Council to Discuss City Attorney Issue

Grove City Council will take up the matter of "discussion and or action regarding request for proposals for city attorney services" at its Tuesday night meeting, to begin at 6 p.m. in City Hall.
Ron Cates, currrent city attorney, was hired by the previous city manager, Bill Galletly, and lives in Owasso. Councilman Larry Parham has indicated he wants to hire someone locally, who would not charge for mileage and bill for travel time hours; however Cates is generally regarded as one of the finest city attorney's in the state with his years of experience in Municipal Law.

Cornell to Face Perry Sept. 11 for Commissioner Post

Billy Cornell won Tuesday's Democrat Primary race for County Commissioner District 2, Delaware County, and will face Republican Janet Warford-Perry on Sept. 11. The winner will fill the position left by the late commissioner Howard Payton.
Cornell received 358 votes; his nearest challenger was Wayne Dunham, Jay Mayor, with 218 votes.
Other unofficial results from the Delaware County Election Board are:
James Brown--46
Price Coble--115
Jamie Earp--89
Larry Gullett--132
Curtis Larmon--65
Ballots are expected to be certified by Friday. A total of 1023 votes were cast which was considered a "light" vote.
Cornell was a contract mower for District 2 for three years and put roads and courthouse operations including finances as a priority.
The three commissioners oversee an annual county budget of $4.1 million.

An Editorial...Blackmail, Extortion, Defamation and Censorship

Grove has lately become home to a few citizens who want to censor the news. Let us say at the outset that we are not going to be blackmailed, extorted, or allow defamation of character to stop us from printing the truth. Since we have no advertisers we cannot be threatened with loss of advertising and since we have no revenue there is none to lose. All the various "clans" around town can do is keep others from hiring your editor as a paid reporter or editor, and they have surely been successful at that. This week it was the Hospital Clan, complaining about a story on last week's blog; last winter it was the Airport Clan, warning about loss of advertising. In any case, Grove is no place for Spineless Publishers.

In the movie "A Few Good Men," Jack Nicholson shouts "You Can't Handle the Truth, Son." Jack should pay a visit to Grove; he could find plenty of people at which to shout that line.

Some feel that a small town such as Grove cannot have a newspaper that prints all the news, even the unpleasant, since advertisers can be so easily threatened and the newspaper's revenue stream shut down. The public is the real loser. Your editor's problem is the perceived news "slant" towards the previous city administration on this blog. Actually, we really did try to tell the truth, including wrongdoings when we found them.

In any case, here are a few tactics to stop the flow of news:

1. Threaten the newspaper with loss of advertising. Newspapers cannot operate without advertising revenue so cutting this off will put a newspaper out of business in a hurry.

2. One newspaper can threaten its own advertisers with a hike in rates if they advertise in a competing newspaper, or even refuse to run their ads.

3. Blackmail. "If you hire someone we don't like, that speaks the truth, or if you print the truth, we'll stop our advertising and encourage others to do likewise."

4. Defamation of character. "We'll put out lies and make accusations that will cause you to withdraw job offers to anyone who writes the truth."

5. Censorship. This is a self-defeating tactic but practiced here anyway. Just limit your news releases to those publications you like, not necessarily the publications with the most readership. This is also known as cutting off your nose to spite your face.

It seems to us that if you want a cool $1 million in taxpayer dollars to build a new hospital, you would crank up the PR machine, not tell an editor off.

It is interesting that some people say they never read The Observer, but they can quote from it.

Our Constitution recognizes a free press and the public's right to know, and we intend to stick around and do our job, even in the face of the local censors, blackmailers, extortionists, and defamers of character.

Grove Chamber Takes Survey on New Casino

The Grove Area Chamber of Commerce recently conducted a phone poll to determine the
climate of its members regarding the proposed casino in Grove to be located on Hwy 59.

Of the 403 GACC members, 219 responded to the survey.
Grove Chamber members were asked if the casino would bring more shoppers to Grove,
70% of the respondents stated that yes the community would see an increase in shoppers while 30% did not foresee an increase.

The second question asked members to project the impact they felt the casino would have on their particular business. 43% feel the casino would have a positive impact on their business, 39% feel the casino would have no impact on their business, and 18% feel they would incur a negative impact.

Grove Chamber members were asked to project the impact the proposed casino would
have on commercial property values in Grove. 62% feel a casino will have a positive
impact on commercial property values, 19% feel it would have no impact on commercial
property values, and 19% feel a negative impact would be realized by commercial
property values.

Requested to set aside personal feelings regarding gambling, Grove Chamber members were asked if the proposed casino would have a positive, negative or no impact on the community as a whole. 49% feel the Casino would have a positive impact on the community, 17% feel no impact would be incurred by the community, and 34% feel the community would experience a negative impact.

The last question of the phone survey polled members about the infrastructure needs of the casino project. The Grove Area Chamber Board of Directors determined however that survey results could be somewhat challenged because chamber members were asked to respond to a question in which many respondents held differing ideas, and in many cases no idea, of the meaning of the term infrastructure and were uninformed about the actual infrastructure needs of the proposed casino.

In the question, chamber members were asked if the City of Grove should or should not provide the infrastructure for the proposed casino. While conducting the surveys, pollsters received a large number of responses from members that infrastructure costs should be shared by the casino and the City of Grove. Respondents however were given a choice of yes or no; the city should or should not provide the infrastructure. The survey was not prepared for a third response of a joint sharing of the cost. Consequently, for Chamber members who feel the cost should be a joint liability, their responses were tallied as a no response - that the city should not pay the cost.

Although the question was determined to be invalid, the chamber board decided to publish the results of the entire survey. 40% of chamber members feel the City of Grove should provide infrastructure and 60% feel the casino should be liable for all infrastructure costs of the proposed project.

The Chamber would like to thank the board members that volunteered their time to contact the membership and also thank those that participated in the poll.

If you have any questions as to how the poll was conducted, please feel free to contact Lisa Friden at the Chamber office at (786-9079) or through email to lisafriden@sbcglobal.net.

The Photo Page...

Top: Duane and June Heitzman celebrate their 50th Wedding Anniversary at a reception at Meghan Coves; Center, Grove's Early Learning Center in finishing stages; Bottom, while golfers were out in the sun, these horses have enough sense to find shade. The next day they were gone, replaced with black angus cattle.

No Millet Seeding this Year, Says GRDA

Because of one of the wettest summers in state history, the annual Grand Lake millet seeding project will not take place next month. In fact, the Grand River Dam Authority has announced that the project, which usually takes place in September when Grand Lake is dropped to an elevation 741 feet to expose mudflat areas for seeding, will not happen this year, because of the lingering effects of June and July rainfalls.
“The combination of heavy, and historic, rainfalls in recent months and the current level of Grand Lake would make it very difficult to have a successful seeding project this year,” said GRDA Chief Executive Officer Kevin Easley. “We’ve informed the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission of this and plan to store millet for use at a later time.”
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) is the federal agency with oversight of the nation’s hydroelectric projects. GRDA operates Pensacola Dam and Grand Lake under a 30-year hydropower license issued by FERC in the early 1990s. The annual millet seeding project, which began in 1994, is a requirement of that license.
Operating under FERC’s rule curve for Grand Lake elevations, GRDA typically begins dropping the lake level in early August to reach the 741 foot mark by September 1, to facilitate the seeding project. However, because of the flood events and heavy inflows into the Grand River in June and July, Grand Lake has been under the control of the United States Army Corps of Engineers for much of the summer, and will remain so until the elevation goes below 745 feet. As of press time, Grand was still above 746 feet. With the Army Corps periodically curtailing releases from Pensacola Dam to prevent downstream flooding, Grand Lake’s elevation would still be too high for millet seeding in September.
“GRDA follows FERC’s rule curve for Grand Lake elevations unless it goes above 745 feet, as it is now. After that, the Army Corps directs all release operations,” said Easley, adding that GRDA has been in daily contact with Army Corps during recent flooding events. “Normally, the federal government, through these two agencies, has a lot of influence over the elevation of Grand Lake. Unfortunately this year, Mother Nature had a lot to say about that as well.”
Oklahoma historical weather records prove that point. According to the Oklahoma Climatological Survey, July and August 2007 has been the fifth wettest period for Northeast Oklahoma since 1921. As for June, normal statewide average rainfall is 4.26 inches. In June 2007, that figure jumped to nearly 8.6 inches.
“It’s these forces beyond our control that have put the 2007 seeding project on hold,” said Easley.

Observations...

Observations…

Two names have been submitted to serve on the Airport Trust Authority Board, Tom Melton, and Berwin Kock, both pilots, to fill the vacancy created by the departure of Harry Halterman from the board, said Terry Abercrombie, Airport Manager. The Mayor will make the decision shortly…Paparazzi's Restaurant on Honey Creek is closing Sept. 4, said Carolyn Harris, owner, who has sold the three acres of property to Chuck & Victoria Perry for a condo development. Carolyn will move to Norman to join her husband, who works in OKC for the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority in information technology. Gee, this is the third restaurant that has closed recently in Grove, where are we going to eat?...Grove's Planning & Zoning Board turned down 5-0 a request by Randall Fidler to rezone property at 9th & Grand from R-1 Single Family Residential to R-3 Multi-Family Residential. Several residents voiced opposition to the project to build eight apartment units on the corner, in a neighborhood of single family homes…Former City Manager Bill Galletly's appeal on his bid-splitting conviction will be heard Sept. 23 in OKC before the State Court of Criminal Appeals…

Grove Beginnings...Part 12

Election Coming


By Rose Stauber

The serious stuff that would lead to Oklahoma actually becoming a
state and stop being two territories began in 1906. Congress had passed a law
stating what had to be done before statehood. The key element was that the
state had to have a constitution written by elected delegates of the people.

Nominees for the delegates to the constitutional convention were made
on party lines, Democratic and Republican, just like now. The election of
delegates was held Nov. 4, 1906, falling right into the big gap in the
surviving copies of the Grove Sun so we have no reporting on local
events.
For whatever reason, the administration in Washington at the time was
Republican, or just the way it was, the elected delegates included 99
Democrats, 12 Republicans, and one Democrat elected as an Independent.

The Constitutional Convention convened Nov. 20, 1906, and worked for
months. The delegates eventually came out with a preliminary report.
This called for an election to be set for Sept. 17, 1907, at which voters
would face four matters:

1. For or against state-wide prohibition, meaning yes or no on
liquor.
2. For or against adoption of the constitution.
3. Vote on state, district, and county officers.
4. Vote on township officers and representatives to Congress.

The local parties went into high gear. Both Democrats and Republicans

organized and elected precinct members, and delegates to their party's
state
conventions. The July 12, 1907, Grove Sun is full of the goings-on.
Note
that these activities were carried on using the boundaries of what
would be Delaware County.

This might be a good time to explain the political townships in
Delaware County. Political townships have nothing to do with geographic
townships which are laid out by the U.S. Geographical Survey. All counties have
townships, except Louisiana which has parishes, which are political
subdivisions and generally speaking, these townships are named, such as

Prairie Township, etc. Not in Delaware County. The political
townships are numbered, always have been. Take an outline of Delaware County, draw a line straight down the middle. Now draw two east-west lines dividing the
area into six about equal parts. Beginning at the southwest corner of the
county, number the townships beginning with 1 and 2 in the south, 3 and
4 in the middle, and 5 and 6 in the north. Grove sits on the western edge
of Twp. 6. and is mostly located in geographic Twp. 24 Range 24. Each
political township in Delaware County has about four geographic
townships.

Just to throw in a bit more of what happened during the process. As
first laid out, all of the four townships 25 across the top of the county
were in Delaware County. Ottawa County apparently raised enough ruckus that
the top row of sections in those townships were taken from Delaware County and
assigned to Ottawa County. Officers to be elected in each township
included a trustee, a clerk, treasurer, justices of the peace, and constables.

The Grove Sun of July 12, 1907, carries the ticket for the Democrats
elected at the primary June 8, 1907. The nominees were: for U.S.
Senator, Col. Robert L. Owen and T.P. Gore: for Governor, C.N. Haskell; for
State Senator, W.H. Doherty; Judge First District, John N. Pitchford; Justice
Supreme Court, John B. Turner; Congress Third District, Jas. S.
Davenport; Railway and Corporation Commissioner, JJ. McAlester; Representative,
Delaware County, Capt. L. B. Smith; County Judge, Wilson N. Smith;
County Attorney, Ad V. Coppedge; Clerk District Court, Geo. A. Cox; County
Clerk, Ed West; County Treasurer, T.J. Williams; County Sheriff, G. W. Hogan;

County Surveyor, D.A. Smith; County Commissioner, No. 3, T.T. Rogers;
Trustee, No. 3, C.W. Foley; Constable, Twp. 24-24, C.L. Merrill.

The county Republicans met with James P. Butler as chairman and
proceeded to elect delegates to the Republican state and congressional
conventions. T.S. Remsen was the Grove delegate to the state convention.

Capt. L. B. Smith, Democratic nominee for state representative, lived
on the Line Road, the road out on Cowskin Prairie that separated Missouri
from the Territory. He had served from Georgia in the Civil War, and
probably the title, "Captain," was no more correct that when applied to T.S.
Remsen. L.B. Smith may have served as a lieutenant. Retired soldiers seemed
to acquire these honorary titles. However, L.B. Smith was another leader.
A white, he married Florence Perry, a Cherokee, and they came west soon
after the Civil War with both his and her parents. He taught school in
Southwest City for a time, then went into farming, and later established
Fairland. He was elected to the Cherokee Nation Council before becoming the first
representative from Delaware County to the Oklahoma legislature.

The next step in this process will be the state-wide election Sept.
17. Watch this space for full information on election results.

Meanwhile, a few notes of interest:

"The new circle seats for the M.E. Church of this city, were received
Monday and duly installed during the week. The ladies of that place of
worship united and put in the day Monday cleaning the interior part of
the church, and from now on it will be a $5 fine for anyone to spit upon
the floor."

"I. Goodwin, the contractor, has completed concrete walk in front of
Forbes Med. Co., and we confess that is the hot stuff. The appearance
of that corner now looms up like a morning star, and we are anxious to see
more of these concrete walks constructed in this city."

"The dog owners of Grove are hereby notified that the dog tax is past
due."


Copyright ©1907 Rose Stauber

A Matter of Faith...

By Carol Round

When Your Crayon Breaks

“He restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.”
Psalm 23:3 (NIV)

This time of year, I love walking through a department store’s school supplies section. When the shelves are fully stocked, I find myself wandering down the aisle, wishing I were going back to school. For 43 years, I did—if you count my 30 years of teaching.

I associate a school year with newness, an opportunity to start fresh. There’s nothing like opening a new box of crayons. So many different colors from which to choose, even more today than when I was a child. The paper wrapped around each slim cylinder sports names like periwinkle, burnt sienna, maize and thistle. I still favor the original colors: red, blue, yellow, green, brown, black, purple and orange.

For some unknown reason, young children like to peel the paper from the crayon stick. Recently, I observed my grandchildren as they sat quietly on the floor coloring in one of the many books I have purchased for them. My granddaughter, who is 19 months older than her brother, became upset when he started removing the wrapping from a yellow crayon.

“Stop it, Brennan,” she ordered in her best bossy big-sister voice.

Brennan just kept peeling away. After one more order from his sister to cease and desist, Brennan retaliated by snapping the crayon in two. His sister was not happy.

“Nana,” she yelled, “Brennan is breaking the crayons.”

She didn’t realize that I had been quietly observing the unfolding scene and was prepared to intervene. However, before I could respond, Brennan said, “I’m sorry, Hi-Anne.”

His two-year-old vocabulary, while very sophisticated for his age, cannot quite enunciate the syllables needed to pronounce “Cheyenne.” I watched as Brennan tried to restore the crayon to its original glory. He pushed the two pieces of yellow together, determined to make them whole again. Frustrated, he kept pushing until another piece broke off. He finally realized that it was beyond his capability to fix the crayon. Looking up at me, he said, “Nana can fix it.”

While I explained to my grandson that I could not restore the yellow crayon to wholeness, it made me realize how often in life we make a mess of things and try to fix it on our own. No matter how determined we are to fix something that is broken, especially relationships, we cannot make them whole without help.

I know the ultimate healer of brokenness. He may not restore our crayons, but He can restore people. I remember a song from my youth. The words go something like this, “Only love can break a heart, only love can mend it again.”

When Jesus walked the earth, He spent time in healing and teaching. His motive? Love.

When we turn to the healer of broken hearts and broken lives, He can restore us. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for He is with me. His rod and His staff bring comfort.


A collection of Carol Round’s most popular faith-based columns is now available in book form. For more information, readers can reach her at carolaround@yahoo.com

YMCA Luau is Saturday

To help families celebrate the beginning of the 2007/2008 school year, the Grand Lake Family YMCA is co-sponsoring a “Back to School” Luau” this coming Saturday, August 18.
The Luau that will be held at Rotary Park in Grove (across the street from the Post Office) from noon to 3:00 pm. Planned events include games, water slides, music, races and prizes. Food and refreshments will be served from noon until 1 pm.
The event is being co-sponsored by the YMCA and the Grove Parent Teacher Organization (PTO).
“Bring the whole family for this fun time,” said Butch Christy, YMCA director. “And make sure you bring bathing suits – it’s going to be a wet and fun time!”
For more information contact the YMCA at (918) 786-5774 or drop by the facility at 206 Elk in Grove right behind Pizza Hut.

Genealogical Society Sets Meeting Aug. 21

The monthly meeting of the Delaware County Genealogical Society will be held on at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 21, at the Grove Public Library. The speaker will be Carrie Ann Cook, Vice-President of the Gregath Publishing Company, Wyandotte , and Webmaster to assorted sites.
Carrie is a published author, illustrator and free-lance photographer. She has served the Miami Public Library as its Genealogy and Local History Specialist. Carrie will speak on “Barnstorming with Brainstorming”, which will outline the rules that make brainstorming work well and why they are important.
Carrie is a member of the Association of Professional Genealogists, Genealogical Speakers Guild, Federation of Genealogical Societies, National Genealogical Society and Mid-America Speakers, and others. She is in demand for various genealogical and historical programs.
Refreshments will be served. The meetings are open to the public and anyone interested in their family history.