Oklahoma News Report

DEVELOPING STORY:

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - State emergency management officials are
preparing just in case evacuations are ordered along the Gulf Coast
because of Tropical Storm Gustav.
Oklahoma Emergency Management Director Albert Ashwood says
officials are part of twice daily conference calls with officials
in Texas.
He says any evacuations would likely go first to points in
northern Louisiana, then to San Antonio, Austin and Dallas-Fort
Worth areas before evacuees would be sent to Oklahoma.
Ashwood says it’ll be another 48 hours before officials have a
good idea where Gustav will even make landfall.
Gustav has winds approaching hurricane force and forecasters say
it could make landfall Tuesday anywhere from Texas to the Florida
Panhandle.

With 39 federally-recognized Indian tribes, this story is of particular interest in Oklahoma.

WASHINGTON (AP) - A new federal study has found nearly 12
percent of the deaths among American Indians and Alaska Natives are
alcohol related.
The report was released today by the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention.
It says 11.7 percent of the deaths of American Indians and
Alaska Natives between 2001 and 2005 were alcohol related compared
to 3.3 percent for the U.S. as a whole.
The two leading causes of alcohol-related deaths among Indians
were traffic accidents and alcoholic liver disease.
The study recommends “culturally appropriate clinical
interventions” to reducing excessive drinking. It also calls for
better integration between tribal health care centers and tribal
courts which often deal with alcohol-related crimes.
The researchers obtained their statistics by analyzing death
certificates over the four-year period.

Fifty years ago this month, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the legislation written by Oklahoma U.S. Senator Mike Monroney creating the Federal Aviation Administration .

Oklahoma has played a crucial role in the development of the FAA over its half century of life and the Mike Monroney Center celebrated that legacy today.

In the fifty years of its existance, the F.A.A. has enjoyed close ties to Oklahoma because of the state’s involvement with aerospace.

“Oklahoma has been in the forefront of aviation history, starting in 1946, when the Civil Aeronautics Administration created the aeronautical center to provide uniform, standard maintenance, operation and inspection procedures,” Aeronautical Center Director Lindy Ritz told the crowd of employees gathered in Hanger Number 8.

The Mike Monroney center celebrated its 60th anniversary just two years ago and has played a central role in the F.A.A. since it’s creation.

“With over 11-hundred acres, an operating budget of over one billion dollars annually, over 55-hundred dedicated employees and 65 buildings housing organizations with very critical and unique missions, we can truly say the Mike Monroney Aeronautical Center, the center of it all,” said Stan Sieg, the Center’s Deputy Director while speaking to the celebrating employees.

The Mike Monroney Center is home to several missions of the F.A.A. and the U.S. Department of Transportation. It has long been a repair facility for the federal government’s air fleet. It’s the place where air traffic controllers go to learn their trade, and it’s home to the F.A.A.’s academy, where managers and administrators are trained. The center also houses the Transportation Safety Institute’s Accident Investigation School where government and private investigators come to train, as well as the Civil Aeromedical Institute, where testing it done to improve the safety of aircraft.

Today’s celebration brought out an employee who has worked for the F.A.A. for it’s entire existance. Norman Stevenson says he’s enjoyed every minute of it.

“Everything about it has been a real blast. I’ve enjoyed all 50 years that I’ve been with the F.A.A. It’s been fun, and I haven’t thought about retiring really,” said Stevenson.

With all of the construction, road and otherwise, going on in Oklahoma City many people driving along the I-40/I35 Dallas Junction have probably noticed a big pile of red dirt to the east. It’s not just any pile of dirt. It’s the Central Promontory Mound for the American Indian Cultural Center and Museum. Officials overseeing the construction of this major project are celebrating the completion of the first phase which includes the mound and some of the ground work on the various buildings.

The executive director of the Native American Cultural and Educational Authority says the collaboration to build the cultural center demonstrates Native American culture is alive and well in Oklahoma.

“This beautiful earth work really celebrates the remarkable continuum of native culture and the innovation that is prevalent around our state,” says Gena Timberman, the executive director who agrees with the idea the cultural center has the power to attract people to Oklahoma.

She says it’ll serve as a major landmark for Oklahoma.

“It serves as a marker for the Summer Solstice sunset and offers a magnificent view of the surrounding region,” says Timberman.

To build the Central Promontory Mound it took about 42-thousand truck loads of dirt.

“Historically, for Native cultures indigenous to this continent, this could have taken tens or maybe even a hundred years to build. We did it in two years. It’s about 1.7 billion pounds of soil. So, it’s quite massive,” adds Timberman.

She spoke to the crowd gathered to celebrate the completion of the first phase. Things will be changing soon and the big red dirt promontory mound won’t be the only thing visible from the highways.

“As we continue our journey into this next phase, we will erect over 110 feet of steel and the Great Hall of the People. You will see this beautiful architectural piece that will complement the earth piece. That will rise up and truly contribute to this iconic landscape that we call Oklahoma,” she told the crowd.

The 25 million dollar bond issue approved by the state legislature and the governor earlier this year will be used to complete the second phase. It took two years to complete the mound and the ground work on the buildings. It’ll take more money and four more years to complete the entire 150-million dollar project.

The city of Elgin is now home to the future of military artillery as BAE Systems opens its doors to a new facility. The army’s new Non-Line Of Sight(NLOS) canon is being built by BAE.

The building is the first to be built in the Fort Sill Industrial Park. BAE Systems already has another, larger building in the works.

“This ten-thousand square foot facility is the start and next year about this time, we’ll be opening up a 150-thousand square foot facility,” says Mark Signorelli who is the BAE Systems Vice President of Army Programs.

BAE Systems expects it’s first NLOS canon’s to roll off the assembly line in mid-2010.

Signorelli says Elgin is the ideal place for this facility.

“Here we’ve got a great work force. A great transportation system, and we’re right next door to Fort Sill. in fact, the boundary of the industrial park is the Fort Sill boundary,” says Signorelli.

The BAE facility is only the beginning for the industrial park which is north east of Fort Sill.

“This is a part of what is going to happen in this park. It’s only a part of some good things.
We have a T.I.F. project that is coming to fruition,” says the Mayor of Elgin, Larry Thoma.

Using the tax increment financing, or T.I.F. Bonds allows for a quicker build out of the park.

“So in order for us to really find the necessary funds, we would have actually had to wait until the lease was complete on the larger facility. So, it would have been a waiting game, and we would have been really behind the curve on the whole project,” says Thoma.

BAE is helping Elgin to develop and flesh out the emerging industrial park by purchasing about three point two million dollars worth of those T.I.F. bonds.

“We think that’s a prudent investment and we’re glad to invest in this community, because we intend to be here for a long time,” says Signorelli

Fort Sill has been the center of an economic boom for Comanche County.

“B.R.A.C. (Base Realignment and Closure) has been tremendous for us. You can drive around and see the growth in Southwest Oklahoma. It’s tremendous. There are houses booming up everywhere in the Elgin area, the Lawton area,” says Thoma.

Elgin’s mayor says the proximity to Fort Sill could lead to more military service companies bringing jobs to Southwest Oklahoma.

“We would like to be known as a military industrial park. We would like to attract companies that have a military interest,” says Elgin’s mayor.