Grove Chamber Is Moving Downtown

The Grove Area Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors has approved moving the Chamber offices to downtown Grove in a building owned by PSO, located behind Gourmet's at 310 S. Main.
Lisa Friden, Chamber President, said PSO has graciously offered building space for staff and a Visitor Center. "We will have more work space and more storage space, and we are excited about the move, which will take place by Feb. 1, 2006."
"We will still work hand in hand with the Grand Lake Association," she added, "as we do with many business organizations."
“The new central location will offer the Chamber easier access to the entire business community” said Greg Martin, Chairman of the Board. Being downtown will also allow more monies to be focused on the promotion of the City of Grove and Grove Area Chamber members. "We look forward to increased service to our members and are excited to be a part of the Downtown Revitalization”, Friden said.
The Chamber and the Grand Lake Association have shared a building on Highway 59 for more than five years, with the Chamber getting free rent but paying for some utilities at about $600 a month. This year state funds of about $55,000 were cut from GLA so officers of GLA asked the Chamber leaders to help with some of the expenses in the form of rent, about $800 a month, plus continuing to pay the $600 a month in utilities.
One Chamber board member said the Chamber officers bent over backwards to work with the GLA, including offering $450 a month in rent plus utilities, but GLA would not budge.
GLA has also had to refinance the mortgage to pay for a new roof, about $40,000, as the old roof has leaked for several years. Another source said an entirely new roof was not required, but only repairs to flashing at a cost of around $8000 plus the inside damages caused by moisture.
"We will miss our buddies across the hall and have enjoyed working with them," Deb Wolek, Executive Director of the GLA said Thursday. "We are agressively seeking grants and other monies, and the City of Grove has given us $5,000 to help in hosting the ESPN Citgo Bassmasters Elite 100 Tournament in June."
She said that ESPN has already given Grand Lake two hours of airtime and will cover the event live, and Bassmasters Magazine has the event listed every month in its' magazine. The event will be held June 1-4 out of North Beach, where space is available for an anticipated 8000 persons to attend.

City Council Reverses Itself on GIDA Appointment

Horses in residential Grove, like this one, are no longer welcome within the city limits unless they can find two acres to live on, according to new regulations for large animals.

That old saying about holding a prize fight when a city council meeting broke out almost came true this week.
Tempers flaired and some unprintable words were exchanged after Tuesday's Council meeting over the appointment of Bob Henkle to the Grove Industrial Development Board, a position he had held for 22 years but which expired this month. Council had previously voted at its last meeting to appoint only two of three applicants to the board which had three vacancies, and Tuesday night was to approve advertising for the third position vacancy.
However, council members Dave Helms and Mayor Carolyn Nuckolls were defeated in this attempt in a 3-2 vote, and Henkle was named to the vacancy also by a 3-2 vote on motion by Terry Ryan, who had changed his position since the last meeting.
"I just did not think that Mr. Henkle was treated fairly at the last council meeting and I felt that he deserved re-appointment to the Board," Ryan said after the meeting. Joining Ryan in the vote were councilmen Gary Bishop and Larry Parham.
Helms and Nuckolls had issues with Henkle over Executive Sessions of GIDA held in July.
Also providing some further heat was a presentation by Earl Shero, who has ongoing lawsuits with the city, who presented the Council with a reminder as to their duties to uphold the Constitution, reminding them of their oath of office, and the "continuing investigation at the highest level."
Delaware County District Attorney Eddie Wyant has advised the GIDA board that he will not file charges against the board members for Open Meeting Act violations over the civic center issue at this time. He also advised that "if sufficient evidence is developed that shows this has been happening or happens in the future, I will reopen this issue and will prosecute those responsible."
In other action the Council:
--Authorized the City Attorney to investigate whether or not Patricia Island and Buffalo Shores South are actually within the Grove City limits, due to unsigned paperwork. The vote was 4-1 with Larry Parham voting against. Parham lives in Patricia Island Estates.
"This has been an ongoing issue for 25 years and we need to get it straightened out once and for all," said Mayor Carolyn Nuckolls. Action was requested by Janet Perry, reporter for the Miami News Record.
--Amended Animal Ordinance #354 to require two acres of land for large animals within the city limits and invoked an emergency clause for the change, making it effective immediately.
--Authorized advertising for a permanent City Attorney, thanking interim City Attorney Larry Steidley of Claremore. Candidates must have five years of municipal experience.
--Tabled action on liability insurance for Airport Trustees and the Council as the proper paperwork had not been received. Cost to the taxpayers will be around $6300 per year in premiums.
--Approved an amendment to the land use plan and re-zoning from R-1 single family to R-2 multi family for lots in the Rogers Addition and Rogers Jones Addition for owners Brad and Sandy Busch who want to build duplex units for plus 55 age residents.
--Approved an amendment and re-zoning for 60 acres near the 18th Street project owned by Tommy and Janey Gray, from Agricultural to C-3 Commercial.
--Presented a Plaque of Appreciation to Jim Weeks, longtime member of the Planning and Zoning Board who resigned last month.
--Approved the sale of two police cars after being declared surplus equipment, for $1.00 each to the city of Kansas, OK. Police department.

Exciting Broadband Service Possible in Grove

High speed wireless broadband internet service may soon be available to all of Grove, an official of Cherokee Connex told members of the Grove Industrial Development Authority at its monthly meeting this week.
Ron Gates told the group that his Tulsa based company, owned by the Cherokee Nation, would first provide service to First Responders and Downtown Grove homes and businesses, then move forward to serving all of Grove and eventually a 300 square mile area around Grove and Grand Lake.
The service would handle broadband internet service, telephone service, high definition television and eventually cellphones with wireless chips. Internet service would be 50 times faster than current dial-up service and faster than DSL or Cable. There would be no dead zones for cell phone users.
GIDA members authorized the city attorney to talk with the Oklahoma Municipal League attorney regarding information gathering and participation in the SuperTrust created by the state.
Cherokee Connex would install 25-30 radio transmitters in downtown Grove mounted on light and electric poles. The service would be on 24/7 and up 99.9% of the time.
Gates described the new technology as radically superior to current wireless service which transmits on line of sight and cannot go through trees or structures. His service can travel for miles through trees, clouds and adverse weather. A single tower can handle hundreds of users at the same time with no performance loss. Each radio has its own battery backup in case of power failure and transmits on frequencies below 11 gigahertz and does not require licensing by the Federal Government.
Cherokee Connex currently serves Tulsa and 61 other Oklahoma cities that have signed up for the service since July.
Estimated cost to a broadband subscriber is $29.95/month.
Gates said Phase One of the service, to first responders, could be up and running in Grove in two weeks time. Ambulance and fire vehicles would have software to locate by GPS any residence in Delaware County, including cars or boats. Law enforcement officers would be able to mount cameras in cars and at intersections or trouble spots, accessable via a laptop computer. He said radically new cell phone technology will be coming out in 2007, already available in China and the UK. More information is available at www.cnxusa.com
In other business at the GIDA meeting, David Adzigian was elected Chairman; Terry Ryan elected Vice Chairman, and the Secretary position was tabled pending review by the city attorney as to whether or not the City Clerk can occupy the position while not being on the board. The City Clerk has traditionally kept the minutes anyway.
The board also agreed to sell Lot 13 of the Grove Business Park for $20,000.
They also approved the Purchase Order Register including two previously paid items; one for $7,000 to Terracom for soil anaylsis on two proposed civic center sites, and one to the McSorley Company for a study on which site would be better suited for the proposed new civic center.

Should Airport Hangers Get Sewer Line?

Discussion on providing a sewer line to four airplane hangers on the east side of Grove Municipal Airport highlighted the agenda at this week's regular Grove Municipal Services Authority meeting.
Estimated cost of the line is estimated at $30,000 to $50,000 but City Manager Bill Galletly agreed to get a cost for an Engineering Study for next month's GMSA meeting.
A figure of $30,000 was contained as a line item budget figure in the Airport Authority's budget several years ago and was transferred to the GMSA budget, but the actual money was never available, officials said.
GMSA still does not have funding for this project, the city manager said.
One citizen at the meeting, Glenn Sharp, asked why people who can afford to own airplanes cannot spend $7,000 for a Grinder Pump unit for their own hanger, when average citizens do it all the time for their own homes.
In other GMSA action, the trustees:
--Approved changes to the list of Priorities filed with the Oklahoma Water Resource Board to include upgrading water meters and expansion of the water plant in two or three years.
--Waived early collection of increased transportation fees for Jay, Afton and Fairland which do not go into effect until June 2006.
--Discussed whether or not to take over RWD #10 operations and took no action.
--Authorized the city to formalize negotiations with DeShazo, Tang & Associates and North Beach Development, which will take down and move and refurbish, at its expense, the water tower on Highway 59 at an estimated cost of $267,000. The city will continue to own the tower.
--Approved a sealed bid for $4,575 for a gas leak survey which is required every year.
--Elected Pete Churchwell Chairman and Terry Ryan vice chairman and tabled approval of a Secretary pending city attorney review.

Grand Lake Association Gets New Roof

The Grand Lake Association building, also occupied by the Grove Chamber of Commerce, is getting a new roof this week at a cost of $40,000, financed through a loan taken out by GLA.
The original roof was not properly installed and has leaked for several years. The company that installed it went out of business and insurance would not cover a new roof since it had leaked for some time, according to an Association official. Arbuckle Roofing is performing the new roof install work.

An Editorial...The Wright Amendment Should Go

Many years ago when Southwest Air Lines went to court for the privilege of flying from Love Field in Dallas, American Airlines persuaded Congressman Jim Wright of Fort Worth to legislate air fare protection via the Wright Amendment, attached to an obscure bill. It was passed and has been in effect ever since.
The little airline that once flew only within Texas has now grown to one of the country's largest and now wants to fly from Love Field to anywhere, instead of being restricted mostly to the states that surround Texas. It is working the halls of Congress to get the Wright Amendment repealed and American Airlines is fighting tooth and nail against it.
American hired a consulting company to justify what might happen if the amendment is repealed and all sorts of bad things come out. Like, American will have to switch a lot of flights to Love Field, and thus service to Tulsa and other places like London would suffer.
American has three unused gates at Love Field and has made sporadic flights from there long enough to put upstarts like Legend Air and Muse Air out of business. And more than 65% of American's business at DFW takes care of connecting, not originating, passengers.
The only thing that will happen if the Wright Amendment is repealed is that American will have to offer lower airfares from DFW, fares which have been proven to be among the highest in the country since there is virtually no competition from the low fare carriers. Even Delta has left DFW mostly to American.
People going to Memphis from DFW fly to Little Rock, which has low fares competing with Southwest, and then take what is called "the Betty Bus" on to Memphis for a two hour ride across the Interstate. This is just to get a decent price.
People going from DFW to say, LAX, have been known to drive to Austin, get on the same plane that flies through DFW to LAX, and save lots of money because the Austin-LAX fare is much cheaper than the DFW-LAX fare.
It is time for the fun and games to end. Congress should act to repeal this outdated, price-fixing piece of legislative junk and allow those who must fly from DFW the opportunity to do so at a reasonable price.

Work Proceeding on 18th Street Project

Dirt has begin to fly on the 18th Street Project from Sumac to Shundi. The new road will cross what is currently an empty field and intersect at Shundi a block south of 13th street. It will be two lanes, six inches of asphalt on a 10 inch crushed rock base, with curbs and gutters and dainage engineering. The bike and pedestrian path on the north side has been postponed until next year, according to the city manager.

Pathway to Heaven

Our staff photographer caught this combination of fog and sunrise in Grove.
We call it Pathway to Heaven.

This Week's Restaurant Review---The Back Porch

By Sam L. Smithers
Chief Restaurant Reviewer

Hurry. The Back Porch will close for the winter on Nov. 7 and re-open next March 1. But you still have time to get the best lunch in town though, and order pies and cakes for Thanksgiving and Christmas.
The Back Porch is located at the entrance to Har-Ber Village Museum, for those that have not been there, and is open for lunch from 11-3 Tue-Sat and Sundays from 12-3. They are closed Mondays.
Linda Ward has been the manager the past two years and she has everything under control, including some of the best sandwiches and desserts around. She spent much of her life in the music business in her church but changed careers and now enjoys the restaurant business, hectic though it is.
The Pecan Fruity Chicken Salad Sandwich is a favorite, served on a croissant, for $6.25; we also tried the Reuben Sandwich and the homemade potato soup which was delicious. Hamburgers start at $3.25 and most of the sandwiches are in the $6 range.
For dessert we had the best Carrot Cake in the world, and the gooey Baked Fudge Ice Cream which will melt in your mouth.
The restaurant currently seats 30 people inside, plus some outdoor picnic tables, but will be expanded during the winter adding another 20 seats, a larger kitchen, and a new asphalt parking lot.
For the holidays, orders are now being taken for German Chocolate and Carrot cakes; Mom's Coconut Cream, Chocolate and Pecan Pies (the crust is made with lard for flakiness). Call 787-4233 or 964-0703 to order.
And get on over to The Back Porch before Nov. 7 and enjoy a really fine lunch.

GRDA Says No to Shoreline Cleanup

These weeds and bushes along the shoreline at Royal Bay have grown up in one year, since they were cut down last year.

GRDA says this year, no cutting, as this is a wildlife area. They get their instructions from the EPA, DEQ, FERC and other government paper shufflers.

So what's all this stuff about shoreline cleanup? There are lots of dead tree trunks and brush piled up from previous floods, as well. This stuff is ugly and obscures the view. And the only sign of wildlife is in the Royal Bay Bar at night.

The Canine Corner...by Missy MacTavish

Several of my doggie friends have asked me how they can get my weekly column emailed to them.
The answer is that I don't know. I am just a dog.
Actually, one has to go to this web site to read my column as it is not deliverable at this time.
Maybe later.
It is easy to find. Just go to www.thegroveobserver.blogspot.com and it will appear, then you can save it in Favorites so you won't forget the address.
Frankly, I am tired of my friends asking.
The big news this week is that the City Council has banned any animal bigger than me within the city limits, unless they can find two acres to live on. Now I won't get stepped on by those water buffalo that roam around here. The other big news is that the sky is falling. On my daily walks I am getting hit on the head by falling pecans. They are a little smaller this year than in the past, due to not having enough rainfall. Mom says pecans are like Gold at Sam's Club. Very expensive.
I wonder, is Sam's Club a place for dogs? Maybe a good location for a kennel.
It was a good week since my last visit with you. The Dallas Cowboys and OU both won. That and a nice treat make my day.
Until next time... Miss Missy.