Update
H. Beatty Chadwick, 72, is approaching his 14th consecutive year behind bars, though he has not been charged with a crime. In a 1995 divorce hearing, a judge thought Chadwick was lying about $2.5 million in assets (his wife said he was hiding them; he said he lost them in a business deal) and locked…
Fine Points of the Law
By a 2-1 vote, a Florida appeals court ruled in December that Andrew Craissati could stop paying alimony to his ex-wife. The couple’s agreement called for alimony only until she remarried or was “cohabit(ing)” with another person for at least three months, and Craissati pointed out that his ex-wife, recently convicted of a serious DUI…
Oklahoma City mayor gives State of the City address
Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett said in his State of the City speech Thursday that the metro is”¦for now”¦riding out the economic tidal wave that’s hitting the rest of the country. “This month there are dozens of mayors that are standing in front of audiences much like this one and they are explaining to their…
Least Competent Criminals
Joseph Goetz, 48, was charged with trying to rob the Susquehanna Bank in Springettsbury Township, Pa., in November, even though he had to leave empty-handed. The bank had just opened for the day, and cash had not yet been delivered to tellers’ stations. Employees said that Goetz was highly irritated at having wasted his time,…
My Bloody Valentine: Special Edition
1981/2009Of all the cash-in slashers that came in the wave of “Friday the 13 th”‘s boffo box office in 1980, “My Bloody Valentine” is one of the most well-regarded “? partly because it’s more suspenseful than the other knockoffs, and partly because it was able to achieve that with almost no blood. A skittish MPAA…
Saw V
2008 “Saw” is easily the most convoluted series of films going, in or out of the horror movie ghetto. Not only do you have to know what’s gone on in parts 1-4 to make much sense of the plot here, the film internally leaps around from past to present with little warning of impending changes.…
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20):
If you’re reading this horoscope, you’re not a Cambodian orphan who grew up as a slave in a brothel or a Sudanese man kidnapped by a militia and forced to do heavy labor 18 hours a day or one of the 27 million other victims of human trafficking around the world. But you may be…
The Unborn
“The Exorcist” has remained a classic horror film because it’s not just about things going bump in the night. It’s about a priest’s loss of faith and how he atones for it. A lot of stuff gets the night-bumps in “The Unborn,” but that’s about it. Casey Beldon (Odette Yustman, “Cloverfield,” “Transformers”) is a normally…
OU fans do best to stay positive in face of another BCS loss
A funny thing happened while making my way back from Miami over the weekend: I kept running into Oklahoma fans who weren’t as angry, frustrated or depressed as I might have expected. I’ve come to expect the Internet message board rants and tirades from so-called fans that are almost guaranteed to follow any sort of…
Irishman masquerading as Gandhi makes Oklahoma tour stop
You’re not going crazy. That coffee wasn’t laced with something stronger. “Gandhi” did, in fact, take a nice stroll through Oklahoma recently. Or, at least, an Irishman masquerading as Gandhi. Dermot Butterly, inspired by the words and actions of the famous Indian peace activist, has been making a trek across the U.S. He started in…
Midwest City barber wants pole policy
Are Oklahoma barbers getting the shaft? According to a recent story, a Midwest City lawmaker thinks so. He wants to pass a law banning the use of the barber pole by anyone but state-licensed barbers. That’s right. According to a recent story in the Tulsa World, Rep. Gary Banz, R-Midwest City, wants to outlaw the…
Mock the vote
In May 2008, Sen. John Ford, R-Bartlesville, authored a bill that would have required anyone who voted in Oklahoma have proper identification. Ford’s bill did not even require a photo ID ” a utility bill or check stub would have been sufficient for someone to vote. The bill fell one vote short of passage and…
GEMINI (May 21-June 20):
It’s a favorable time for you to phase out at least 60 percent of your stale old fears. The cosmos is poised to assist you in this noble cause if you’ll exert even a modicum of effort. What’s that you say? You’re afraid you can’t live authentically without a hefty amount of anxieties? You secretly…
ARIES (March 21-April 19):
According to some historians, Barack Obama won’t be the first American president with African ancestry. As many as six previous presidents may have had black ancestors, with Warren Harding and Dwight Eisenhower being the most likely. None of the others claimed their heritage, however, choosing instead to pass as pure white. Obama is the first…
Righteous Kill
2008 “Righteous Kill” is a 500-pound boar with aspirations to be much smarter and sexier than the mountain of greasy bacon it obviously is. Robert De Niro and Al Pacino co-star as Turk and Rooster, two longtime NYPD police detectives who have been partners since Carter was president. The pair seem to have almost no…
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22):
The world’s record for most people running in a “Stiletto Sprint” is 265. That’s how many put on three-inch high heels and competed in an 80-meter race in Australia last September. It’s quite possible that your imminent future will have metaphorical resemblances to that event, Leo. If you want to strive for a certain goal,…
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22):
Mexican scientists have discovered a way to transform tequila into diamonds. Even the brands that sell for three dollars a bottle work fine as raw material. The catch is that the diamonds produced are too small to be used for jewelry. But they do have numerous practical uses: in surgical instruments, for example. You now…
USAO displays 13th biennial ‘Oklahoma: Centerfold’ exhibit
Sixteen Oklahoma artists will showcase works alongside a total of 29 national artists in a juried art exhibit on display in Chickasha. The 13th biennial “Oklahoma: Centerfold” exhibit, on display through Feb. 6 at the University of Science and Arts Oklahoma art gallery, features more than 40 paintings, photographs and mixed-media pieces. The show is…
Experienced organization sues Oklahoma over foster care system
A major hurdle was passed by a child advocacy group suing the state of Oklahoma and the state Department of Human Services in hopes of changing the child welfare system. But in their victory, the group will have to reveal information they would have preferred kept away for the time being. Children’s Rights, a child…
The legacy of five Oklahoma American Indian ballerinas continues to shape lives
Nearly seven decades after they first splashed onto the scene, Oklahoma’s first five American Indian ballerinas are still impacting lives and changing the cultural atmosphere of the ballet world. With one of the five now gone, the legacy of the final four lives on in the next generation of American Indian ballerinas ” ballerinas who…
The Canadian River Cruisers car club takes relaxed approach to organized motoring
Next up for the Canadian River Cruisers: a yurt excursion. David Saunders, leader and founder of the Norman-based car club, talked about the planned spring trip during the weekly Saturday morning breakfast meeting at the Midway Grocery & Market. SIX PEOPLEAT THE MIDWAY “Lani Malysa and Jon Forman have set up a yurt, which is…
Government in Action!
Recently, the Georgia Department of Natural Resources has been seeking 75 volunteers to be trained in listening to frogs so that the state can complete its annual frog survey. Georgia has 31 frog species, each with distinctive ribbits and croaks, and surveyors, after practicing detection, will monitor frog habitats to help officials measure population trends.…
A rainy day
Now is exactly the time for state government to invest more in higher education, but don’t count on a majority of Oklahoma leaders to see it this way. Faced with projections of declining state revenues, Oklahoma’s political leaders shouldn’t hesitate to tap the Rainy Day Fund to increase funding for higher education. This is unlikely…
Follies of Science: 20th Century Visions of Our Fantastic Future – Eric and Jonathan Dregni
Speck Press Several years ago, an anthology titled “Skylife: Space Habitats in Story and Science” caught my eye from its perch on Borders’ bargain shelves. Not being all that deep into science fiction, I was more attracted to it for the section of color illustrations inserted in the middle, containing representations of what artists from…
Brideshead Revisited
2008 “Brideshead Revisited” is based on a novel by Evelyn Waugh. Like most of Waugh’s characters, the people who inhabit this tale are nice-looking, wealthy, bright, clever, privileged and somehow pitiable. The question is, can the one who seems to have his life together make it to the end, and can those who falter with…
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19):
In one of his journal entries, Henry David Thoreau wrote about stumbling upon a single stalk of corn deep in the woods. It looked out of place there, so far from any cornfield, growing next to a pine tree. And yet it was doing just fine. How did its seed get there? By wind or…
Quirky tourist park
Freud de Melo, 73, operates a quirky tourist park in central Brazil that features stone models of Noah’s Ark and other sculptures, but he also notoriously suffers from taphephobia, the fear of being buried alive, and one of his sculptures is his own elaborate, fear-assuaging crypt. His vault houses a TV and fruit pantry, has…
The Rough Guide to Climate Change – Robert Henson
Rough Guides Let’s hope there’s a future at all! Robert Henson’s “The Rough Guide to Climate Change” doesn’t make one all that hopeful. Its critically praised first edition was shortlisted for a science book prize, and now it’s been fully updated and revised for a second edition. It’s a nuts-and-bolts look at the problems, their…
Orphans’ features excellent actors, adept direction
right, so a hardy hail to Carpenter Square Theatre for opening 2009 with a well-acted, thought-provoking production of Lyle Kessler’s “Orphans.” Let’s hope this production portends things to come. “Orphans” takes a naturalistic look at the hard lives of two brothers and a mysterious stranger who insinuates himself into their world. Treat is a smalltime…
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21):
Beginning with Plato, a number of philosophers have proposed that humans suffer from a collective amnesia about where we come from and what we’re doing here on planet Earth. Other thinkers of a more esoteric nature have suggested that our amnesia goes even further and is more personal, blocking us from remembering our previous incarnations.…
Police Report
Indicted for cocaine possession in Montgomery County, Ohio, in November: Mr. Dalcapone Alpaccino Morris, 20. Charged in Columbia, S.C., in November with running down her boyfriend with her car and breaking his leg: Ms. Princess Killingsworth. Charged with felonious battery in Bloomington, Ind., in October: Ms. Fellony Silas. Arrested in Carrollton, Ky., in December for…
Gran Torino
From his early days as a Western TV and movie star to his “Dirty Harry” cop dramas to his more philosophical turns in movies like “Million Dollar Baby,” tough guy-style violence has been Clint Eastwood’s primary thematic calling card. Earlier movies, especially the “Dirty Harry” ones, tended to treat swift, unmerciful vigilante violence as a…
TAURUS (April 20-May 20):
“Dear Rob: Are you holding back some painful truth from us Tauruses? I feel like you’re going too easy on us, and as a result I’m missing some clue I desperately need. Please tell us what it is so we can face it and get on with life. – Semi-Elegant Bull in a China Shop.”…
James T. Fisher Jr. seeks another try to escape death row
Twice James T. Fisher Jr. has fought to save his life before a jury of his peers and has lost both times. After more than 20 years on death row, Fisher is hoping a third time will do the trick. On Tuesday, Fisher’s attorneys go before the Oklahoma State Court of Criminal Appeals and will…
CANCER (June 21-July 22):
Maurice Krafft has made a career of filming places where hot lava is flowing. National Geographic describes him hiking across the crater floor of Ol Doinyo Lengai, an active volcano that’s sacred to the Maasai people in Tanzania. The ground is not erupting in torrents of fire and burning liquid rock, but is constantly bubbling…
Oklahoma bands, performers shut out at SXSW
Oklahoma bands and performers were absent from a list of more than 130 acts chosen for official performances at the 2009 South by Southwest Music Festival in Austin, Texas. Festival organizers vetted more than 10,000 applications for the March 18-22 festival and released a “first round” list of performers on Jan. 8. No Oklahoma-based bands…
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21):
According to expert gerontologists, Rolling Stones’ guitarist Keith Richards (a Sagittarius) should have passed on to the next world a decade ago. The man has abused his body so thoroughly, his continued survival is a mystery. You’re currently in an excellent position to achieve equally stupendous feats of persistence yourself, Sagittarius. More than ever before,…
Financial planning can help ease tension and turmoil of divorce
With an estimated 50 percent of marriages ending in divorce, and Oklahoma consistently ranking in the top five nationally, the prevalence of divorce has many people alarmed. Its emotional toll is well-known, but its financial implications can be just as complicated and devastating. “Couples are going to need to support two households for a while…
The Harry Potter Alliance hosts wizard-rock band event
Seven of the best wizard-rock bands have been conjured for an anti-genocide benefit concert. The Saturday event is hosted by the Oklahoma Wizards League, a local chapter of The Harry Potter Alliance ” an organization that advocates political and community action by paralleling real-world events with those depicted in the “Harry Potter” book series. Proceeds…
The journalism bloodbath
The news business in Oklahoma is committing suicide. The journalistic bloodletting that is leaving a trail of dead and dying newspapers and anemic broadcast stations across the country continued last week in Oklahoma after the Tulsa World cut 26 staff members from its newsroom. Yes, in case you’ve been wondering, this is a trend. Last…
Burn After Reading
2008 Oscar darlings Joel and Ethan Coen have long been served by such successes and their cult-worshipped films. The ability to cash in commercially with mainstream success and simultaneously court critics is an enviable position for any creative visionary, but it’s a balance that always proves hard to keep on the level. The Coens have…
Oklahoma goes from eighth to sixth in teen births
Paul Abner, whose Oklahoma City-based ministry Worth The Wait focuses on “sexual purity until marriage,” said he could immediately see the issue with a recent Johns Hopkins University study about so-called “virginity pledges.” That study, which was released by Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, showed virtually no difference between religious teens who…
The Ettes return for another sweaty session at The Conservatory
Beneath the overdriven bass, fuzz-toned guitar and retro drum frenzy lurks a country tune. “That’s my favorite music,” singer Lindsay “Coco” Hames said. “All the songs start as a country song.” With a voice steeped in Patsy Cline and Loretta Lynn, Hames, 26, joins the rest of The Ettes ” drummer Maria “Poni” Silver and…
Edmond residence robbed of expensive fish
In a tragic story coming out of Edmond, police report the theft of $10,000 worth of property from a residence, according to a recent story in The Edmond Sun. What was stolen? Precious family heirlooms, an original Renoir, perhaps a giant diamond (this is Edmond we’re talking about, after all)? No. Think along the gilled…
Locally produced, kindhearted comedy premieres
Arthur Bennett is off to college and on a mission. The 18-year-old (Jordan Brodess) has finally escaped his smart-mouthed sister (Magen Maddox), an awkward and generally uninvolved dad (Darryl Cox), and a overprotective, germ-phobic mom (Judith Pender) always at the ready with hand sanitizer and advice about bowel regularity. One last irritating trip in the…
Kevin Welch returns to celebrate Blue Door’s 16th anniversary
Although singer-songwriter and former Okie Kevin Welch has played in hundreds of venues around the world, it’s easy for him to name his favorite place to play: The Blue Door. “It’s a great room to play, and the acoustics are really, really nice in there,” Welch said from his home in Wimberley, Texas. “It’s about…
Obama picked Florida to beat Oklahoma
It will take some time to decide if President-elect Barack Obama will know how to run the country, but the prez-in-waiting knows football. Before Oklahoma and Florida universities stepped on the field, Obama was asked by New York Times political reporter John Harwood who would win the national championship between the Sooners and the Gators.…
Oklahoma brothers sing in prestigious choir
Two Comanche brothers have been invited to join a prestigious vocal ensemble slated to perform at a national conference in Oklahoma City this spring. Matthew and Scott Pitts, both University of Science and Arts students, were among the 50 college vocalists selected for the University Honor Chamber Choir, which will perform two concerts at the…
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18):
This could be an epic year to be an Aquarius. I’m hoping you won’t be satisfied with merely coasting along on the positive vibes that will be flowing in abundance. Rather than just enjoying your rising popularity, for instance, why not use your popularity to double your clout? And instead of simply increasing your productivity,…
UCO, Rose State host innovative, rousing ‘Sweeney Todd’ revival
The University of Central Oklahoma’s “Broadway Tonight” series specializes in bringing national touring musicals to the Oklahoma City area. Due to renovations at UCO, Rose State College played host to the series’ most recent production: the current national Broadway tour of “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.” The dark musical tells the story…
Oklahoma City Zoo screens award-winning nature documentary
A free screening of an award-winning nature documentary will be held Thursday at the Oklahoma City Zoo. “America’s Lost Landscape: The Tallgrass Prairie,” will unspool 6:30 p.m. at the zoo’s Rosser Conservation Education Center. The Nature Conservancy’s 2005 film explores a prairie ecosystem mired in a complex relationship with humans. “America’s Lost Landscape” is narrated…
