Oklahoma News Report

An awards ceremony was held at the State Capitol Wednesday to launch Domestic Violence Awareness month in Oklahoma, as more people are stepping forward to help those victims.

“Law enforcement, prosecutors, judges and other social systems such as the Department of Human Services and the Health Department, the medical and faith communities are being trained in record numbers and as such that the response to victims across our state is improving all the time,” Marcia Smith, the executive director of the Oklahoma Coalition Against Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault, told the crowd gathered in the Capitol’s Blue Room.

Not all the news is good. As domestic violence awareness month begins, Oklahoma is ranked fourth in the nation for the number of women who are murdered.

“That is just totally unacceptable. Our rate is nearly double the national average,” Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson told me in an interview after the event.

He says that usually many signs are manifested before domestic violence results in a woman’s death.

“It just demonstrates how important it is to intervene early. To make sure there’s shelters available and services available. To break the cycle of violence before it results in death,” Edmondson said.

He also feels the cycle of violence is continued when children see their mother become a victim of domestic violence.

“Children who were exposed to violence tend to be the ones who are violent on dates, tend to be the ones who are violent when they first get married or in a long term relationship, and those acts of violence will then escalate,” said Edmondson.

Janet Peery is the C.E.O. of the Y.W.C.A. in Oklahoma City. Her organization takes in women who are trying to escape violence at home.

She told me much work needs to be done to let all victims of domestic abuse know that help is available to them.

“The Department of Justice was quoted that they say at least 50 percent go unreported, and so, we still have so much of a message to get out, to let people know there are safe options for them and to let victims know it isn’t their fault,” said Peery

Family and friends can help by being observant for signs of abuse.

“Some of the signs and symptoms are that victim is being isolated from those families and friends, so, all of sudden they can’t come around. They start seeing extreme jealousy being portrayed, putting the victim down and embarrassing them in front of a group,” Peery said.

Several events are planned this month to raise awareness about domestic violence, including a special Capitol Dome lighting on October 15th.

For a complete list of events, please follow this link to the Attorney General’s website.

http://www.oag.state.ok.us/oagweb.nsf/0/D8E2951A24BEF64E862574D5004C9C7D!OpenDocument

The U.S. House of Representatives voted today on the $700-Billion Financial Bailout dubbed the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008. It failed by 228 - 205.

The Dow Jones Industrials recoiled as the votes were being counted on the House floor. At one time, it was down by more than 700 points.

According to the Associated Press’ count, more than two thirds of Republicans and about 40% of Democrats in the House voted against the bailout. This comes after a weekend full of negotiations. It’s now back to the drawing board. The President has already said he’ll be meeting with his team this afternoon.

As U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson says he’ll use all the tools he currently has to protect financial markets, many are starting to ask, what is next?

We would like to hear from you and get your opinions. Please feel free to leave comments and we’ll get them up as soon as we can.

Tonight, on the Oklahoma News Report, we’ll have live reaction to the fallout. Check it out at 6:30pm on Oklahoma’s only statewide newscast.

Doing time with hardened criminals can be just what it takes to give down-on-their luck dogs a new lease on life.

Dogs like Fluffy. She needs a home. To find one she’s taking her first tentative steps toward being a good house pet by spending eight weeks in prison with Joe-Ben Allison. He’s doing life without parole for murder. But, he has high hopes that Fluffy could soon be paroled if he does a good job teaching her basic obedience. “It helps ‘em once you teach ‘em to sit and basic commands - it makes ‘em more adoptable.”

Joe-Ben and Fluffy are part of the second “Parole-A-Pet” class sponsored by the Cimarron Valley Humane Society at the Cimarron Correctional Facility in Cushing. The program benefits dogs and convicts. The Cimarron Valley Humane Society doesn’t have its own facility so it needs foster placements for dogs until they can be adopted. Dogs that are house-broken and have obedience training are much easier to place in permanent homes.

Prisoners are willing to let dogs share their cells to help occupy their time. In return for the privilege, convicts must learn how to teach pups their manners according to the Humane Society’s Rebecca Stowers. “92 to 96-percent depending on which articles you read of dogs that are turned in to Humane Societies or are abandoned or dumped off at the city pound is because of behavior problems.”

Stowers says it took a lot of effort and persuasion to get the program into the prison. “I had to hire a trainer and I had to tell the prison they don’t need funds for this. I would foot it all myself.”

Stowers says she can afford to pay the cost of putting about ten dogs through the program every eight weeks. If more funding were available prisoners could train up to 60-dogs per class.

In about 8-weeks Fluffy will be looking for a new home, but Elvis has already left the building. He now has a new family in Tulsa.

Elvis the German Shepard is the first graduate of the prison’s Parole-A-pet program. His new mom is Alta Selvey. “I have been without an animal for a little over a year, and it’s been very difficult - you see I’m still a little bit raw.”

Alta is still grieving the death of her last pet so her vet suggested she get a new dog. With Elvis, it was love at first sight. “I knew this was the one for me.”

And she believes he will be the perfect pet because he’s been paroled with high marks in basic obedience.

Since the Parole-A-Pet program began at the Cimarron Correctional Facility in Cushing 41 otherwise hard to place dogs have completed training. Of those, nearly three dozen have been adopted. Seven others are awaiting new homes. A dozen more mutts will wrap up training and be up for adoption by the end of October.

For more information about Parole-A-Pet contact the Cimarron Valley Humane Society. Their phone number is 918-225-3785, or email: cimarronhumane@yahoo.com

For those of you following the continuing saga of the Oklahoma City Union Station railyard and the chances of developing passenger rail service in the Oklahoma City area, the Norman City Council has fired the latest shot in the battle. Here’s the AP story:

NORMAN, Okla. (AP) - City Council members have passed a
resolution supporting preservation of the Union Station rail yard
in Oklahoma City and an intermodal rail system.
The resolution, passed unanimously last night, asks Gov. Brad
Henry to appoint a commission to consider future rail transit
options in the Oklahoma City area, future uses of Union Station and
its rail yard and alternative routes for the Interstate-40
Crosstown Expressway.
Council member Doug Cubberley says that with current fuel prices
and increased regulation of ozone levels, the atmosphere has
changed in favor of alternative transportation.
Marion Hutchison, communications director of OnTrac, a group
trying to preserve the rail yard, says the Union Station rail yard
is a big economic driver.

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Just a few years ago, Miami’s Coleman Theater was in shambles. The once magnificent movie house and vaudeville theatre was just a faded remnant of her former luxury and beauty. Now she’s getting back her gilded edge and reclaiming her place as an entertainment venue and cultural hot spot according to Barbara Smith. She credits the Coleman Theatre’s rebirth to the work of an army of volunteers, and generous donations from “Friends of the Coleman.”

Miami’s Coleman Theatre an eye-catching Route 66 icon built in 1929. On the outside she’s cloaked in the Spanish mission style. Inside, she’s lavishly furnished and appointed in the French style. The quirky combination was the idea of George Coleman. He’s the Miami lead and zinc mining barron who wanted his theater to be the finest money could buy. He shelled out the princely sum of $600,000 dollars to build his new dream theatre.

Barbara Smith says, “According to my research it happens to be the largest theatre, largest, grandest theatre for a town this size in all of America. Mr. Coleman had it built in only 330-days because he signed with the Orpheum Vaudeville Circuit, but the theatre was not big enough - the one he had - so he said I’ll just go home and build one - he made about a million dollars a month in the ’20’s so it was just a labor of love for him and something he could well afford.”

Thanks to a public-private partnership, a second labor of love is restoring the Coleman to its original splendor. Smith says every restoration project includes an original artifact or carefully crafted replica… that includes the carpet. “It’s unique in the world if you notice there’s the C-T for Coleman Theatre and since Mr. Coleman made his fortune with lead and zinc mining he changed his family crest by adding the little pick and shovel.”

Among the most amazing restorations so far is the 2,000 pound brass chandelier originally that was made in Italy. Pieces and parts were found stored around the theatre and at some of Coleman’s other properties. Elementary school students collected aluminum cans to pay for its new drop crystals and 65-yards of crystal beading. New glass globes were cast to finish it off. During the early years of the Coleman the ornate chandelier’s multi-colored lights were set to flash, brighten and dim in time with pre-show concerts on the theatre’s mighty Wirltzer organ. The instrument also accompanied its silent movies.

“When they say “mighty Wirlitzer” they aren’t kidding. This thing is loud. It’s also the original Wirlitzer for the theatre. It had been sold years ago. During the restoration process they tracked it down and brought it back to right where it was always meant to be. All of its pipes and musical instruments are hidden behind the curtains on either side of the stage.”

These days the Wirlizer gets a mighty workout when the Coleman hosts its popular silent movie nights.

One side note, when this theatre was built in 1929 Mr. Coleman was so afraid there would be a fire that he had fancy fire doors installed throughout the building including the door to the star’s dressing room back stage. Among the big stars to visit the small town of Miami and use that room were people like Tom Mix, Bing Crosby, Cary Grant and Sally Rand and her fans. One other popular star to grace the stage of the Coleman was none other than Oklahoma’s favorite son, Will Rogers.

These days the Coleman hosts more than just a bit of history. Its restoration allows for all kinds of concerts and productions according to Barbara Smith, “Everything from light opera and ballet to Country and Western andBlue Grass.”

To get a schedule of events, just log onto the Coleman’s website. www.colemantheatre.org