the oklahoma publisher, may 2012

The 2012 OPA Annual Convention kicks off June 7 at the Reed Center in Midwest City, Okla.

There’s a full playbook of events from speakers to roundtable discussions and even an autograph signing by University of Oklahoma Heisman Trophy winners Steve Owens, Billy Sims and Jason White.

Events begin Thursday afternoon with a session introduced at least year’s convention, “News Flash.” If you know the Ignite conferences or TED Talks, you’ll get the idea. Eight or nine presenters will share their ideas, accompanied by a slide presentation, each within a five-minute time span.

Later Thursday night, get to know your fellow “teammates” at the welcome dinner. Be sure to wear your favorite local school or professional sports team shirt or jersey. There will be fun activities led by “coaches” from the National Center for Employment Development.

The stands will be packed Friday morning for Ed Henninger’s session on how you can use design ele-ments and new content to generate revenue. Also that morning will be a session by Joplin Globe editor Carol Stark on her experiences covering the devastating May 2011 tornado. National Newspaper Association postal consultant Max Heath will take time to review your postal statement forms and look for ways to maximize your postal savings. Call OPA at (405) 499-0040 to sign up for these detailed one-on-one 15-minute sessions!

Governor Mary Fallin will be on hand at 11:00 a.m. Friday, June 8, to participate in a question-and-answer session with attendees.

The “Hit and Misses” luncheon Friday includes several sweepstakes awards as well as the highly antici-pated Blooper Awards.

Head-to-head concurrent sessions Friday afternoon offer a variety of topics. Sessions include:

• When Write is Wrong, led by design consultant Ed Henninger.

• Generating Revenue Through Community Events, where publishers Jeff Funk, Enid News & Eagle; Jeff Mayo, Sequoyah County Times; and Mary Mélon, The Journal Record, share how they created popular com-munity events that also built profits.

• Breaking News: Changes to USPS, led by Max Heath, postal chairman for the National Newspaper Association.

• Crime Reporting in a Small Town with session

Official Publication of the Oklahoma Press Association

The Oklahoma Publisherwww.OkPress.com

www.Facebook.com/okpressVol. 83, No. 5

24 Pages • May 2012

INSIDEPERFECTA AWARD: OPA creates new award for advertising insertion excellency.

PAGE 6

ONF INTERNS: 21 student interns will be working at Oklahoma newspapers this summer, thanks to the ONF Internship Program.

PAGE 10

EL RENO HAS A NEW PRESS: It’s all systems go for the El Reno Tribune’s new press in a new building.

PAGE 14

BE PART OF THE TEAM AT THE OPA 2012 ANNUAL CONVENTION

Continued on Page 3

BE PART OF THE TEAM AT THE

OPA ANNUAL CONVENTIONJUNE 7-9, 2012REED CENTER, MIDWEST CITY, OK

2 The Oklahoma Publisher // May 2012

Satisfied with my first mowing and trimming effort of the season, I grew a bit agitated the next day when I stepped outside to see a number of dandelions proudly waving their heads of golden-yellow florets above the freshly mowed blades of grass.

One of my greatest irritants when it comes to lawn care, dandelions have been known to get the best of me. Dur-ing my most recent war on the sneaky weed, I was reminded of the May when I actually found a positive spin on dan-delions for a speech I gave at the local National Honor Society initiation.

I was talking about being a leader and used the dandelion as an example. Dandelions don’t blend in. Instead, they stand out. People can easily spot them as being different from their surround-ings. Dandelions rise above a given situation.

Between year-end banquets for orga-nizations such as NHS, commence-ments and graduations, I’ve enjoyed talking to students who are clamoring to move on to experience the big adven-ture of life.

As I was thinking about my nemesis, the dandelion, some of those other May addresses came to mind and I found it interesting how much of what I’ve shared with students is so easily adapt-able to my life even today. For example, I want my newspaper to, well, be a dan-delion! I want it to stand out. I want it to be noticed. And just as the seed-bearing parachutes of those fuzzy, cotton-like seed heads expand, lift out and blow in the wind, I want the news that we report to spread so that people are talk-ing about it and new readers will take root in homes across our community.

IN ANOTHER TALK TO STUDENTS, the subject was the importance of being honorable. I revealed my childhood indiscretion involving a gum ball. I admitted when tagging along with my dad to the opening of a new grocery store a box of colorful gum balls got the best of me. While my dad was busy chatting it up with the new store owner, I quickly snatched a bright yellow gum ball and stuck it in my pocket.

Once outside the store I popped it in my mouth and enjoyed the instant plea-sure my loot provided. Smacking away, a few blocks later my dad turned to me and asked what I had in my mouth. Busted. He wanted to know where I got it. The gig was up. He shifted gears and turned his red and white Chevy pickup around and headed back to that store, giving me an earful along the way.

Once in front of the store, he explained my next move. He handed me a nickel and told me to walk in, ask for the owner by name, present him with the nickel and explain to him what I had done and apologize. It was the walk of shame.

I told the students that as they ven-tured out into life, many decisions of right and wrong would come their way and my encouragement to them was... “don’t take that piece of gum.”

Isn’t the same true for us today? Time is ticking away and the dead-

line is near. Confirmation of a quote is needed. Couldn’t we just use another anonymous source? Maybe even make up a name. The facts may not be pre-cise, but, hey, they’re close enough, right? After all, they’re needed to get

the point across and to impact the reader. Don’t take that piece of gum!

TO A CLASS OF EIGHTH GRADERS, I reminded their promotion was an opportunity to continue learning. I told them that if they thought books, classes, homework and tests summed up learning, then they still had a lot to learn. I explained that we keep on learning each and every day.

How true is that!? I think of how in this industry we have continued to learn. The technological advancements alone have been staggering, yet we’ve shown we can gain new knowledge and change with the times. We learn something new every time we go out to investigate a story or follow-up a lead, or sit down with an interesting charac-ter for a feature profile. We learn when we cover meetings and ask the hard questions.

In other end-of-school occasions, I’ve talked about strength of charac-ter, dreaming, fostering an imagina-tion, taking the initiative and good old-fashioned hard work. Everything I “preached” I’m reminded I should practice. In the community newspaper business it wouldn’t be difficult to fall into a rut. Just meet the deadline. How-ever, when we get imaginative with our stories, features and design…when we dream up a great new promotion…when we step up to lead the community in a worthwhile cause, when we take a stand for what is right…it’s not just our readers who benefit. We do, too.

And as hard as it is to admit, the dang dandelion actually does have a wide range of positive uses. I’ve been told it spreads nutrients and adds min-erals and nitrogen to soil. It is also known to attract pollinating insects and release ethylene gas which helps fruit to ripen. I guess even irritants are here for a reason. And that’s a lesson for all of us.

THE POINT AFTER“Learn to live and live to learn.”

— Bayard Taylor

O P A P R E S I D E N T ’ S C O L U M NBY RUSTY FERGUSON, PUBLISHER OF THE CLEVELAND AMERICAN

JUNE 7-9, MIDWEST CITYOPA ANNUAL CONVENTION

Join the team at the OPA annual convention. Ed Henninger, newspaper layout & design consultant; Carol Stark, editor of The Joplin Globe; and Max Heath, NNA postal chairman, will speak. OU Heisman Trophy winners Steve Owens, Billy Sims and Jason White will sign autographs at a reception on Friday, June 8. Don’t miss this three-day event, which provides networking opportunities and a dozen educational sessions. (The deadline for hotel room reservations at the Midwest City Sheraton is May 23, call 1-800-325-3535.) To view session descriptions and register online, visit okpress.com/convention.

THU., JULY 12, OKC(RESCHEDULED)“PUMP UP YOUR AD SALES” WITH EXPERTS

Presenters Mark Millsap (Express-Star, Chickasha) and Karan Ediger (The Edmond Sun) will cover the elements of becoming a great salesperson. This workshop can help ad salespeople who were hired in the past six months, reporters who have started selling ads, or ad reps who want to find new techniques. Registration $35. For more information or to register, visit okpress.com/events-calendar.

THU., JULY 27, OKCCOLLEGE PUBLICATION ADVISERS AND EDITORS MEETING

Advisers and editors of college publications are invited to this free event sponsored by Oklahoma Newspaper Foundation and the Oklahoma Collegiate Media Association. The meeting will feature Freedom of Information tips for college publications. For more information or to register, visit okpress.com/events-calendar.

For more information on upcoming events, visit the OPA website at www.OkPress.com or

contact Member Services Director Lisa Potts at (405) 499-0026, 1-888-815-2672 or e-mail [email protected].

OPA CALENDAR OF EVENTS

GAME PLAN

Complete Listing of Events at

www.OkPress.com

“Fit to Print,” a story about Okla-homa’s weekly newspapers by Terry M. Clark, was published in the May-June issue of Oklahoma Today, the state magazine.

Clark interviewed newspaper people

in Cherokee, Madill, Oologah, Sallisaw and Sayre for the story.

“I wanted to show the influence and role of weekly papers in every corner of the state,” Clark said. “In spite of all the doom and gloom people read about newspapers, I think it is important that

Oklahomans know there is another press out there that is vibrant and adapting to change.

“The hardest part was culling through 3,000 words of notes for a 1,200-word story,” he said. “Newspaper people are delightfully quotable.”

Weekly newspapers featured in Oklahoma Today article by Terry Clark

The Oklahoma Publisher // May 2012 3

The Oklahoma Publisher

PUBLISHERMark Thomas

[email protected]

EDITORJennifer Gilliland

[email protected]

OPA OFFICERSRusty Ferguson, PresidentThe Cleveland AmericanJeff Shultz, Vice President

The Garvin County News StarGracie Montgomery, Treasurer

The Purcell RegisterMark Thomas,

Executive Vice President, Oklahoma City

OPA DIRECTORSRod Serfoss, Past President

Clinton Daily NewsJeff Mayo, Sequoyah County Times

Jeff Funk, Enid News & EagleRobby Trammell, The OklahomanDayva Spitzer, Sayre Record &

Beckham County DemocratBrian Blansett, Shawnee News-StarMike Brown, Neighbor Newspapers

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POSTMASTER: Send address changes to THE OKLAHOMA PUBLISHER, 3601 N. Lincoln Blvd., Oklahoma City, OK 73105-5499.

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(405) 499-0020Toll-Free in Oklahoma: (888) 815-2672

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It’s been more than one year since Oklahoma State University’s The Daily O’Collegian became what many believe to be the first college news outlet to charge for content online.

After many larger national publica-tions like the Wall Street Journal and New York Times began to erect pay-walls, O’Colly General Manager Ray Catalino thought it would be worth it to place a dollar value on student produced content.

Access is still free for readers with an “.edu” email address or those who live within 25 miles of Stillwater. Read-ers who don’t meet these criteria are allowed to read three articles before being prompted to sign in and sub-scribe.

Catalino set an informal goal of 100 subscribers in the first year. On the one-year anniversary of the paywall

there were 156 subscribers; as of late April there were 177 subscribers.

Having surpassed 100 subscribers, The O’Colly even upped its online subscription cost from $10 to $15 for online content. Catalino has even bud-geted $3,00 to $4,000 in revenue from online subscribers for The O’Colly’s next fiscal year.

The paper’s regular online audi-ence is 2,000 and the print circulation is 25,000.

Online subscribers came slow and steady, with never more than three signing up in one day, said Catalino.

Since The O’Colly switched to a pay model, several other college papers have followed suit including the Kan-sas State Collegian, Tufts University’s Tufts Daily and Boston University’s Daily Free Press.

O’Colly fi nds success behind paywallleaders John D. Montgomery, Purcell Register; Louise Red Corn, The Big-heart Times; and Barb Walter, The Hennessey Clipper.

• More than Fair and Balanced, a discussion on ethics led by newsroom managers Mike Strain, Tulsa World; Robby Trammell, The Oklahoman; and Rob Collins, Enid News & Eagle.

• Hot Niche Ideas for New Rev-enues, presented by Ed Darling, pub-lisher of the Duncan Banner.

Friday night is the Convention’s Super Bowl – the Awards Banquet. Find out how member papers ranked in the 2012 Better Newspaper Contest. The banquet also includes presenta-tions of the OPA Milt Phillips Award, the ONF Beachy Musselman Award and the OPA Quarter and Half Century Awards.

On Saturday, June 9, don’t miss a chance to question U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe and Dist. 2 Rep. Dan Boren, Dist. 3 Rep. Frank Lucas, Dist. 4 Rep. Tom Cole and Dist. 5 Rep. James Lankford.

For more information or to register, see the convention game plan online at www.okpress.com/convention.

CORRECTIONIn the article “Nominating Com-

mittee recommends officers, direc-tors for 2012-13 term” in last month’s Oklahoma Publisher, the name of Nominating Committee Chairman Stu Phillips was inadvertently left out of the list of those attending the March 16, 2012, meeting. We regret the error.

The Bigheart Times has joined the ranks of other Oklahoma papers like the Tulsa World, Vinita Daily Journal and Weatherford Daily News by plac-ing its content behind a paywall.

The new system offers various options to subscribers including an e-edition “flipbook,” which is the exact replica of the printed version. The web-site will also post stories and photos about breaking news off deadline and offer more news and photos than the print edition.

An annual subscription for all online

content is $35, one month is $10, six months is $25 and one e-edition of the paper is $1. You can also purchase one article at a time for 25-cents per article.

The Times is the first newspaper in the country to use a company called TinyPass as its way to charge for con-tent. TinyPass (www.tinypass.com) is a startup company that allows news organizations to charge for content in any way they see fit without having to erect expensive traditional paywalls.

Current print subscribers can pay $10 extra to have full access to the

website for the duration of their print subscription.

The goal, said Times’ publisher Lou-ise Red Corn, is to reduce the number of papers printed.

Some content will still be free on the website – community events announce-ments, editorials, small breaking news items and some photo galleries.

In the first two weeks that the paid system was operating, there were more than 70 transactions for content on the site, generating about $400 in new rev-enue, said Red Corn.

More ways to get news from Bigheart Times

Continued from Page 1

OPA CONVENTION


Hundreds of thousands of histori-cal Oklahoma newspaper pages are available for free viewing thanks to the Oklahoma Historical Society’s recent project, “The Gateway to Oklahoma History.”

The Gateway is an online repository that allows users to browse through newspaper pages dating from the 1840s to the 1920s.

The project started in 2010 after the Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation awarded the OHS a grant to digitize public domain newspapers in the collection. In the U.S., any work published before Jan. 1, 1923, is in the public domain.

The public domain is generally defined as consisting of works that are either not eligible for copyright protection or with expired copyrights and available for anyone to use for any purpose.

The goal of the project is to “enhance dramatically the ability of reporters, journalism students and professors, other teachers and students, historians, and the general public to do research in every newspaper that was published from 1844 through 1923 in the area that now is Oklahoma.”

To accomplish that goal, a research-er-friendly Internet platform named “The Gateway to Oklahoma History” was created and is accessible at gate-way.okhistory.org.

The University of North Texas Libraries’ Digital Libraries Division developed the platform.

OHS also received two “We the Peo-ple” grants from the National Endow-ment for the Humanities and a grant from the Chickasaw Nation.

OPA and OHS began a partnership in 1893 to preserve Oklahoma’s news-

papers for future generations. Today, 93 percent of all Oklahoma newspapers ever published are preserved on micro-film at the OHS located at the Okla-homa History Center in Oklahoma City.

“OPA has been a supporter of the OHS since its inception, and supported the efforts to secure this public domain newspaper digitization grant,” said Mark Thomas, executive vice president of the Oklahoma Press Association.

“To see the grant come to fruition and make these historically valuable newspapers available is an exciting development.

“I expect newspapers will be among the first and most frequent users of these old pages. Hopefully, while peo-ple are viewing these early day news-papers, they will also remember the value of having a local newspaper that records local events for generations that follow us.”

The countdown to the opening of the First Lutheran Church of Oklaho-ma City’s “Century Chest” has begun.

On April 22, 2013, church mem-bers and other dignitaries will gather to open the chest, which was buried in the church basement at 1300 North Robinson on April 22, 1913.

The chest is made of copper and enclosed in double cement walls, one foot under the ground.

The church has partnered with the Oklahoma Historical Society so the treasures of 1913 will be preserved and exhibited at the Oklahoma His-tory Center.

Some of the contents of the chest include Oklahoma city newspapers, Indian relics donated by Oklaho-ma’s Native American tribes, a quilt stitched with the names of over 700 Oklahoma citizens, photographs, paintings, books, poetry and more

than 40 messages from clubs and organizations in 1913 to their counter-parts in 2013.

The chest also contains 1913 products including a Kodak camera shipped direct to the church from the factory, a telephone, coins, clothing, the pen with which President McKin-ley signed the free homes bill for Oklahoma and a poster advertising the first 4th of July celebration ever held in Oklahoma City.

Three events for the opening of the Century Chest are in the planning stages.

The events include an unearth-ing ceremony at the First Lutheran Church of Oklahoma City, a special live opening of the chest at the Okla-homa Historical Center and, later, a major exhibit at the History Center revealing all of the historic treasures recovered from the chest.

Century Chest to be opened OKLAHOMA HISTORICAL SOCIETY LAUNCHES GATEWAY TO HISTORY

The Oklahoma Historical Society’s new portal, The Gateway to Oklahoma History, contains thousands of historical newspaper pages. The website can be accessed at gateway.okhistory.org.

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The Oklahoma Association of Con-servation Districts and the Oklahoma Press Association recently presented their Excellence in Communication Awards.

The awards were presented on April 16 during Conservation Day at the State Capitol. Awards presented were:• Excellence in Communication,

Newspaper Award presented to the Thomas Tribune, nominated by the Deer Creek Conservation District.

• Excellence in Communication Dis-trict Award presented to Kay County Conservation District for its Out-standing Communication Campaign.

• Excellence in Communication Dis-trict presented to the Oklahoma County Conservation District for its Outstanding Newsletter.

• Excellence in Communication Broadcast Award presented to George Plummer, News Director, KOOL 105.5 FM, Chickasha.

The OACD/OPA Excellence in Rec-ognition Communications program has proven to be a positive means to rec-ognize the work of the state’s press in informing the public about natural resource conservation.

The Oklahoma Association of Conservation Districts (OACD) and the Oklahoma Press Association (OPA) presents the Excellence in Communication Newspaper Award to the Thomas Tribune. Pictured from left are OPA Executive Vice President Mark Thomas; Jamie King, Thomas Tribune editor; Deer Creek Conservation District employee Kristi Hill; Deer Creek Conservation District board member Bertha Miller; Deer Creek CD employee Christine Harper; Deer Creek CD board member Alveta Taylor, and OACD President Joe Parker. The Deer Creek Conservation District nominated the Thomas Tribune for the award.

New managing editor at Duncan Banner; Kaley returns to Waurika

Daniel Kelley is the new manag-ing of the Duncan Banner.

Kelley is a Kentucky native and returns to the newspaper business after a stint in medical school and the food industry.

He replaces Jeff Kaley, who will return to the Waurika News-Demo-crat as editor and general manager.

“We’re really pleased to have a young, talented professional like Daniel join our staff,” Ed Darling, publisher of The Banner, said.

“He’s an excellent writer, designer and organizer who will add much, not only to The Banner, but to the communities we serve as well.”

Kelley will oversee news gath-ering for The Duncan Banner, duncanbanner.com, Duncan…the magazine and other projects.

Kelley is a graduate of the Uni-versity of Kentucky. Previously, he was news editor of the Manhattan (Kan.) Mercury and copy editor of the Georgetown (Ky.) News-Graphic.

He also spent time on the promo-tional team of the Lexington Leg-ends, a minor-league baseball team in Lexington, Ky.

Kelley was an editor-columnist for Kentucky Kernel and a sports-writer for the Bourbon Times and Citizen, both in Paris, Ky.

Kaley has spent 26 years work-ing for the Duncan Banner and Waurika News-Democrat.

He started as sports editor of the Duncan Banner in 1985. He is returning to Waurika, where he spent six years as editor, after a year at The Banner.

Prior to working at the Banner and News-Democrat, Kaley worked for the Stillwater News-Press, the Borger (Texas) News-Herald and the Robinson (Ill.) News.

Kaley’s wife is a former Banner editor and is now editor of the Cotton Electric Current.

On April 25, Tulsa County Publish-ing Inc. ceased publication of the Tulsa County News.

“Southwest Tulsa is on the upswing so it is particularly hard to have to close this paper after nearly 90 consecutive years of weekly publication,” said Gary Percefull, co-publisher of the News. “We are grateful to our loyal subscrib-ers and advertisers who supported this community-oriented enterprise. We are also grateful for our many contributors, including area high school students.”

Tulsa County News started in 1922 as the West Tulsa News. The paper has changed names multiple times in its nine decades of printing, includ-ing Tulsa County News and Southwest Tulsa News.

Bill Retherford owned the paper for many years and built the Neighbor Newspaper group after purchasing the Tulsa County News in 1965. He also published papers in Bixby, Broken Arrow, Collinsville, Coweta, Glenpool, Jenks, Owasso, Sand Springs and Skia-took.

Community Publishers Inc. pur-chased Neighbor Newspapers after Retherford’s death in 2005.

CPI had planned on closing the Tulsa County News in April of 2008 but three Tulsa business people, Jim Frasier, Linda Jordan and Percefull pur-chased the paper from CPI and formed Tulsa County Publishing Inc.

“Our plan was to attempt a rescue and we gave ourselves one year to turn

things around. We made it almost four years before we ran out of gas,” Perce-full said.

During those four years the Tulsa County News won several OPA awards, including the Sequoyah Award.

Tulsa County News subscribers will continue to receive either the Sands Springs Leader or South County Lead-er from CPI, said Percefull.

“We are grateful to Community Pub-lishers, Inc. for continuing to serve our readers,” Percefull said.

“We believe they are positioned to continue community coverage in our area of focus in south and west Tulsa County.”

Tuttle Times receives conservation award

Tulsa County News closes up shop after 90 years

MAKE TRACKS TO THE OPA CONVENTIONJUNE 7-9, 2012 • REED CENTER, MIDWEST CITY, OKFor more information or to register visit www.OkPress.com/convention


The (Afton) AmericanThe Altus TimesAlva Review-CourierThe Anadarko Daily NewsThe Antlers AmericanThe Apache NewsThe ArdmoreiteAtoka County TimesThe (Barnsdall)

Bigheart TimesBartlesville

Examiner-EnterpriseThe (Beaver)

Herald-DemocratThe (Bethany) TribuneBlackwell Journal-TribuneThe Blanchard NewsBristow News

& Record-CitizenBroken Bow NewsThe Canton TimesThe Chelsea ReporterCherokee Messenger

& RepublicanThe Cheyenne StarThe (Chickasha)

Express-StarChoctaw County TimesChoctaw TimesClaremore Daily ProgressClayton TodayThe Cleveland American

The Clinton Daily NewsCoalgate Record-RegisterCollinsville NewsThe Comanche County

ChronicleThe Comanche TimesThe Cordell BeaconThe Countywide & SunCoweta AmericanCushing CitizenThe Davis NewsThe Dewey County RecordDrumright GusherThe (Eakly) Country

Connection NewsThe Edmond SunThe Ellis County CapitalEl Reno TribuneEnid News & EagleThe Fairfax ChiefThe Fletcher HeraldFort Gibson TimesThe Frederick Press-LeaderThe Freedom CallThe Friday Gazette

(McLoud)The Gage RecordGarber-Billings NewsGarfi eld County

Daily Legal NewsThe Garvin County

News StarThe Geary Star

Guthrie News LeaderThe Haskell NewsThe Healdton HeraldHeavener LedgerThe Hennessey ClipperHenryetta Free-LanceThe Hinton RecordThe Hobart Democrat-ChiefHoldenville NewsHoldenville TribuneThe Hominy News-ProgressThe Hooker AdvanceThe Hughes County TimesHugo Daily NewsInola IndependentThe Kingfi sher Times

& Free PressKiowa County DemocratThe Konawa

Leader

Latimer County

News-TribuneThe (Laverne)

Leader TribuneThe Lawton

ConstitutionThe (Lawton) County TimesThe Lincoln County NewsThe Logan County CourierThe Lone Grove LedgerThe Madill RecordMarietta MonitorThe Marlow ReviewMcIntosh County DemocratThe Meeker News

The Miami News-RecordThe Mooreland LeaderMorris NewsMountain View NewsMustang NewsThe Newcastle PacerThe Newkirk Herald JournalThe Norman TranscriptNorthwest Oklahoman &

Ellis County NewsThe Okarche ChieftainThe Okeene RecordOkemah News LeaderThe (Oklahoma City)

Black Chronicle(Oklahoma City) Capitol Hill

BeaconThe (Oklahoma City) City

SentinelOklahoma City FridayThe (Oklahoma City)

Journal RecordOwasso ReporterPauls Valley DemocratPawhuska Journal-CapitalThe Pawnee ChiefThe Perkins JournalPerry Daily JournalThe Piedmont-Surrey

GazetteThe Ponca City NewsThe Prague Times-HeraldThe (Pryor) PaperThe (Pryor) TimesThe Purcell RegisterThe Ringling EagleThe Rush Springs GazetteThe Ryan LeaderSand Springs Leader

Sapulpa Daily HeraldThe Sayre Record & Beck-

ham County DemocratThe Seminole ProducerSequoyah County TimesThe (Shawnee) County

DemocratThe (Shidler) ReviewSkiatook JournalSouth County Leader

(Tulsa County)Southeast Times (Idabel)Spiro GraphicStilwell Democrat JournalStroud AmericanSulphur Times-DemocratTahlequah Daily PressTaloga Times-AdvocateThe Thomas TribuneThe Tonkawa NewsTulsa BeaconTulsa County NewsTulsa Daily Commerce

& Legal NewsTulsa WorldVian Tenkiller NewsThe Vici VisionWagoner TribuneWaurika News-DemocratWeatherford Daily NewsThe WeleetkanThe Westville Reporter(Westville) Weekly ExpressThe Wewoka TimesThe Wilson Post-DemocratWoods County EnterpriseThe Wynnewood GazetteThe (Yale) PhoenixYukon Review

OPS ADVERTISING INSERTION ACCURACY Oklahoma Press Association recognizes the 153 business member

newspapers that successfully ran all ads placed by Oklahoma Press Service for the first quarter of 2012 (January through March).

Congratulations for a job well done.

Perfecta Award to honor newspapers for ad placement

The Oklahoma Press Association is proud to announce a new award – The Perfecta.

The Perfecta honors those OPA business member newspapers that achieve 100 percent accuracy on adver-tising orders from the Oklahoma Press Service in a calendar year.

“This award recognizes a basic fact of our business,” said OPA Executive Vice President Mark Thomas. “You can have the perfect ad, but it doesn’t mean anything if the ad doesn’t run as ordered.”

Ninety-one newspapers will be hon-ored with the Perfecta Award during the OPA Annual Convention, June 7-9, 2012, at the Reed Center in Midwest City.

Beginning this month, the OPA will publish a quarterly ad in The Oklahoma Publisher of member newspapers that ran all ads as ordered. These papers are ones that went the entire quarter without any “DNRs”. A newspaper can receive a DNR (did-not-run) for failing to run the ad as ordered (i.e., missed insertion date) or for poor reproduction quality of the ad in the newspaper.

According to data from OPS, 105 member newspapers had 267 DNRs amounting to a total of $32,351.90 dur-ing the 2011 calendar year. OPS data shows the longest length of time daily newspapers went without having a DNR was 26 consecutive days in September 2011. At least one weekly newspaper had a DNR every week in 2011.

“We want to recognize newspapers in a positive way,” said Thomas.

“Newspapers that go an entire quar-ter without a DNR are to be commend-ed; those that go an entire year truly have the processes in place to achieve customer satisfaction.”

OKLAHOMA PRESS ASSOCIATION3601 N. Lincoln Blvd., Oklahoma City, OK 73105

(405) 499-0020 • www.OkPress.com

Alisha Painter is the new editor of the Harper County Journal in Buffalo. A 2001 high school graduate, Mrs. Painter has taken some college busi-nesss management courses. She and her husband, Travis, are the parents of three children.

Harper County Journalnames Painter as editor


The Oklahoma Newspaper Founda-tion has selected recipients of the 2012-13 ONF Scholarships and Breeden Scholarship.

Kyle Fredrickson, Mary Newport and Andrea Perry have been awarded ONF Scholarships of $1,500 each.

KYLE FREDRICKSON is a senior at Oklahoma State University. He left his home and school in Colorado to enter the sports media program and join the team at The Daily O’Collegian as a sports writer. He rapidly became sports editor and is now editor-in-chief.

Fredrickson, who hopes to be a sports columnist at a major metropoli-tan newspaper, said he knows there will be sacrifices along the way.

“I have dedicated myself almost completely to the success of the (OSU) newspaper and growing as a reporter and storyteller,” Fredrickson said.

MARY NEWPORT is a senior at East Central University. She’s editor-in chief of the ECU newspaper, The Journal, and has won many awards for her work. Newport progressed from being refused for unpaid internships to now starting her second ONF internship at an Oklahoma newspaper.

She wants to be “a treasure, a valued journalist working hard at an Okla-homa newspaper.”

ANDREA PERRY is a junior at Langs-ton University. She’s a broadcast stu-dent, but since starting to work at the Langston University Gazette, she said she has fallen in love with print media as well.

“The thing I enjoy most about writ-ing is that I get to paint a picture, and I like the idea that I get to be a story-teller,” Perry said. “I never knew how fascinating being a journalist would be until I tried it.”

This is the sixth year that ONF has awarded three $1,500 scholarships to Oklahoma student journalists. The recipients must be majoring in journal-ism or an equivalent degree program and must be a junior or senior at an Oklahoma college or university.

ONF also awarded the Breeden Scholarship. The $1,000 Bob and Mar-ion Breeden University of Oklahoma Journalism Student Aid Fund Scholar-ship goes to a senior at OU each year.

This year’s winner, CARMEN FOR-MAN, has high hopes for her career. She said, “It’s unbelievably difficult to narrow down my career goals in the newspaper industry, considering I love everything about journalism and would like to do a little bit of everything.”

Forman plans to work in Oklahoma to gain experience, using her reporting, photography and videography skills. She’d also like to cover politics or inves-tigative journalism at the Washington Post and shoot photos for the National Geographic.

Forman is an investigative reporter for the Oklahoma Daily and was a multimedia intern for the Oklahoma Gazette.

The Breeden Scholarship was start-ed by the Breeden family with a memo-rial donation to the Foundation in 2006.

ONF selects scholarship recipients for 2012-2013

CARMEN FORMAN KYLE FREDRICKSON

MARY NEWPORT ANDREA PERRY

Have you ever wondered what other newspapers are doing? Find out by volunteering to judge the Nevada Press Association’s Better Newspaper Contest.

OPA needs 50 experienced news-room and production staff members to judge this contest. Nevada judged the OPA Better Newspaper Contest, and now it’s your turn to help them out.

Judges will review entries for events in Reporting, Advertising, Design, Websites and Photography categories for newspapers or maga-zines.

Most entries will be judged online, but General Excellence and Special Sections events will be mailed to judg-es.

Please respond by May 23 to become a judge. Sign up online at www.okpress.com/contestjudging or fax in a sign-up sheet (available online) to (405) 499-0048 to partici-pate.

For more information, contact Eli Nichols, OPA Member Services Coordinator, at (405) 499-0040 (1-888-815-2672 toll-free in Oklahoma) or at [email protected].

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The Oklahoma Pro Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists held its annual awards banquet at the Jim Thorpe Museum in Oklahoma City on April 21 to honor the best journalistic work in the state.

Foreign correspondent and two-time Pulitzer Prize winner, Anthony Shadid was posthumously awarded the Life-time Achievement Award, the chapter’s highest honor.

Shadid was born in Oklahoma City in 1968 and was a graduate of Heritage Hall High School. He attended the Uni-versity of Oklahoma for a brief period of time before transferring from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He graduated in 1990.

After graduating, Shadid studied Arabic at the Center for Arabic Study Abroad in Cairo.

His journalism career spanned 15 years and included stints with the Asso-ciated Press, Boston Globe, The Wash-ing Post and The New York Times where he was Beirut bureau chief at the time of his death.

Most of his journalism career found him based in the Middle East.

He won two Pulitzer Prizes for Inter-national Reporting in 2004 and 2010, both for his coverage of the Iraq War.

He was the author of three books,

“Legacy of the Prophet: Despots, Dem-ocrats and the New Politics of Islam” (2001); “Night Draws Near: Iraq’s Peo-ple in the Shadow of America’s War” (2005); and “House of Stone: A Memoir of Home, Family, and a Lost Middle East” (2012).

In 2011, while on assignment for the New York Times in Libya, he and three other journalists were captured by troops loyal to then Libyan dicta-tor Muammar al-Ghaddafi. They were released four days later.

He died of an apparent asthma attack in Syria while leaving the country after

covering the uprising against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Bryan Dean, a staff writer at The Oklahoman, won the Carter Bradley First Amendment Award.

He has worked at The Oklahoman for 10 years.

Dean is a 2001 graduate of the Uni-versity of Oklahoma.

He coordinates The Oklahoman’s annual Sunshine Week coverage and has written numerous stories pressur-ing state and local officials to follow the state’s Open Meeting and Open Records Acts.

Dean is past president of the Oklaho-ma Pro chapter of SPJ and of Freedom of Information Oklahoma Inc. He has served on the FOI Oklahoma board for five years.

Melanie Wilderman, a journalism professor at Northwestern Oklahoma State University, was awarded Teacher of the Year.

She joined the Northwestern staff in 2005 as a mass communication instruc-tor and advisor to the student newspa-per, Northwestern News.

She is part of a three-faculty mass communication program and teaches a vast array of courses, including News Reporting, Feature Writing, News Edit-ing, Desktop Publishing and Mass Communication Law and Ethics.

Before starting at NWOSU she spent three semesters teaching journalism and English courses as an adjunct facul-ty member at OU, OSU and Oklahoma City Community College.

She received both a B.A. and M.A. in journalism from OU and is in the final course work for her doctorate in High-er Education Administration at OSU.

Below and on the next page is a list of newspaper and Internet award win-ners in this year’s contest.

SPJ Oklahoma honors state journalists at awards banquet

NEWSPAPER - DIVISION AINVESTIGATIVE REPORTING BY AN INDIVIDUAL:1st: Warren Vieth, Oklahoma Watch2nd: Omer Gillham, Tulsa World3rd: Sean Murphy, Associated Press

INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING BY A TEAM: 1st: Tiffany Gibson,

Matt Patterson, Nick Tankersley and Grayson Cook, The Oklahoman

2nd: Ziva Branstetter, Cary Aspinwall, Curtis Killman and Sheila Stogsdill, Tulsa World

IN-DEPTH ENTERPRISE REPORTING: 1st: Shannon Muchmore,

Tulsa World2nd: Ginnie Graham,

Curtis Killman and Cary Aspinwall, Tulsa World

3rd: Warren Vieth, Oklahoma Watch

GOVERNMENT REPORTING:1st: Warren Vieth, Oklahoma Watch2nd: Clifton Adcock, Oklahoma Gazette3rd: Sean Murphy, Associated Press

SPOT NEWS: 1st: Staff, Tulsa World2nd: Staff, Tulsa World3rd: Andrea Eger, Kevin

Canfield, Michael Over-all and Ziva Branstetter, Tulsa World

FEATURE WRITING: 1st: Phil Bacharach, Oklahoma Gazette2nd: Cary Aspinwall, Tulsa World3rd: Tiffany Gibson, The Oklahoman

PERSONAL COLUMN: 1st: Steve Lackmeyer, The Oklahoman2nd: J.E. McReynolds,

The Oklahoman3rd: Ginnie Graham,

Tulsa World

EDITORIAL/COMMENTARY: 1st: Bobby Ross, Jr., The Christian Chronicle2nd: David Hale, The

Lawton Constitution3rd: Bryan Pollard, Cherokee Phoenix

GENERAL NEWS REPORTING:1st: Justin Juozapavicius,

Associated Press2nd: Ginnie Graham,

Tulsa World3rd: Bobby Ross, Jr., The Christian Chronicle

CRIMINAL JUSTICE REPORTING:1st: Warren Vieth, Oklahoma Watch2nd: Cary Aspinwall, Tulsa World3rd: Jaclyn Cosgrove,

Oklahoma Watch

DIVERSITY COVERAGE: 1st: Ginnie Graham, Tulsa World2nd: Justin Juozapavicius,

Associated Press3rd: Lenzy Krehbiel-

Burton, Tulsa World

EDUCATION REPORTING1st: Sara Plummer, Tulsa World2nd: Murray Evans, Associated Press3rd: Andrea Eger and Kim

Archer, Tulsa World

SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, HEALTH & ENVIRON-MENTAL REPORTING1st: Cary Aspinwall, Tulsa World2nd: Justin Juozapavicius,

Associated Press3rd: Murray Evans, Associated Press

BUSINESS REPORTING1st: D.R. Stewart,

Tulsa World2nd: Scott Cooper and

Ben Fenwick, Oklahoma Gazette

3rd: Bryan Painter, The Oklahoman

BUSINESS FEATURE1st: Steve Lackmeyer

and Jay Marks, The Oklahoman

2nd: D.R. Stewart and John Stancavage, Tulsa World

2nd: Steve Lackmeyer, The Oklahoman

ENTERTAINMENT FEATURE1st: Rod Lott, Oklahoma Gazette2nd: Rod Lott, Oklahoma Gazette3rd: Michael Smith, Tulsa World

ARTS CRITICISM1st: Phil Bacharach, Oklahoma Gazette2nd: Rod Lott, Oklahoma Gazette3rd: Michael Smith,

Tulsa World

LEISURE WRITING1st: Ben Fenwick,

Oklahoma Gazette2nd: Rod Lott, Jenny

Coon Peterson and Matt Carney, Oklahoma Gazette

3rd: Nicole Marshall Mid-dleton, Tulsa World

SPORTS REPORTING1st: Staff, Tulsa World2nd: Ed Godfrey, The Oklahoman3rd: Jim Beckel, The Oklahoman

SPORTS FEATURE1st: Jenni Carlson, The Oklahoman2nd: Jimmie Tramel, Tulsa World3rd: Hamil Harris and

Erik Tryggestad, The Christian Chronicle

SPORTS COLUMN1st: Kelly Bostian, Tulsa World2nd: Jenni Carlson, The Oklahoman3rd: Carrie Coppernoll,

The Oklahoman

FEATURE PHOTOGRAPHY1st: Michael Wyke, Tulsa World2nd: Jim Beckel, The Oklahoman3rd: Nate Billings,

The Oklahoman

SPORTS PHOTOGRAPHY1st: Bryan Terry,

The Oklahoman2nd: Tom Gilbert, Tulsa World3rd: Chris Landsberger,

The Oklahoman

GENERAL PHOTOGRAPHY1st: Michael Wyke,

Tulsa World2nd: Jim Beckel,

The Oklahoman3rd: Nate Billings,

The Oklahoman

STORY/PHOTO ESSAY1st: Mike Simons, Tulsa World2nd: Mike Simons,

Tulsa World3rd: Mike Simons,

Tulsa World

SPOT NEWS PHOTOGRAPHY1st: Sue Ogrocki, Associated Press2nd: Christopher Smith,

Tulsa World3rd: James Gibbard, Tulsa World

BEST PHOTOGRAPHIC PORTFOLIO1st: Jim Beckel, The Oklahoman2nd: Tom Gilbert, Tulsa World3rd: Bryan Terry, The Oklahoman

PAGE ONE LAYOUT AND DESIGN1st: Ethan Erickson, Tulsa World2nd: Steve Reckinger,

Tulsa World 3rd: Matthew Clayton, The Oklahoman

FEATURE PAGE LAYOUT AND DESIGN1st: Bill Bootz, The Oklahoman2nd: Bill Bootz, The Oklahoman3rd: Matt Clayton,

The Oklahoman

USE OF GRAPHIC ILLUSTRATION1st: Yvette Walker and

Todd Pendleton, The Oklahoman

2nd:Phillip Baeza, The Oklahoman3rd: Todd Pendleton, The Oklahoman

HEADLINES1st: Rod Lott, Oklahoma Gazette2nd: Moran Elwell, The Oklahoman

Anthony Shadid (left) received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the SPJ/Oklahoma Pro Chapter awards banquet on April 21 in Oklahoma City. The Oklahoman’s Bryan Dean received the First Amendment Award. Melanie Wilderman received the Teacher of the Year Award.

Continued on Page 9


Oklahoma newspapers win Great Plains awards

3rd: Karen Welch, Tulsa World

BEST REPORTING PORTFOLIO1st: Ginnie Graham, Tulsa World2nd: Cary Aspinwall, Tulsa World3rd: Clifton Adcock, Oklahoma Gazette

BEST NEWSPAPER1st: Tulsa World2nd: Oklahoma Gazette3rd: Cherokee Phoenix

NEWSPAPER - DIVISION BINVESTIGATIVE REPORTING BY AN INDIVIDUAL1st: Brianna Bailey,

The Journal Record

INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING BY A TEAM1st: Joey Stipek and Whit-

ney Knight, Pioneer2nd: Patrick B. McGuigan

and Stacy Martin, The City Sentinel

3rd: James Beaty and Rachel Petersen, McAlester News-Capital

IN-DEPTH ENTERPRISE REPORTING1st: M. Scott Carter,

The Journal Record2nd: M. Scott Carter,

The Journal Record3rd: Louise Red Corn,

The Bigheart Times

GOVERNMENT REPORTING1st: M. Scott Carter,

The Journal Record

2nd: Louise Red Corn, The Bigheart Times

3rd: M. Scott Carter, The Journal Record

SPOT NEWS1st: Donna Hales, Muskogee Phoenix2nd: Louise Red Corn,

The Bigheart Times3rd: Jeanne LeFlore,

McAlester News-Capital

FEATURE WRITING1st: Dale Denwalt, The Daily Elk Citian2nd: Hannah Covington,

Oracle3rd: John Small, John-

ston County Capital-Democrat

PERSONAL COLUMN1st: Jeanne Grimes, The Express-Star2nd: Brian Blansett,

The Shawnee News-Star

3rd: Josh Hutton, The Vista

EDITORIAL/COMMENTARY1st: Mike McCormick,


2nd: Ray Lokey, John-ston County Capital-Democrat

3rd: Jeremy Cloud, Pioneer

GENERAL NEWS REPORTING1st: M. Scott Carter and

Marie Price, The Jour-nal Record

2nd: Brianna Bailey, The Journal Record

3rd: Dale Denwalt, The Daily Elk Citian

CRIMINAL JUSTICE REPORTING1st: Rachel Petersen,


2nd: Elizabeth Ridenour and Dylan Goforth, Muskogee Phoenix

3rd: M. Scott Carter, The Journal Record

DIVERSITY COVERAGE1st: Brianna Bailey, The Journal Record2nd: M. Scott Carter, The Journal Record3rd: M. Scott Carter, The Journal Record

EDUCATION REPORTING1st: Wendy Burton, Muskogee Phoenix2nd: Rob Morris, Moore Monthly3rd: Kory B. Oswald,


SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, HEALTH & ENVIRON-MENTAL REPORTING1st: M. Scott Carter,

The Journal Record2nd: M. Scott Carter,

|The Journal Record3rd: M. Scott Carter, The Journal Record

BUSINESS REPORTINGM. Scott Carter, The Journal Record2nd: Louise Red Corn and

Rachel Anne Seymour, The Bigheart Times

3rd: M. Scott Carter, The Journal Recordy

ENTERTAINMENT FEATURE1st: Patrick B. McGuigan,

The City Sentinel

2nd: Rachel Anne Sey-mour, The Bigheart Times

3rd: James Beaty, McAlester News-Capital

ARTS CRITICISM1st: Dani Norton, The Southeastern2nd: Brandi Bunch, The Southeastern3rd: Chelsea Ratterman,

15th Street News

SPORTS REPORTING1st: Rachel Anne

Seymour, The Bigheart Times

2nd: Mike Kays, Kenton Brooks and Ronn Rowland, Muskogee Phoenix

3rd: Anthony Slater, The Daily O’Collegian

SPORTS FEATURE1st: Eli Linton, Oracle2nd: Anthony Slater, The Daily O’Collegian3rd: Kenton Brooks,

Muskogee Phoenix

SPORTS COLUMN1st: Mike Kays, Muskogee Phoenix2nd: Brendon Morris,

The Daily O’Collegian3rd: Anthony Slater, The Daily O’Collegian

GENERAL PHOTOGRAPHY1st: Ray Lokey, Johnston

County Capital-Democrat

2nd: Corie Wilkinson, The Daily O’Collegian

3rd: Cathy Spaulding, Muskogee Phoenix

SPORTS PHOTOGRAPHY1st: Rachel Anne


2nd: Kylie McMains, The Daily O’Collegian3rd: Ed Blochowiak,


STORY/PHOTO ESSAY1st: Rachel Anne Sey-

mour, The Bigheart Times

2nd: Kacy Hammock, The Southeasternl3rd: Alisha Loyd, The Southeastern

SPOT NEWS PHOTO1st: Rachel Anne


2nd: Wendy Burton, Muskogee Phoenix

3rd: Kevin Harvison, McAlester News-Capital

BEST PHOTO PORTFOLIO1st: Rachel Anne Sey-

mour, The Bigheart Times

2nd: Dale Denwalt, The Daily Elk Citian3rd: Corie Wilkinson, The Daily O’Collegian

PAGE ONE LAYOUT AND DESIGN1st: Brandy Brackett,


2nd: Chris Lusk, The Oklahoma Daily3rd: Kathryn Clark and

The Daily O’Collegian Staff, The Daily O’Collegian

FEATURE PAGE LAYOUT AND DESIGN1st: Staff, The Daily O’Collegian2nd: Chris Lusk, The Oklahoma Daily3rd: Brandy Brackett,


USE OF GRAPHIC ILLUSTRATION1st: Brandi Bunch, The Southeastern

HEADLINES1st: Lornna Bates, The Southeastern2nd: Dylan Goforth,

Muskogee Phoenix3rd: Jerry Willis, Muskogee Phoenix

BEST REPORTING PORTFOLIO1st: Louise Red Corn, The Bigheart Times2nd: Brianna Bailey, The Journal Record3rd: M. Scott Carter, The Journal Record

BEST NEWSPAPER1st: The Norman Tran-

script2nd: The Oklahoma Daily3rd: Muskogee Phoenix

ONLINEONLINE WRITING1st: Joe Wertz, State Impact Oklahoma

BREAKING NEWS COVERAGE1st: Brianna Bailey,

The Journal Record2nd: Michael Kimball, The Oklahoman

3rd: Michael Kimball, The Oklahoman

SPECIAL REPORT/ENTERPRISE1st: Patrick B. McGuigan,

CapitolBeatOK.com2nd: Stacy Martin, CapitolBeatOK.com3rd: Michael Kimball, The Oklahoman

BLOG1st: Photo Staff, The Oklahoman2nd: Guerin Emig and

John Hoover, Tulsa World

3rd: Christopher Smith, John Clanton and Mike Simons, Tulsa World

MULTIMEDIA1st: Tiffany Gibson, Nick

Tankersley, Grayson Cook and Matt Patterson, The Oklahoman

2nd: Staff, The Oklahoman3rd: Christopher Hicker-

son, Tulsa World

VIDEO JOURNALISM1st: Adam Wisneski, Tulsa World2nd: Matt Leach and

Sterlin Harjo, This Land Press

3rd: Adam Wisneski, Tulsa World

SLIDESHOW1st: Mike Simons, Adam

Wisneski and Jeff Laut-enberger, Tulsa World

2nd: Sarah Phipps and Nate Billings, The Okla-homan

3rd: Bryan Terry, The Oklahoman

INTERACTIVE GRAPHIC OR RESOURCE1st: Christopher Hicker-

son and Curtis Killman, Tulsa World

2nd: Joe Wertz, StateImpact Oklahoma3rd: Christopher Hicker-

son, Tulsa World

WEB DESIGN1st: Christopher Hick-

erson, Tulsa World Sports Extra

2nd: RangerPulse staff, Northwestern News

3rd: Staff, The Oklahoma Daily

ONLINE COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT1st: This Land Press,

Facebook and Twitter2nd: Kristen Gillman,

Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation

3rd: Dana Tallon and Jody Harlan, Oklahoma Department of Reha-bilitation Services

BEST NEWS WEBSITE1st: News-Star.com2nd: TulsaPeople.com3rd: MediaOCU.com

BEST COMPANY/ORG WEBSITE1st: Nathan Altadonna,

St. Luke’s United Methodist Church

2nd: Natasha Ball, Carlos Knight and Ron Zva-gelsky, This Land Press

3rd: Stephanie Moore, KSBI-TV

SPJ Award Winners - Continued from Page 8

Several Oklahoma newspapers took home top honors at the Tulsa Press Club’s Great Plains Journalism Awards. The Great Plains award hon-ors outstanding journalism from Okla-homa, Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa and Nebraska.

The Tulsa World was named News-paper of the Year while The Oklaho-man’s NewsOK.com won Website of the Year. The Daily O’Collegian won Student Newspaper of the Year.

Other individual winners were:Writer of the Year, Michael Over-

all, Tulsa World; Photographer of the Year, Mike Simons, Tulsa World; Best Website Design, The Oklahoman

Staff, NewsOK.com; Blog Writing, Steve Lackmeyer, The Oklahoman; and Photo Illustration, Chris Lands-berger, The Oklahoman.

Also, General News Photography, Michael Wyke, Tulsa World; Spot News Photography, Mike Simons, Tulsa World; Multiple News Photo-graphs, Christopher Smith, Tom Gil-bert, James Gibbard, Cory Young, Michael Wyke, Mike Simons, Matt Barnard, Tulsa World; and Single Feature Photograph, Michael Wyke, Tulsa World.

Sports Action Photography, Bryan Terry, The Oklahoman; Non-Deadline Video, Adam Wisnesky, Tulsa World; Audio Slideshow, Bryan Terry, The

Oklahoman; Multimedia Project or Series, Adam Wisnesky, Tulsa World; General News Reporting (more than 75,000 circulation), Bryan Painter, The Oklahoman; Best Reporting, Bryan Painter, The Oklahoman; Sports Reporting, Tulsa World staff, Tulsa World; Sports Column, Jenni Carlson, The Oklahoman; Entertainment Fea-ture, Whitney Ortega, The Oklaho-man; Editorial Cartoon, Bruce Plante, Tulsa World; and Editorial Portfolio, J.E. McReynolds, The Oklahoman.

Student Editor-in-Chief of the Year, Kyle Fredrickson, The Daily O’Collegian.

Schaefer receives Liberty Bell award

Ralph Schaefer, managing editor at the Tulsa Daily Commerce and Legal News, recently received the 2012 Lib-erty Bell Award.

The award was presented the April 27 Tulsa County Bar Association Law Week luncheon in Tulsa.

The purpose of the award is to acknowledge the work of a non-lawyer to the betterment of the legal profes-sion and community as a whole.

“Ralph Schaefer has secured a place of honor among the Tulsa legal com-munity because of his integrity in jour-nalism, his high work ethic, his virtu-ous character and his never ending dedication to the people for which he writes,” stated the citation.


ALBERT ‘BUDDY’ RIESEN, JR., longtime publisher and editor of The Daily Ardmoreite, died April 19, 2012. He was 79.

Riesen was a 1950 graduate of Ard-more High School and graduated from the University of Oklahoma with a bachelor’s degree in journalism in 1954.

In 1955, Riesen joined the Air Force, where he became the briefing officer of the 44th Bomb Wing.

He completed his military service in 1956 and married Marian Coffey. At that time, he also returned to Ardmore

where he worked as co-publisher of The Daily Ardmoreite with his brother.

After his brother’s death, Riesen became editor and publisher of the paper. He was also general manager of KVSO radio and KVSO TV until KVSO TV was sold in 1960.

Riesen sold The Daily Ardmoreite to Stauffer Communications in 1983 and began a new career as a stockbroker.

Riesen served as chairman of the OU Journalism Committee and as a member of the Southern Newspaper Publishers Association Board of Direc-tors. He was an award-winning colum-

nist and was inducted into the Okla-homa Journalism Hall of Fame in 1996.

Riesen served as co-founder of Lead-ership Ardmore, co-founder and chair-man of Oak Hall Episcopal School and served on the Community Activities Foundation for 51 years.

He also served as president of the Ardmore Chamber of Commerce as well as the State Arts Council.

Riesen is survived by his wife, Mar-ian; two sons, Thomas Coffey Riesen and wife Cindy, and Mark Easley Ries-en and wife Martha; one daughter, Katherine Lee Riesen Lathrop and hus-band Jamie; and six grandchildren.

DEATHS

DONATETO ONF

A donation to the Oklahoma Newspaper Foundation will support its efforts to improve the state’s newspaper industryand quality of journalism.

ONF’s programs include training and education for professional journalists, scholarship and internship programs for journalism students, and Newspaper in Education efforts.

ONF relies on donations and memorial contributions to fund these programs.

If you would like to make a donation, please send a check to:

OKLAHOMA NEWSPAPER FOUNDATION

3601 N. Lincoln Blvd.Oklahoma City, OK 73105

This summer, college journalism students will work around the state through the Oklahoma Newspaper Foundation internship program.

The internship program, made pos-sible by a grant from the Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation, promotes working at Oklahoma news-papers and helps student journalists start their careers. The 2012 program had 50 student applicants. Participat-ing newspapers went through dozens of resumes to choose the following students.

Jonathan Sutton, an Oklahoma State University junior, will be The Bigheart Times’ intern. Sutton is copy desk chief and a reporter for The O’Collegian, the campus newspaper.

Cherokee Messenger & Republi-can chose Kyle Spade, a Northwestern Oklahoma State University junior, to cover sports and the community. Spade is also an Eagle Scout.

Mitch Tillison III is spending his summer in Tecumseh at The County-wide & Sun. Tillison, an OSU junior, writes features for The O’Collegian.

Cushing Citizen will bring in Hope Forsyth, a University of Tulsa soph-omore. Forsyth is a National Merit Scholar. She’ll work in reporting and advertising.

Samantha Vicent, a strategic com-munications sophomore, has covered courts and crime for The O’Collegian since August 2011. This summer she’ll cover general assignments for The Drumright Gusher.

Emily Henson will get advertising experience at The Duncan Banner for six weeks. Henson is a recent graduate of Cameron University in Lawton.

The Duncan Banner will also take on a part-time intern – Dianne Riddles, a Cameron University junior. Riddles works in layout and crime reporting at the Cameron Collegian.

Thad Ayers, The Edmond Sun’s intern, is a Church of Christ preacher and OSU junior. Ayers is managing edi-tor of the O’Collegian.

St. Gregory graduate Emily Kindi-ger will join the El Reno Tribune staff full-time for the summer after writing for the paper as a contributor. Kindiger edited the university literary anthology for two years.

OSU junior James Poling will intern at the Enid News & Eagle. Poling is the O’Collegian’s sports editor.

The Elk City Daily News hired Mary Newport, an East Central University senior. Newport is editor-in chief of the ECU Journal and has interned at the Shawnee News-Star and the County-wide & Sun.

Grove Sun’s intern, Misty Aaron Grady, is a Northeastern State Univer-sity senior. Grady is senior staff writer at the campus newspaper, The North-eastern.

OU sophomore Clayton Hooper will intern in the advertising department at the Moore American. Hooper has participated in the National Student Advertising Competition with the OU Ad Club.

Alex Ewald, an OU junior, will intern at the Muskogee Phoenix. Ewald previously interned at the Oklahoma Gazette and has been copy chief of the Oklahoma Daily.

The Norman Transcript gets a new photographer with its 2012 ONF intern choice. Julie Bragg, a UCO junior, is a photographer for the school’s Photo Services department.

Allie Haddican, an OSU junior, cov-ers residential life for the O’Collegian. She’ll intern at OKC Friday this sum-mer.

The Oklahoman chose Carmen Forman to intern. The OU junior has interned at the Oklahoma Gazette and was managing editor of the Oklahoma Daily in summer 2011.

Laura Tomah, a May graduate, was editor of the Southeastern Oklahoma State University Yeardisc and a contrib-uting writer for the campus newspaper, The Southeastern. Tomah will work at The Ringling Eagle during her intern-ship.

Carmen Bourlon-Long, an Oklaho-ma City University senior, served an ONF internship at the Ringling Eagle in 2010. She’ll get even more experience at the Shawnee News-Star this year.

Whitt Carter, a UCO junior, will spend his summer at the Sulphur Times-Democrat. Carter is a Vista sportswriter.

The Weatherford Daily News has hired SWOSU junior Scott May as a staff reporter and photographer. May is president of the Bulldog Broadcasting Network campus group.

21 student interns ready to report for work


Oklahoman wins awards from SPJ

Q: What’s something most people don’t know about you?

A: Played college golf at Arkansas Tech University as a Wonderboy.

Q: What’s the best part of your job?

A: Being a business leader in a great community.

Q: What civic activities are you involved in?

A: Kiwanis President Elect, Chamber Member, School Foundation Committee.

Q: Who’s had the biggest influence on your career?

A: Father, Darrell D. Sumner, in the newspaper industry for the past 42 years.

Q: What would you describe as the three most important responsibilities of your job?

A: Managing employees, running the paper as a business, producing a quality local paper.

Q: What about newspaper publishing gets you out of bed in the morning? What makes you want to stay in bed?

A: There is always something to do, but often there is too much to do in eight hours.

Q: What’s the biggest obstacle you’ve overcome in your career?

A: Picketers in front of the Daily Herald for lack of coverage of the 2008 presidential election. Since day one, the newspaper covers local news. Our headline that day was “Sheriff Tolivar wins third term.” In a small story we published how Creek County voted on the presidential election.

PLAYER PROFILEName: DARREN D. SUMNER

Publisher, Sapulpa Daily Herald

EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND: BA, Arkansas Tech University in Russellville, Ark.

FAMILY: Wife: Darla Sumner; children: Tyler and Piper

NEWSPAPER EXPERIENCE: Spiro Graphic Advertising 1993; Republic Monitor, Missouri, Publisher 1994-96; Stone County Gazette, Kimberling City, Mo 1997-99; Nixa News-Enterprise, Missouri, 2000-04; Ash Grove Commonwealth, Mo 2005; Aurora Advertiser, Bi-weekly in Missouri, 2006-08; Sapulpa Daily Herald 2008-present.

Each month, The Publisher will profile a newspaper executive in this space. Learn more about your peers from all corners of the state. To request the questionnaire for your Player Profile, email [email protected].

Several Afro-Americans disagreed with the choice and called Channel 2 out of Tulsa to cover their protesting. CNN picked up the story and interview of myself the next day and the Daily Herald received hate mail, email and phone calls the next few days.

Q: What are you most proud of?

A: I stated that the Daily Herald has been a local paper since day one and continued its same type of coverage after the protesters as well as former publishers Ed Livermore and Chuck Lake stating that I am doing a great job and they are proud to have the newspaper locally owned and operated.

Q: What are your hobbies?

A: Golfing, collecting coins and spending time with my family.

Q: Does your newspaper have a website?

A: Yes, we just put tidbits of info on the free website. E-editions are available for a subscription price.

Q: How does your newspaper play an important part in the community?

A: We cover county news as well as Sapulpa, Kellyville, Kiefer and Mounds news for each community. We are the voice of the community. The Sapulpa Daily Herald allows the community to exchange views, express their opinions, run advertisements to create business. We publish plans, ideas and projects going on in the community to keep readers informed.

.Q: What type of annual events is your newspaper involved in?

A: All local events such as Rt. 66 Blowout, Chamber Banquet, Christmas Banquet, Christmas parade, etc.

Q: What challenges are facing your newspaper today and in the future?

A: The younger readers are more interested in mobile apps.

Q: What are some area attractions in your community visitors shouldn’t miss?

A: Heart of Route 66, Pretty Water trout fishing, Frankoma Pottery (until it recently closed down) and Creek County Speedway.eedway.

Writers for The Oklahoman took home three First Amendment Awards from the Fort Worth Pro-fessional Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists.

The awards were presented April 13 in Arlington, Texas. The Oklahoman competed against other large market print publica-tions in Texas and Oklahoma. With three awards, The Oklahoman won more than any publication at the event.

The paper won first in the “Defend-ing the Disadvantaged” category for a series of articles by Robby Tram-mell, Randy Ellis and Nolan Clay that showed problems within the child welfare system.

Ellis won first in the general news category for stories that exposed dangers to children in the state’s juvenile justice system after the clos-ing of the state’s only maximum-security juvenile correction center.

Owen Canfield won the top First Amendment Award in the opinion or commentary category for editorials he wrote opposing the Oklahoma Supreme Court’s proposal to restrict full addresses and full birth days from public court records.

“These stories are the heartbeat of our organization,” said Kelly Dyer Fry, editor and vice president of news at The Oklahoman. “Openness in government and giving a voice to the voiceless is at the core of our mission. These are the stories that touch lives. We are humbled to be honored by our peers.”

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THE OGE PHOTO CONTESTStuart’s Hayden Hokit dives to catch a throw to second before tagging a Crowder runner out during the Hornets’ 8-0 victory in the Pittsburg 8 Conference Tournament championship game.

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Storm clouds brew over Harmon County north of the Hooleyann Bridge between Oklahoma and Texas. The ominous system spawned at least one tornado in Greer County.

Photo by DONNA PAYNE WINGO, The Hollis News, March 22, 2012


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The El Reno Tribune’s new web press is up and running.

The 10-unit Heidelberg B-30 press with seven paper roll stands sits in a horizontal line inside the Tribune’s new 10,000-square-foot facility located at 102 E. Wade St. in El Reno.

“It’s a big deal for us,” said Tribune Publisher Sean Dyer. “It’s not a lot of flash, but it’s a big deal.”

The Tribune’s new building was for-merly an appliance store, owned by a former advertiser.

The new building not only allowed for the installation of a larger press but also allows for the Tribune to double its paper storage, an important consid-eration for a company that uses around 23 tons of paper per month.

Although only the press and its crew are at the new facility, the rest of the office will be moving to the new loca-tion as soon as renovations are com-plete. This will be the first time the paper’s offices have moved since the 1950s.

“This will be an open office concept,” said Dyer, who was standing in the front part of the building. “We used to be a big office with a small press space; now we’ll have a big press room with a smaller office space.”

This is the first press the El Reno Tribune has installed in decades. The press at the Tribune’s current building was installed in 1968. “We added three units we bought from Claremore in 1999 to allow us to do color on the front page,” said Dyer.

The new press can go to a 36-inch web width, although the Tribune is running a 24-inch web, and greatly increases the color capacity.

“It will give us more speed, more color and, hopefully, the chance to do more printing,” said Dyer. “We ran a 34-inch on it but there are still more things to fine tune. Once we do some-thing new it exposes a challenge that we then overcome. It’s challenging but so far we haven’t run across a problem we couldn’t overcome.”

The press operates Tuesday through Saturday. In addition to the Dyers own publications – the El Reno Tribune and Mustang News – other publications printed include The Hennessey Clip-per, Kingfisher Times & Free Press, Chickasha Leader, Minco Millennium, Garber Billings News, Newcastle Pacer,

Early Bird Shopper, Sooner Catholic and the Oklahoma Publisher.

Dyer first heard about his new press when Newspaper Production & Resource Center Training Director Steve Bourlon contacted him.

“He (Steve) was uninstalling this press and installing a new one for the Cullman Times in Cullman, Alabama,” said Dyer. “He told me the specifics and I said ‘Yes, I want that.’”

The press was moved to the NP&RC warehouse in Oklahoma in March of 2011 before making its way to El Reno in July.

“In July and August (of 2011) we

started putting the press in place here,” said Dyer. “We started test printing in December and by January it was our primary press.”

While finding the press was rela-tively easy for Dyer, installing it was another matter.

Though the Tribune experienced no major problems while installing the press, 480-volt lines had to be brought in to accommodate the machinery.

“It went well,” said Dyer. “It just took longer than I thought it would.”

Dyer is looking forward to having the press and offices together once again.

“Once we do our final move it will be so much better,” he said. “It’s a chal-lenge having your press in one building and your front end in another building.” In the interim, Dyer shuttles plates made at the old facility to the press crew at the new facility.

Printing has been a part of the El Reno Tribune’s operation since the Dyer family purchased the Tribune in the 1940s.

“But this is my first and last press installation,” joked Dyer.

El Reno Tribune installs new press, plans move

Pressman John Wiggins checks the ink setting on the El Reno Tribune’s new press.

The El Reno Tribune recently installed a 10-unit Heidelberg B-30 press at its new location in El Reno.

Sean Dyer, publisher of the El Reno Tribune and Mustang News, checks the ink coverage on a copy of The Hennessey Clipper. The Tribune prints 11 publications at its facility.

The press is up and running at the El Reno Tribune’s new location at 102 E. Wade Street in El Reno. The entire office will be moving to the new building in the next few months.


The OPA/OPS Board of Directors met March 29-30, 2012, at Keystone State Park’s Community Building dur-ing the annual Board Retreat.

Attending were OPA President Rusty Ferguson, The Cleveland American, and directors Rod Serfoss, past presi-dent, Clinton Daily News; Jeff Mayo, Sequoyah County Times; Jeff Funk, Enid News & Eagle; Robby Trammell, The Oklahoman; Dayva Spitzer, Sayre Record & Beckham County Democrat; Brian Blansett, Shawnee News-Star, and Mike Brown, Neighbor News. Ted Streuli, who is the nominee for a three-year term as director, attended as a guest. Streuli is managing editor of The Journal Record. Staff attend-ing were Mark Thomas, executive vice president/secretary; Lisa Potts, member services director, and Jennifer Gilliland, creative services director. Jeff Shultz was unable to attend due to the death of his mother, Helen Shultz.

President Ferguson called the meet-ing to order at 1:00 p.m. and asked the board to review the minutes of the Feb. 2, 2012, meeting. The minutes were approved as presented.

Board members reviewed and acknowledged receipt of OPA and LSP financial statements and investment reports for the period ending Feb. 29, 2012, and a consolidated summary report for the same period.

COMMITTEE ACTIVITY REPORTSIn committee activity reports, Tram-

mell said the Awards Committee is discussing the equal distribution of participating business member news-papers into three daily and four weekly divisions in the Better Newspaper Con-test after all entries are received. The discussion will continue at the commit-tee’s next meeting, as well as review of the Better Newspaper Contest budget and entry fees to see if any changes are needed.

A list of four individuals to be induct-ed into the Half Century Club and 11 to be inducted into the Quarter Century Club during the annual convention was reviewed and approved by the board.

In the Education Committee report, Funk said several good speakers and sessions are planned for the June 7-9 OPA Convention. Funk also reported

that an opinion writing workshop led by Streuli on Feb. 23 had 23 regis-trants; a legal workshop presented by LSP attorneys Mike Minnis and David McCullough on March 15 had 38 regis-trants. Both workshops received posi-tive evaluations.

For the Government Relations Com-mittee report, Thomas reviewed pend-ing legislation and provided an update on SB 1728, which contains language that would be amended to help newspa-pers with some fair housing advertising violation issues. The Feb. 9 Legislative Summit went well and Thomas said he received positive feedback from legisla-tors.

Brown reported that LSP has only one active legal action.

The Marketing Committee plans to distribute an ad campaign to promote legal notices in the summer or fall of 2012 during the political election cycle. The committee also reviewed the content exchange program, which launched in July and has 62 participat-ing newspapers.

NOMINATING COMMITTEERECOMMENDATIONS

Thomas reviewed the Nominating Committee Report prepared by Chair-man Stu Phillips, The Seminole Pro-ducer. The slate of nominees for the 2012-13 year to be presented during the annual business meeting in June are President – Jeff Shultz, The Garvin County News Star; Vice President – Jeff Mayo, Sequoyah County Times; Treasurer – Gracie Montgomery, The Purcell Register; Immediate Past Presi-dent – Rusty Ferguson, The Cleveland American; renewal of three-year direc-tor term – Dayva Spitzer, Sayre Record & Beckham County Democrat; and new director for three year term – Ted Streuli, The Journal Record. The board unanimously acknowledged receipt of the Nominating Committee report.

The Nominating Committee also rec-ommended to the OPA board appoint-ments to the ONF Board of Trustees. Recommendations for the 2012-13 year are the renewal of three-year terms for Stu Phillips, The Seminole Producer, and Wayne Trotter, The Countywide and Sun; and one new appointment for Mike Strain, Tulsa World. A motion

was made and unanimously approved to appoint the recommended nominees to the ONF Board of Trustees.

MEMBERSHIP APPLICATIONSThe board considered three appli-

cations for membership in the Okla-homa Press Association. Two publica-tions – Choctaw Times and The Friday Gazette (McLoud) – applied for busi-ness membership. Both publications meet all requirements for business membership. Owners of the Choctaw Times also own the Mustang Times and Minco-Union City Times, which are sustaining members, and recently purchased the Tuttle Times, a business member. The Friday Gazette is owned by GateHouse Media and is managed by staff of the Shawnee News-Star. The board unanimously approved both applications tentatively, pending receipt of any protests by the deadline of April 4.

The board also considered the sus-taining membership application of OK Jailbirds, L.L.C. The group of publica-tions by the same name includes many monthly editions, each covering two or three counties. David Reid, who also owns the Cushing Citizen, is one of the co-owners. The board unanimously approved the sustaining membership application.

MEMBERSHIP DUES STRUCTUREIn other business, board members

discussed the OPA membership dues structure. In 2010, the board voted to establish a new business membership dues formula, effective July 1, 2012, of a full-page of advertising at the published local full-page rate, plus 2% of OPS net advertising revenue sent to the paper in the preceding calendar year.

After reviewing the estimate of the new dues amounts for all member newspapers, the board discussed multi-ple methods of stretching out the dues increase over a period of time. The board unanimously approved adopting a one-third increase method as the membership dues limiter. Dues will be calculated on the cost of a full page plus 2% of ad revenue, and the difference between that amount, and the amount paid by the member in 2011-2012 will be divided by thirds. This method will

allow for a gradual increase in dues and help newspapers budget for the increased dues amounts.

OPA business members will be given the option of billing frequency based on an annual, quarterly or monthly basis. Members that choose monthly dues payments must make those payments via automatic draft or have a credit card on file. Quarterly or annual dues payments can be made by any method.

In other business, Thomas said newspapers should begin preparing affidavits of publication in 8.5x11 page size. Any larger or smaller affidavits might not be accepted for oil and gas notices. This size requirement could eventually spread to other organiza-tions requiring affidavits.

OPS BOARD MEETINGAt the Oklahoma Press Service

board meeting, the board suspended reading and approved the minutes of the Feb. 2, 2012, meeting.

The board also approved and acknowledged receipt of the OPS finan-cial statements for the period ending Feb. 29, 2012.

Because of continuing problems with ads that do-not-run (DNR), Thom-as discussed a new strategy that would reward newspapers that do not have DNR problems.

Thomas suggested recognizing those newspapers two ways: 1) by pub-lishing a quarterly ad in The Oklahoma Publisher naming papers that did not miss an OPS ad in the previous quar-ter, and 2) recognizing and awarding papers that did not miss an OPS ad in the previous year with the “Perfecta” award during the annual convention. The quarterly ad will begin in the May issue of The Publisher and the first Perfecta Awards will be announced at the June 7-9 OPA Convention in Mid-west City.

Thomas also said OPS plans to pro-duce and provide newspapers with posters to place on their office walls showing how many consecutive days/weeks they have gone without a DNR.

In other business, Thomas said the OPS staff is beginning to make plans for the 2012 election season.

OPA Board of Directors meet at Keystone State Park


Winners in the 2011 Oklahoma Associated Press-Oklahoma News Editors journalism contest were announced May 5 at the awards banquet at the Doubletree Hotel Warren Place in Tulsa. The Oklahoman, Muskogee Phoenix and The Journal Record received general excellence awards.

Following is a list of all contest award winners:

LARGER NEWSPAPERS BEST NEW JOURNALIST OF THE YEAR: 1. Tiffany

Gibson, The Oklahoman; 2. Anna Codutti, Tulsa World. BUSINESS FEATURE: 1. Bryan Painter, The Oklahoman;

2. Laurie Winslow, Tulsa World; 3. Jennifer Palmer, The Oklahoman.

BUSINESS SPOT NEWS REPORTING: 1. D.R. Stewart, John Stancavage, Tulsa World; 2. Sonya Colberg, Chris Casteel, The Oklahoman; 3. Zeke Campfield, The Lawton Constitution.

EDITORIALS: 1. J.E. McReynolds, The Oklahoman; 2. David Hale, The Lawton Constitution; 3. Owen Canfield, The Oklahoman.

FEATURE: 1. Ron J. Jackson, The Oklahoman; 2. Ken Raymond, The Oklahoman; 3. Cary Aspinwall, Tulsa World.

FEATURE PHOTO: 1. David McDaniel, The Oklahoman; 2. Paul Hellstern, The Oklahoman; 3. Steve Sisney, The Oklahoman.

GENERAL NEWS: 1. Wayne Greene, Tulsa World; 2. Randy Ellis, The Oklahoman; 3. Bryan Painter, The Oklahoman.

GENERAL NEWS PHOTO: 1. Jim Beckel, The Oklahoman; 2. Matt Barnard, Tulsa World; 3. Sarah Phipps, The Oklahoman.

GRAPHICS/ILLUSTRATIONS: 1. Steve Boaldin, The Oklahoman; 2. Todd Pendleton, The Oklahoman; 3. James Royal, Tulsa World.

HEADLINES: 1. Lana Sweeten-Shults, Wichita Falls Times Record News; 2. Russell LaCour, Tulsa World; 3. Karen Welch, Tulsa World.

INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING: 1. Ziva Branstetter, Tulsa World; 2. Nolan Clay, Randy Ellis, Robby Trammell, Ann Kelley, The Oklahoman; 3. Omer Gillham, Ziva Branstetter, Tulsa World.

NON-PAGE ONE LAYOUT: 1. James Royal, Tulsa World; 2. Susan Cyrus, Tulsa World; 3. Greg Stark, Tulsa World.

PAGE ONE DEADLINE LAYOUT: 1. Ethan Erickson, Tulsa World; 2. James Royal, Tulsa World; 3. Steve Reckinger, Tulsa World.

PERSONAL COLUMNS: 1. Steve Lackmeyer, The Oklahoman; 2. Michael Overall, Tulsa World; 3. Lana Sweeten-Shults, Wichita Falls Times Record News.

PHOTO PACKAGE: 1. Bryan Terry, The Oklahoman;

2. Mike Simons, Tulsa World; 3. Doug Hoke, The Oklahoman.

PUBLIC SERVICE REPORTING: 1. Shannon Muchmore, Tulsa World; 2. Ginnie Graham, Tulsa World; 3. Ginnie Graham, Curtis Killman, Cary Aspinwall, Tulsa World.

REVIEWS: 1. George Lang, The Oklahoman; 2. Michael Smith, Tulsa World; 3. Jennifer Chancellor, Tulsa World.

SPORTS COLUMNS: 1. Jenni Carlson, The Oklahoman; 2. Carrie Coppernoll, The Oklahoman; 3. Dave Sittler, Tulsa World.

SPORTS FEATURE: 1. Ron J. Jackson, The Oklahoman; 2. Jimmie Tramel, Tulsa World; 3. Bill Haisten, Tulsa World.

SPORTS PHOTO: 1. Chris Landsberger, The Oklahoman; 2. Sarah Phipps, The Oklahoman; 3. Bryan Terry, The Oklahoman.

SPOT NEWS: 1. Jimmie Tramel, Sara Plummer, Kevin Canfield, Omer Gillham, Bill Haisten, Kelly Hines, Jarrel Wade, Rhett Morgan, Mike Brown, David Harper, Tulsa World; 2. Andrea Eger, Kevin Canfield, Michael Overall, Ziva Branstetter, Sheila Stogsdill, Tulsa World; 3. Omer Gillham, Jarrel Wade, Ginnie Graham, Cary Aspinwall, Curtis Killman, Kevin Canfield, Ziva Branstetter, Tulsa World.

SPOT NEWS PHOTO: 1. Chris Landsberger, The Oklahoman; 2. Steve Gooch, The Oklahoman; 3. Mike Simons, Tulsa World.

SPOT SPORTS REPORTING: 1. Jimmie Tramel, Sara Plummer, Kevin Canfield, Omer Gillham, Bill Haisten, Kelly Hines, Jarrel Wade, Rhett Morgan, Mike Brown, David Harper, Tulsa World; 2. Berry Tramel, John Helsley, Diana Baldwin, John Rohde, Michael Kimball, Carla Hinton, Michael McNutt, Darnell Mayberry, Jason Kersey, The Oklahoman; 3. John Rohde, Berry Tramel, Jenni Carlson, Darnell Mayberry, The Oklahoman.

WEBSITE: 1. Staff, The Oklahoman; 2. Jason Collington, Tulsa World; 3. Staff, The Lawton Constitution, The Lawton Constitution.

WEBSITE PHOTO: 1. Chris Landsberger, The Oklahoman; 2. Sarah Phipps, The Oklahoman; 3. Steve Gooch, The Oklahoman.

GENERAL EXCELLENCE: 1. Staff, The Oklahoman; 2. Tulsa World staff, Tulsa World; 3. Staff, The Lawton Constitution.

MEDIUM-SIZED NEWSPAPERS BEST NEW JOURNALIST OF THE YEAR: 1. Kory B.

Oswald, The Shawnee News-Star; 2. BUSINESS FEATURE: 1. Kory B. Oswald, The Shawnee

News-Star; 2. Joy Hampton, The Norman Transcript; 3. Matt Montgomery, The Shawnee News-Star.

BUSINESS SPOT NEWS REPORTING: 1. Cindy Allen, Robert Barron, Enid News & Eagle; 2. Jeanne LeFlore, McAlester News-Capital; 3. Kim Morava, The Shawnee News-Star.

EDITORIALS: 1. Mike McCormick, The Shawnee News-Star; 2. Ed Choate, Muskogee Phoenix; 3. Kim Benedict, The Ardmoreite.

FEATURE: 1. Michael Pineda, The Ardmoreite; 2. The

Norman Transcript; 3. Rachel Petersen, McAlester News-Capital.

FEATURE PHOTO: 1. Billy Hefton, Enid News & Eagle; 2. Richard R. Barron, Ada Evening News; 3. Becky Burch, Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise.

GENERAL NEWS: 1. Wendy Burton, Muskogee Phoenix; 2. Joe Malan, Bruce Campbell, Cass Rains, Cindy Allen, Phyllis Zorn, Enid News & Eagle; 3. Chelcey Adami, Andrew Adams, Anita Pere, Chase Rheam, Stillwater News Press.

GENERAL NEWS PHOTO: 1. Cathy Spaulding, Muskogee Phoenix; 2. Becky Burch, Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise; 3. Don Alquist, The Ardmoreite.

GRAPHICS/ILLUSTRATIONS: 1. Carrie Bailey, The Ardmoreite; 2. Violet Hassler, Enid News & Eagle; 3. Debra A. Parker, The Norman Transcript.

HEADLINES: 1. Jerry Willis, Muskogee Phoenix; 2. Dylan Goforth, Muskogee Phoenix; 3. Clay Horning, The Norman Transcript.

INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING: 1. MJ Brickey, McAlester News-Capital; 2. Marsha Miller, The Ardmoreite.

NON-PAGE ONE LAYOUT: 1. Kevin Kerr, The Ardmoreite; 2. Clay Horning, The Norman Transcript; 3. Brandy Brackett, McAlester News-Capital.

PAGE ONE DEADLINE LAYOUT: 1. Debra A. Parker, The Norman Transcript; 2. David Christy, Enid News & Eagle; 3. Jerry Willis, Muskogee Phoenix.

PERSONAL COLUMNS: 1. Andy Rieger, The Norman Transcript; 2. Shana Adkisson, The Norman Transcript; 3. Brian Blansett, The Shawnee News-Star.

PHOTO PACKAGE: 1. Billy Hefton, Enid News & Eagle; 2. Chase Rheam, Joe Lanane, Stillwater News Press; 3. Ed Blochowiak, The Shawnee News-Star.

PUBLIC SERVICE REPORTING: 1. Violet Hassler, Phyllis Zorn, Cass Rains, Joe Malan, Kasey Fowler, Robert Barron, Enid News & Eagle; 2. James Beaty, McAlester News-Capital; 3. Marsha Miller, Steve Biehn, The Ardmoreite.

REVIEWS: 1. James Beaty, McAlester News-Capital; 2. Kevin Kerr, The Ardmoreite.

SPORTS COLUMNS: 1. Clay Horning, The Norman Transcript; 2. Erik K. Horne, The Ardmoreite; 3. Dave Ruthenberg, Enid News & Eagle.

SPORTS FEATURE: 1. Clay Horning, The Norman Transcript; 2. Erik K. Horne, The Ardmoreite; 3. Erik K. Horne, The Ardmoreite.

SPORTS PHOTO: 1. Jason Smith, The Shawnee News-Star; 2. Bonnie Vculek, Enid News & Eagle; 3. Billy Hefton, Enid News & Eagle.

SPOT NEWS: 1. Mike McCormick, Kim Morava, The Shawnee News-Star; 2. The Norman Transcript; 3. Donna Hales, Muskogee Phoenix.

SPOT NEWS PHOTO: 1. Billy Hefton, Enid News & Eagle; 2. Wendy Burton, Muskogee Phoenix; 3. Bonnie Vculek, Enid News & Eagle.

SPOT SPORTS REPORTING: 1. Clay Horning, The Norman Transcript; 2. Erik K. Horne, The Ardmoreite; 3. Erik K. Horne, The Ardmoreite.

WEBSITE: 1. The Shawnee News-Star, The Shawnee News-Star; 2. Staff, Muskogee Phoenix; 3. Staff, Stillwater News Press.

GENERAL EXCELLENCE: 1. Staff, Muskogee Phoenix; 2. Staff, Enid News & Eagle; 3. Staff, Stillwater News Press.

SMALLER NEWSPAPERS BEST NEW JOURNALIST OF THE YEAR: 1. Kolby

Paxton, Tahlequah Daily Press; 2. BUSINESS FEATURE: 1. Brian Brus, The Journal

Record; 2. April Wilkerson, The Journal Record; 3. Betty Ridge, Tahlequah Daily Press.

BUSINESS SPOT NEWS REPORTING: 1. Brian Brus, Brianna Bailey, April Wilkerson, David Page, Joan Gilmore, Ray Tuttle, The Journal Record; 2. Brianna Bailey, The Journal Record; 3. Kirby Lee Davis, The Journal Record.

EDITORIALS: 1. Kim Poindexter, Tahlequah Daily Press; 2. Rich Macke, Woodward News; 3. Ted Streuli, The Journal Record.

FEATURE: 1. Betty Ridge, Tahlequah Daily Press; 2. Teddye Snell, Tahlequah Daily Press; 3. April Wilkerson, The Journal Record.

FEATURE PHOTO: 1. Rip Stell, The Journal Record; 2. Maike Sabolich, The Journal Record; 3. Tim Ritter, The Claremore Daily Progress.

GENERAL NEWS: 1. Teddye Snell, Tahlequah Daily Press; 2. Rowynn Ricks, Dave Matthews, Woodward News; 3. Brian Brus, The Journal Record.

GENERAL NEWS PHOTO: 1. Rip Stell, The Journal Record; 2. Josh Newton, Tahlequah Daily Press; 3. Maike Sabolich, The Journal Record.

GRAPHICS/ILLUSTRATIONS: 1. Gary Berger, The Journal Record; 2. Maike Sabolich, The Journal Record; 3. Josh Newton, Tahlequah Daily Press.

HEADLINES: 1. Sharon Beuchaw, The Journal Record; 2. Kim Poindexter, Tahlequah Daily Press.

INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING: 1. M. Scott Carter, The Journal Record; 2. Brianna Bailey, The Journal Record; 3. Josh Newton, Teddye Snell, Kim Poindexter, Tahlequah Daily Press.

NON-PAGE ONE LAYOUT: 1. Ben Johnson, Tahlequah Daily Press; 2. Kim Poindexter, Tahlequah Daily Press; 3. Vicky O. Misa, The Journal Record.

PAGE ONE DEADLINE LAYOUT: 1. Kim Poindexter, Teddy Snell, Tahlequah Daily Press; 2. Rowynn Ricks, Woodward News; 3. Vicky O. Misa, The Journal Record.

PERSONAL COLUMNS: 1. Kim Poindexter, Tahlequah Daily Press; 2. Ted Streuli, The Journal Record; 3. M. Scott Carter, The Journal Record.

PHOTO PACKAGE: 1. Matt Meason, Jodi Davis, Elk City Daily News; 2. Rip Stell, The Journal Record; 3. Maike Sabolich, The Journal Record.

PUBLIC SERVICE REPORTING: 1. M. Scott Carter, The Journal Record; 2. Josh Newton, Kim Poindexter, Rob A. Anderson, Tahlequah Daily Press; 3. David Page, The Journal Record.

REVIEWS: 1. Tom Fink, The Claremore Daily Progress; 2. Joan Gilmore, The Journal Record; 3. Ted Streuli, The Journal Record.

SPORTS COLUMNS: 1. Ted Streuli, The Journal Record; 2. Kolby Paxton, Tahlequah Daily Press; 3. Ben Johnson, Tahlequah Daily Press.

SPORTS FEATURE: 1. Ted Streuli, The Journal Record; 2. Kirby Lee Davis, The Journal Record; 3. M. Scott Carter, The Journal Record.

SPORTS PHOTO: 1. Shawn Yorks, Guymon Daily Herald; 2. Johnny McMahan, Woodward News; 3. Matt Meason, Elk City Daily News.

SPOT NEWS: 1. Brian Brus, Brianna Bailey, David Page, April Wilkerson, Joan Gilmore, Ray Tuttle, The Journal Record; 2. Ray Tuttle, The Journal Record; 3. Josh Newton, Tahlequah Daily Press.

SPOT NEWS PHOTO: 1. Rip Stell, The Journal Record; 2. Rip Stell, The Journal Record; 3. Jessica Bruha, Woodward News.

SPOT SPORTS REPORTING: 1. Ben Johnson, Tahlequah Daily Press; 2. Johnny McMahan, Woodward News; 3. Tim Ritter, The Claremore Daily Progress.

WEBSITE: 1. Kolby Paxton, Josh Newton, Kim Poindexter, Ben Johnson, Tahlequah Daily Press; 2. Dave Rhea, Ronnie Clay, The Journal Record.

WEBSITE PHOTO: 1. Rip Stell, The Journal Record; 2. Josh Newton, Tahlequah Daily Press; 3. Rip Stell, The Journal Record.

GENERAL EXCELLENCE: 1. Staff, The Journal Record; 2. Randy Cowling and staff, The Claremore Daily Progress; 3. Staff, Woodward News.

AP-ONE PRESENTS JOURNALISM AWARDS

LEGAL ADVICEis just one of the benefits of being a member of the Oklahoma Press Association’s Legal Services Plan. Remove the worry of needing professional advice by enrolling today. For more information contact:

OKLAHOMA PRESS ASSOCIATION’S

LEGAL SERVICES PLAN

1-888-815-2672 or 405-499-0020


Anti-virus for your Mac is now becoming more of a necessity than ever before. Experts now say that 20 to 30 percent of all Macintosh computers have a malware virus on the drive.

I’ve dealt with several drives with problems this month – including one we had to wipe completely. If you do not own a copy of your system soft-ware, reformatting is a problem. The operating system software for older Macs runs anywhere from $89 to $289 per copy.

Avira Free Antivirus for Mac is a good product that isn’t limited to home users.

Avira has made it “truly free for everyone without any advertising or marketing pop-ups.” Download it at: www.avira.com/en/download/prod-uct/avira-free-mac-security.

After downloading, go through the step-by-step instructions. Once you’re done, it will update and scan your sys-tem.

Sophos is another anti-virus product for Macs, but it’s a home edition and not to be used in offices. I believe this company was the first to offer free anti-virus to Mac users. More and more companies are offering free anti-virus programs for Macs every day.

I do recommend Sophos for some-thing like a home laptop that you take back-and-forth from home to the office. It can be found at www.sophos.com/en-us/products/free-tools/sophos-anti-virus-for-mac-home-edition.aspx.

This free software doesn’t scan or repair until you tell it to run.

After installing Sophos, let it update. Then go to Preferences and choose the “Scan local drives” (the first choice at the top). Change the button “When a threat is found” to “Clean up threat” and then change “If cleanup fails” to “Delete Threat.” You also may want to change the auto update to “once every day” instead of every hour. You will have to unlock and authenticate with your administrator password to make these changes.

After initially telling Sophos to scan the drives, it will do it every so often. If

you tell it to scan all drives, it might ask you to authenticate again.

For Macs that get heavy email use in your office, it’s worth it to spend some money on antivirus software.

Norton has a very good product for Macs as well as a great Windows’ product. For years they were the only company to support Macs for this kind of threat. It costs around $50 a year depending on the level of protection. Norton is available at norton.com.

One more product to consider is the Avast free anti-virus for Mac. These guys are one of the tried-and-true Win-dows’ companies that has been around a while. Available online at www.avast.com/free-antivirus-mac.

When you’re considering protection software for Mac or Windows software, look for these items:

1. It should automatically look for new virus solutions. If it doesn’t, you’re not truly covered.

2. Auto scanning should be a feature. The less you have to keep up with the better.

3. It should be easy to understand and navigate once installed. And, an extra Firewall is a plus.

A company that really supports Macs, like Norton, cannot be beat. They have versions that work with all versions of Mac OSX.

SEARCH AND REPLACEI get this question a lot so here’s a

few tips on search and replace. All new employees should be schooled in the use of this tool since it’s a time saver for all who use it.

It’s basically the same in all layout and word processing programs that have the feature.

For the sake of this column we will use InDesign for my examples.

When you’re pasting in a long piece of text, tabs and indents often do not work with your new column width.

Or perhaps the copy has two or three tabs when you only need one.

To see what you’re dealing with, turn on “Show Hidden Characters,” found under the Type menu.

It’s imperative that you highlight all the copy that needs to be changed before starting.

Next, go to “Find/Change” under the Edit menu. The caret symbol (shift + 6 on the keyboard) with a lower case

“t” is used to remove extra tabs. To find tabs, type in ^t or use the flyout menu at the end of the “Find What” line. Type that command as many times as you need for the number of tabs you want to search for. For example, if you want to take out two tabs, type ^t^t in the “Find what” box. In the “Change to” box type a single ^t to replace two tabs with one. Now click the “Change All” button and the extra tabs will be deleted.

The Find/Replace function also works well for any strange symbols that come into your document when you paste from the Web. Just paste the symbols you want to delete in the “Find what” box, type what you want to change it to in the “Change to” box and hit “Change All.” (You can leave the “Change to” box empty to remove the unwanted text.)

You can even change styles that come in from other programs into the styles you have built in InDesign. Some file formats will not work with the map-ping that InDesign uses when a story is placed but the Find/Change can do it for you.

To change formats, look for the little magnifying glass next to the “Find format” box. Click on it and choose the style to be changed. In the “Change Format” box choose the style that you want to use.

Take a little time to explore the features in “Find/Change.” There are all kinds of treasures that can save you time and automate your workload.

SCANNER SOFTWARESo you updated your system soft-

ware and now your scanner doesn’t work. What to do, what to do.

You might want to look at some third party software that runs your old scan-ner. It might have a plugin that works with your office’s version of Photoshop.

A good one to check out is VueScan 9. This reputable company offers a free demo that works for a year. After that it costs $39.95 for the basic version.

The software is compatible with more than 1,850 scanners and has sev-eral versions that work on Windows and Mac.

If you have an older scanner, such as the Canon LIDE or the HP4500 Office-

jet, VueScan most likely has a driver that will help. This can be a real boon to many papers since HP is only giving the most basic support in Mac’s new operating systems.

Another good choice is Scanitto Pro, which has OCR built into it. Now those typed documents that come into the office can be scanned and turned to text files without

typing. This full scanning program works with many scanners and is only $29.95 for a single user license. A site license is $199. A decent OCR program for $30 is a great deal.

SilverFast is another company to look into. It has solutions for newer scanners and supports newer operating systems up to 10.6. SilverFast pricing begins at $74. This company supports 340 scanners, as well as OSX 10.7 and Windows 7 on some scanners.

ADOBE CS 6 UNLEASHEDAdobe Creative Suite 6 has been

released. This latest release changes the playing field for how we buy our products from Adobe. Plus, there’s lots of cool, new features. And, Photoshop got a real update this go-around. Give it a look.

Adobe is now selling its products through the Adobe Creative Cloud. It gives you access to any of the Adobe programs, including Apps. The new lease program from Adobe costs $49 a month with a year plan.

If you already bought CS3/4/5 or better directly from Adobe, Creative Cloud is just $29 a month for a year’s subscription. The Creative Cloud allows you to download the programs you need and updates are free to you from now on.

It looks like the update to InDesign CS5 from PageMaker is still available for $200, but it might not be for too much longer. To update from InDesign CS3 to CS6 is also available for $279.

A full version of CS6 is $699 per copy.

OPA Computer Consultant Wilma Melot’s column is brought to you by the Oklahoma Advertising Network (OAN). For more information on the OAN program, contact Oklahoma Press Service at (405) 499-0020.

It’s time to protect your Mac with anti-virus softwareComputer Notes

from the roadby Wilma Melot

[email protected]


I was especially taken by the words of Faith and John Wylie at the Oklaho-ma Journalism Hall of Fame last month and asked if I could reprint some of them. I think every paper should run these remarks as guest editorials. Here are some excerpts.

BY FAITH L. WYLIE“As the graphics and production

department, I get a backside view of community journalism. Today, we use different tools. Instead of layout boards, we work at computers. But the tools don’t matter.

“Those of use behind the scene are the weavers. We draw together all the different pieces…the advertising, news stories, football pictures, wedding announcements, community events and classified ads.

“Each week all these diverse threats find their way to our desk. Our task is to weave these elements together into a tapestry that captures a true, engaging picture of our community…

“We weave a new picture each week. And, through that process of sharing a picture of the community, we form a partnership with our community. We shape the community and the commu-nity shapes us.

“The result is a growing tapestry richer than anything we could imagine on our own, a tapestry that captures the people, events and dreams of a special place. Across Oklahoma, those tapestries are building and growing each week.

“I don’t know what the tools will be in the future, but I know communi-ties need journalists who will weave together the words and images that help us visualize who we are and who we dream to be.

“That’s the difference between jour-nalism and social media. We select, evaluate, investigate, organize, verify and create a coherent record. We bring order and meaning to information.”

BY JOHN M. WYLIE II“We have a painting in our museum

across the street from our office in Oologah titled ‘In the shadow of the Cherokee Kid….

“I never knew Will Rogers but I cer-tainly feel his presence in Oologah and in Oklahoma…

“I don’t feel like I live in Will’s shadow, though. I think we all live in Will’s light…

“I miss the light the Tulsa Tribune shed on Oklahoma.

“The Tribune was brilliantly written and edited. You won’t get that kind of descriptive language in today’s 24/7 cable and Internet sites which regur-gitate the same information in slightly modified form over and over, instead of actually covering different stories….

“That’s the major reason I’m so sad that pundits claim the print business is dead. What garbage!!

“Print media and print websites are what still provide serious news cover-age. We shed the light!”

LOOKIN’EM OVER. One of the best papers in the state is the Pioneer at Oklahoma City Community College. Faculty advisor Sue Hinton and lab director Ronna Austin manage to lead an ever-changing bunch of students in producing journalism of professional quality.

I’m not talking just about clean lay-out and style, but specifically about its excellent and well-written content. As the recipient of many of Sue’s trans-fer students, I shouldn’t be surprised. They’re always well prepared and dedi-cated. But to consistently put out a strong paper when the staff changes every semester is remarkable.

Most recently, the paper did what I’ve not seen in other college papers, and in few commercial papers. It ran a two-part investigative series on how OCCC complies with the Open Records Act, specifically about its finances with the college aquatic center. Kudos to writers Sarah Hussain, Joe Stipek and Mike Wormley for guts in going up against college administrators. It also reported that 14 percent of college employees are within $5,000 of poverty. Check the paper’s classy web page at www.occc.edu/pioneer.

There’s a teenager in Grove who

deserves a state medal and more rec-ognition. Peggy Kiefer of the Grove Sun reports about a high school student who is a teacher’s aide in a special needs class. She invited all five of those students to be her date at the school prom. Headline: “Special Prom.” Wow.

A story many communities should look at in the current oil boom: “Water woes worry city officials,” headlines Jeff Shultz’s story in the Garvin County News-Star, about a lawsuit involving the oil industry procedures endangering the city water supply.

Another statewide story: It’s going to be an early wheat harvest, report Lori Cooper at the Carnegie Herald and Barb Walter at The Hennessey Clipper. And it looks like a bumper crop. Lots of stories.

A tip of the hat to the Holdenville Tribune for devoting entire front page to the story of a WWII vet.

Jim Perry at the Cushing Citizen tells the story of a WWII vet who is finally graduating from high school. Head-line: “Man’s long journey ends with a short walk.” Lead: “It is tempting to say Frank Bickell graduated from the

school of hard knocks. / “Fighting life-and-death battles with the Nazis quali-fies as such. Even if the U.S. Army does not hand out diplomas.”

Provocative writing in The Tulsa Bea-con: “Just days after Republican legisla-tive leaders killed a bill that grants per-son status to unborn children, the Okla-homa Supreme Court has squashed an initiative petition that would have put the issue to a vote of the people. / “A ‘conservative’ Legislature and a ‘liberal court’ are denying pro-life Oklahomans a chance to protect unborn children, one spokesman for petition group said.”

Miranda Elliott of the Sulphur Times

REMARKS WORTH REMEMBERING

Continued on Page 19

Clark’s Critiqueby Terry Clark

Journalism Professor,University of Central Oklahoma

[email protected]

APRIL 20, 2012 WWW.OCCC.EDU/PIONEER COVERING OCCC SINCE 1978

INSIDE IONEEROKLAHOMA CITY COMMUNITY COLLEGEP

WHITNEY KNIGHTOnline [email protected]

A recent scam targeting current and prospective students in search of fi-

nancial aid has college officials concerned, said Financial Aid Assistant Director Linette McMurtrey.

McMurtrey said the official-looking document from an organization called the Student Financial Resource Center has been popping up in mailboxes nationwide, including in those of some OCCC students.

The letter states students can fill out the enclosed forms to apply for the “maxi-mum merit and need-based (scholarship) programs” available.

“They use a symbol like the U.S. De-partment of Education and use similar terminology,” she said. “It looks and feels legitimate.”

However, the organization also requests an enclosed “processing fee” of $59, which, McMurtrey said, is a tell-tale sign of a scam.

“Students can get information about, and apply for, all of those scholarships for free,” she said. “We don’t want our students paying for services available to them for free.”

McMurtrey said an increase in scams usually occurs around this time of year, due to the upcoming fall semester.

“It’s that time of year,” she said. “The 2012-2013 year is starting up and that’s when people start filing for financial aid and filling out scholarships.”

McMurtrey said she is unaware how companies receive students’ names and contact information.

She encourages students who receive something that appears to be a scam to alert Financial Aid immediately.

“We like to be informed of these things,” she said. “That way, we can send out emails to students alerting them of the situation.”

Besides suspicious costs, McMurtrey said, there are other ways to spot legitimate opportunities from false ones.

She said official financial aid infor-

EDITORIAL

OPINION, p. 2

Reporter Chris James says CMV, a common virus that affects thousands, needs more attention and a viable vaccine. Read more inside.

RESEARCH NEEDED FOR CMV VIRUS

To comment on stories, or to access the latest news, features, multimedia, online exclusives and updates, visit occc.edu/pioneer.

CAMPUS LIFE

NEWS, p. 6

OCCC will play video host to members of the United Nations from the Dominican Republic regarding human issues. See what topics are up for discussion.

UNITED NATIONS TO MEET OCCC

SPORTS

OCCC is hosting a Laser Tag tournament, free to all students. Sign ups have started and will continue through April ??. For more details, see inside.

LASER TAG TOURNEY APRIL 25

PIONEER ONLINE

CAMPUS LIFE

COMMUNITY, p. 10

Student Life hosted a Brown Bag luncheon recently that explored how to have a healthy relationship.

WHEN IS A RELATIONSHIP ABUSIVE?

SPORTS, p. 8

Ice cream social

Kasey Handley,

Communications Lab tutor, serves ice cream at the

Communications Lab 2 open

house event on April 12. The

Communications Lab 2 can be

found in room 146 of the Visual

and Performing Arts Center.

Chris James/Pioneer

(Editor’s Note: In part two of a two-part series, Pioneer reportrs investigate wheth-er OCCC releases public records in a timely manner and whether an employee is available to take Open Records requests during business hours.)

SARAH HUSSAINSenior WriterJOEY STIPEKSpecial Projects WriterMIKE WORMLEYOnline Reporter

Prompt and reasonable access to public re-

cords is required under the Oklahoma Open Records Act. What defines “prompt and reasonable?”

That would depend on who

is being asked.State and national experts

say prompt and reasonable access should be a matter of days. For some OCCC ad-ministrators, it means weeks, months or years.

PROMPT AND REASONABLE ACCESSAn example would be a

story published in the Pio-neer on March 30. The story reported the college spent $75,000 more in 2010 to maintain the Aquatic Center than the center collected in revenue. The data provided also gave the figures for 2008 and 2009, both years where expenses outpaced revenue.

Pioneer reporters re-quested an accounting of Aquatic Center rev-enues and expenses on Jan. 20. The document outlining expenses and revenue came March 5

in an email message from Cordell Jordan, media rela-tions coordinator.

Jordan is the college offi-cial charged with accepting records requests from the public and providing the records once they have been collected by the appropriate department.

A previous Pioneer request for Aquatic Center records in April 2011 met with the response from Jordan that the records did not exist.

OCCC Community De-velopment Vice President

See SCAM page 9See RECORDS page 12

Stories you would miss if you didn’t read the newspaper – OCCC’s compliance with the Open Records Act in the Pioneer; a World War II vet graduating from high school in the Cushing Citizen, and the oil boom endangering water in the Garvin County News Star.


Talking social media – one person at a time

When I was 15, I schmoozed my way into a job as a disc jockey at the local radio station, KCOW.

During my stay there, I picked up a number of valuable mental trinkets. One of the most useful and lasting was this adage: “You’re talking to one person.”

At first, I took that to be a simple device for overcoming “mic fright,” that tongue-numbing terror that attacks radio newbies when the record ends. As I think back on it, though, my characterization was shal-low. “You’re talking to one person,” transcends one meaning and one application.

When dealing with Facebook fans, Twitter followers or other social media contacts, keep in mind that while there may be hundreds if not thousands reading your posts, you’re talking to one person at a time. Engage that person. Respond as often as you can. Joke with support-ers or address the concerns of critics – publicly.

Let’s drill down and talk Twitter for a second.

The simplest way to reflect an interest in the world around you is to follow others. I recommend following three to four times as many people as follow you – and add some folks you disagree with.

Not only does it make what you read more varied and interesting, it reflects an appealing openness.

If someone disagrees with your editorial stance or complains about your words – whether they were printed or posted, try to address that – again, talking directly to that one person. Keep the conversation profes-sional and friendly.

In some cases, since Twitter only

allows 140 characters, you may want to take that discussion to Facebook.

“Dave, I’d like to address that more fully,” you might write. “Let’s adjourn to Facebook.” Link directly to the relevant post.

Here’s a tip for those who haven’t discovered it: when you post to Facebook, you can click on the “time-stamp” for that post and it will take you to that single post rather than to your default Facebook page.

That’s the address I would link to. Use a service like bitly.com to short-en the URL and save characters.

“Last night, town council shut down discussion of water ordinance. Crowd too rowdy or council avoiding discussion?”

That little blurb is 115 characters. It leaves 25 for a link – a bitly link to your Facebook conversation runs about 18 characters. It’s a good way to start a discussion.

Retweet often but only if it’s interesting. Join the discussion as frequently as is practical and offer your social media friends what you offer your print friends – something interesting.

Get that mojo going – draw your reader in, introduce him to new people and ideas. Be the center of attention.

Oh, and invite, don’t demand. Remember, you’re talking to one person.

“This is interesting. Please tell me what you think,” catches more flies than, “Here’s a link. Click.”

These principles work for Face-book, Tumblr, Google+ and others.

Yes, working a network takes a little time – slackers need not apply – but as you get more adept, you’ll find ways to make it part of your normal day.

Above all, write, tweet, post as though you enjoy it.

After all, you and your one person are friends.

Clark’s Critique Continued from Page 20

The Driver’s Privacy Protection Act (DPPA) is a federal law ostensibly enacted to prevent stalking. The impe-tus for this law was the murder of an actress killed by her stalker. The stalk-er obtained her home address through a private detective agency.

The DPPA restricts access to “per-sonal information” obtained by state motor vehicle agencies “in connection with a motor vehicle record.”

Like so many other laws at the federal or state level based on isolated incidents, the DPPA would not have prevented the incident that led to its enactment because private investiga-tors are exempt from the law.

The latest use of the DPPA is as an excuse for denying access to pub-lic records. The Oklahoma Highway Patrol (OHP) recently refused to release blood alcohol test results citing the DPPA as a reason. As Joey Senat has pointed out, the DPPA contains a provision that “personal information”

and “highly restricted personal infor-mation” can be used “by any govern-ment agency, including any court or law enforcement agency, in carrying out its functions.” Senat is an associ-ate professor for the School of Media and Strategic Communications at Okla-homa State University.

Senat noted: (1) that the Wiscon-sin Attorney General has opined that responding to public records request is a required function of law enforce-ment agencies; and (2) that various courts have ruled that the DPPA only applies to records of the Department of Motor Vehicles pertaining to a motor vehicle license or permit not to law enforcement records involving traffic accidents.

Public agencies often seem to be unaware of their function of providing public access to public records. One might look at the denial of access to blood alcohol tests as an unintended consequence of the DPPA, or as simply another excuse by a public agency for not complying with the Open Records Act. State agencies might call the latter excuse that the “devil made me do it” rationale for denying access to public records.

‘Privacy’ concerns trump openness

Legal Notesby Michael Minnis

OPA Attorney

Democrat wrote a feature on a long-time county extension director retiring.

And we sure need humor these days. At the Sequoyah County Times, Linda Copeland photographed an attorney’s truck covered with a bee swarm. Head-line: “Bee Express.” But the good part was the last line of the cutline: “He said that his girlfriend, Kelsey Karber of Lavaca, Ark., thinks he is pretty sweet and thinks that might be the reason the bees swarmed his truck.”

HEAD’EM UP AWARDS. First place, Tulsa Beacon, on the story about leg-islative and court action on pro-life, a must read story:

Babies aren’t ‘persons’Second place, Clayton Today, on an

Eddie A. Owens story about an 11-year-old boy who saved a wreck victim from drowning:

Heroes come in all sizesThird place, tie, The Cleveland Ameri-

can, on a Rusty Ferguson story, show-ing the power of a verb:

Embezzlement charges sting city halland Stillwater NewsPress, on a Rick

O’Bannon story about controversy at the county commissioners:

Taxes: A fair split?Honorable mention: Inola Indepen-

dent, “Tough water questions flood town board”; Prague Times-Herald, on a Sharron Maggard story about the festival, “Czech Us Out”; Duncan Ban-ner, on a Tony Hopper story about a cop squad on bicycles, “Awake at the wheel”; Mustang News, on a Victoria Middleton story about a local soldier on duty at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, “Guardian of the Unknown”; Cherokee Messenger & Republican, on a Jim Cotton story about reserve police officers, “‘Even if you don’t see us, we’re out there’”; Tulsa World, on a Gin-nie Graham story about group homes and child welfare, “Home and Hope”; and El Reno Tribune, on Glen Miller’s photo of a UP steam train coming to town, “Steaming into Train Town”.

That InterWeb Thing

by Keith [email protected]


BY RUSTY FERGUSON, OPA President“Nobody does hometown news, like

hometown folks!” — so says the mast-head of the Country Connection News in Eakly. While that’s an assertion to which I’d readily agree, it was certainly affirmed during my most recent road trip visiting several newspapers in west-ern Oklahoma.

OPA Executive Vice President Mark Thomas and I enjoyed stops in Eakly, Carnegie, Mountain View, Hobart, Altus and Lawton.

We were greeted by husband and wife teams on our first three stops. Like so many other couples across the state, these duos do it all when it comes to delivering the news to their readers week after week.

In Eakly, Joyce and Rusty Carney have been publishing the Country Con-nection News for three decades and they’re still going strong. The Carneys said they do their best to cover events in a coverage area that expands 1,000 square miles.

Joyce, who is editor and publisher, said she has never been afraid to take on any challenge. “We cover the hard news and report on council meetings, school board meetings and will tackle any story that affects our readers,” she said. “We also take pride in reporting the good news in our area.”

Donald and Lori Cooper maintain their news office in nice and tidy fash-ion in downtown Carnegie (seriously — it’s one of the tidiest and cleanest news offices I’ve visited). Obviously a proud husband, Donald looked at his editor/wife and said, “Any community events happening in Carnegie usually funnel through this office. Everyone comes to see Lori to get her ideas and she’ll steer them in the right direction.” The Carnegie Herald has been publish-ing for 108 years and is Carnegie’s oldest privately-owned business still in existence today.

The Coopers bought the Herald in 1991 from Leon and Jyl Hobbs, publish-

ers of the neighboring Mountain View News. Lori worked for the Hobbs for five years before she and Donald made the purchase.

The Mountain View News has been publishing for 73 years. The Hobbs moved to Mountain View in 1979 and fully invested themselves in the com-munity. Leon served as the town’s mayor for eight years and they were active participants in the Main Street program, completely renovating and upgrading their news office building.

The renovation design was even rec-ognized with an annual Main Street Award.

And not too far down the road, anoth-er couple, Joe and Neville Hancock, also know a thing or two about newspa-per publishing. The Hancocks, publish-ers of the Hobart Democrat-Chief, have been married for 63 years. With son Todd Hancock onboard as editor, Joe’s days have slowed down a bit. He began working in the newspaper industry as a nine-year-old paper boy five years before his father, Ransom Hancock, bought the Hobart Democrat-Chief. Today, he routinely drives his golf cart to the office — after stopping for cof-fee at a local cafe. Neville continues to write a lengthy “what’s happening” column for the paper that also includes recipes. “She writes from home these days. She’s always known that a news-paper column needs a lot of names in it and that’s what she does,” Joe said.

The two daily newspapers we visited

appear to be doing quite well in strong military communities.

The Altus Times, owned by Heart-land Publications, is in its 112th year of publication. The Lawton Constitution, recently purchased by brothers Bill and Brad Burgess, has been locally owned for 110 years. To help connect their military communities to their cities, both papers assist with the publication of military newspapers. The Freedom Flyer covers the Altus Air Force Base and The Cannoneer covers news of the Ft. Sill U.S. Army base in Lawton.

While the Lawton Constitution boasts the third largest circulation in Oklahoma, its management takes pride in being identified as a community newspaper.

“Community newspapers can and should be the conscience of the com-munity. We wanted to be part of the Lawton Constitution team,” said Bill

SCOUTING REPORT 10Join OPA President Rusty Ferguson on his visits to OPA member newspapers

Continued on page 21

OPA President Rusty Ferguson visits with Mountain View News owners and publishers Jyl and Leon Hobbs. The Hobbs moved to Mountain View in 1979.


Burgess regarding his decision to enter the newspaper business. The Constitu-tion’s longtime general manager, Mike Owensby, said the decision to “quit covering the world” was an important move. “We’re covering southwest Okla-homa and are concentrating on local news. We’re getting our reporters in the field to see what’s going on,” he said.

Noting other papers have scaled back on news staff in recent years, Owensby said the Constitution has pur-posely maintained a strong editorial staff and the results have been signifi-cant.

During the process of the recent sale of the newspaper, Owensby said, “We were able to take a good look at our-selves.” Noting other newspapers that have suffered in circulation numbers, he said the Constitution is actually up a couple of hundred with a 23,500 Sunday circulation.

In addition to the local coverage and strong editorial staff, he credits superior customer service as a reason for strong readership. “We still ‘porch’ the paper every day and our readers appreciate that,” he said. “That’s a huge thing. If one of our carriers drop the ball, we hear about it…and quickly fix the problem.”

Obviously, it takes advertising to provide a community of any size with a quality newspaper. In Altus, publisher Dan Taylor looks for creative ways to help local businesses.

“We want our businesses to know we can offer one-stop media solutions for all their advertising needs,” Taylor said. “We want to help them be success-ful. That’s what advertising is all about. When a business experiences advertis-ing that works, they’re going to return for more.”

In addition to various niche publica-tions, newspaper and website advertis-ing, Taylor said the Altus Times is help-ing its customers establish their own online presence.

“People don’t use phone books and Yellow Pages like they once did. Instead, they Google the information they want,” he said. The Altus Times is providing a service of establishing simple one-page websites for numerous businesses. “They may be small, but we’re able to make them look like a mil-lion bucks,” Taylor said of the websites

that operate through the newspaper’s Internet provider. Search words are included that help the businesses pop to the top of the list when potential cus-tomers do a web search.

“Advertising is designed to help peo-ple make money. We want to help them do just that,” he said.

The right type of Internet presence is something Oklahoma newspapers continue to refine.

With new ownership in Lawton, Bill Burgess is excited about an upcom-ing “complete upgrade” of technology at the Constitution. Not only will the paper’s website and digital offering be upgraded, but readers will be able to easily access the newspaper from their smart pads and phones.

While some papers, such as the Hobart Democrat-Chief, are using spe-cialized companies to provide online subscriptions, others such as Eakly, Carnegie and Mountain View simply send a PDF of their pages to the email address of subscribers. An added bonus for being a digital subscriber is that the pages are sent upon completion giving digital subscribers the opportunity to read the news before the printed news-papers even hit the news stands.

The use of social networking has been receiving somewhat contrasting

reactions from newspaper profession-als across the state. While some are embracing the use of Facebook as an additional place to share photos that were unable to be used in print or to gain ideas or tips for stories, others find it frustrating.

For example, in Carnegie and Moun-tain View, the publishers expressed frustration over a popular local event such as “Senior Night” where parents take dozens of pictures and place them on Facebook days before the newspa-per is even printed.

“By the time we publish the same basic picture, it’s old news,” said Carnegie’s Lori Cooper, who is in search of a workable solution. “On the other hand, it has pushed us to pur-posely look for a story each week that no one seems to yet know about!”

MORE TO THE JOBIt’s not unusual to visit community

newspapers and discover they’ve diver-sified their business interests.

In Eakly, we interrupted Rusty Car-ney from his diligent work of adding name plates to trophies and plaques. He manages the trophy business in addition to being the Country Connec-tion’s ad director, photographer and circulation manager.

In Carnegie, Donald Cooper only had one shot at watching a pressman burn a plate and print a job on an A.B. Dick job shop press. His skills as a diesel injection pump technician appar-ently helped, because his first print job on his own was a two-color flyer. That was years ago, and today Donald and the Carnegie Herald maintain a steady stream of business in their print shop and office supply store.

In Hobart, Joe Hancock owns the Tag Agency and has sectioned off a portion of his front office for that pur-pose.

In Mountain View, frustrated that his community did not have Internet service, Leon Hobbs decided to do something about it. After developing his own Internet company that pro-vided dial-up service to his community, he soon advanced to high-speed and broadband. The company became so successful he was able to sell it — and even maintain a job working for the new owners.

INVOLVEMENTMike Owensby said community

involvement is second nature for mem-bers of the Lawton Constitution staff.


SCOUTING REPORT 10Continued from page 20

At the Hobart Democrat-Chief, a wall of memorable photos decorate publisher Joe Hancock’s office. From left, OPA President Rusty Ferguson; Hobart Democrat-Chief publisher Joe Hancock; Dayva Spitzer, OPA board member and co-publisher of the Sayre Record & Beckham County Democrat; Todd Hancock, Democrat-Chief editor; and OPA Executive Vice President Mark Thomas.


“The newspaper has to step up and show community leadership. I’m out there — staff members are out there — on boards, as volunteers, simply being involved. It’s just essential to be a part of the community…to be out there doing our part.”

In Altus, Dan Taylor said his involve-

ment on the Workforce Investment Board has given him keen insight regarding what employers want in the workforce. “Obviously, people go where there are jobs. When we see a popula-tion loss, it’s a matter of concern,” he said. Concerned about growth in his community, Taylor said it’s important for the paper to do its part to promote progress.

Involvement would be an understate-

ment in describing Joyce Carney. While her current passion is assisting abused and neglected children through a court advocacy program called CAT, she’s anxious to use the newspaper to help many worthwhile causes.

“So many things simply go hand-in-hand,” she explained. “Our readers are a wonderful bunch of giving people. Each Christmas they provide gifts for foster children — it just happens, we hardly even have to promote it any-more.”

She gave examples of community members with serious illnesses or stu-dents participating in Special Olympics and other worthwhile endeavors as how she uses the paper to promote and support such individuals and groups.

She told of a woman living in a near-by city who was relying on a ventilator to help her breathe when her electricity was about to be cut off. “I wrote a story and told of the circumstances. People gave. We restored the electricity.

“I tell people from other commu-nities to get their newspaper behind them. That’s where they should be able to go when they need something…at least that’s the way I see it,” she said.

With his son Todd now being the “involved” one, Joe Hancock, at 83, has scaled back his many civic activities but served for years with the Hobart Kiwanis Club, Chamber of Commerce, Housing Authority and Board of Edu-cation. “We belong to the community,”

Hancock said. “Being involved helps us to inform and entertain through our newspaper.”

Mountain View draws in thousands for its annual fair and right there in the midst of them are Leon and Jyl Hobbs doing their part to promote their com-munity. For 16 years Leon served on the fair board and continues to offer advice and support. “Everyone pitches in around here,” he said.

ALONG THE ROAD...• There was a plate of homemade

cookies freshly delivered to Rusty and Joyce Carney when we arrived in Eakly. Seems the ladies of OHCE really appre-ciate the Carneys’ service to Northern Caddo County. The same group used to bring them hot meals on their “late night” at the office. “Those were the days when we’d be so tired, we’d line dance around the layout tables to keep ourselves awake and entertained,” Joyce said. Technology advancements such as pagination and stringers being able to send in stories and photos have done away with the late nights...and hot meals!

• Jyl Hobbs shared a fun advertis-ing idea — perfect for leading up to the dog days of summer. Sell an ad to a pet groomer or some other pet-related business and feature a “dog of the week” complete with picture and personal dog information. They always



Lori and Donald Cooper became owners and publishers of the Carnegie Herald in 1991 when they purchased the weekly paper from Leon and Jyl Hobbs.

Mike Owensby, general manager at the Lawton Constitution, says circulation is up a couple of hundred with a 23,500 Sunday circulation.

Dan Taylor, publisher of the Altus Times, is helping his customers develop an online presence by building web pages for them.

The Oklahoma Publisher // April 2012 23

have a waiting line! Another great idea from Mountain View was a “Good Deed Doer” recognition feature used to, obvi-ously, point out the good deeds of oth-ers.

• A downtown fire and ice storms, and horror stories of others not hav-ing adequate back-up systems in place, prompted Donald and Lori Cooper to develop such a plan. Not only do they have back-ups in place, they have a generator at home if needed to get the paper out.

• Lori Cooper was such a “fixture” at Carnegie school board meetings that when the board needed a new minutes clerk…they hired her! After all, she was already there doing the same job.

• For a contrast of the “old and the new” I’ve seen no better example than at the Lawton Constitution. In the lobby of their beautiful up-to-date building stands an old Linotype complete with lead pigs and other old relics once used to make up pages in wood and metal. Perfect for all those Scout tours!

• Among its niche publications, the Altus Times produced a “Business and Service Directory,” which is basically a booklet of business card ads printed, by category, in full color. The booklet was inserted into the Times. It was well done and a great idea.

• One of my favorite “office of the publisher” that I’ve seen over the course of the past year has got to be Joe Hancock’s in Hobart. It is filled, wall-to-wall, with photographs. A former OPA president, one wall has a series of OPA Board of Director pictures along with

pictures of Hancock with elected offi-cials such as senators, representatives, governors and even shaking hands with President Reagan. Another wall chronicles the staff of the Democrat-Chief in picture after picture of group pictures at the company Christmas party. Another wall pays tribute to the

Oklahoma Sooners! Every picture has a “cutline” added to it so that everyone in the picture is identified! The greatest part about it is that all those pictures are a result of his involvement in the newspaper industry.

• It was nice to have Dayva Spitzer of the Sayre Record & Beckham County

Democrat with us for stops in Eakly, Carnegie, Mountain View and Hobart. As the “western Oklahoma” rep to the OPA Board of Directors, Dayva was anxious to visit her neighbors. We enjoyed her company.

ADMINISTRATIONMARK THOMAS Executive Vice [email protected] (405) 499-0033

ROBERT WALLAR Accounting [email protected](405) 499-0027

SCOTT WILKERSON Front Office/Building [email protected](405) 499-0020

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MORGAN BROWNE Creative [email protected](405) 499-0029

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OPEN (DIGITAL CLIPPING)KEITH BURGIN OPEN [email protected] (405) 499-0024

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OPA STAFF DIRECTORY

GENERAL INQUIRIES(405) 499-0020 • Fax: (405) 499-0048

Toll-free in OK: 1-888-815-2672


Newspapers in southwest Oklahoma include The Country Connection News in Eakly. OPA Executive Vice President Mark Thomas (left) and OPA President Rusty Ferguson (right) visit with Rusty and Joyce Carney, owners and publishers of the Country Connection News.


MARCH 2012 EDITORIAL WINNER WAYNE TROTTER, COUNTYWIDE & SUN

A little history

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History can be an unsettling subject, even among neighbors. Close to a quarter-century ago, Tecumseh wisely invested $2 million in water for the future. That money, which the city borrowed, was funneled through the Pottawatomie County Development Authority along with $18 million from the City of Shawnee and major assistance from the federal government. The payoff for Tecumseh was supposed to be 15 percent of the lake’s water or more than 600,000 gallons a day. Shawnee would get the other 85 percent.

But several years later, the Tecumseh City Council dropped the ball. It signed a contract that in effect said Shawnee would treat all the Wes Watkins water, deliver Tecumseh’s share and bill Tecumseh for the treatment costs plus associated costs. This newspaper, then simply The Tecumseh Countywide News, vigorously opposed that contract because it looked to us as if doing that would put Tecumseh in a trap. Tecumseh would have two sources of water (Wes Watkins and Tecumseh Lake) and for much of most years, the 600,000 gallons would be sufficient to meet Tecumseh’s daily needs. What would come of the Tecumseh Lake water and the city’s existing treatment plant? We had other objections but in comparison, those were incidental.

What happened? Exactly what we feared all those years ago. Wes

Watkins was finished in the late 1990s and Tecumseh hasn’t used a drop of its water yet. It’s gone over the spillway and down the North Canadian River. By now, Tecumseh residents ought to feel at home when they visit Lake Eufaula. In effect, they’re swimming and fishing in their own water.

The contract is no longer a problem. Subsequent City Councils saw the light and began negotiating with Shawnee to change the offending contract to allow Tecumseh to treat the water its citizens paid for more than two decades ago. Thanks for that largely go to Linda Praytor, now Tecumseh’s vice mayor, and Linda Peterson, now the mayor of Shawnee.

The problem now is that Tecumseh has no way to get the water to its lake and subsequently its treatment plant. The city is working on that now. Building a pipeline will cost about another million and take about a year, we’re told. That is one of the projects Tecumseh has assigned to former City Manager Jim Thompson, now a consultant. With luck and hard work, Tecumseh will finally have its water in little more than 12 months.

But meanwhile, this searing drought has practically emptied Tecumseh Lake. It was little more than a puddle before this week’s wonderful rains and now is only about 25 percent full according to Interim

City Manager Jimmy Stokes. It will take another good rain and maybe still another to begin to restore the lake as a reliable source of water.

And guess what? If you live in Tecumseh, you’re drinking and otherwise consuming Wes Watkins water right now ... and probably some from the Twin Lakes as well. Tecumseh is buying treated water from Shawnee and raising its rates slightly to cover the costs. Shawnee is acting as a friend in need to its smaller neighbor, but for a while this story is back to Square One.

It really is a sad story, one that didn’t have to happen and wouldn’t have if enough citizens had paid attention oh, about 20 years ago. The moral, if there is one, is to watch what your elected officials are doing. The only way to do that is through this and other newspapers. No other outlet covers those local bodies except at times of high crisis when a few television stations might wander over and grab a few seconds of tape and a sound bite or two. Water contracts don’t attract that kind of attention.

They’re boring. Babies have grown to voting age

while Tecumseh waited for its water. Since Wes Watkins opened, more than 3,000,000,000 gallons of water Tecumseh owns has flowed down the North Canadian. When it comes to government, even boring things can be very important.

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE MARCH 2012 CONTEST WINNERSColumn:

STEVENJAMES

South County Leader

Editorial:WAYNE TROTTER

Countywide & Sun

the oklahoma publisher, may 2012

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