to come to my venue,” he said. “People will come to see your band, regardless if it’s smoking or nonsmoking.” So far, 22 Oklahoma bars and clubs have joined the Free the Night movement. Learn more at freethenightok.org.

LIFE CULTURE

Wrangling winners The Rodeo Hall of Fame inducts its class of 2015 this weekend at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum.

Bobby DelVecchio

BY MARK BEUTLER

Rodeo Hall of Fame Weekend cocktail reception 5:30 p.m. Friday Champion’s Gala and award ceremony 5:30 p.m. Saturday National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum 1700 NE 63rd St. nationalcowboymuseum.org 478-2250 $105-$125

Members of the cowboy elite gather for the 60th annual Rodeo Hall of Fame inductions and awards, 5:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum. Inductees feature former top riders, ropers, wranglers and other rodeo stars. “There’s something about rodeo that really embodies the spirit of the American West, both in its historical and its modern forms,” said Steven

Karr, museum president. “We are honored to have celebrated award winners and Rodeo Hall of Fame inductees through the years, including Lane Frost, Jim Shoulders, the Etbauer brothers and many others.” The Rodeo Hall of Fame honors great performers in rodeo and related professions, he said. “Rodeo traditions are truly tenets of the American West, past and present,” Karr said. This year’s class of inductees and honorees features Bobby DelVecchio, C.L. Eckols and John Edwards. DelVecchio, a real urban cowboy, is from the New York City borough of the Bronx and a world-champion bull rider. Other 2015 inductees are Bob Feist, Tommy Lucia, Jerry Olson, C.C. “Bud” Parker, B.J. Pierce and T.B. Porter.

30 | september 23, 2015 | OklahOma Gazette

The Tad Lucas Memorial Award will be presented to Kirsten Vold, and the Ben Johnson Memorial Award recipient is Mike Cervi. Leo Camarillo also will be honored as the 1975 Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association All-Around Champion. Members of the Rodeo Historical Society (RHS), the organization that bestows the awards, as well as the public, is invited to nominate rodeo legends. RHS is closely affiliated with the museum, and its worldwide members share an interest in preserving rodeo history, Karr said. Inductees are selected by a secret ballot by members of RHS. The National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum was founded in 1955 and has had more than 12 million visitors from across the world.

“The Museum collects and exhibits an internationally renowned collection of Western art,” he said. Membership supports museum rodeo programs, research, an oral history project, acquisition of materials for the American Rodeo Gallery and the Rodeo Hall of Fame. About 500 people attend the event each year. It is open to the public but reservations are required. Reservations can be purchased online or by phone. This year’s Rodeo Hall of Fame weekend includes a cocktail reception at 5:30 p.m. Friday, followed by a concert by Ned LeDoux, son of late rodeo musician Chris LeDoux, a 2006 inductee. The Champion’s Gala and Award Ceremony, including a seated dinner, is 5:30 p.m. Saturday.

NAtIONAL COWbOY & WesterN HerItAGe mUseUm / prOVIDeD

BY DYLAN SMITH

GA re tt FI s be C K

Free the Night spawns a statewide movement to curb smoking in bars and restaurants.

LIFE YOUTH

Conference call The Mentoring Project is a faith-based organization that trains adults to mentor at-risk youth.

BY KELLY MACNEIL

Place Conference Influencer’s Dinner featuring Brandon Heath 7 p.m. Wednesday Plenty Mercantile 807 N. Broadway Ave. 888-7470 Post Place Action Workshop 9 a.m. Saturday Frontline Church 1104 N. Robinson Ave. 273-7779 $65-$199

Clean-cut John Sowers carries the studied casualness of a fraternity brother and brims with entrepreneurial confidence. Instead of seeking cash, he uses his charm to recruit adults in the faith community to help change the lives of at-risk youth. He is president and co-founder of The Mentoring Project, a nonprofit that trains adults to be youth mentors. The organization, based in Oklahoma City and Portland, Oregon, also serves as a pipeline for groups such as Big Brothers Big Sisters and YoungLife. “Most times, a kid goes on a waiting list when their parent or advocate tries to get them a mentor through these organizations,” he said. “We want to end the list.” Volunteer Jake Spirek spent nine months building trust with his young charge, an eighth grader at Santa Fe South Middle School. He wants to build a relationship like the one he had with his high school mentor. “I think it’s important for young people to have someone who is on your side, who you can be totally honest with, without worrying about judgment or punishment,” he said. Spirek was impressed after hearing about The Mentoring Project at a local church. The organization made it easy to get involved. “They provide great suggestions for ways to interact, and they even stage some organized activities,” he said. “It’s just important to be available and present.” Befriending teenagers isn’t always easy, but it can be especially tough with at-risk males. Every few weeks,

GA rett FI s beC K

Note: Thursday’s and Friday’s main sessions are sold out.

Sgt. T.G. Childs interacts with members of the FACT program at Hathaway Recreation Center.

Most of our kids are from singleparent homes, and the fact that the mentors can take the kids out and do one-on-one things really fills a void. — T.G. Childs

the organization conducts mentor training sessions in cities around the country. It also provides “toolkits” on its website. The nonprofit matches area volunteers to kids via Oklahoma City Police Department’s gang intervention project. Its two Family Awareness and Community Teamwork (FACT) centers work with dozens of at-risk youths ages 8-18, four police offers and mentors from The Mentoring Project. Mentors complete six to eight weeks of training and a background check prior to being accepted. “Having the mentors makes a huge difference,” said Sgt. T.G. Childs, who

works with FACT. “Most of our kids are from single-parent homes, and the fact that the mentors can take the kids out and do one-on-one things really fills a void.” The Mentoring Project has grown a lot since it launched in 2009, due largely to word-of-mouth support in the faith community. It now employs five people here and two in Portland. Sowers said the group has shifted its focus to OKC because it found several churches here that were ready to get more involved. About 1,400 people have attended mentor training sessions in the metro area in the last 20 months. The organization hosts its Place Conference Wednesday, Sept. 23, at Lyric Theatre in the Plaza District. Speakers include civil rights leader John M. Perkins, John Luke Robertson of A&E’s Duck Dynasty and former White House pastor-inchief Joshua DuBois. The event is billed as “a conversation on relationships, mentoring and reconciliation.” “Reconciliation can mean a lot of things: spiritual, familial, racial,” Sowers said. “If we’ve been wounded in our relationships, we have to heal through relationships. That’s what The Mentoring Project tries to do.” Learn more at thementoringproject.org.

OklahOma Gazette | september 23, 2015 | 31

Making rent

Hugh Meade

Local fabrication artist Hugh Meade gets creative in finding ways to continue doing his craft. By Jack Fowler

There’s a litmus test designed to size up working artists. Ask them which skill set requires more creativity: making art or paying rent? If they answer “making art,” you know they are already rich and famous (they’re not), or they have another job that alleviates the hustle that passes as a lifestyle for full-timers. These people have health insurance. They eat whenever they feel like it. Most of their mothers are still proud of them. If they answer “paying rent,” you know they either don’t care about money (they do), or they lack the inclination to separate their career from who they are. Hugh Meade is one of those guys. The 45-year-old, South Carolinaborn Oklahoma City resident has worked as a fabrication artist out of his Oddfab Design Lab, 703 W. Sheridan Ave., for nearly three years. The explosion of new restaurants, architecture firms and condos created a bubble market for signmakers, and Meade’s indelible thumbprint is seen across OKC’s landscape. The Mule, Oak & Ore, Hudsucker Legal Group, Empire Slice House and The Haven apartments all have his signs. And his large-scale metalwork is in demand at events from the Oklahoma History Center to Myriad Botanical Gardens.

Life, insurance

Despite his success, however, Meade said the stress from being a working artist wore him smooth. “You just have to expend so much mental energy on surviving,” he said. “I’m sure that inevitably takes away from the creative process, because you’re just tired.” Many important things in life necessitate having a job, be it insurance or something as simple as a schedule. It takes a toll after awhile to fight that system from the outside, he said. Although he still spends evenings and weekends at Oddfab, Meade recently took a job as a project manager for local fabrication company PremiereCraft, Inc. He’s quick to acknowledge his good fortune in finding work that lets him hone his craft, but said one of the biggest benefits is the emotional load it’s sloughed from his shoulders. It is a relief for Meade to know when and how much he will be paid, and that he has insurance and a schedule. “It’s not like I took a job doing something I hate,” he said. “This was pretty much a best-case scenario if I had to stop being in business for myself.”

32 | september 23, 2015 | OklahOma Gazette

What I saw in this was an opportunity to make public art. — Hugh Meade

Rent stabilization

Perhaps that sense of relief is what freed him up to find his most creative way to pay rent. Meade’s newest sculpture, “Intersection Point Zero,” a 10-foottall, ethereal archway made of steel and aluminum, became a collaborative experiment in financing public art. A private collector in Carrizozo, New Mexico, read an article about Meade’s handiwork and commissioned a piece. Instead of the normal backand-forth bartering and negotiation sessions, he said the deal they struck felt more like a revelation. “What I saw in this was an opportunity to make public art,” said Meade. “Regrettably … financing large-scale work is obviously the biggest roadblock to creating it.” The collector wanted to display Meade’s work on his property as a type of tourist attraction. They worked out a deal that enabled the collector to buy

the piece, display it, then sell it and share profits with Meade. The piece itself is a lovely, curved and shimmering overlap of archways that Meade hopes will border on interactive. “It represents the meeting point between the logical and the mystical; how they have to work together,” he said. “There’s something about the shape underneath that creates a kind of portal of experience, and hopefully, people will actually want to go stand in that intersection.” Meade said it wouldn’t exist without the collaboration of a patron. “He’s made a direct investment in me and my work,” he said. “And honestly, I like it better that he’s invested in its worth rather than buying it outright. I’d like for artists and patrons to think creatively about how to create art together.” It hurts, taking off the merit badge society gives an artist for being gainfully employed, but not nearly as much as putting it back on. And every busted transmission or unexpected trip to the emergency room can make one start to feel more like a heavyweight waning in the 10th round. Their mantra changes from “keep punching” to “keep standing,” which is something Meade is figuring out how to do while shedding blood for his art and not because of it.

Ga rett fi s bec k

liFe visual arts

Native scene

A new exhibit showcases aboriginal American art as it was influenced by colonialism. By kaley PattersoN

Collision and Creation: Indigenous Arts of the Americas 1890-2015 runs through Feb. 28 sam Noble oklahoma Museum of Natural History 2401 chautauqua ave., Norman samnoblemuseum.ou.edu 325-4712 $5-$8

The Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History hosts a new exhibit focusing on the ethnographic arts of native peoples of the Americas. Collision and Creation: Indigenous Arts of the Americas 1890-2015, runs through Feb. 28. “The main objective of the exhibition is to highlight the ways in which the colonial experience … produced very difficult, trying and terrible times for native people,” said Dan Swan, Sam Noble’s associate curator of ethnology. “In a way, it’s a celebration of not ... just the survival of indigenous people in the Western Hemisphere, but what we’re highlighting are the artistic forms that emerged from that experience that had never been witnessed before on the face of the planet.” Swan picked most of the collection’s pieces with Stephanie Allen, the museum’s collection manager.

We can count the numerable ways society was [bridged] through the colonial encounter.

— Dan Swan

The works come from the United States and Central and South America. An exhibition focal point is the new purposes native artists gave to raw materials and tools and their incorporation of a broad range of design elements. The impact colonialism had on their art ranges from the types of crafts used such as ribbon or beads from Italy and Czechoslovakia. “It’s a great example of this material form that had existed for centuries in

sam NObLe mUse Um / prOViDeD

Note: youth under age 3 are admitted free.

Collision and Creation: Indigenous Arts of the Americas 1890-2015 Europe,” Swan said. “It wasn’t until those materials were traded through the colonial experience to indigenous people that we saw the emergence of these incredible new art forms.” However, settlers not only had an impact on the natives; indigenous communities affected colonizers, too. Their knowledge helped settlers in the new land. “We can count the numerable ways society was [bridged] through the colonial encounter — all of the foods, the medicine, the geography — all of this tremendous amount of information that transferred to Europeans based on thousands of years of native experimentation and experience,” he said. The story of the colonial encounter with indigenous peoples begins in the 1500s. However, the exhibition focuses on 1890-2015 as part of Oklahoma University’s 125th anniversary celebration. “We have some wonderful pieces

from Mexico, Central America and South America,” he said. “I’m excited … to remind people that the indigenous population of the Americas move well beyond Oklahoma.” The stories that resonate in this state are just as accurate in the Amazonian rain forest, he said. Pieces in the show feature beadwork, ribbon-work, woven mats, baskets, ceramics, basketry, parkas, boots, a canoe and Inuit snow goggles. Many works are by native Oklahoma artists. Exhibition design is approachable and attractive, Swan said. “We worked hard with the design … to make it extremely engaging so the text is deployed in what we think is a user friendly manner,” he said. “It’s not heavy with these large text panels. We want people to use the objects to the greatest possible extent to understand important elements of the history of the indigenous peoples of the Americas.”

OklahOma Gazette | september 23, 2015 | 33

LIFE PERFORMING ARTS

Black tie ball The Lyric Theatre celebrates its 20th anniversary in swingin’ style.

presents A co-production with Oklahoma City University

Michael Baron

Broadway Ball 2015 6:30 p.m. Friday Embassy Suites Hotel 741 N. Phillips Ave. lyrictheatreokc.com 524-9310 $600-$10,000

A Play by Rick Elice Music by Wayne Barker Based on the Novel by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson

34 | SEPTEMBER 23, 2015 | OKLAHOMA GAZETTE

Two-tone wingtips, beaded sheaths and long pearls will be on display at this year’s Broadway Ball benefitting Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma. The unique look of the Roaring Twenties is the theme for Friday’s black-tie gala. In addition to encouraging fabulous outfits and delicious cocktails, the theme ties in with Lyric’s upcoming world premiere of Bernice Bobs Her Hair, based on an F. Scott Fitzgerald short story. The musical’s cast will perform in costume at the gala, although the show’s premiere isn’t until Oct. 7. “It will definitely have a real Great Gatsby feel,” said Suzanne Reynolds, the event’s committee chairwoman. “And it supports such a great cause in the Lyric, they’re a vital part of our community.” Broadway Ball is traditionally a key philanthropic event in Oklahoma City, with spectacular décor and theatrical tie-ins. This year, the writer of Bernice, Julia Jordan, and composer Adam Gwon will attend. Gwon plans to perform several songs from other projects. “Adam just won the 2015 Richard Rodgers Award, and is one of hottest young composers around,” said

Lyric’s producing artistic director Michael Baron. “We’re excited to have him and Julia there at the ball.” Baron is particularly excited to show off Lyric’s work in debuting Bernice. It is increasingly part of its mission to produce crowdpleasing favorites like this summer’s Oklahoma! and Mary Poppins in addition to new, ambitious works. “Lyric is getting national recognition for doing new pieces, and that’s something we want to continue,” he said. Bernice Bobs Her Hair tells the story of a shy and socially awkward young lady visiting her popular cousin Marjorie in St. Paul, Minnesota. The vain and calculating Marjorie teaches Bernice how to liven up, but when Bernice becomes the talk of the town — and draws the attention of one of Marjorie’s suitors — Marjorie finds a way to undermine her. It runs Oct. 7-25. “It’s a story about some great characters, but it’s also about an important time in American history when women were gaining rights and freedoms,” Baron said. Friday’s event will feature live and silent auction items such as trips to the ski slopes of Banff in Alberta, Canada, and to the beaches of Manzanillo, Mexico. Baron expects high bids for a private performance of Lyric’s The Rocky Horror Show, which is put up for auction every three years or so.

GA ZETTE STA FF / FI LE

BY KELLY MACNEIL

Happy feet

Project Plié brings together community and professional dance organizations to provide education opportunities to children.

tTwiTter

BY GREG HORTON

Five local youth received scholarships this year to participate in Dance Center of Oklahoma City Ballet, an official school of the professional dance company and the only American Ballet Theater-certified course in the state. Aspiring dancers were evaluated during a joint program from American Ballet Theater (ABT), OKC Ballet and the Boys & Girls Club called Project Plié, established in 2013 to identify and recruit youth from underrepresented demographics. Put simply, its goal is to improve racial diversity in the art, both at ABT schools and nationwide. Misty Copeland is advisor to Project Plié, and program proponents hope to replicate her experience. In June, she became the first African-American female principal dancer in ABT’s 75-year existence. Companies are divided into four tiers: apprentices, corps de ballet, soloists and principals. Ideally, principals are the most skilled and therefore perform difficult and high-profile roles.

— Robert Mills

Her story is well documented and includes periods of homelessness as her single mother struggled to raise four children. She had her first ballet class at age 13 as part of a Boys & Girls Club program. She eventually moved in with a sponsoring family so she could pursue the art. Most professional dancers are non-Hispanic whites — including Europeans — and Hispanics. There are few African-Americans.

tweeting about! MARK HANCOCK

We were already doing similar outreach, and we had the resources to add this. It was the right thing to do.

to see what we are

@okgazeTte

OKC Ballet’s Walker Martin teaches kids at Boys & Girls Club of Oklahoma County. OKC Ballet is participating in the national initiative for its second consecutive year, and as part of its commitment, it identified five students to received scholarships. “This was an easy thing to say yes to,” said Robert Mills, the company’s artistic director. “We were already doing similar outreach, and we had the resources to add this. It was the right thing to do.” Company dancers Walker Martin and Gerald Pines teach master classes at the Boys & Girls Club, he said. When Project Plié kicked off, ABTaffiliated schools received a packet that included a video of Copeland’s story and “swag for the kids.” As part of the master classes, dancers were tasked with identifying

potential scholarship students. “Stereotypically, people think about body types or physicalities when it comes to dancers,” Mills said. “We were not looking for a specific body type, nor were we looking for a specific ethnicity.” The goal is to identify youth that show curiosity, rhythm and general interest and talent, Mills said. “When we talk about talent, we mean kids who learn the steps easily, have rhythm and overall body coordination,” he said. “This is not just to identify potential professional dancers, but to give kids a chance to enjoy ballet; kids who may not otherwise have an opportunity.”

Oklahoma Gazette

OKLAHOMA GAZETTE | SEPTEMBER 23, 2015 | 35

SuDOku/CROSSWORD SuDOku Puzzle HARD

WWW.s UDOKU-p UZZLes .N et

Fill in the grid so that every row, column and 3-by-3 box contains the numbers 1 through 9.

NeW YORk TimeS CROSSWORD Puzzle ANSWeRS Puzzle No. 0913, which appeared in the September 16 issue.

36 | september 23, 2015 | OklahOma Gazette

A G I N

L U L U

T I L T

A V I A N C A

C E N T U R Y 21

E N G A G I N G

F L O T S A M

A I R H O S E

R E B E C C A

A D A M 12

R E T E A M

D A R I E N S T E R A A R M S S G L O I A O T N S

A W L R A I L E A S E G E W E N G R Y M A R N O L I T P H D S S E R E T B O X O 52 P I R A S S M S M E T H A R O M P C I T Y G O D 13 W E R 48 L O H N S B R E E S A

A C T R E S S N E C C O S I G N O R I

C C T I A O A R P 54 40 N E J O T A R N E A S S K U P O R E U S E T A C H R L O I N C A A I N S C E Y

C H O R N I B S R E S A P K I C E S T U N N O G O D A G R E E

C R A F T

L E V I

A D A G I M O F U S O N R I L M I A S S T H A S A L M I U S S A N 30 O R S R O O E C H S K O

P I N H O L E

S T A T U E S

15 M I N U T E S

F E E D E R S

A V E R

L E S T

ACROSS 1 “We must go” 8 Spiral-horned grazer 12 Santa ____, Calif. 17 View with disapproval 18 Quills 20 Email folder 21 Complete plan 24 Brewer’s supply 25 Round figures 26 Where Hecuba was queen 27 Certain monthly bill: Abbr. 28 ____ & the Women (2000 Gere film) 29 Kind of paper 31 Many 34 Gray fox 39 It may help you get a grip on things 41 Skips 42 Subduer, of a sort 46 Like dams 47 Certain absentee 49 Lady of la casa 50 Big deals 54 What may unfold in Japanese theater? 55 Place for plates 56 Roly-poly 57 Annoy no end 59 Easter sight 61 Abbr. preceding a year 62 Grp. of women drivers 65 Whole slew 67 Sweeties 69 Like the book Zhuangzi 71 “No argument here” 73 “A deadline every minute” sloganeer 75 Newspaper route 80 Series of lows 82 Saws 83 It signals a lack of support 84 Dish name 85 Door ____ 86 Says, “You no-good son of a …,” say 88 More united 92 42-Across, for example 95 School boards 96 Make a selection 99 Letters in a return address? 100 Pause

103 104 106 112 113 114 115

Star trek figures? Harmoniously Go figure Houses named after an old house Not dead, as a football One in business? Malibu ____ (The Simpsons parody doll) 116 Top 117 Spoke impulsively

DOWN 1 Borderline 2 Heard 3 Echolocation device 4 Come down wrong, maybe 5 Part of V.M.I.: Abbr. 6 ____-jongg 7 Greek vowel 8 Joshes 9 ____ Chicago Grill 10 Skillful 11 1991 breakup newsmaker 12 A wink or a nod, maybe 13 Ford sold during Ford’s presidency 14 Touches 15 Loggers’ jamboree 16 1985 instrumental hit named after the main character in Beverly Hills Cop 18 Something an “o” lacks 19 ____ Sandoval, 2012 World Series M.V.P. 20 Words to someone who 8-Down 22 Skill sharpener 23 Pop group 29 Part of some showers 30 Sports org. whose first champ was the Pittsburgh Pipers 32 Bears witness 33 Cannon of Heaven Can Wait 35 Neuter 36 Certain Kindle download, for short 37 Hampers, say 38 Grammy-winning James 39 Wind or fire, maybe, but not earth 40 “Stupid me” 43 Lightweight protective vest 44 Progressive ____ 45 Led … or bled 46 Three-pointers: Abbr.

25 28

29 34

26 31

60 67

86 90

106

95 100 107

101

102

108

103 109

110

113

114

115

116

117

72 73 74 76 77 78 79 81 85 86 87 89 90 91 92 93 94

104

112

47 Carpentry fastener 48 A waste of good food? 49 Domain of some international law 51 Stressful work? 52 Many figures in the Doctor Who universe, for short 53 Something to lead with? 58 Players eligible to suit up 60 In need of coffee, maybe 62 Sprinter’s assignment 63 Sci-fi vehicles 64 “Beat it!” 66 Airs from pairs 68 Item in a mechanic’s back pocket 69 Nutrition bar introduced in the 1960s 70 Figures after a decimal

85 88

58 65

69 76

56 59

Ethnic ending One speaking “out”? Al Aaraaf writer [Gross!] PC menu heading Confusion Mall bag Monopoly token replaced in 2013 Board Recurring element Sport-____ Dough that’s been raised overseas? De la Garza of Law & Order Pestering, in a way Sorts (out) Steelhead, e.g. Old FDA guideline

105

111

0920

NeW YORk TimeS mAgAziNe CROSSWORD Puzzle to put it DiFFERENtLY By Joe DiPietro / Edited by Will Shortz

97 Identify someone in a lineup, say 98 Conservative I.R.A. asset 101 Get worse 102 Pitch 104 Rights org. 105 Sooner city 107 Cozy footwear, informally 108 Food item dipped in ketchup 109 Largest New Deal agcy. 110 Kind of port 111 No score

Stumped? Call 1-900-285-5656 to get the answers to any three clues by phone ($1.20 a minute). The answers to the New York Times Magazine Crossword Puzzle that appeared in the September 16 issue of Oklahoma Gazette are shown at left.

Oklahoma Gazette VOl. XXXVii NO. 38

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OklahOma Gazette | september 23, 2015 | 37

Heavy news Oklahoma’s children might live shorter lives than their parents if obesity trends continue, state health officials say.

Meet Mark

With over 35 years in the jewelry industry, Mark understands that each jewel is as unique as the individual wearing it.

“Finding the perfect gift can be overwhelming. I do my best to make the process simple, helping you to find a treasure as genuine its owner.”

BY BRENDAN HOOVER

The problems weighing on the state’s youth is costly to both pocketbooks and quality of life, said Candace Macedo, obesity prevention coordinator for the Oklahoma State Department of Health’s (OSDH) Center for the Advancement of Wellness. “The heartbreaking reality is that if it continues, it is estimated that our children may have shorter life expectancy than us,” she said. “We may see complications and disabilities associated with diabetes and heart disease much earlier, which will impact our workforce, military service and profoundly change the health trajectory of our children’s children.” A child is diagnosed as obese when recommended growth and weight is in the 95th percentile or greater than normal guidelines set by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. September is National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month, and Shape Your Future, a statewide health initiative funded by the Oklahoma Tobacco Endowment Trust (TSET) and OSDH, provides tips and resources to help.

Obesity stats

exclusively at

38 | SEPTEMBER 23, 2015 | OKLAHOMA GAZETTE

Childhood obesity has increased nationwide by 14.9 percent since 2007, according to 2012 data from the National Survey of Children’s Health. In Oklahoma, 27.1 percent of youth ages 14-18 are obese or overweight, and 33.9 percent of children ages 10-17 are obese or overweight, said Joyce Samuel, OSDH surveillance and evaluation coordinator. According to studies that tracked Oklahoma high school student trends, the number of students who played video games or used a computer at least three hours per day increased 125 percent from 2007 to 2013. In 2013, 62.4 percent of students did not attend physical education classes at least once per week. About 67

percent of students skipped breakfast daily during that time and about 52 percent said they were trying to lose weight. “We know that the physical activity and nutrition patterns established during childhood and adolescence can greatly impact adult and lifestyle choices,” Macedo said. “Children who are overweight or obese are at a greater risk of being obese as adults.” Obesity increases the risk of chronic diseases like cardiovascular disease, Type 2 diabetes, stroke, cancers and osteoarthritis, she said. Nationwide, Oklahoma ranks No. 48 in cardiovascular deaths, No. 45 in heart attacks, No. 44 in heart disease and No. 44 in high cholesterol. The state ranks No. 39 nationally in diabetes cases, No. 37 in incidents of stroke, No. 42 in high blood pressure and No. 45 in cancer deaths. “It concerns us to see young people experiencing health issues that used to be reserved for later adulthood,” Macedo said.

Healthy tips Encouraging families to eat and play together is Shape Your Future’s goal in September, said TSET Executive Director Tracey Strader. “Simple steps like filling half your plate with fruits and veggies at every meal and getting 60 minutes of physical activity each day can help kids develop health habits that follow them for a lifetime,” Strader said. Other tips include: cooking together and letting children help in the kitchen; bringing children to the supermarket to empower them to try new foods; enrolling children in afterschool activities such as sports or dance; adding music, dance and games to household chores. Visit shapeyourfutureok.com for more information.

BI GSTOC K.COM

LIFE ACTIVE

OklahOma Gazette | september 23, 2015 | 39

Bjorn Bauer PRINT

HANDMADE CRAFT

Flood & Stroke

3Eleven Designs

Sam Washburn

Eric Bloemers Photography

Sandra Schlezinger

Jim Shelley

OK Screenprinting

[blood]roots & ash

Sydney McFerron

Emerald Moon Merchants

Tessa Raven

MENT Apparel

Tammy Brummell

K9 Couture Co

Brooke Rowlands

Micah Hamilton Jewelry JEWELRY

HANDMADE CRAFT

Eric Salisbury

Trisha Thompson Adams

Reagan Kloiber

NorthRoad Creations

Frameworthy Designs

Shop Good

HANDMADE CRAFT

A P PA R E L

Jeff Duerksen

Roaming Roots Woodworks

Love Well Handmade

WOOD

A P PA R E L

Amelie’s Anomalies

James R King

ThriftFoot

GLASS

PA I N T I N G

Darci Lenker

Yasmin Shirali

GLASS

HANDMADE CRAFT A P PA R E L

MIXED MEDIA

HANDMADE CRAFT WOOD

HANDMADE CRAFT JEWELRY

Sylva Pagana

A P PA R E L

HANDMADE CRAFT PRINT

PA I N T I N G

HANDMADE CRAFT

Sewing with Squeak

Sam Douglas

HANDMADE CRAFT

District House 2:00 p.m.

Gabriel Knight 3:00 p.m.

Jarvix

4:00 p.m.

Judith

10:00 p.m.

Public Access presents DoublesMania 40 | september 23, 2015 | OklahOma Gazette

HANDMADE CRAFT

HANDMADE CRAFT JEWELRY

HANDMADE CRAFT PA I N T I N G

DOG COLLARS

Klair Larason PA I N T I N G

PHOTOGRAPHY

PA I N T I N G

Paint n Cheers

Paint N Cheers will have a class at 6:30pm “Live More.” This is $35 per person and includes all materials and step-by-step instruction.

PhotoArt

PhotoArt Studios will be shooting creative portraits inside the main studio during the 2015 Plaza Festival.

Out On A Limb

Local handmade artists/vendors in store to share their art/craft and 20% extra off sale items. Post a selfie on Instagram at the Plaza District Festival and tag @outonalimbokc and @plazadistrict to enter to win an upcycled dress of your choice!

thrive mama collective Thrive Mama Collective will have a “mama tent” for feeding and changing babies.

klemms smoke haus jerky.com mt express

chiltepes latin cuisine & bar district house empire slice house the mule oak & ore pie junkie - pie for pi

chick n wangs taste of soul eggrolls sizzle n spice bayside coneys and cones

($3.14 SLICES ALL DAY)

roxy’s ice cream social saints urban wineworks

12: 00 p.m.–12:30 p.m.

monty harper sing along 1:30 p.m.–2:00 p.m.

kids yoga at yogalab 2:30 p.m.–3:00 p.m.

kids yoga at yogalab 3:00 p.m.–4:00 p.m.

puppet time with bc summers

hula hoop sessions story time with oklahoma children’s theatre bounce house blanket fort mural painting teaching artists from firehouse art center

Okl ahOma Gaz ette | september 23, 2015 | 41

main stage 12:00 p.m.

Akiba

INDIE POP 1:00 p.m.

Everything Goes Dance Studio DANCE

2:00 p.m.

Lunar Laugh POP

accoustic stage 12:00 p.m.

Monty Harper CHILDREN’S 12:30 p.m.

Beety Man HIP-HOP 1:00 p.m.

3:00 p.m.

Campbell Young

ROCK

1:30 p.m.

D. Whitfield Ensemble 4:00 p.m.

Forum ROCK

INDIE/FOLK

The Indigos INDIE/FOLK 2:00 p.m.

5:00 p.m.

Gregory Jerome

ROCK

2:30 p.m.

GUM

HIP-HOP

6:00 p.m.

Porch Mice

FOLK ROCK

3:15 p.m.

Moongiant

INDIE/FOLK

QUIL

7:00 p.m.

Lyric Academy

ELECTRONIC

7:15 p.m.

Stranded at the Station

DANCE

Kierston White and the Dirty Dishes COUNTRY 8:00 p.m.

Tallows

4:00 p.m.

INDIE/FOLK 4:45 p.m.

Sardashhh ELECTRONIC

ELECTRONIC ROCK 9:00 p.m.

Kyle Reid and the Low Swingin’ Chariots JAZZ/SWING

Presented by

Media Sponsor

Gold Sponsors

Silver Sponsors

Bronze Sponsors

Platinum Sponsors

42 | september 23, 2015 | OklahOma Gazette

American Aquarium

American spirit This North Carolina six-piece finds its home in Oklahoma. BY JAMES BENJAMIN

American Aquarium with Corb Lund Doors 6 p.m., show 9:30 p.m. Friday Wormy Dog Saloon 311 E. Sheridan Ave. wormydog.com 601-6276 $15 21+

After nearly a decade’s worth of earnest work and handshaking — and more than a touch of booze — frontman and songwriter BJ Barham can finally say he’s seen his band reach a triumph that can only be called American. After years of relentless touring, Raleigh, North Carolina, alt-country act American Aquarium found a level of critical recognition and financial success that it had given up on. “When I started doing it [American Aquarium], I said I was going to give myself like two years to make it,” Barham said. “And then two years came and went, and I said I was going to give myself another two, and another two.” In 2012, the group released its sixth studio album, Burn. Flicker. Die., as a collection of swan songs. Instead, it became its most well-received and profitable record to date. Concerts sold out and people paid attention. Fans and critics recognized the record as a culmination of pure grit and a seemingly endless string of road gigs.

Dedication

“Our fanbase was built one-at-a-time, and it’s not because some giant record

label put a bunch of money behind us,” Barham said during a recent (and rare) phone interview from his home. He estimated the sextet spends 250 to 300 days a year on tour. “There’s no band, in my opinion, that wants to play the way that we do,” he said. “We go out there every single day, and we work our asses off to make sure that tomorrow we get to do it again.” That ethos earned these “six assholes from North Carolina” a unique relationship with its Oklahoma and Texas fans, he said, which helped make this region the act’s “second home.” “We’re singing honest songs about everyday people, and I think that’s why they take hold of it,” he said. Barham remembers early tours in which bandmates relied on fans at shows to find places to crash for a night or two. Only once, he proudly said, did they have to sleep in their van. It’s a kindness Barham reciprocates at every bar and merch table. American Aquarium’s latest release, Wolves, was 100 percent crowdfunded, as was Burn. Flicker. Die. Getting fans to essentially buy albums before they’re recorded is a strategy that likely would not have been realistic half a decade ago, he said. But these days, the act does things on its own terms.

most serious and reflective work. A lot has happened to him since the release of his previous album: The band’s popularity exploded, he found sobriety and he got married. Early in the writing and recording process, he worried that fans would reject his personal growth and newfound lack of recklessness. But yet again, the band’s pluck and perseverance were rewarded. Barham said fan response has been great, and in many ways, is more meaningful than ever before. It can’t be too surprising, though, that American Aquarium faithful connect with the record. “I’ve had a lot of guys come up to me and say, ‘I got sober because of you,’” Barham said. “That’s a really, really powerful thing. Like, words that I wrote on a piece of paper, I’m literally watching

We’re singing honest songs about everyday people. — BJ Barham

[them] change someone’s life for the better.” At each show, Barham said he’s reminded of the goodness in humanity and that goals can be reached only if he refuses to quit. “If you want something hard enough and you’re willing to work at it, you can have it,” he said. “That’s the American dream.” BJ Barham

Acceptance

For example, Wolves itself marked a stylistic leap for the band. In addition to adapting a more thorough and nuanced sound, thematically, Barham considers it his

OKLAHOMA GAZETTE | SEPTEMBER 23, 2015 | 43

P HOTOS BY A LYSS E GA FKJE N / P R OVI DE D

LIFE MUSIC

October 3 • Firelake Arena MON, SEPT 28

BLUES TRAVELER TUES, SEPT 29

BEACH HOUSE WED, SEPT 30

And House of Pain Featuring Everlast

GRiZ (16+)

FRI, OCT 2

GLASS ANIMALS SUN, OCT 4

MEG MYERS MON, OCT 5

FATHER JOHN MISTY TUES, OCT 6

ROYAL BLOOD WED, OCT 7

RUN THE JEWELS SUN, OCT 18

THE SWORD THURS, OCT 22

405.273.1637 • 18145 Rangeline Rd • Shawnee, Ok

Get tickets at firelakeboxoffice.com 44 | SEPTEMBER 23, 2015 | OKLAHOMA GAZETTE

MADDIE & TAE FRI, OCT 23

JOSH ABBOTT BAND TULSA, OK ★ 423 NORTH MAIN ST.

TICKETS & INFO: CAINSBALLROOM.COM

LIFE MUSIC

M A RK HA N CCOK

Jazz jam A festival celebrates the history and future of American music.

Kent Kidwell left and Mike McAuliffe on the lawn at the Civic Center Music Hall and Bicentennial Park.

BY TYLER TALLEY

Oklahoma City Jazz Festival, a weeklong musical event celebrating Oklahoma City’s history with jazz is underway, courtesy of veteran performers and the next generation of musicians. It continues through Saturday. It showcases performances by jazz pianist, composer and producer David Benoit and United States Navy 32nd Street Brass Band. Olivia Jordan, Miss USA 2015, is also scheduled to appear. Most of the event is free, with performances at locations throughout the arts district. Benoit’s concert on Friday is the only ticketed event, and Thursday’s Jazz on the Rooftop requires a $5 cover. “From the ’30s and ’40s when jazz started in Deep Deuce to today, jazz is still playing an important role in central Oklahoma,” said Mike McAuliffe, festival coordinator. In addition to celebrating the past, present and future of the eclectic genre, OKC Jazz Fest also serves to elevate new talent and further musical education through event workshops, including a session taught by Benoit at University of Central Oklahoma’s Jazz Lab. El Sistema Orchestra, one of the younger groups at the event, performs Saturday at Civic Center Music Hall Bicentennial Park. The orchestra program teaches elementary students, primarily fifth graders, about music at St. Luke’s United Methodist Church. The group held its first public concert during last year’s festival. “That group is now up to 200 students. Last year they had 90 students,” McAuliffe said. “They

OKLAHOMA CITY JAZZ FESTIVAL Runs through Saturday okcjazzfest.com Note: Events are free unless stated otherwise.

Jazz at Noon noon Wednesday Dunlap Codding 609 W. Sheridan Ave.

Jazz on the River 5:30-8 p.m. Wednesday CHK Central Boathouse 732 Riversport Drive

Jazz on the Rooftop 5-11 p.m. Thursday OKC Museum of Art 415 Couch Drive $5

Jazz on the Lawn 5 p.m. Friday Civic Center Music Hall Bicentennial Park 201 N. Walker Ave.

Jazz at Civic Center David Benoit 8 p.m. Friday Civic Center music Hall 201 N. Walker Ave. $25-$65

practice during the school year — every day for an hour — and they coordinate transporting all of these kids to that one central location.” Proceeds from the event will support Oklahoma City Public Schools’ music program and as well as the UCO Music Program. Visit okcjazzfest.com for more information.

VISIT NASCIGS.COM OR CALL 1-800-435-5515 PROMO CODE 96408

CIGARETTES

*Plus applicable sales tax

Offer for two “1 for $2” Gift Certifi cates good for any Natural American Spirit cigarette product (excludes RYO pouches and 150g tins). Not to be used in conjunction with any other offer. Offer and website restricted to U.S. smokers 21 years of age and older. Limit one offer per person per 12 month period. Offer void in MA and where prohibited. Other restrictions may apply. Offer expires 06/30/16.

OKLAHOMA GAZETTE | SEPTEMBER 23, 2015 | 45 Oklahome Gazzette 07-22-19 & 09-23-15.indd 1

7/9/15 8:34 AM

LIVE MUSIC WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 23

DOUG S C HWA RZ / P ROVI DE D

LIFE MUSIC

Kali Ra/Bamboozel/Gum, 51st Street Speakeasy. VARIOUS Lucky Duo, Colcord Hotel. COVER Replay, Baker Street Pub & Grill. COVER Rick Jawnsun, O Asian Fusion, Norman. ACOUSTIC

Aaron Newman Duo, Red Rock Canyon Grill. FOLK

Slowvein, Wormy Dog Saloon. POP

Edgar Cruz/Jeff Nokes, Avanti Bar & Grill. ACOUSTIC

FRIDAY, SEPT. 25

Grant Wells, Skirvin Hilton Hotel. JAZZ Maurice Johnson, R&J Lounge and Supper Club.

American Aquarium, Wormy Dog Saloon. COUNTRY

Casey and Minna, Uptown Grocery Co., Sunday

Avenue, Riverwind Casino. COVER Brian Gorrell & Jazz Company, UCO Jazz Lab. JAZZ Christian Pearson/Gary Johnson, Skirvin Hilton Hotel. PIANO David Benoit, Civic Center Music Hall. PIANO DJ Six, Russell’s, Tower Hotel. VARIOUS Gregg Kennedy, The George Prime Steakhouse. PIANO Helen Kelter Skelter/New Fumes/Gum, Opolis Norman. ROCK Jared Deck, Grady’s 66 Pub. COUNTRY

PROVI DED

TJ Chesshire, Toby Keith’s I Love This Bar & Grill. COUNTRY

Rick Springfield/Loverboy/Tommy Tutone, Zoo Amphitheatre. POP

TrashTV/MAAJR/Warcopter, 51st Street Speakeasy. VARIOUS

SATURDAY, SEPT. 26

OKG

Buckcherry/Saving Abel, Brady Theater, Tulsa. ROCK

THURSDAY, SEPT. 24

DJ Josh Tullis, Colcord Hotel. ELECTRONIC

Brent Saulsbury/Will Galbraith/Wayne Duncan, ßFriends Restaurant & Club. ROCK

music

Banana Seat, Riverwind Casino. COVER

Scott Lowber/Will Galbraith/Ed VanBuskirk, Friends Restaurant & Club. COVER

2AM, Red Rock Canyon Grill. ROCK

Kali Ra

Thursday Cabaret

pick

Thursday

J.D. Kali Ra, Bamboozel and Gum perform 8 p.m. at Souther Thursday Cabaret at 51st Street Speakeasy, 1114 NW 51st St. Kali Ra, lead by David Goad, released its latest album, Cocoon, this summer. Entry is free. Guests must be age 21 or older. Visit 51stspeakeasy.com.

Curtis McMurtry, The Blue Door. FOLK

Don and Melodee Johnson, Twelve Oaks. VARIOUS Grant Stevens, Skirvin Hilton Hotel. PIANO Gregg Kennedy, The George Prime Steakhouse. PIANO Jeremy Thomas Quartet, UCO Jazz Lab. JAZZ

Brian Whelan, The Blue Door. INDIE

Luke Wade, Wormy Dog Saloon. SINGER/SONGWRITER

David Morris, Skirvin Hilton Hotel. PIANO

Sulley & Sisson, Hafer Park. CHRISTIAN

The Blend, Russell’s, Tower Hotel. ROCK The Weathermen, Tapwerks Ale House & Cafe. ROCK

D OUG SCH WARZ / PROVIDE D

Trey Rosenthal, Toby Keith’s I Love This Bar & Grill. COUNTRY

SUNDAY, SEPT. 27 Casey and Minna, Uptown Grocery Co. FOLK Desert Noises/Hannah Wolff, Opolis, Norman. ROCK Edgar Cruz, Skirvin Hilton Hotel. ACOUSTIC Mike Hosty “One Man Band,” The Deli, Norman. ROCK Mountain Smoke, UCO Jazz Lab. BLUEGRASS Nicholas David, ACM@UCO Performance Lab. SINGER/ SONGWRITER Safe In Sound Festival, Chevy Bricktown Events Center. ELECTRONIC

TUESDAY, SEPT. 29 Foo Fighters, Chesapeake Energy Arena. ROCK Idlehands, 89th Street Collective. ROCK LUCKY/Shaun Suttle, Skirvin Hilton Hotel. COVER

WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 30 Edgar Cruz/California Guitar Trio, UCO Jazz Lab. ACOUSTIC Grant Wells, Skirvin Hilton Hotel. JAZZ Maurice Johnson, R&J Lounge and Supper Club. Scott Lowber/Will Galbraith/Ed VanBuskirk, Friends Restaurant & Club. COVER Shannon and the Clams, Opolis, Norman. ROCK

Scott Lowber/Will Galbraith/Rick Toops, Friends Restaurant & Club. COVER Sons of Texas, Diamond Ballroom. ROCK

MONDAY, SEPT. 28 Gum, Opolis Norman, Friday

46 | SEPTEMBER 23, 2015 | OKLAHOMA GAZETTE

OBN IIIs, Opolis, Norman. ROCK Rick Toops, Friends Restaurant & Club. ROCK

Submissions must be received by Oklahoma Gazette no later than noon on Wednesday seven days before the desired publication date. Late submissions will not be included in the listings. Submissions run as space allows, although we strive to make the listings as inclusive as possible. Fax your listings to 528-4600 or e-mail them to listings@okgazette.com. Sorry, but phone submissions cannot be accepted.

life film

Growth spurt The ever-expanding deadCENTER Film Festival hires a new executive director.

By Brett Dickerson

Over the years, Lance McDaniel successfully led deadCENTER Film Festival into more than the small, renegade affair it once was. A product of that growth is the necessity to reorganize and split his position into two full-time roles. Earlier this month, Lissa Gumerson-Blaschke was hired to take over the new executive director job as she manages business and sponsorship for the state’s largest film festival. McDaniel has been recast as artistic director as he focuses on growing its education and work programs. The addition brings its full-time staff number to four.

I am the person behind the creative person helping them get funded and helping support them so they can go out and do the work they do. — Lissa Gumerson-Blaschke

She will further develop the nonprofit’s funding base as well as expanded business and event management. “Lissa’s not just great on paper, she’s awesome,” McDaniel said. “She has the qualifications, but in person, she’s wonderful.” She has years of experience in foundation and management, and previously served as director of development and executive director for the Oklahoma School of Science and Math Foundation. In 2006, she moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico, where she was director of development for the Harwood Art Center, Albuquerque Community Foundation, St. Joseph Community Health Foundation and Escuela del Sol Montessori School before returning to Oklahoma City. She said she has experience that allows her to help deadCENTER run smoothly as it continues to grow. “I’m not a creative person,” she said. “I am the person behind the creative person, helping them get funded and helping support them so they can go out and do the work they do.”

Rapid growth

The festival has grown dramatically since it launched 15 years ago. In 2001, its two organizers, Justan and Jayson Floyd, featured indie films in one room of Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center at the fairgrounds, all in one evening.

lissa Gunderson-Blaschke

By June of this year, it had expanded to nearly a week of activities for filmmakers and attendees who itinerate between 10 film-viewing venues across the city. From 2012 to 2015, attendance exploded from 9,500 to over 30,000, organizers said. As its executive director for five years, McDaniel also expanded its number of volunteers and filmmakers. This year’s event, held in June, was orchestrated with three full-time employees, 24 community leaders via its volunteer board of directors, 13 longtime volunteers on its advisory

committee, 50 film enthusiasts on its screening team, three programmers, 12 invited judges and more than 400 volunteers, organizers said. The number of filmmakers has grown, as well. “We used to get 300 people applying, and now we get 1,200,” McDaniel said.

Education efforts

McDaniel said an education and independent film promotion campaign is vital to the further growth of independent filmmaking in the state,

but also required an increase in staff levels. In 2014, McDaniel and Kim Haywood launched an aggressive state tour as part of a part of the five-year plan, which concluded this year. They visited 30 high schools from August-October of 2014 to promote filmmaking within that age group. They also promoted the concept of local festivals, and helped towns and cities form and strengthen their own events, McDaniel said. “Basically, by starting these festivals we’re hoping that it’ll get people excited about independent film all over Oklahoma,” he said. “So when some filmmaker like me … thinks they want to make movies, they have examples of others who are doing it.” This year, the organization was so committed to promoting more state film festivals that, during the actual event, it hosted a summit for their organizers. Leaders of Duncan’s already established Trail Dance Film conducted the meeting and training. Last year, deadCENTER also helped launch two new, special-focus film events in Oklahoma: Oklahoma Cine Latino Film Festival and Black History Month Film Festival.

Okl ahOma Ga z et te | se pte m b e r 23 , 2015 | 47

mark h ancock

New role, added strength

p r oVI De D

life streAminG

Listen to Me Marlon THURSDAY, OCTOBER 1 | 5:30 & 8 P.M. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 3 | 5:30 P.M. SUNDAY, OCTOBER 4 | 5:30 P.M.

Up Periscope Everyone from local meteorologists and musicians to entertainment giants have their eyes on this live-streaming video app.

The Godfather ONE NIGHT ONLY! SATURDAY, OCTOBER 3 | 8 P.M.

WWW.OKCMOA.COM

s U w o Ll o F on

facebOok ...all the

COOL KIDS are doing it!

facebOok.com/okgazeTte

Oklahoma Gazette

48 | september 23, 2015 | OklahOma Gazette

Gare tt FI sbeck / FILe

FOR MOVIE DESCRIPTIONS AND TICKET SALES VISIT

ross h aLFIn / proVIDe D

Guys and Dolls DIGITALLY RESTORED! ONE DAY ONLY! SUNDAY, OCTOBER 4 | 2 P.M.

Periscope, a free, streaming video app, is reminiscent of public access television’s glory days, and is filled with everything from live-streaming concert gigs and stand-up comedians promoting shows and strangers hawking bargain-basement crap from garages. And users love it. Before its late-March launch on Apple and Android, Twitter purchased Periscope from startup developers for “between $75 and $100 million,” according to U.S. business and tech news website BusinessInsider.com. Anyone with a smartphone or tablet can stream (or “scope”) a live feed from almost any location on Earth. Simultaneously, video streamers receive tweet-like messages from viewers that they can verbally respond to in real-time. By Aug. 2, more than 10 million Periscope user accounts had been created, app developers Joe Bernstein and Kayvon Beykpour said in a blog posted to the company’s official website. “As of last week, we’re seeing over 40 years of video watched per day,” they wrote. Broadcasters both local and national use Periscope to promote shows. Earlier this year, KFOR meteorologist Emily Sutton took viewers on rides through heavy rains, hail storms and flooding as she shared everything from weather fronts to rainbows. Local TV affiliates Scope raw broadcast feeds and address viewer comments in real-time; the Oklahoma County Sheriff’s Office uses the app to connect with area residents; radio personalities like Jenny McCarthy share live radio shows; comedians like Jim Gaffigan stream behind-thescenes writing sessions. Heck, crooner

as h n eW eLL / p roVI DeD

By cUrt GoocH

Periscope users Def Leppard, Graham Colton and Aerosmith. Neil Diamond shares concerts from locations like London and Glasgow. While this highly addictive app is designed for anyone and typical scopes include “Drunk in the parking lot of Whataburger” or “Guy at home watching Star Wars,” entertainers, music and sports fans benefit most from Periscope.

Local singer-songwriter Graham Colton, the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame, KATT FM radio personality Turbo, Oklahoma City Energy Football Club, University of Oklahoma Athletics … they all scope. In August, Def Leppard and Tesla shared their concert from inside inside the Chesapeake Arena. Earlier this year, iconic rock act The Rolling Stones live-streamed footage from each of its 15 North American tour stops. Aerosmith even allows VIP access to sound checks and meet-and-greets via Periscope. Not to be left out, sports also got in on the fun, including scoping the much-hyped May 2 Floyd MayweatherManny Pacquiao bout, both from the event itself as well as the copyrighted pay-per-view feed, according to CNN. The latter, of course, is a huge no-no and generated Periscope’s first highprofile controversy. Speaking of which, local black outs of various sporting events have gone the way of the VHS tape; any attendee can scope a game from his seat and anyone outside of the blackout can share a Kinescope-like feed from their TVs. Undoubtedly, the next edition of the Merriam-Webster dictionary will likely contain several new Periscope related entries: scoping, scoper and pericrush among them. About the author: Curt Gooch is an Oklahoma City-area resident, writer, musicologist and co-author of And Party Every Day: The Inside Story of Casablanca Records and KISS Alive Forever: The Complete Touring History. He has long gathered quotes, articles and knowledge about modern rock music and how it influences American culture.He writes occasional columns for Oklahoma Gazette.

p r oVI De D

life film

Everest

Storytelling pinnacle Everest is breathtaking in 3-D IMAX.

Shot partially on location in Nepal, Everest director Balthasar Kormákur (2 Guns, Contraband) quickly asserts that the movie’s antihero is not simply a mountain to be climbed. It is a universe filled with as much breathtaking scenery as dangers of the elements, body and mind, where the threat of death lingers in its icy air. When Rob Hall, brilliantly portrayed by Jason Clarke (Zero Dark Thirty), the expedition’s fearless leader tells his team, “Human beings simply aren’t built to function at the cruising altitude of a 747,” you know you are embarking on a cliffhanger. Even cinema based on great stories has fallen flat due to poor writing, but this is not the case with Everest. Through writers William Nicholsan (Gladiator) and Simon Beaufoy (Slumdog Millionaire), Kormákur has as intelligent a guide in which to direct his film, as the characters have in a guide for their ascent up Earth’s highest mountain. In addition to its writing and direction, a movie is defined by the depth of its antagonist. In most cases, it is a person, creature or animal. However, it is hard to find as imposing a character as Mount Everest. That it required 20 days to prepare an experienced team of climbers speaks to the danger involved in the trek. Included in its treachery is an incredible arsenal of blistering winds, subzero temperatures, glacial caverns and intermittent avalanches. Include the largest ice storm to hit the

mountain in its history, and you have the perfect setting for a hair-raising, sky-high thriller. As man-versus-nature survival films go, Everest is formulaic in that it starts with competitive climbers. Josh Brolin portrays Beck, the everpresent, high-minded Texan, as Jake Gyllenhaal plays Scott, the slightly egocentric opposing expedition leader. Completing the formula is Jason Clarke as protagonist Rob and Keira Knightley as his wife Jan. However, the formula is crafted and executed so impeccably in this film that, by its end, the viewer feels both triumph and remorse as its characters embark and complete, for some, the journey to end all journeys. Supported by a cast of well-known actors such as Sam Worthington (Avatar), Robin Wright (House of Cards), Emily Watson (Red Dragon), Everest suffers only one major flaw: It’s seemingly untimely release. It deserves the 3-D IMAX treatment it was given. The storyline also surrounds what happened on May 10, 1996, which has given audiences the time to reflect on and celebrate this event as it should have been done. Had it been released in the early spring or in May, it could have been a movie that stood apart from the typical capes and cartoons of traditional “summer blockbusters.” However, being distributed in early fall, it will not receive the fanfare it deserves.

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OklahOma Gazette | september 23, 2015 | 49

50 | september 23, 2015 | OklahOma Gazette

OklahOma Gazette | september 23, 2015 | 51

Introduction THE BEST PLACES TO WORK IN OKLAHOMA

Publisher Bill Bleakley

hirty-two outstanding Oklahoma Companies met the challenging qualifications to be selected as a 2015 Best Places to work in Oklahoma Company. We proudly submit their company profiles and salute their achievements. Companies are required to have 25 employees working in Oklahoma to be considered for eligibility. Small to medium businesses must have less than 250 employees, and large businesses must have over 250 nationally. Numerous businesses apply each year to Best Companies Group, located in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, which independently surveys, compiles

and analyzes a comprehensive list of information. From there, a list of finalists is created and BCG selects winners. BCG then notifies the winners and partners with Tierra Media Group to promote the honorees in this special publication, 2015 Best Places to Work in Oklahoma; okc.BIZ (the program sponsor); and Oklahoma Gazette. “We had many returning and some new businesses. We congratulate all of you! Some commonalities of the companies this year and throughout the many of the years we’ve been presenting Best Places to Work in Oklahoma are promotion of health and wellness programs, green practices, community service and fun,” said Tierra Media Group Publisher Bill Bleakley.

PRODUCED BY OKLAHOMA GAZETTE AND OKC.BIZ COMPANY PROFILES BY CHRISTINE EDDINGTON If you would like to find out how your business can participate in 2016 Best Places to Work in Oklahoma, please go to bestplacestoworkok.com. To view comprehensive recipient profile listings, please go to okc.BIZ and to view this section online, please go to okgazette.com.

Partners

Oklahoma Center for Nonprofits Leading the way to building better communities through effective nonprofit management is at the heart of the Oklahoma Center for Nonprofits. For over 30 years, the organization has been providing training, consulting, advocacy, membership, networking, recognition and more for Oklahoma nonprofits.

OKHR State Council As the official state affiliate of the Society of Human Resource Management, OKHR represents over 14,000 human resource professionals in Oklahoma. As an advocate of the human resource professionals, OKHR provides training, education, certification, networking and many other leadership opportunities. The organization also raises funds to contribute to the national foundation’s programs funding academic research, scholarships and more.

Greater Oklahoma City Chamber Making Oklahoma City a better place to live, work, play and visit is the primary job of the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber. As a unified group of businesses, the organization works to enhance existing businesses while inspiring the growth of new companies. They are able to achieve these goals by having strong programs focused on economic development, community redevelopment, government relations, education and workforce development and tourism.

State Chamber of Oklahoma Speaking out and advocating for business is the business of the State Chamber of Oklahoma. The organization is a voice for business in the halls of the Oklahoma State Capitol and represents more than 1,000 businesses with over 350,000 employees. Simply put, with strength in numbers, the State Chamber has been speaking on behalf of thousands of Oklahoma businesses since 1926.

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52 | september 23, 2015 | OklahOma Gazette

AWARDS

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ANY CHALLENGE. ANY RISK. ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD We’re committed to recommending what is in the client’s best interest—not ours—and delivering our promises! The story of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. is more than 85 years in the making, comparable to few and as unique in strengths as it is rich in history. Founded on the cornerstones of integrity, innovation, teamwork and empathy, Gallagher has built its legacy one success at a time. Today, our employees adhere to these same values, weaving them into their daily work. At Gallagher we know the importance of being a socially responsible company. That is why we strive every day to promote environmental, social and economic benefits to the communities in which we live and work. We believe in running our business with integrity and strong values, and pride ourselves in a culture that embodies both. Whether we are working to help our communities, the environment or striving to always be an ethical company, Gallagher’s employees are making a difference around the world.

OklahOma Gazette | september 23, 2015 | 53

Rank in 2014

Years on list

Employees in state

% male

% female

Exec team % male

Exec team % female

% Rate of voluntary turnover last fiscal year

Edward Jones

524

Cancer Treatment Centers of America

700

Diagnostic Laboratory of Oklahoma

721

Eide Bailly LLP

109

Capital One Auto Finance

460

180 Medical

265

Encompass Home Health & Hospice

548

First United Bank & Trust

643

Mars Pet Care U.S.

149

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.

Safelite AutoGlass

N/A

103

First Fidelity Bank, N.A.

306

Cintas Corporation

367

100

AAA Oklahoma

N/A

255

Company

Rank in 2015

Large Businesses

54 | september 23, 2015 | OklahOma Gazette

Edward Jones

BP T W 2015 OKC .BIZ

U.S. Corporate Headquarters St. Louis | edwardjones.com | Year Founded 1922

LARGE BUSINESS

Company Leader Jim Weddle, managing partner | Status Private | Employees in State 524

klahoma’s Edward Jones financial advisors run their own businesses, like entrepreneurs, without financial investment but aided by extensive firm support. They work in partnership with branch office administrators to achieve goals they set together, even office hours. Financial advisors set their own schedules and choose their branch locations. Because they usually live where they work, it’s easy to duck out of the office to see an awards assembly or eat lunch with the kids. They work from anywhere using smartphones, laptops and firm-provided remote access. Great perks abound. “Each year, thousands of our financial advisors earn all-expenses-paid Edward Jones Travel Award trips to exotic destinations across the globe,” said Financial Advisor Mary Maddux, Ponca City. “In 2014, 60 percent of all financial advisors earned at least one [trip] ... by serving their clients well.”

Cancer Treatment Centers of America

BP T W 2015 OKC .BIZ

U.S. Corporate Headquarters Boca Raton, Florida | cancercenter.com | Year Founded 1989 Company Leaders Richard Haldeman, Tulsa president/CEO; Gerard van Grinsven, system president/CEO | Status Private

LARGE BUSINESS

Employees in State 715

ancer Treatment Centers of America (CTCA) has a unique way of encapsulating its mission. It’s called the Mother Standard of care, which means that its employees (called stakeholders) treat each patient the way they would want their own mothers to be treated if they had cancer. It seems to work for the stakeholders themselves, too. Stakeholders must be physically and mentally healthy to take care of patients. CTCA offers an on-site fitness center, open 24 hours a day, for stakeholders and patients. Stakeholders also have access to naturopathic practitioners for consultations, as well as $600 to be used for vitamins and supplements each year.

OklahOma Gazette | september 23, 2015 | 55

Diagnostic Laboratory of Oklahoma

U.S. Corporate Headquarters Oklahoma City | dlolab.com | Year Founded 2001 Company Leader Bill Mosteller, CEO | Status Public | Employees in State 734

BP T W 2015 OKC .BIZ

LARGE BUSINESS

ach year, Diagnostic Labs of Oklahoma takes care of more than 7,000 clients with a stateof-the-art core laboratory in Oklahoma City, two rapid response labs in Norman and Tulsa and 10 hospital laboratories across the state. It also has a fleet of 65 vehicles driven by diligent staffers who traverse more than 9,000 miles and make more than 1,250 stops each day. Of the more than 9 million tests DLO performs each year, 95 percent are conducted in-state, so DLO employees are Oklahomans serving Oklahomans. “As a health care organization, DLO organically has a culture of service,” said CEO Bill Mosteller. “Not only does DLO serve its patients, they also serve each other, creating a family atmosphere. This culture of service has allowed DLO to be named as one of Oklahoma’s Best Places to Work for 10 years in a row.”

Eide Bailly LLP U.S. Corporate Headquarters Fargo, North Dakota | eidebailly.com | Year Founded 1917 Company Leader Dave Stende, CEO/managing partner | Status Private | Employees in State 140

ationally, Eide Bailly is a top25 CPA firm, serving 54,000 clients. It has 1,600 employees and 27 offices in a dozen states. How does a company that large ensure its employees — and, therefore, its clients — have a top-notch experience day in and day out? It considers its culture the foundation of its success. The company has a very open relationship with its partners and staff, so all parties involved feel they have the opportunity to contribute to the collective success of the organization. Eide Bailly offers its employees wellness benefits, parties at the office, chair massages, casual Fridays, a healthy work-life balance and fun recognition programs with prizes like gift cards. It also offers a tuition-reimbursement program and payment for study materials for the CPA exam.

56 | september 23, 2015 | OklahOma Gazette

BP T W 2015 OKC .BIZ

LARGE BUSINESS

Capital One Auto Finance U.S. Corporate Headquarters McLean, Virginia | capitalone.com | Year Founded 1988 Company Leader Rich Fairbank, founder/chairman/CEO | Status Public | Employees in State 450

BP T W 2015 OKC .BIZ

LARGE BUSINESS

he Tulsa office of Capital One Auto Finance always put its customers first, but as John Cook, director of extended operations said, “We want our associates to enjoy their day.” Associates flourish while enjoying off-site team-building days that involve activities like bowling, putt-putt golf, go-kart races and golf along with fun company events throughout the year. These take the form of department rallies, town hall meetings, holiday parties and luncheons. There’s even a game room, which is a gathering place where employees can catch up on latest news and eat lunch or log onto a computer to view their favorite TV series or movies. There is always a friendly competition at the pool table or the ping-pong table. In addition, Capital One offers top-tier benefits focused on helping associates be well physically, financially and emotionally.

180 Medical U.S. Corporate Headquarters Oklahoma City | 180medical.com | Year Founded 2002 Company Leader Ron Howell, CEO | Status Private | Employees in State 257

BP T W 2015 OKC .BIZ

LARGE BUSINESS

80 Medical is a medical supply company, which means its customers are dealing with ongoing and often lifelong health issues. What it does every day improves people’s quality of life. The company makes sure its employees feel empowered, respected and appreciated because that directly affects the customers’ experience. That service level is directly attributable to the quality of the company’s employees, an asset it nurtures. 180 Medical has 450 employees, and as it has grown, its leadership worked to make sure it never got so big that it lost the relationships it carefully fostered with its customers and employees. Fun perks abound at 180. It has an onsite gym and free snacks available to all employees, the staff has opportunities to spin a prize wheel when certain goals are met and earn weekly treats such as food trucks, and they all enjoy participating in special challenges and themed contests.

Okl ahOma Gazette | september 23, 2015 | 57

Encompass Home Health & Hospice

U.S. Corporate Headquarters Dallas | ehhi.com | Year Founded 1998 Company Leader April Anthony, founder/CEO | Status Subsidiary of a public company | Employees in State 500

ncompass Home Health & Hospice’s mission, “A Better Way to Care,” is at the heart of the dayto-day activities of every employee. “Our patients are somebody’s parent, child, brother, sister or grandparent, and we are all keenly aware of that. That fact touches and informs our employees on a daily basis. Likewise, we recognize that each of us, as employees, is somebody’s parent, child, brother, sister or grandparent, and we are all keenly aware of that,” said founder and CEO April Anthony. “Reinforcing our company’s mission really is a natural byproduct of the services we provide. … We all see it in the eyes of our patients and in the expression of gratitude from our patients’ family members each day. We all see it and hear it in the big and small ways that we care and help our teammates out each day.”

58 | september 23, 2015 | OklahOma Gazette

BP T W 2015 OKC .BIZ

LARGE BUSINESS

BP T W 2015 OKC .BIZ

First United Bank & Trust U.S. Corporate Headquarters Durant | firstunitedbank.com | Year Founded 1900

LARGE BUSINESS

Company Leader Greg Massey, CEO | Status Private | Employees in State 643

irst United Bank & Trust is a 115-year-old, full-service bank. It uses a stakeholder model for success, recognizing the five groups of stakeholders that equally contribute to the success of the company. Those five groups are: customers, employees, partners, communities and shareholders. The goal is that doing business with First United should be a winning situation for everyone involved. Perks enjoyed by First United employees include a comprehensive wellness program managed by an onsite wellness director. The program includes free health screenings and health risk assessments, educational seminars, sponsorship in community events and wellness coaching. Employees also are able to earn “well days,” which are paid days off for participating in the wellness program.

BP T W 2015 OKC .BIZ

Mars Pet Care U.S. U.S. Corporate Headquarters Franklin, Tennessee | mars.com | Year Founded 1911 Company Leaders Grant F. Reid, president/CEO of Mars Inc.; Larry Allgaier, regional president, Mars Pet Care NA Status Private | Employees in State 149

LARGE BUSINESS

n 1911, Frank C. Mars began making candies in his Tacoma, Washington, kitchen and established Mars’ first roots in the confectionery business. In 1935, Mars entered the petcare business. If you have a pet, chances are you know what the good folks at Mars Pet Care make. Eukanuba, Iams, Cesar and Whiskas are just a smattering of the brands under the Mars umbrella. From day one of employment, workers receive benefits, a generous vacation allowance, a 401(k) plan and a pension plan, as do participants in the Mars Volunteer Program. Associates also enjoy annual bonuses, employee awards programs, town hall meetings, tuition reimbursement, paternity leave, adoption assistance, lactation facilities, on-site personal development and more. “Happy and engaged associates are more productive,” said Daniel Klapuch, Clinton site manager.

OklahOma Gazette | september 23, 2015 | 59

Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. U.S. Corporate Headquarters Itasca, Illinois | ajg.com | Year Founded 1927 Company Leader Pat Gallagher, CEO | Status Public | Employees in State 76

BP T W 2015 OKC .BIZ

LARGE BUSINESS

rthur Gallagher founded Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in Chicago on Oct. 1, 1927. Gallagher focused on commercial insurance and also pioneered the concept of risk management. He knew that by understanding his customers and reducing their risks, he would build strong relationships. Some perks of becoming part of the Gallagher family are a free vacation day within your birthday month, a flexible Friday schedule that allows employees to leave at noon every other Friday, flexible work hours, an annual company picnic, two floating holidays each year to be used in any manner the employee wishes and a social committee. “The product we sell is ourselves, our attitudes and our knowledge,” said company leader Pat Gallagher. “A happy employee ensures our client’s needs are met with a smile, a servant heart and a great attitude.”

Only amazing employees could help make First Fidelity Bank a

2015 OKCBiz Best Place to Work!

FFB.COM 60 | september 23, 2015 | OklahOma Gazette

Safelite AutoGlass U.S. Corporate Headquarters Columbus, Ohio | safelite.com | Year Founded 1947 Company Leader Tom Feeney, CEO | Status Private | Employees in State 91

BP T W 2015 OKC .BIZ

LARGE BUSINESS

afelite Auto Glass has a clear view of its future. Its plan is to become the natural choice for vehicle glass repair and replacement services in the U.S. Safelite drives business performance by putting people first and having an obsessive focus on recruiting and keeping talented employees inspired to deliver great results. â&#x20AC;&#x153;When we take care of our people, they then can take care of the customer, and the rest takes care of itself,â&#x20AC;? said CEO Tom Feeney. Safeliters receive annual performance bonuses; lots of paid vacation and personal time off; medical, vision and dental insurance coverage; tuition reimbursement; and paid time off to volunteer in the community. Technicians also receive uniforms, a company vehicle for work and employee discounts with a variety of more than 100 vendors and companies. There is an associate-to-associate financial assistance program for employees in need related to tragic events.

OklahOma Gazette | september 23, 2015 | 61

First Fidelity Bank, N.A. U.S. Corporate Headquarters Oklahoma City | ffb .com | Year Founded 1920 Company Leader Lee Symcox, president/CEO | Status Private | Employees in State 350

BP T W 2015 OKC .BIZ

LARGE BUSINESS

even-time Best Places to Work in Oklahoma honoree First Fidelity Bank knows a lot about keeping its 350 employees happy by treating them right. “Our employees who put us here … make this a wonderful place to be,” said Lauren Harris, assistant vice president. “So we would like to thank them for everything they do to make FFB what it is.” First Fidelity employees enjoy competitive salaries and great benefit packages, but it goes beyond that. They are offered sophisticated training and career development, financial support for professional organizations they choose to join and generous paid time off. There also is a discounted fitness membership program with wellness support, an annual employee appreciation week, drawings for concert tickets and more. This year, First Fidelity Bank added a new perk: an employee night out at an Oklahoma City Energy Football Club soccer game.

Cintas Corporation U.S. Corporate Headquarters Cincinnati | cintas.com | Year Founded 1929 Company Leaders Scott Farmer, CEO; Brad McNeese, group vice president | Status Public | Employees in State 367

intas knows it isn’t luck that placed it on the Best Places to Work list for seven years. It’s lots of hard work and dedication to the company’s most valuable asset: its people, which it refers to as partners rather than employees. “Our partners truly enjoy where they work and want to let others know we are one of the Best Places to Work in Oklahoma,” said Group Vice President Brad McNeese. “Our partners come to work each day in a safe, clean environment. They are paid fairly and treated with respect. Annually, we provide free, on-site health evaluations for all partners even if they don’t have Cintas health insurance coverage.” There also is a perks program through which partners and family members receive thousands of discounts on cell phone services, car purchases, movie tickets and amusement park passes.

62 | september 23, 2015 | OklahOma Gazette

BP T W 2015 OKC .BIZ

LARGE BUSINESS

AAA Oklahoma U.S. Corporate Headquarters Tulsa | aaa.com | Year Founded 1920 Company Leader Neal Krueger, president/CEO | Status Nonprofit | Employees in State 250

BP T W 2015 OKC .BIZ

LARGE BUSINESS

AA Oklahoma was founded in 1920. It began with a scant 289 members and now boasts more than 360,000 members across Oklahoma. “We have a tenured base of employees who believe in our products and services, who take pride in our brand and are dedicated to meeting our members’ needs,” said President and CEO Neal Krueger. “Our employees are connected to the communities that we serve. AAA Oklahoma has offices throughout the state, which allows us to provide support locally while our corporate brand allows us to serve our members on a national and international scale.” AAA Oklahoma’s 250 employees operate 12 full service and 32 insurance and membership offices throughout many of the state’s 77 counties.

OklahOma Gazette | september 23, 2015 | 63

Rank in 2014

Years on list

Employees in state

% male

% female

Exec team % male

Exec team % female

% Rate of voluntary turnover last fiscal year

Foundation Medical Staffing

TBS Factoring Service

138

InterWorks

MassMutual Finance Group Oklahoma

Industrial Controls of Oklahoma, LLC

BIS

Citywide Mortgage

Public Strategies

Nextep, Inc.

Vox Printing, Inc.

Ideal Homes of Norman, LP

102

High Plains Technology Center

N/A

100

Delta Dental of Oklahoma

N/A

111

Integrated Business Technologies, LLC

100

Oklahoma City Indian Clinic

N/A

160

Foundation HealthCare

N/A

104

Republic Bank & Trust

N/A

144

Sunbeam Family Services

N/A

128

Company

Rank in 2015

Small Businesses

64 | september 23, 2015 | OklahOma Gazette

Foundation Medical Staffing

BP T W 2015 OKC .BIZ

U.S. Corporate Headquarters Salt Lake City | foundationmedicalstaffi ng.com, chghealthcare.com | Year Founded 1999 Company Leader Matt Rice, senior director | Status Private | Employees in State 27

SMALL BUSINESS

oundation Medical Staffing recruits and places dialysis nurses and staff in temporary and permanent positions locally and nationally. It’s a placement agency for nurses, technicians and renal dietitians. Near-constant celebrations and great perks make it a fun and satisfying place to work. Employees celebrate random holidays such as Eat Ice Cream for Breakfast Day. Each year, during employee appreciation week, there are free chair massages, free meals and fun activities, and all year long, everyone gets to leave two hours early on Fridays if the team hits its weekly production goal. They have recess every Wednesday afternoon to play games and enjoy team-building activities. Traditional benefits are also offered to domestic partners regardless of their sex. There is an on-site health coach and a nurse practitioner whose services are free for employees. Foundation also offers tuition reimbursement, a healthy pregnancy program, a smoking cessation program and pet insurance.

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SUCCESS OklahOma Gazette | september 23, 2015 | 65

TBS Factoring Service U.S. Corporate Headquarters Oklahoma City | tbsfactoring.com | Year Founded 2004 Company Leader Wood Kaufman, CEO/managing member | Status Private | Employees in State 140

BP T W 2015 OKC .BIZ

SMALL BUSINESS

BS Factoring Service’s success is truly a team effort. Led by former newspaper delivery boy and avid skier Wood Kaufman, the company finances business, mostly in the trucking industry, by buying invoices at a percentage discount and then collecting from customers later. It’s a booming business. And Kaufman knows how to keep his employees happy and motivated. “We make a point of catching people in the act of doing things right and celebrate their achievement,” Kaufman said. “We have a generous bonus program, 100 percent employer-paid benefits paid for employees, company picnic, great associate development programs, paid time off for community service, Friday catered lunch from Cafe 501, our owner and management are accessible (in the trenches) and our year-end associate celebration is the stuff of legend.”

InterWorks U.S. Corporate Headquarters Stillwater | interworks.com | Year Founded 1996 Company Leader Behfar Jahanshahi, CEO | Status Private | Employees in State 100

nterWorks doesn’t have a traditional mission statement. Instead, this progressive company simply strives to hire the best people to do the best work for the best clients. From servers and storage to development and visualization, InterWorks provides full-spectrum IT and data solutions. “InterWorks has always been about doing top-notch work all while having fun,” said CEO Behfar Jahanshahi. “Above all else, we value the relationships we forge with our employees and our clients more than anything else. By taking care of them, we’ve made them pretty happy.” How do you take care of 100 IT professionals? With corporate ping-pong tables, video games, beer Fridays (or any days) along with complimentary tickets to Thunder games, Driller games and other sporting events. Many companywide events are staged each year, such as the fiercely competitive annual BBQ contest, back-to-school carnival and its legendary holiday party.

66 | september 23, 2015 | OklahOma Gazette

BP T W 2015 OKC .BIZ

SMALL BUSINESS

MassMutual Financial Group Oklahoma

BP T W 2015 OKC .BIZ

U.S. Corporate Headquarters Springfield, Massachusetts | oklahoma.massmutual.com | Year Founded 1902 Company Leader Mark Burson, general agent | Status Public | Employees in State 34

SMALL BUSINESS

hroughout its many years in operation, MassMutual Financial Group Oklahoma has earned an overwhelmingly positive reputation with its clientele, which includes individuals, families and businesses. It is MassMutual’s goal not just to continue, but to enhance the professional image and reputation of MassMutual and its advisors. The company’s core values and beliefs support the relationship that exists between upholding high ethical standards and the ultimate generation of growing sales and profits. And while growing profits is crucial, it would not happen as easily without great people. General Agent Mark Burson sees to it that MassMutual’s people are treated well by offering them flexible work schedules, plenty of family time and the ability to work from home if needed. Staff outings, an annual company picnic and an annual awards banquet add to the fun, sense of family and devotion to excellence that MassMutual embodies.

Industrial Controls of Oklahoma, LLC

U.S. Corporate Headquarters Tulsa | ico-llc.com | Year Founded 1980 Company Leader Michael Huckaby, manager | Status Private | Employees in State 95

BP T W 2015 OKC .BIZ

SMALL BUSINESS

ichael Huckaby’s goal for his company, Industrial Controls of Oklahoma, LLC, is to be a world-class industrial electrical contractor with a staff that’s dedicated to its craft. He is well on his way, a fact he attributes in part to having high-wattage, dedicated employees. Or, as he puts it: “We leverage our vast electrical knowledge and combine it with the superior craftsmanship of our employees to deliver superior construction results.” The company has seen an increase in the amount of activity in the electrical construction field. Multiple large projects have placed a strain on the local labor pool, which is why ICO has prioritized creating a workplace in which employees thrive. Employees at ICO enjoy four-day workweeks with flexible time off. They participate in an annual ICO day at a Tulsa Driller’s baseball game, followed a few months later by an annual holiday party at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino.

Okl ahOma Gazette | september 23, 2015 | 67

68 | september 23, 2015 | OklahOma Gazette

BIS U.S. Corporate Headquarters Edmond | bisok.com | Year Founded 1986 Company Leader Dan Rotelli, president | Status Private | Employees in State 100

BP T W 2015 OKC .BIZ

SMALL BUSINESS

IS has built a solid reputation as a full-service information technology provider and integrator of high-quality document and data management systems since 1986. “Our team members aren’t afraid to make decisions. We’re proud that in a day and age where some companies get stuck in that ‘analysis-paralysis’ cycle, our team members have the ability to make courageous decisions,” said Dan Rotelli, president. BIS employees enjoy a relaxed work environment and many perks. To unwind or clear their heads in order to refocus during the day, employees can enjoy a game of ping-pong or play video games with coworkers. “Those things are there for our employees so they can be mentally fresh and, let’s face it, have a little fun while they’re working,” Rotelli said. “Periodically, we also enjoy impromptu barbecues, cookouts, root beer floats and other perks like that.”

Citywide Mortgage U.S. Corporate Headquarters Norman | citywide-loans.com | Year Founded 2000 Company Leader Vernon McKown, president | Status Private | Employees in State 24

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SMALL BUSINESS

itywide Mortgage is a familyowned business founded with the goal of keeping customers happy throughout the home buying process. Founders recognized that securing proper financing was the most challenging and unpredictable element in buying or building a home. Citywide was created to ensure that the mortgage process is smooth, simple and even enjoyable for customers, and the company works with homebuyers and the refinance market as well as with Realtors and builders. What do Citywide employees enjoy? Generous vacation time, management that employs a coaching leadership style, employee profit sharing and shortened workdays on Friday as workload permits. Its sister company, Ideal Homes, also works with employees to provide new home purchase discounts. Full- and parttime employees, along with their families and friends, receive discounts ranging from 3 percent to 10 percent for employees who have been with Citywide two years or more. OklahOma Gazette | september 23, 2015 | 69

Public Strategies U.S. Corporate Headquarters Oklahoma City | publicstrategies.com | Year Founded 1990 Company Leader Mary Myrick, president/CEO | Status Private | Employees in State 83

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ublic Strategies was established in 1990 as a public relations and event-planning firm. Under the leadership of president and CEO Mary Myrick, Public Strategies has grown from a one-woman operation to a comprehensive project management and communications firm with a staff of professionals from diverse backgrounds and disciplines. The journey from a small firm serving the Oklahoma City Cavalry professional basketball team to a large, multifaceted organization serving dozens of local, state and federal clients has been a fascinating one. Among the benefits employees enjoy are summer hours, competitive benefits, food trucks, gym reimbursements, extended holidays, paid downtown parking, employee recognition programs, casual dress days, holiday and impromptu staff celebrations and tickets to community, entertainment and sporting events. “Happy employees are motivated, inspired and loyal,” Myrick said.

Nextep, Inc. U.S. Corporate Headquarters Norman | nextep.com | Year Founded 1997 Company Leader Brian Fayak, founder/president/CEO | Status Private | Employees in State 63

rian Fayak formed Nextep in 1997. Fayak’s move was bold by any standard: He went from a position with a publicly traded company to one where he was it — the operations team, the sales team and the owner. Since those humble beginnings, Nextep has grown to be one of the premier professional employer organizations in the industry, with clients across the country. Fayak wants his employees to be happy, and then some. “Happy is good, but we’re going for engaged workers. People who have been invested in and appreciated are going to work 10 times harder for you,” he said. “They’ll own problems with you and help you find solutions. They’ll contribute, deliver and protect. Our engaged workforce treats our clients well, are a source for company and employee referrals and they allow our management team to be more productive. ”

70 | september 23, 2015 | Okl ahOma Gaz ette

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Ever fist-bump a newspaper? Now’s your chance. Join VI in giving respect to the 32 companies who’ve been voted the 2015 Best Places to Work in Oklahoma. Don’t leave them hangin’.

OklahOma Gazette | september 23, 2015 | 71

Vox Printing, Inc. U.S. Corporate Headquarters Oklahoma City | voxprint.com | Year Founded 1971 Company Leader LaVerna Reid, CEO | Status Private | Employees in State 81

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or 43 years, Vox Printing has printed everything: Direct mail pieces, promotional materials, newspaper inserts and bag stuffers are mainstays. One special contract for Vox has come in the form of tray liners and other items for McDonaldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s, a relationship that has flourished for more than 40 years. Of the many perks offered by Vox Printing, one of the more unique is its company chaplain. Each week, a pastor visits for confidential mental, emotional and spiritual guidance. Vox employees also have enjoyed a company-provided financial management course, which helps them alleviate money woes and stresses. Annual employee celebration events are held each summer and during holidays. Vox also offers tuition reimbursement, pays 100 percent of health insurance premiums and sends bonus checks each October. And the icing on the proverbial cake? You guessed it: Each employee receives a cake on his or her birthday.

Ideal Homes of Norman, LP U.S. Corporate Headquarters Norman | ideal-homes.com | Year Founded 1989 Company Leader Vernon McKown, cofounder/president of sales | Status Private | Employees in State 107

deal Homes employees enjoy a positive work environment, team atmosphere and great company culture. Throughout the year, employees attend Ideal Homes-sponsored social events and teambuilding activities. When requirements are met, profit sharing is distributed evenly among qualifying staff. There are potluck dinners and cookouts, extra days off around holidays, training opportunities, flexible work hours, insurance benefits, 401(k) benefits, paid employee life insurance, company phones and iPads, discounts on a purchase of a new Ideal Homes home and advancement opportunities when available. The company also shares a 5 percent giving commitment with the community, which it does by donating directly to charities, offering fundraising opportunities and supporting the causes that are important to its workers. On staff membersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; yearly anniversaries, Ideal gives $10 per year of employment to a charity of their choice. Many have been with the company for 10 or 15 years. 72 | september 23, 2015 | OklahOma Gazette

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High Plains Technology Center U.S. Corporate Headquarters Woodward | hptc.edu | Year Founded 1982 Company Leader Dwight Hughes, superintendent/CEO | Status Private | Employees in State 49

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“O

ur employees being happy and engaged allows all of us to do our jobs better and work in a cohesive environment. We are more productive, we have very little absenteeism and very little turnover,” said CEO and Superintendent Dwight Hughes. “Our people love what they do, and it shows. Ultimately, it allows us to work with our students closer and give our students the skills, resources and tools they need to be workforce ready when they complete their training or program.” The center is part of a network of career technology centers across the state. Since 1982, High Plains has trained individuals for success in the workplace. A variety of courses make career education possible for students from all walks of life. This year marks its first appearance in Best Places to Work in Oklahoma.

Delta Dental of Oklahoma U.S. Corporate Headquarters Oklahoma City | deltadentalok.org | Year Founded 1973 Company Leader John Gladden, president/CEO | Status Nonprofit | Employees in State 118

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elta Dental of Oklahoma has earned its place on this list five times, and that’s something to smile about. Its mission is to be Oklahoma’s foremost developer, marketer and administrator of quality dental benefit programs, and its high standards and great benefits helped it take a bite out of its competition. The company returns surplus revenues to customers via lower premiums and richer benefits. Remaining surpluses go to provide free and low-cost dental care for in-need clients. The Delta Dental crew enjoys employee appreciation week and lots of “days”: ice cream day, s’mores day, coffee and smoothie day and hot chocolate day. All those treats are offset by team rowing, human foosball, rock climbing and tricycle races. An on-site wellness area includes treadmills, free weights, a bike and an elliptical machine. To stay well, Delta Dental also offers company-paid flu shots for employees and their families.

OklahOma Gazette | september 23, 2015 | 73

Integrated Business Technologies, LLC

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U.S. Corporate Headquarters Broken Arrow | integratedbusinesstechnologies.com | Year Founded 2007 Company Leaders Eric Kehmeier, co-founder/CEO; Bret Grady, co-founder/COO | Status Private | Employees in State 29

SMALL BUSINESS

ntegrated Business Technologies offers services and solutions to businesses that wish to outsource IT, product sales, project implementation and more. IBT is a high-tech company with excellent “soft skills” for clients and employees. Its corporate mission is straightforward: It focuses on technology so clients can focus on business. Its approach to keeping employees happy is equally simple: Happy employees equal happy clients, which lead to a sustainable business, positive work-related relationships and endless growth possibilities. CEO Eric Kehmeier said it this way: “A company is only as good as its team members, which is why our team consists of hardworking men and women who value their careers, praise the success of others and are constantly seeking ways to better themselves and their team.” IBT employees enjoy surprise ice cream breaks, food truck lunches and — perhaps to offset these indulgent treats — access to treadmills, elliptical trainers, pool tables and foosball.

Oklahoma City Indian Clinic U.S. Corporate Headquarters Oklahoma City | okcic.com | Year Founded 1974 Company Leader Robyn Sunday-Allen, CEO | Status Private | Employees in State 145

ore than 40 years ago, a group of volunteer physicians came together to fill a healthcare void by providing services five hours a week to Central Oklahoma’s underserved American Indian population. At that time, the closest American Indian health care clinic was 40 miles away and it was almost a two-hour drive to the two nearest Native American hospitals. For their dedication, and because the Oklahoma City Indian Clinic cares about its workers and wants to retain them, employee benefits and perks are fantastic. Medical and dental premiums are paid at 100 percent for employees and their families. Paid time off is generous and ranges from 15 to 42 days. Beyond that, there are 11 paid holidays and everyone gets a day of leave on his or her birthday.

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Foundation HealthCare U.S. Corporate Headquarters Oklahoma City | fdnh.com | Year Founded 1996 Company Leader Stanton Nelson, CEO | Status Public | Employees in State 105

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“O

ur motto is ‘Do the right thing. … Do it all the time,’” said Stanton Nelson, CEO of Foundation HealthCare. “Our purpose is to create and grow income and growth opportunities for our shareholders, physician partners and employees by owning and operating surgically focused hospitals that facilitate and enhance the surgical experience and outcomes for physician partners and their patients.” Foundation HealthCare goes to great lengths to create a family culture in which everyone understands that each person is important and critical to the company’s success. It values its employees and the tremendous work they do to serve the company’s partners (physicians) and their patients. Staffers enjoy health and retirement plans and generous paid time off. The company pays for its employees’ family or individual gym memberships. Add to that regular holiday and birthday parties and you have a recipe for happy employees and a great place to work.

Republic Bank & Trust U.S. Corporate Headquarters Norman | rbt.com | Year Founded 1988 Company Leader Chuck R. Thompson, president/CEO | Status Private | Employees in State 144

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orman’s Republic Bank & Trust finds and keeps excellent employees by training and empowering them and by providing them with a rewarding, productive, happy place to work. “We are honored by the affirmation of our bankers that this is a great place to work,” said CEO Chuck R. Thompson. “As Norman’s local community bank, we know firsthand the challenges and rewards of providing an atmosphere that fosters growth, identifies individual strengths and approaches each opportunity with a team philosophy. At Republic, we know that our best assets go home each night.” Investing in employee health and fitness also is important at Republic. There’s an expense-reimbursement program to offset the cost of health programs, health club memberships and health equipment. Similarly, Cash for Crayons is a reimbursement program for back-to-school clothing and school supply expenses. Both are offered to full- and part-time employees. Okl ahOma Gaz ette | september 23, 2015 | 75

Sunbeam Family Services U.S. Corporate Headquarters Oklahoma City | sunbeamfamilyservices.org | Year Founded 1907 Company Leader Jim Priest, president/CEO | Status Nonprofit | Employees in State 135

“W

e know that because we’re a nonprofit, we have to be creative with the ways we offer extra benefits to our staff,” said Executive Director Jim Priest. “For several years, we have closed our offices from Christmas Eve until after the New Year to allow our Sunbeam family to enjoy their personal families. We also have a very generous time-off package and are always striving to offer competitive salaries and benefits.” Employees receive a generous benefit package including very affordable medical coverage for less than $20 a month. Sunbeam recognizes one or more employees each month at board meetings as a Beamer Living the Mission with a certificate and gift card. Employees are also recognized for exemplary work by being featured in CEO Jim Priest’s Monday Message email that goes to all employees and board members.

76 | september 23, 2015 | Okl ahOma Gazette

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OklahOma Gazette | september 23, 2015 | 77

FREE WILL ASTROLOGY Homework: Formulate your game plan for hunting down happiness during the last three months of 2015. FreeWillAstrology.com. ARIES (March 21-April 19) You are destined to become a master of fire. It’s your birthright to become skilled in the arts of kindling and warming and illuminating and energizing. Eventually you will develop a fine knack for knowing when it’s appropriate to turn the heat up high, and when it’s right to simmer with a slow, steady glow. You will wield your flames with discernment and compassion, rarely or never with prideful rage. You will have a special power to accomplish creative destruction and avoid harmful destruction. I’m pleased at the progress you are making toward these noble goals, but there’s room for improvement. During the next eight weeks, you can speed up your evolution.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20) Taurus-born physicist Wolfgang Pauli won a Nobel Prize for his research. His accomplishment? The Nobel Committee said he discovered “a new law of nature,” and named it after him: the Pauli Principle. And yet when he was a younger man, he testified, “Physics is much too difficult for me and I wish I were a film comedian or something like that and that I had never heard anything about physics!” I imagine you might now be feeling a comparable frustration about something for which you have substantial potential, Taurus. In the spirit of Pauli’s perseverance, I urge you to keep at it. GEMINI (May 21-June 20) In 1921, the French city of Biarritz hosted an international kissing contest. After evaluating the participants’ efforts, the panel of judges declared that Spanish kisses were “vampiric,” while those of Italians were “burning,” English were “tepid,” Russians were “eruptive,” French were “chaste,” and Americans were “flaccid.” Whatever nationality you are, Gemini, I hope you will eschew those paradigms -- and all other paradigms, as well. Now is an excellent time to experiment with and hone your own unique style of kissing. I’m tempted to suggest that you raise your levels of tenderness and wildness, but I’d rather you

ignore all advice and trust your intuition. CANCER (June 21-July 22) The astrological omens suggest you could get caught up in dreaming about what might have been. I’m afraid you might cling to outworn traditions and resuscitate wistful wishes that have little relevance for the future. You may even be tempted to wander through the labyrinth of your memories, hoping to steep yourself in old feelings that weren’t even good medicine for you when you first experienced them. But I hope you will override these inclinations, and instead act on the aphorism, “If you don’t study the past, you will probably repeat it.” Right now, the best reason to remember the old days is to rebel against them and prevent them from draining your energy.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) You may laugh more in the next fourteen days than you have during any comparable fourteen-day period since you were five years old. At least I hope you will. It will be the best possible tonic for your physical and mental health. Even more than usual, laughter has the power to heal your wounds, alert you to secrets hiding in plain sight, and awaken your dormant potentials. Luckily, I suspect that life will conspire to bring about this happy development. A steady stream of antics and whimsies and amusing paradoxes is headed your way. Be alert for the opportunities. VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) It’s a favorable time to fantasize about how to suck more cash into your life. You have entered a phase when economic mojo is easier to conjure than usual. Are you ready to engage in some practical measures to take advantage of the cosmic trend? And by that I don’t mean playing the lottery or stealing strangers’ wallets or scanning the sidewalk for fallen money as you stroll. Get intensely real and serious about enhancing your financial fortunes. What are three specific ways you’re ignorant about getting and handling money? Educate yourself. LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22) I feel like a wet seed wild in the hot blind earth,” wrote author William Faulkner. Some astrologers would say that it’s unlikely a Libra would ever say

such a thing -- that it’s too primal a feeling for your refined, dignified tribe; too lush and unruly. But I disagree with that view. Faulkner himself was a Libra! And I am quite sure that you are now or will soon be like a wet seed in the hot blind earth -- fierce to sprout and grow with almost feral abandon.

you could try: Tap into both your primal anger and your primal joy. In your mind’s eye, envision situations that tempt you to hate life and envision situations that inspire you love life. With this volatile blend as your fuel, you can explode the hold of the spell, illusion, or trance.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21) You and I both know that you can heal the sick and raise the dead and turn water into wine — or at least perform the metaphorical equivalent of those magical acts. Especially when the pressure is on, you have the power to attract the help of mysterious forces and unexpected interventions. I love that about you! When people around you are rendered fuzzy and inert by life’s puzzling riddles, you are often the best hope for activating constructive responses. According to my analysis of upcoming cosmic trends, these skills will be in high demand during the coming weeks.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18) “Go to the edge of the cliff and jump off. Build your wings on the way down.” So advised author Ray Bradbury. That strategy is too nerve-wracking for a cautious person like me. I prefer to meticulously build and thoroughly test my wings before trying a quantum leap. But I have observed that Aquarius is one of the three signs of the zodiac most likely to succeed with this approach. And according to my astrological calculations, the coming weeks will be a time when your talent for building robust wings in mid-air will be even more effective than usual.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21) Some astrologers regard the planet Saturn as a sour tyrant that cramps our style and squelches our freedom. But here’s my hypothesis: Behind Saturn’s austere mask is a benevolent teacher and guide. She pressures us to focus and concentrate. She pushes us to harness and discipline our unique gifts. It’s true that some people resist these cosmic nudges. They prefer to meander all over the place, trying out roles they’re not suited for and indulging in the perverse luxury of neglecting their deepest desires. For them Saturn seems like a dour taskmaster, spoiling their lazy fun. I trust that you Sagittarians will develop a dynamic relationship with Saturn as she cruises through your sign for the next 26 months. With her help, you can deepen your devotion to your life’s most crucial goals.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20) You are being tempted to make deeper commitments and to give more of yourself. Should you? Is it in your interests to mingle your destiny more thoroughly with the destinies of others? Will you benefit from trying to cultivate more engaged forms of intimacy? As is true for most big questions, there are no neat, simple answers. Exploring stronger connections would ultimately be both messy and rewarding. Here’s an inquiry that might bring clarity as you ponder the possibility of merging your fortunes more closely with allies or potential allies: Will deeper commitments with them inspire you to love yourself dearly, treat yourself with impeccable kindness, and be a superb ally to yourself?

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) The coming weeks will be a favorable time to break a spell you’ve been under, or shatter an illusion you have been caught up in, or burst free from a trance you have felt powerless to escape. If you are moved to seek help from a shaman, witch, or therapist, please do so. But I bet you could accomplish the feat all by yourself. Trust your hunches! Here’s one approach

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Send reSumeS to nikki.jackSon@novadconSuLting.com Chief Operating Officer needed in Midlands Management OK City, OK location to direct reinsurance underwrit’g. Must have 10 yrs exp w/ comm insurance. Include’g 5 yrs transactional exp w/ self insured excess worker’s comp & reinsurance; reinsurance exp w/ int’l & domestic markets; Lloyds of London insurance market; defin’g client reinsurance product structur’g & placement in market; & mng’g multiple teams & budgets. 20-25% domestic & int’l travel req’d. Email resume to employment@midman.com re COO position.

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Act of 1968, which makes it illegal to advertise any preference, limitation or discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status, national origin or an intention to make any such preference, limitation, preference or discrimination. This newspaper will not knowingly accept any advertising for real estate which is in violation of this law. Our readers are hereby informed that all dwellings in our newspaper are available on an equal housing opportunity basis.

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