Oklahoma News Report

On the eve of the heaviest travel day of the year, Mothers Against Drunk Driving was getting their life saving safety message out today. Drinking and driving is a potentially deadly combination and violators will be treated harshly throughout the holiday season.

MADD’s “Tie One on for Safety” campaign urges motorists to tie a MADD red ribbon to a visible location on their vehicles as a pledge to drive safe and sober and wear their seat belts and reminds others to do the same.

MADD’s campaign calls for an intensive, high visibility law enforcement effort. They also encourage that your best defense against a drunk driver is to always wear your seat belt.

Nationally, in 2007 there were nearly 13,000 fatalities. In Oklahoma there were 219. Another half a million are injured each year in alcohol-related traffic crashes.

A new documentary produced by some Jenks High School students is getting some rave reviews. The hour long show captures a year in the life of the Tulsa Ballet Theatre.
This hour long documentary is called “One Step at a Time”.

Alexis Dickey and Kenzie Clark are juniors. This is their third year in the film and TV program here. The latest project they’ve been working on has been a collaborative effort. Other students in the program did most of the filming and interviewing. Then they took the 52 hours of footage to make into the 56 minute documentary.
The girls gave up most of their summer and spent 6 hours a day in this room editing their work.

With every good student, there’s a good teacher. Clifton Raphael also spent the summer looking over their shoulders and guiding them along. But, he does admit that after the first day, he thought the student might be hopeless.

“I went home and I told my wife I don’t know if we’re going to be able to do this and she said are you crazy? This is the first day. So the next day they came in and I said look just edit anything don’t start from the beginning just edit me something that’s gonna be good and sure enough they did,” Raphael said.

You can see the stunning work in its entirety on OETA on December 3.

Former Principal Chief of the Cherokees Wilma Mankiller will be featured on OETA on Tuesday night at 8:00 p.m. in the next OETA production of A Conversation With… Mankiller discussed her life in Oklahoma and California, before returning to the Cherokee nation to become the first woman Chief in the tribe’s history. She is an incredible story-teller and her experiences are fascinating. It’s a great program. A Conversation With…Wilma Mankiller will air Tuesday night at 8:00 p.m. and again on Sunday, November 30 at 1:00 p.m.

The Medicare Part D Fall Open Enrollment Period for prescription drug coverage in 2009 is underway and continues through December 31.
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is hosting events across the country to help people with Medicare make the most of their health and prescription drug benefits. Some beneficiaries may see significant premium increases or changes- such as reduced coverage in the gap- if they do not choose a 2009 prescription drug plan best for them. In Tulsa County and across the state, LIFE Senior Services, SHICP and other senior advocacy partners are encouraging beneficiaries to review how their Medicare health and drug coverage plans may change for 2009 and understand all options available.

People with Medicare in all 77 Oklahoma counties are encouraged to act quickly so they may have a smooth transition into the 2009 benefit year. People with Medicare can receive assistance in reviewing and choosing a plan by attending a Medicare Open Enrollment event, contacting a state, county or city office on aging through www.medicare.gov or by calling 1-800-MEDICARE.

Beneficiaries with limited income and resources may qualify for extra help to pay for prescription drug costs. They may also apply for extra help through their local Social Security Administration office, by visiting www.socialsecurity.gov or by calling 1-800-772-1213.

On Monday, November 17th, Jim Lehrer, one of the most respected journalists in the United States and executive editor and anchor for “The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer,” received the inaugural Gaylord Prize, established by the University of Oklahoma Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication to honor a nationally recognized journalist with high standards of excellence.

The inaugural Gaylord Prize, funded from an endowment established by the Edward L. Gaylord family, was awarded to Lehrer during a luncheon Nov. 17 in the Grand Ballroom of the Skirvin Hilton Hotel in Oklahoma City.

In receiving the award, Lehrer discussed his guidelines for providing fair, trusted journalism in the era of 24/7 news channels and the explosion of on-air and on-line commentary.

Following the banquet, I sat down with Lehrer to discuss his interest and connections to Oklahoma, the 2008 Presidential elections and debates, and journalism in the digital age.

Each of those subjects will be covered in an exclusive, three-part series beginning at 6:30 p.m. on Monday, November 24th on OETA’s Oklahoma News Report. Parts two and three will follow on November 25 and 26.

“We are grateful to the Gaylord family for endowing this prize of national importance and designating the University of Oklahoma to award it,” said OU President David L. Boren. “There could not be a more appropriate first recipient of the award then Jim Lehrer. No journalist in America is more respected or sets higher standards than he does.”

Lehrer’s long-term partnership with Robert MacNeil began in the 1970s when they teamed to cover the Senate Watergate hearings, an endeavor for which they received an Emmy Award. The two paired officially for “The MacNeil/Lehrer Report” in 1976 and together received more than 30 awards for journalistic excellence. After 20 years on the air, MacNeil retired in 1996 and the show became “The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer.”

Lehrer also is an accomplished novelist and playwright. He has written a successful book series featuring the adventures of a fictional lieutenant governor of Oklahoma with locations set at the Oklahoma State Capitol and the Skirvin Hotel. The most recent installment, Mack to the Rescue, was released in April by the OU Press. In addition, he has authored several historical mysteries, two memoirs and three plays. His 19th novel, Oh Johnny, will be published in April 2009.

Born in Wichita, Kan., in 1934, Jim Lehrer received his associate’s degree from Victoria College and a bachelor’s degree in journalism in 1956 from the University of Missouri before joining the Marine Corps. Lehrer began his journalism career with the Dallas Morning News and the Dallas Times-Herald before moving to broadcast news with the Dallas-area public broadcasting network, KERA-TV, where he was executive director of public affairs, on-air host and editor of a nightly news program. Lehrer later moved to Washington, D.C., first as public affairs coordinator for KERA, then as correspondent with the National Public Affairs Center for Television.

Lehrer has received numerous awards for journalism, including, in 1999, the National Humanities Medal and induction into the Television Hall of Fame with MacNeil and into the Silver Circle of the Washington, D.C., chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. He also has won two Emmys, the Fred Friendly First Amendment Award, the George Foster Peabody Broadcast Award, the William Allen White Foundation Award for Journalistic Merit and the University of Missouri School of Journalism’s Medal of Honor. In 1991, he was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He was OU’s Commencement speaker in 1996; also that year, OU conferred upon him its highest honor, the honorary doctor of humane letters.