Oklahoma News Report

In this story I went to a turkey farm in Twin Oaks to find out about Heritage Turkeys.
I learned a lot about turkey’s that day.
These turkey’s are very different than the typical ones that we buy in a grocery store. Basically, commericial turkey’s “Broad Breasted Whites” have become very popular because of their high content of white breast meat. In fact, the way they breed these turkey’s they can’t even walk because they are so top-heavy. They can’t do a lot things- mainly they can’t be turkeys.
I talked to a turkey farmer that told me that commercial producers feed the turkey’s a high salt diet a week or so before they take them to market so they will drink plenty of water and weigh more. Then of coarse, they inject them with all kinds of solutions (whatever that is) before packaging them.
So when you cook the turkey- basically you lose all kinds of flavor because it all cooks out in all of the water.
In the story below, you can see for yourself what Heritage Turkey’s are all about.

You can contact Kathryn McCrary about her Heritage Turkeys-
her email is: rockingtk@yahoo.com

“Little House on the Prairie, The Musical” cast and crew members are helping to build a Central Oklahoma Habitat for Humanity House in Northeast Oklahoma City this week. It’s part of the production’s 26-city tour that stops in the state Nov. 17-22.

“Little House on the Prairie” star Melissa Gilbert was sidelined by an injury and could not work on the Habitat for Humanity build. She and her French bulldog, Josephine, stayed with the crew while construction was underway.

Gilbert is best known for playing the role of Laura Ingalls on the 1970s television show; she plays the part of “Ma” in the musical version.

New Habitat for Humanity homeowner Stephanie Bruner is nearing completion of her 300-hour sweat equity requirement. She’ll move into the home early next year.

“Little House” cast and crew members work to construct and raise the frame for the new house:

The production will also make a donation of at least $1,500 to the Habitat for Humanity affiliate in every city they visit along the tour.

The story airs at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 19, 2009.

Friday morning(11-20-09)I did get a response from DHS. Don Bingham (pictured below)is one of the DHS attorneys that went before the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals on 11-19-09.

Cathy, I’m sorry that I was tied up yesterday and was not able to check my email. I’m still in Denver but I appreciate the opportunity to comment on the appeal that was argued here yesterday before the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals. As you know, in May of this year the federal judge in Tulsa ordered that the case filed by Children’s Rights against the Oklahoma Department of Human Services should proceed as a class action. The certified class of plaintiffs consists of all children who are or will be in the custody of OKDHS as a result of abuse or neglect in their own homes. The current number of such children in the custody of OKDHS is approximately 9,000. OKDHS filed an appeal of an order issued by the Tulsa federal judge that held OKDHS must defend this lawsuit as a class action to deal with the complex and individual situations of such a large, diverse group of children. After appeal briefs were submitted to the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver, lawyers representing Children’s Rights and lawyers representing OKDHS appeared in person yesterday in the appeals court here, for the purpose of presenting oral arguments and answering questions from the appeals court judges. The legal reason for filing the appeal was that OKDHS attorneys did not agree that this large group of foster children, who live in many different settings and who require special planning and care, should be treated as a class, and believed that the legal requirements for creating a class action had not been satisfied by Children’s Rights. The public policy reason for filing this appeal was the concern of OKDHS that a class action approach to improving Oklahoma’s foster-care system would result in the unnecessary expenditure of many thousands of dollars in attorney fees for the State, many thousands to conduct what is called “discovery” of evidence during the lawsuit, and many thousands in preparing for and presenting a defense in a trial that will be lengthy and expensive. Although OKDHS is constantly striving to improve its care of Oklahoma foster children, we simply do not believe that any policy or practice of OKDHS violates the Constitutional rights of any foster child, let alone the 9,000 for whom OKDHS provides care. In providing so many services to so many children, OKDHS personnel have made mistakes and errors in judgment, but those mistakes are examined and used to find better ways to protect and serve the children in our custody. OKDHS also communicates with Oklahoma juvenile court judges, who ultimately decide where and with whom a foster child will live. It will take a continued, focused effort on the part of OKDHS, the State Courts, law enforcement, and the private sector to continue the significant progress and improvement in foster care that has been achieved in the past few years. We continue to believe that unless Constitutional rights of children are violated, the law does not authorize a federal court to (in effect) take over the Oklahoma foster-care system and manage its day-to-day operations and oversee the wide variety of services provided daily to literally thousands of unfortunate children. We remain confident that both the Tulsa federal judge and the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals will follow the law that governs the creation of a class action.

(Cathy’s posting 11-19-09)
The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver is hearing an appeal of class action status granted to a case that alleges all children in DHS foster care are in danger of abuse an neglect.

The case was filed by attorneys from New York and Oklahoma more than a year ago. In early 2009, a Federal Court Judge in Tulsa did grant class action status, but the action was stayed pending the outcome of the appeal to the 10th Circuit Court.