Bike Path Issue Surfaces Again

The issue of the bike path adjacent to the newly opened 18th street extension dominated City Council meeting Tuesday night, but at the end of an hour's discussion Council voted 3-2 to issue a change order deleting $161,000 from the project and adding $43,000, and paying APAC Construction Company the $43,000.

The $161,000 figure was for a concrete path on 18th extending down Shundi to 9th street. It was approved in the original plan by Council 4-1 but was deleted at the request of the city manager later, to keep the cost below engineering estimates. The $43,000 was for an asphalt path on 18th street, built from asphalt bid on a quantity basis.

City Attorney Ron Cates spent considerable time listening to audio tapes of the Sept. 20, 2005 council meeting when Councilor Dave Helms moved to award the bid for approximately $2,225,000. That issue passed 4-1 with Larry Parham voting nay. That bid included the concrete bike path.
Afterwards on Oct. 11, 2005, a contract was awarded but approximately $500,000 was eliminated for construction, including the $161,000 concrete bike path. But no change order was ever issued to reinstate the path at a cost of $48,000. The asphalt path was added by city staff at the last stages of construction, with leftover asphalt bid on a quantity basis, officials said.
And, when all is said and done, there is still $23,000 left over, unspent, for the project as approved.

"To approve payment of the $43,000 without the change order would be unlawful," Cates told Council. "We need to reduce the contract by $161,000 and add back the $43,000, with a change order", he said. "It is not unusual to issue change orders during a construction project, it is done all the time," he added. He said the actual audio tapes of the September '05 meeting were not exactly word for word per the written minutes, but it was clear the tapes showed that Council approved the bike path at that time.

A final reconciliation for the project cannot be done until sod and seeding are completed, which may not occur for another four months, since this is the wrong time of the year to be doing such work, officials said.

In other council action:

--Council presented a Certificate of Appreciation to Lisa Allred, City Treasurer, who began her city employment in 2001 and has kept up with advancements with new computers, systems, audit reports and municipal requirements.

--Heard a request from Buffalo South resident Willis Winder regarding funding for maintenance and new lighting for the subdivision, originally built some 20 years ago by Gayle Towry. Residents currently pay individually for street lighting at around $275 per month. Two entryway lights were recently removed by Towry, which residents want restored. City Manager Bill Galletly said staff would obtain costs for restoring the entryway lighting, approved by a 5-0 vote by Council.

--Authorized a "request for qualifications" for professional services to assist in the design and cost for a new Aquatic Park, which would be voted on by the citizens of Grove in the April election. The plan would be developed using local citizen input with the expertise of an engineering firm that specializes in such parks. It will take about 60 days to get the report done and the notice to include on the ballot in April must be accomplished 60 days prior to the election. Estimated cost would be $4 to $5 million.

--Disposed of a number of routine matters, including the closing of 18th street between Broadway and Main for REC Day Sept. 16; approved a resolution establishing the National Incident Management System as the standard for incident management in Grove; approved a Statement of Agreement for mutual aid between the city and the Cherokee Nation; and authorized the Service Agreement between the city and Grand Gateway.

Integris Grove Hospital Gets New MRI Unit

Remember the big semi trailer truck that used to park at the rear of Grove Hospital? It was the MRI traveling unit and is no more, at least for Grove.

The hospital has a new state of the art, $1.5 million MRI unit, a General Electric Signa Excite HD 1.5-tesla, located in the new ambulatory care center at 13th & Shundi, in a room especially built for it.

Installed last April, the unit takes care of 6-8 patients a day but can easily handle 10 a day. It can take images of the brain, spine, feet, and basically everything in the human body except soft tissue. Dr. Michael Foster, diagnostic radiologist, does the diagnostic imaging interpretations usually within two days.

Helms Appointed to Airport Trust Board

Councilman Dave Helms was named to the Grove Airport Trust Authority Board by Mayor Carolyn Nuckolls and approved 3-2 by City Council at its regular Tuesday night meeting.
Objecting were councilors Larry Parham and Gary Bishop; Parham said the appointment should include someone who uses the airport, a pilot, for example.
"We have better candidates," he said. Bishop said he was opposed to sitting councilmen being appointed to trust authorities.
Directly in opposition were Mayor Nuckolls, who said "I was of the same view until a year and a half ago, but since then my opinion has completely changed."
Councilman Terry Ryan said that he had spoken in favor of council members serving on trust authority boards, during the election campaign last year. "They are directly responsible to the people who elect them."
Helms said he would put the airport's best interests first and would work to continue to improve it.

Council Approves New Cemetery Site

Grove City Councilors approved 5-0 the selection of what has been called the East Site, near Olympus Cemetery, as the location for Grove's new cemetery and approved a contract for $29,750 for phase II engineering services.
The city had hired MKEC Engineering Consultants to consider two sites, one north of town near the wastewater treatment plant, and the East site. MKEC gave a slight edge to the north site.
Councilman Gary Bishop said he had received 30 calls on the issue, 29 of which favored the East site, due to its adjacency to the present Olympus Cemetery.
For a complete summary of the study see the Aug. 4 issue of The Observer.
MKEC can now proceed with further studies on engineering and layout/design work.

The Canine Corner...

By Missy MacTavish

Things are not well around the house this week. If anyone wants me to come visit them, please call me soon.
Dad is tweaked out. He says we are The Clampitt's of electronics. The light bulb in his big TV went out and the receiver for Mom's TV went out. So he is back to watching a 1985 RCA in the bedroom. And to make matters worse, his bulging disk in his back is hurting.
Me, I don't watch much TV.
The good news is that it is Football Season again and I can wear my Dallas Cowboys shirt without fear of being made sport of. I don't watch the games, they are stressful. So I read the scores in the Monday paper.
Also good news is the temperature is cooler and I can smell Fall in the air. This is my favorite time of the year. I hope it is yours as well.
Until next time, Bark On! Miss Missy

Observations...The Reunion

The late singer-songwriter Jim Croce had a big hit, "Time in a Bottle" years ago, and we couldn't help thinking about it as we attended our 49th high school reunion over the Labor Day Weekend. When you graduate from high school you don't think about the future the same way you do years later, from the backside.

After graduation, people scatter like flower petals in the wind. College, marriage, kids, divorce, more kids, failing body parts, a rush through life. And so a high school reunion is like uncorking the bottle, letting out the emotions and thinking about the past.

At the reception and dinner, we watched as the people we had gone to high school with, even grade school, entered the room. "I know that guy." We're not much on remembering names, even for a few minutes, much less nearly 50 years, and had it not been for name tags we would have been troubled to find out who was who.

Funny thing, after you realize who they are, you notice the small, familiar characteristics they possessed in high school, the way they speak, walk, move their lips, squint their eyes. Despite the years, these body signs have not changed.

Aging does strange things to us. It removes our hair or turns it gray, wrinkles our skin, stoops us, alters our walk and even our speech. Some 42 in our class have passed away over the years; others have fought or are fighting Cancer. In high school we never heard the word Cancer; maybe it didn't exist then. People died from other things. We remember the weight coach, fit as a fiddle, jogging around the neighborhood and then sitting down on the curb to die of a heart attack. Nowadays they would have saved him and had him dancing in two days.

How did we ever get through school without computers, CD players, MP3's, cell phones, DVD's, lasers, MRI's, and a gazillion others. The math boys carried slide rules on their belts, the first hand held computer. The dreaded higher math classes, trig, solid, calculus, were all done with nothing but pencil and paper.

Now, students have special parking spaces if they are named "students of the month."
We didn't drive cars to school, just our old bike, and there weren't any students of the month. Yeah, we walked uphill backwards in the snow and ice, both ways, and made 65 cents an hour on our part time job.
Our infamous principal which we had nicknamed "Hitler" is mentioned to this day by current students. What a guy.

So we watched as our former classmates gathered in their familiar groups to catch up on kids, grandkids and other stuff. We even discovered that a former classmate has lived around the corner on Honey Creek for several years. We didn't know. Somebody had the bright idea to print name tags in 12 point type so everybody had to squint and get real close to read the name. Maybe that was the purpose.

From our class of '57, more than 80 showed up; there were more than 800 from the classes in the 40's to the 80's, all having functions, teetering around town trying to find the old movie theatres we had all spent so much time in; looking for the dirt roads we used to "park" on, which have since changed to four laners. Kids nowadays just "get a room." We remembered our typing classes, using old Royals with a carriage return. High tech. We thought about old girl friends, the smell of their lipstick, and looked for the "hot chicks." They were not there.

Current high school students gave tours of the new fine arts center, with a 2,500 seat arena, and a 1,200 seat auditorium with state of the art sound, not to mention the $90,000 Steinway concert grand piano. It even has its own "garage" off the stage where it is kept under lock and key when not in use. Not hard to accomplish with sponsors like Arvest, Conoco Phillips and generous taxpayers.

The music area is stunning, with a room full of 13 Yamaha keyboards connected to computers, so students can write their own music. Beethoven would roll over. Several practice rooms, each with a piano; a huge band room with DVD displays for formations on the football field; a speech and drama classroom complete with all sorts of furniture and props, a carpenter shop for making props, and even two makeup rooms just like Hollywood. These come with the kitchen sink and washer and dryer, of course. The art classroom comes with manikins. What, no nude models? Of course, all the classrooms allow the teachers to use laptops and screens for instruction.

Egads, they took away the blackboards!

And then there's the new science wing with all sorts of test tubes, experimental areas, even a fish tank.

Lunch is at 12: 22. Not 12 noon or 12:15, but 12:22. They allow up to six minutes to get from class to class the place is so big. One thing hasn't changed: The Cafeteria. Still pretty grim.

Lots of students never left our hometown. Funny, they're the ones that usually skip reunions, although several organized this reunion and worked hard. Others came great distances. We had no way of knowing who had gotten rich, achieved the most in life, or had the most tragedy. Only one of our class had murdered anyone…his wife. After his acquittal trial, one of his kids said he wondered "why it took so long to kill the bitch." He skipped the reunion.

So the gathering ended. The cork was put back in the bottle after everyone had left, to wait another year or decade, when the crowd will be smaller. Too bad today's high school students can't fast forward the DVD to see 50 years ahead. Or maybe not.

Lendonwood Plans Silent Auction

More than a dozen luxury gift baskets will be offered up for bidding during the Lendonwood Gardens annual Garden Party fund-raiser Saturday, September 23. “Light the Night” is the theme of the party, which starts at 5 p.m. at Lendonwood, located at 1308 West 13th Street (Har-Ber Road) in Grove.
Each gift basket will feature a special theme, such as gardening, cooking, fishing, pets, golf or spa, said Cindy Reynolds, chair of the event. Items in the baskets were donated by local citizens and area merchants. In addition to the auction, a drawing will be held for a Chanel gift basket valued at more than $300.
“The silent auction provides an opportunity for our community to show its support for Lendonwood, a beautiful botanical garden enjoyed by local people as well as visitors to the Grand Lake area,” Reynolds said. She said the garden party promises to be “a lovely evening filled with glittering lights, delicious food and drink, and wonderful music.”
Entertainment will be provided by Miami guitarist Jered Swopes and catering will be handled by Auntie Em’s Catering of Grove.
Information on purchasing tickets, which are $25 per person, may be obtained by calling Lendonwood at 918-786-2938. Serving with Reynolds on the Garden Party Committee are Robyn Carnett, Donna Killion and Mardee Dodge, all of Grove.
Lendonwood is a non-profit botanical garden supported by volunteers and donations. The three-acre garden is open to the public year-round, from dawn to dusk.

Nautical Flea Market Set for Sept. 16-17

The Grand Lake Sail and Power Squadron is sponsoring a Nautical Flea Market in support of its efforts to provide free safe boating courses to boaters in the Grand Lake area. The flea market will be held September 16 – 17 at Pelican Landing Resort, northeast of Ketchum, OK.

The idea of having a nautical flea market in this area is the result of efforts by a local Power Squadron member who was impressed by a similar one in the Florida Keys. The “Gigantic Nautical Flea Market” is an annual event there. It brings individuals and vendors together with boaters from all over Florida and several neighboring states to buy and sell boats, marine equipment, nautical arts & crafts, and other new and used boating stuff.

While many local marinas and commercial vendors have already signed up for booth spaces, there is still plenty of room for private individuals to sign up for space to sell new and used nautical items. A 12X12 space is $30 and a 12X24 space is $50 for this two day event.

Remember, if you sell your boat at the end of summer, you can save the expense of having it winterized or stored until next spring. Multiple spaces are available for people with large or a lot of items; or an individual with just a few items might choose to share a space with someone else. Proceeds from the sale of items goes to the people who rent the spaces. Space rental proceeds go to the Power Squadron to help fund its educational programs.

The GLSPS is anticipating an increase in demand for its BoatSmart course due to the enactment of the “Kyle Williams Boating Safety Education Act”. This new law, which was signed by Governor Brad Henry on June 6, 2006, takes effect January 1, 2007. It requires a person less than 16 years of age to complete a boating safety educational course and an examination before they can operate most motorized vessels and larger sailboats. The Power Squadron is able to offer its BoatSmart course to boaters free of charge through the success of fundraisers such as the Nautical Flea Market.

The Nautical Flea Market will be open on Saturday, Sept. 16, from 8am-5pm, and on Sunday, Sept. 17, from 10am-4pm. For information about the flea market or space rentals call Bill Skea at: 918-786-4488 or e‑mail to: vermaireskea@charter.net.

A Matter of Faith...

By Carol Round

A Day Hemmed in Prayer

“Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise.” James 5:13 (NIV)

Like many young children, my granddaughter will not go to sleep without her favorite “blankie.” Its softness and a picture of Winnie the Pooh provide security to a child who has yet to understand the ultimate comforter.

I, too, had need for a security blanket when I was younger. Buried inside my cedar chest is a handmade baby quilt that my grandmother made over 50 years ago. In each of the twelve blocks is a lamb. The hand-sewn details are intricate.

The time that my grandmother put into stitching the quilt for me is evidence of her love before I was ever born. Stains now grace the blanket and the edges are frayed, a testimony of my attachment to this childhood comfort.

Throughout our lives we become attached to things or relationships that we think are necessary to our wellbeing and happiness. Then something happens, causing us to re-evaluate their importance.

We struggle, hanging on even when it is no longer what we need or what God wants for our life. In our desire to keep things the way they are, our lives sometimes unravel because we cling too tightly to the status quo.

When we are attached to yesterday, we can’t move forward. When we are afraid of change, we become stagnant. Look up the definition of stagnant and you’ll find: motionless, dormant, idle, inactive, inert, lifeless, sluggish, stale, stationary, still and unmoving.

The opposite of stagnant is active and flowing. How can we move out of our comfort zone with confidence so that God can do a good work in us?

We can follow Jesus’ example. He spent time alone in the wilderness each morning in prayer. During quiet time with the Lord, we become energized and gain a new perspective if we listen for His voice.

The Lord’s voice is the reassurance that we need to move forward, letting go of our “security blankets” and stepping out in faith. It is the only sustenance we need to fill our lives with confidence that we are a child of God.

As a child, I found solace in my baby blanket. As an adult, I find peace from knowing the Lord.

I start each morning with prayer but also turn to Him throughout my day in praise and thanksgiving. I strive to stay God-centered by putting Him in the middle of my day as well as at the beginning and at the end.

Christians often wonder: “How can I spend all of my time in prayer?” I used to ask the same question. You don’t have to spend every minute in prayer but you can have an ongoing conversation with Him. When your focus is on serving Him, you can pray any time, even while talking with others.

Did you know God is always present, always listening and always ready to answer? When you hem your day in prayer, it never unravels.


Carol Round is a retired Jay High School journalism teacher who now resides in Claremore, OK. Readers can reach her at carolaround@yahoo.com.

Seminar on Women's Assault Prevention Set

If you are a woman and want to learn more about preventing an assault, or becoming more aware of the potential of such an event, you should plan to attend a special Seminar Saturday, Sept. 16 from 1 to 4:30 p.m. at the Monkey Island Fire Station.

Cost: $18.00 per person. (Must be 13 and older. Under 18, must be accompanied by a guardian.)

You must pre-register and prepay by September 13.

This seminar will empower you. You will learn to develop a heightened awareness, confidence, inner strength, personal safety, emotional control and self-defense skills.
Learn how to be safe, how to not become a victim and how to defend yourself if you have to! All participants will receive: essential knowledge, invaluable skills and a magnified self-worth. So come join the seminar.

Contact: Kari Gross, Female WAAP Instructor for more information. 918 314-0704 or
Shirley Daggett, 918 787-4073

Dayna Dunbar Coming to Grove Library

Author and Oklahoma native Dayna Dunbar is bringing her statewide tour to Grove Public Library on Tuesday, September 19, at 1:00 P.M.
The author of "The Saints and Sinners of Okay County" and "The Wings that Fly Us Home" will be making more than 65 presentations in public libraries around the state this spring and fall. Dunbar’s trek across the state is part of Oklahoma Reads Oklahoma, the centennial literary program sponsored by the Oklahoma Humanities Council and the Oklahoma Department of Libraries.
The project was conceived to give literature an important role in the state’s centennial celebration, and is patterned after the One Book projects that have become popular around the country. In these programs, communities and states come together to read and discuss the same book.
More than 70 One Book projects have been sponsored from Maine to California. Oklahoma’s statewide reading project is different in that it promotes books with Oklahoma themes. In addition, Oklahoma readers decide through an online vote the bookthey will read and discuss each year. The author of the selected book is invited to tour the state.
Voters selected "The Honk and Holler Opening Soon" by Billie Letts to read and discuss in 2004. Tim Tingle’s "Walking the Choctaw Road: Stories from Red People Memory" was the 2005 selection. More than 7,000 people attended programs presented by Letts and Tingle in the past two years.
Readers selected Dunbar’s "The Saints and Sinners of Okay County" as the 2006 Oklahoma Reads Oklahoma Book. It’s the story of Aletta Honor, a hardscrabble heroine in 1970’s small town Oklahoma who must foster her hidden talents and strengths in order to reclaim her life and help her family survive.