Oklahoma News Report

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

Completion of the state’s most expensive road project ever is expected in four years. Once the new I-40 Cross-town is finished, the old highway is slated to be torn down to make way for an expansion to downtown Oklahoma City. Funding has yet to be secured to pull down the old I-40 and it could delay the city’s plans.

Last week, the Oklahoma Transportation Commission approved another section of the new I-40 Cross-town to be built at the cost of more than $40 million dollars. It also came to light, there’s no money to demolish the old I-40 and build a new boulevard along that route into the downtown area.

“In today’s dollars, I’m going to say it’s going to be pretty close to a hundred million dollars. Deconstructing of the bridge, building the Boulevard and the Lincoln-Byers connection, I’m going to say it’s going to be in today’s dollars somewhere 90 to 100 million dollars,” said Oklahoma Transportation Department Director Gary Ridley during a press conference following the Commission’s special meeting.

The City of Oklahoma City is planning to revitalize the area which will be created by the relocation of I-40. The program is called Core to Shore.

“The primary motivation for this was the relocation of I-40. I-40, as probably most people know, is moving about five blocks south of its current alignment,” said Oklahoma City Planning Director Russell Claus.

The realignment of I-40 opens up 750 acres of downtown space, and the city has come up with a 30 year plan to develop that area. If Oklahoma City has to pay for tearing down the highway and build the boulevard, it might cause a delay.

“We will have to find some way to make that happen. We would prefer that that not be a burden imposed upon the city taxpayers, but one way or another it’s going to have to happen. Any money directed towards that is going to be less money we have for implementing Core to Shore and could possibly delay that implementation,” said Claus.

Oklahoma City isn’t waiting on the demolition of I-40 when it comes to the Ford Center’s renovation for the N.B.A. The City Council recently approved picking up the tab to relocate an I-40 ramp to expand the arena.

“The existing ramp basically interferes with the proposed expansion of the Ford Center. So, we will have to tear that ramp down and build a new ramp,” Claus said.

A delay in the revitalization plan is a concern for Oklahoma City Councilman Pete White, who says he’s sure that the new I-40 Cross-town will be completed with federal money.

“I have faith that it’s going to continue to be funded, and it’ll eventually be built. I’m not so sure what will happen to the existing Cross-town and the Boulevard,” said White.

He added if Oklahoma City has to handle the costs, it would be a blow to the Capitol City’s continued urban renewal.

“Just the cost of demolition alone, then you couldn’t leave it running through the center of Oklahoma City like that. It would really be a big. It would be a big ticket,” White said.

“We’ve known for some time that the funding is not there for that portion of it. We, as a city, will continue to push our legislative agenda to secure those funds, and we certainly hope the state is doing the same thing,” said Clause.