Council Passes on Uniformed Police Change

The day after a student sociopath killed 32 people at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, VA, several on the Grove City Council wanted to ban city policemen in uniform from attending Council meetings. Buried as Agenda Item #15, it drew much discussion from the audience in attendance at Tuesday night's regular meeting.

But common sense prevailed, with the council voting 5-0 to bounce the issue back to Acting City Manager Debbie Mavity, from which it had come the week prior, to die quietly or be resurrected later. Last week Councilman Larry Parham had asked her to issue a new policy banning uniformed police from attending council meetings, but she felt the entire council should make the decision and had it put on the Agenda for Tuesday night's meeting.

Councilors Mike Davenport and Gary Trippensee spoke in favor of the ban, while the newly elected Mayor, Gary Bishop, said he was neutral; Terry Ryan was opposed to the ban and Parham recognized the opposition to it and made the recommendation to send the issue back to Mavity. The measure is aimed at Chief of Police Ivan Devitt, who comes to council meetings on his own time, unpaid, and in uniform. He was hired by former city manager Bill Galletly, after Galletly fired former chief Mark Wall.

From the audience, Dave Rieden said "if someone thought this up in jest, it is not amusing. We need uniformed police at these meetings." Bill Miller said Columbine, the Amish church murders and other events made for a less friendly atmosphere. "If you pass this measure and someone comes in here and kills people, you, the Council, will be legally responsible," he said.

Councilman Terry Ryan said "the Amish people thought they were safe and look what happened there."

Gary Trippensee generously said "police may come to meetings, but not in uniform," while Davenport said "we don't need uniformed officers here."

Miller pointed out that at the Delaware County Courthouse Sheriff's deputies are now in the courtroom to protect the judges, after events last year occurred when judges were threatened.

Resident Duane Heitzman said "we need police here, it would be a mistake to change it."

Concha Trippensee, wife of Councilman Trippensee, disagreed, as did Steve Rowe.

The meat of the matter came when someone asked what started the Chief of Police's appearance in uniform at council meetings about a year ago, under former city manager Bill Galletly. "It was just requested," said Mavity. The new council made no secret during the election campaign that it would make changes in measures Galletly instituted during his four years as City Manager.

Police Chief Devitt stood at the door, in uniform, for the entire council meeting which lasted over two hours.

In other Council action:

--Council elected Gary Bishop as Mayor, and Gary Trippensee as Vice Mayor, by a 4-0 vote, with abstentions from Bishop and Trippensee on their own election.

--Agreed to advertise for two positions on the GMSA Board to fill seats open by former mayor Carolyn Nuckolls and former councilman Dave Helms.

--Rejected 4-1 a plan to require fencing around dumpsters, instead sending the issue back to the Planning & Zoning Board with the recommendation that all current businesses be grandfathered. Ryan was the lone holdout for acceptance of P&Z's recommendation.

--Requested the Mayor send a letter to GRDA requesting that all shoreline within Grove's city limits should be designated "multi-purpose" in the new Shoreline Management Plan, still under review by GRDA.

--Issued a proclamation declaring April as Fair Housing Month.

--Approved a grant request from the Department of Justice to purchase new vests for the police department.

--Agreed to waive the permit fee of $100 for Second Saturdays to hold sidewalk sales in downtown Grove from June 9-Oct. 13.

--Approved a new cemetery plan and the spending of $274,800 to develop the property adjacent to the nearly-filled Olympus Cemetery east of town, subject to budget approval.

--Appointed Larry Parham as Council representative ex-officio to the Chamber of Commerce Board.

--Postponed action, again, on a request by Don VanHooser to develop some property on Carey Bay, due to a misprint in the legal designation. It set a special meeting on Friday at 8 a.m. to reconsider the issue.

--Voted to amend Sec 7-105 of the City Ordinance increasing city spending and bidding limits from $5,000 to $12,500 to match policy.

--Set a special meeting May 2 with representatives of the Oklahoma City Managers Association on a presentation on "How to Hire a City Manager."

Mavity reported that 40 resumes for the open position of city manager have been received, and that the Personnel Manual needs overhauling. She expressed appreciation to the new councilors saying "I want to work with each of you and head in a positive direction." Gary Bishop reported that April 21 is the citywide "trash off day" where tree limbs, trash and other discarded materials will be picked up by city workers, starting in the Eastern portions of town, moving to the West.

Council Holds Special Session

Grove Developer Don VanHooser is a happy man at last. On the six attempt he successfully got city council approval to rezone his property on Carey Bay from C-3 to R-1S. It seemed that every time he came before Planning & Zoning or the council, there were scriveners' errors that caused the request to be submitted over again.
At a special city council meeting Friday morning, he finally obtained approval to build his development, which will include a putting green and 14 homes in his Bay Pointe subdivision.

In other action, council approved an ordinance closing two utility easements for the Rusty Pelican property on Honey Creek; approved taking $1,200 from the city's contingency fund to transfer to contributions to others for the Grove Chamber's GroveFest event and booth space at Joplin's Health Essentials event; and moved $2,000 from the city's contingency fund to contributions to others, for downtown merchants' promotion of Grove during the revitalization construction period, phase One.

Gary Dunham Dies

Funeral Services for Gary Dunham, former Grove assistant city manager for 17 years, will be held at 2 p.m. Monday at the Worley-Luginbuel Funeral Home in Grove. Dunham died Tuesday. He served under the administration of former city manager Richard Ball.

He was an avid golfer and spent much time with family and friends. Survivors include his wife Carol of Grove; mother, June Pierce of Independence, Ks; two sons, Troy Dunham of Houston and Steve O'Neil of Grove; one daughter, Susan Farrar and husband Kevin of Atlanta.

Grand Lake Island Named for Audubon Society

The Grand Lake Audubon Society has announced that the Grand River Dam Authority has renamed a major island in Grand Lake the Audubon Island of Cowskin. The renamed island is on the Elk River arm of the lake, within several miles of the mouth of the Elk River. The low- lying island is approximately 1 mile long and ¼ mile wide. The island was previously known as Cowskin Island.
GRDA Superintendent of Ecological Operations, Dr. Darrell Townsend II stated, “The effort the Grand Lake Audubon Society has performed around Grand Lake and this island in particular, provides an excellent example of the public sector working in unison with our Office of Ecosystems Management to reach a mutual goal of improving habitat quality for a variety of fish and wildlife.” The Audubon Society mission is to conserve and restore natural ecosystems for all wildlife, focusing on birds, and their habitats for the benefit of humanity.
Closer to home, the Grand Lake Chapter has over 100 members in Northeastern Oklahoma. Vicki Hatfield, chapter president said, “We are honored by this GRDA action. Our members have been particularly busy on this island establishing a floating Goose nest box as well as building and installing Wood Duck nest boxes on trees ten to fifteen feet above the ground.”
GRDA CEO Kevin Easley acknowledged, “ The GRDA Lake Management Team is happy to be able to change the name of this island to Audubon Island of Cowskin. I hope that this will express our gratitude to this chapter for all of the effort its members have put into providing habitat for water fowl in this area and their other activities around the lake.” Other activities of the chapter include Bat programs at Bernice State Park for school children to further their nature- based education. The chapter is also heavily involved in the annual Pelican Day Festival and Earth Day celebration at Lendonwood Gardens in Grove.

GIDA Pares Down Merchants' Funding Request

The Grove Industrial Development Board will recommend to City Council that a downtown merchants group request for $11,000 in media advertising be pared to $2000. Council will take this and other matters up at a special meeting Friday at 8 a.m.
The request for funding was made by Alan Caldwell of Gourmet's, to fund promotion of local merchants during the downtown construction work. The campaign is aimed at encouraging Grove shoppers to do it in Grove rather than leave town. The $2,000 will cover banners and other promotional materials.
GIDA also agreed to give the Grove Chamber of Commerce an additional $1,000 for promotion of GroveFest and cover a $200 entry fee at Joplin's Northpark Mall for its Health Essentials show.
GIDA board members also agreed to waive the fee schedule for the "Relay of Life" event July 20-21 to raise funds for the American Cancer Society, and charge $1.00 for the "Jammin 4 Jaden" event May 12. One year old Jaden Crowell had a heart transplant April 11 and some $350,000 in medical bills have accrued. More than a dozen country and rock bands have agreed to perform for free at the Civic Center to raise funds for Jaden. Tickets are $15 adults, $10 Seniors and children 6-12 years; children 5 and under Free with adult. GIDA board chairman David Adzigian agreed to pay the $1.00 rental fee for the Center.

Letters to the Editor...

Dear Editor:
It was good to see you back online with your "Observer" last week.
The first requirement of government is to obey the law both in practice and spirit. The conduct of the government is the example for its citizens and influences the attitude of the citizens towards the law. It will be interesting to see the comparative behavior of the new City Council to that of the old. The voters as a whole, not you or me individually, make the final decision as they did decisively in this past election. Their representatives will decide on such issues as whether or not Chief Devitt or his successor have a presence at City Council meetings as part of official duty. I would think that an "armed intruder blasting away with an AK-47" would target uniformed officers, first.
I know it is difficult to distinguish between a newspaper and a blog, and I guess a hybrid of the two is possible, but when you refer to "rumors persist", that is a blog. When you express an opinion as to the police presence at a Council meeting, that is a blog. When you try to minimize what the new Council will do, by referring to "menial items", that definitely is a blog and very weak satire.
As for your reminder that "we do have an Open Meetings Act in place", I hope it is enforced, not, as in the past, just in place. Whether the Council votes "as a block 4-1" would represent the recent decisive vote of the citizens of Grove. We must assume that, prior to the election, the consistent 3-2 vote represented the will of the people, until it was changed by the election results.
Shifting to your "Observations . . .", for my own clarification, I will assume this is posted either as an editorial comment or it merely reaffirms that "The Grove Observer" is a blog, not a newspaper. As for the six-page letter mailed to all registered voters in the City of Grove on March 29, the courts will decide if this was an act of criminal libel. If you will check the email that was submitted to but not published by "The Waterbug" in answer to your earlier "Waterbug" submission, I made it clear that I posted the reward for information as to the persons responsible for the mailing. There was nothing secret; it was a submission to "The Waterbug." Whether you care about who wrote the six-page letter, doesn’t really matter. The people who were libeled, do care. Every effort possible will be made to identify the participants in the preparation and circulation of the letter. Prior to the election on April 3, only two people requested from the Delaware County Election Board a list of all registered voters in the City of Grove. That public record has been obtained. Information from several sources is being pursued to obtain the full story as to the origin and circulation of the six-page letter.
A final observation: The voters in the City election BY LAW could vote for candidates in two Wards and one candidate At Large. David Adzigian ran fourth in the election, not first, second, or third. The law is not silly, it is the law. If you believe that a law is silly, then you have the opportunity by political organization, explanation and education, to change the law, by elections if necessary. If you believe that dead people voted, how do you know they did not vote for David Adzigian? The basic rule in politics is, you win or you lose. If you lose, and you don’t like it, all you have to do is go to work and do what is necessary to win the next time.
Jack L. Forrest
(Editor's Note: This is first, a blog, in a news/information format rather than a chat room. For some of our readers, it is a way to Flog. As we stated nearly two years ago, printed newspapers carry "news analysis columns, editorials, and straight news." Blog articles usually offer more freedom to comment than a straight news story. We realize that some of our articles would never pass muster at a printed newspaper, but then we are not a printed newspaper). To read Oklahoma's #1 rated blog, go to www.dustbury.com.
And yes, we will work to change the law; and no, we never said dead people voted, we said that they can vote if no proof of ID is required. Your twisting our comments to allow you to attack them is not kosher.)
And, did it occur to writer that there are a thousand direct mail houses that one can purchase lists from? Maybe even voters?

Groundbreaking Held for First Rain Garden

Construction of the first Oklahoma rain garden began in Grove Thursday, April 19 and may change the way storm water is handled in Oklahoma . Other area rain gardens will follow at Lendonwood Gardens, Cherokee Queen/Royal Bay Restaurant, Grove High School, Elm Creek Plaza (home of El Vallarta restaurant), and a few residential homes.

“When it rains, water that runs at the surface (over parking lots or lawns) picks up pollutants (including fertilizer, metals, oil, etc.) and washes them toward local streams and lakes. Rain gardens are designed to capture that runoff.” said CLEAR GRAND coordinator Kevin Gustavson.

Once the water enters a rain garden, the plants and soils significantly clean that water by trapping or using the excessive nutrients, oils, and metals that would otherwise flow on to local streams and lakes.

Rain gardens also provide some flood control by holding water that would otherwise run to streams. As a result, they are a cost effective alternative to storm water detention ponds and provide an additional benefit of filtering pollutants.

These demonstration rain gardens, designed by researchers from the OSU Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering, will be monitored to demonstrate their effectiveness at reducing pollution bound for local water bodies. They will also serve as examples to help expand this practice in the area, and throughout Oklahoma and the region, especially in new developments. The ground breaking on April 19 will be the first step toward reducing the impact of new developments on the streams and lakes of Oklahoma .

The fist local rain garden will be highlighted at the CLEAR GRAND Earth Day Celebration on Saturday, April 21. Have fun while learning about ongoing projects to reduce water pollution and beautify the environment. Visitors can take guided tours of Bernice State Park and Lendonwood Botanical Gardens, paint with Oklahoma soils, board the Cherokee Queen paddlewheel riverboat, learn about healthy lawn practices, participate in the H2Olympics, and much more. Events run from 10 AM – 3 PM, with headquarters at the Grand Lake Visitor Center on Hwy 59 N.

The CLEAR GRAND project is a collaborative effort to keep Grand Lake clean as well as the streams and rivers that feed it. The project is funded by EPA through Section 319(h) of the Clean Water Act, with matching funds from the State of Oklahoma and other sources, and headed by the Oklahoma Conservation Commission, Water Quality Division. Many partners contribute to the CLEAR GRAND project including OSU Extension, local conservation districts, Department of Environmental Quality, Grand Lake Association, Oklahoma Water Watch, Statewide Blue Thumb, Grand River Dam Authority, and many more.

For more information about the CLEAR GRAND project, rain gardens, and the Earth Day Celebration, visit the project website: grandlakefun.com/cleargrand.