Recurring Themes
Smoking Kills: David Pawlik called the fire department in Cleburne, Texas, in July to ask if the “blue flames” he and his wife were seeing every time she lit a cigarette were dangerous, and an inspector said he would be right over and for Mrs. Pawlik not to light another cigarette. However, anxious about the…
Least Competent People
In July 2007, four would-be suicide bombers were convicted in London of a botched terrorist act that came two weeks after their more successful colleagues attacked trains and a bus in that city two years earlier. The second attack failed because the leader, Muktah Said Ibrahim (who was said to have flunked math in school)…
Obsessions
John Moore, 67, golfs nearly every day and has for about 20 years, according to a July St. Petersburg Times report. The golf he plays, though, consists of hitting 35 long-iron shots (five shots with each of the seven balls he owns) on a grassy median strip along Interstate 275 in downtown Tampa. “You can’t…
Henry announces federal flood assistance available for Oklahoma, Cleveland counties
Gov. Brad Henry announced today federal authorities have approved 15 counties “? including Oklahoma and Cleveland “? for individual assistance following flooding and other severe weather earlier this spring and summer. “This designation will provide much-needed help to hard-hit areas across the state,” Henry said in a statement. “We are still compiling damage assessments…
Questionable Judgments
Probation-Happy Judges: Judge Angelo DiCamillo of Camden, N.J., thought probation (and $750 restitution) was enough for six teenagers in June, even though they had wrecked a family’s home during a party ($18,000 damages), urinated and defecated on the furniture and (except for one boy) declined to apologize. Also in June, Judge Harold Kahn of San…
Just Can’t Stop Myself
“Bishop” Anthony Owens, 35, of Duluth, Ga., out of prison less than two years following a bigamy sentence, was arrested in April on suspicion of agreeing to marry four more women. Owens said that maybe he “misunderstood” Mormon teachings. Kylie Wilson, 28, was convicted in June in Brisbane, Australia, of stabbing her friend Daniel Blair…
Least Competent People
In July 2007, four would-be suicide bombers were convicted in London of a botched terrorist act that came two weeks after their more successful colleagues attacked trains and a bus in that city two years earlier. The second attack failed because the leader, Muktah Said Ibrahim (who was said to have flunked math in school)…
Former Oklahoma football coach aiding public school tutoring program
Tutoring programs for Oklahoma City children will benefit through this month’s teaming up of a wireless provider and former University of Oklahoma football coach Barry Switzer. Through the end of August, Alltel Wireless will donate $100 to the Oklahoma City Public Schools Foundation fund for each OKC resident who:” switches to the provider, ” renews…
Hank Thompson’s baseball skills hampered by alcoholism
Oklahoma City native Hank Thompson helped break down baseball’s color barrier. Unfortunately, his success during nine Major League seasons from 1947-56 and four earlier campaigns with the legendary Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro Leagues was tainted by his off-the-field conduct. Ironically, Thompson played his first organized game of baseball while serving a six-month sentence…
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
J.K. RowlingArthur A. Levine Books At the stroke of midnight, July 21, a tiny piece of me died. After nearly 10 years, more than 3,000 pages and hundreds of hours discussing theories with fellow geeks, the final installment of J.K. Rowling’s celebrated series, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” was in my hands. The first…
Oklahoma federal inmates attempt release scam
This actually would be funny if it didn’t involve federal prisoners. A few inmates at the federal prison in El Reno apparently thought they could extort their way out of prison, according to an indictment detailed in the Tulsa World. It ended up landing the inmates with federal indictments. Federal prosecutors allege the…
Oklahoma City woman wants to ‘give peeps a chance’
One local woman wants Oklahoma City to “give peeps a chance.” She’s crying foul against zoning laws that prohibit owning chickens within city limits on land less than one acre. The unidentified female has set up a MySpace page ” www.myspace.com/urbanchickens ” to gain support for her cause and establish a new pecking order.…
Text-messaging Oklahoma City police officer under investigation
Oklahoma City police recently investigated one of their own for text-messaging a female fellow officer about more than her beat. The officer ” identified only as a sergeant with 14 years on the force ” text-messaged a female employee who “received a photo message on her cell phone from the suspect at approximately 10:15…
Fifties Okarche bank robbers escaped via plane
On April 4, 1950, a part-time Enid welder carried out a bank robbery using a stolen airplane for his getaway. The target: the Bank of Okarche. For James Robison, 29, money was growing short, and his wife was expecting. He started talking about robbing a bank to get out of debt. Robison’s talk scared his…
Summercamp!
Reviewer’s grade: B Mosquito repellent? Check. Ten pairs of underwear? Check. Emotional hang-ups and social issues? Check. Going to camp’s not much different than going to school, kids, except that when class is over, they don’t let you leave, thus opening up far more opportunities for wedgies. The documentary “Summercamp!” follows the crazy,…
I Know Who Killed Me
Reviewer’s grade: B- That faux hard-boiled title gives the game away with this thriller starring an all-grown-up Lindsay Lohan as the escaped victim of a serial killer who thinks she’s a tough cookie from Wrongsideofthetracksville, while everyone else thinks she’s a perky young college student from New Salem. She has to convince grieving…
Book documents OKC history through photos
Larry Johnson’s new book, “Historic Photos of Oklahoma City” is filled with around 200 photos of OKC’s past. From the Land Run, when what is now the city was little more than tents and a few wooden structures, to the present, the book provides photos spanning the city’s first century. “You’re really able to see…
Rescue Dawn
Reviewer’s grade: B Werner Herzog is a great documentarian, and his 1997 film “Little Dieter Needs to Fly” shows him in top form (though 2006’s “Grizzly Man” is even better). The German writer/director is also a fine feature filmmaker, with his best-known films in America appearing in the Seventies and Eighties: “Aguirre: The Wrath…
Gov. Murray once tried to colonize Bolivia, and failed
Former Oklahoma Gov. William H. “Alfalfa Bill” Murray once led an army of Oklahoma families into Bolivia in the Twenties in order to set up a series of colonies. In 1922, he obtained a land grant of 42,000 acres for $1,800 on condition he settle 25 families there by the end of 1925. The colonial…
IAO exhibit examines link between art, science
If Oscar Wilde was right, and all art is utterly worthless, then what do we make of art when it can detect viruses and reveal the patterns behind urban sprawl? That, and other questions, will be answered at “Symbiosis,” an exhibit at the Individual Artists of Oklahoma Gallery that melds science and art, opening Friday…
Host of problems
I would like to respond to Richard Prawdzienski’s commentary in the July 11, 2007, issue of Oklahoma Gazette, in which he states that “social host laws destroy families and family values.” Prawdzienski seems to believe that government is overstepping its authority by enforcing social host laws. However, the reality is that there is…
Photo exhibit compares OKC buildings ‘Then and Now’
A new exhibit at the Ronald J. Norick Downtown Library puts Oklahoma City architecture in a nostalgic and sometimes somberly realistic “before and after” spotlight. The “Then and Now” exhibit displays 50 photographs, comparing historical downtown landmarks and buildings from the Metropolitan Library System’s archives with new photos taken at the same angle. The exhibit…
Cultural Diversity
Violent demonstrations in northwestern India in May left at least 18 dead, as members of the lower Gujjar caste demanded that the government put them into an even lower class, at the bottom of the social ladder (so that they would be eligible for more government benefits). The Gujjars say that being one of the…
Oklahoma Centennial Commission’s spending stays secretive
Before Oklahoma can blow out her 100 birthday candles, one lawmaker is asking how much the party favors cost. Rep. Mike Reynolds, R-OklahomaCity, called on the Oklahoma Centennial Commission to be more explicit about how much moolah is going toward 147 centennial projects announced recently. “It’s not enough to tell the taxpayers where…
Stray Cats strut their brand of rockabilly revisionism
Rockabilly had all but died before a trio of big-haired kids from New York named Stray Cats injected new life into the genre in the Eighties with singles like “Rock This Town” and “(She’s) Sexy + 17.” With rockabilly enjoying a resurgence in popularity, the Stray Cats are rocking again and strutting into the Zoo…
Young Chefs Academy teaches culinary skills
If your children often are volunteering to be chef assistants at home, “Camp Can I Cook: Summer Road Trip 2007” just might satisfy their taste. The summer camp finishes with its last session at either 9 a.m.-noon or 1-4 p.m. Monday through Wednesday, Aug. 8. The Young Chefs Academy, 3209 S. Broadway in Edmond, is…
New Frontiers in Science
Hitachi’s “brain machine interface,” which it showed an Associated Press reporter in June, might soon allow a user to don a hat and turn an appliance on or off by merely thinking about doing so. (Until now, such thought-controlled instructions could only be done by people with devices implanted.) Scientists at Italy’s La Sapienza University…
Latest Religious Messages
Egypt’s Muslims are growing weary of the number of specific religious edicts (“fatwas”) issued by the country’s clerics, including two recent, highly controversial ones, according to a June New York Times dispatch from Cairo. Ezzat Atiya, a lecturer at the prestigious al-Azhar Islamic University, had declared that men can be permitted to see unrelated women…
Sunshine
Reviewer’s grade: B Fifty years in the future, the sun is dying. Mankind’s only hope is Icarus, a spaceship that will fly to the sun and, hopefully, reignite the dying star. There are no guarantees, and given the high potential for mechanical failure and human screw-ups, they may not even get far enough to…
UK band staying in OKC garage during tour
London’s The Veils is calling Oklahoma City a temporary home because Chris Salyer, proprietor of CD Warehouse, provided the members with a headquarters for the remainder of their U.S. tour. “It is where he keeps his cars,” vocalist Finn Andrews said of their temporary residence. “It’s a garage.” “It’s more than a garage,” bass player…
Kentucky native Knight’s songs tell stories
Probably the best way to get an idea about singer Chris Knight is to think of him as a country guy with lots of dog-eared books on the shelf: novels by William Faulkner, Flannery O’Connor and Cormac McCarthy. “Reading Cormac McCarthy just makes me want to write more,” Knight said. “Some of the sentences in…
National Night Out seeks to combat crime, drugs
The 24th annual National Night Out is coming Tuesday, when neighborhoods all across the country will be giving crime and drugs “a going-away party.” The event ” designed to heighten awareness of crime prevention, generate participation in local anticrime programs and strengthen neighborhood and police partnerships ” will include 34 million people across 10,000 communities…
Local theater not immune to rudeness among patrons
As box office supervisor for Civic Center Music Hall, Carolan Bledsoe has a pet peeve: people not double-checking their tickets, showing up on the wrong night, and then blaming it on her. But local theater staffers have others. Increasingly “comfy” clothes trends of the past 20 years sometimes clash with acceptable dress at indoor, reserved-seat…
The Simpsons Movie
eta) dumps a silo of pig poop into LakeSpringfield, thereby creating the worst eco-disaster in the country. The plot, however, is secondary to the satire and tangential whimsy that continue to make “The Simpsons” an American classic. PG-13 “?Phil Bacharach View trailer
Festival puts contemporary dance into the spotlight
Choreographer Lesley Snelson-Figueroa is one of five guest choreographers sculpting pieces for this weekend’s 2007 Oklahoma Contemporary Dance Festival at Stage Center. Her work “Too Close for Comfort” is a playful piece where women leap, roll and spin to the appropriate and delightfully weird whoops, hollers and chirps of innovative vocalist Meredith Monk. “The festival…
Critical county election nears
By all reliable accounts, former District 1 Oklahoma County Commissioner Jim Roth brought integrity and wisdom to county government. Roth, who was appointed recently to the Oklahoma Corporation Commission by Gov. Brad Henry, defied stereotypes and political punditry. He was elected county commissioner in a state viewed as close-minded to diverse lifestyles. Oklahoma voters…
Juvenile detention beds decreasing as violent crimes rise
For nearly two years, the Oklahoma County Juvenile Detention Center has been over its capacity for housing unlawful minors. It wouldn’t be too tough of a decision if most of the delinquents were shoplifters or vandals. But that’s not the case. “The severity of the crimes these youthful offenders are coming in with are much…
The Wild Wild West actor’s remains move to Norman
After being buried in Florida for more than three decades, the remains of diminutive actor Michael Dunn have relocated to SunsetMemorial Park in Norman. So take that, Paris, with your Jim Morrison grave! Dunn ” born Gary Miller in Shattuck ” is best known for his recurring role as the evil Dr. Loveless on…
Gov. Murray once tried to colonize Bolivia, and failed
Former Oklahoma Gov. William H. “Alfalfa Bill” Murray once led an army of Oklahoma families into Bolivia in the Twenties in order to set up a series of colonies. In 1922, he obtained a land grant of 42,000 acres for $1,800 on condition he settle 25 families there by the end of 1925. The colonial…
Conservatory show to rock for good cause
Saturday at The Conservatory, several local rock bands will turn away door proceeds normally reserved for van gas and beer bellies, and donate the money to a national children’s hospital. The “Rock Your Cause Off” benefit show, sponsored by KHBZ-FM 94.7 “The Buzz,” will support St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, which helps treat terminally ill…
Henry, Disney officials make Centennial, Epcot announcement
Gov. Brad Henry and Walt Disney World Resort officials announced today they have invited the State of Oklahoma to be the first state-dedicated marketplace experience at the Epcot International Food and Wine Festival later this year. The Epcot event, held Sept. 28 through Nov. 11, will be held for the 12th time this…
