Take Shelter Oklahoma is a movement that comes four months after a series of tornadoes ripped through southwest Oklahoma City and Moore, killing 47 people, including seven children at Plaza Towers Elementary. Twisters also struck Canadian Valley Vocational Technology Center on May 31 and leveled parts of Pottawatomie County on May 19, killing two people […]
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Resilient repetition
From our elected officials and our local celebrities to those survivors affected directly by the most current crisis, some version of these words gushes out each time: “You can replace things, not lives. We’re going to rebuild. Oklahomans are a resilient people.” The adjective “resilient,” in particular, has become the word du jour following a […]
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Seeking shelter for students
Now a discussion is under way to decide how to handle state assistance for shelter space. Like many Oklahomans, I knew many who were trapped in at least one of the major tornadoes that struck Oklahoma last month. One of my cousins is a student at Briarwood Elementary in Moore, where his mother, a schoolteacher, […]
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God and tornadoes
Those messages are coming from everywhere. After speaking in Vermont at the annual meeting of United Church of Christ churches in my denomination, this small and cash-strapped body of small New England parishes handed me a check for $5,000 to help with tornado relief. So many people have prayed for us and supported us through […]
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Not-so-easy rider
Faced with a set of recommendations from transportation planning experts, the Oklahoma City Council must soon decide if it wants to shrink its bus system coverage area, leaving some transit-dependent residents without a ride. On the other hand, such a move would allow Metro Transit officials to increase bus stop frequency and potentially attract more […]
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Shelter from the storm
After the devastating tornado outbreak that killed 11 people and left more than 1,000 without homes and businesses, Trent said he felt he needed to do something to help. So he created the website shelterfinder.org, a map of public shelters and safe rooms in the Oklahoma City area. Some, like the Capitol, are open 24/7, […]