Here I’m roping at the Capital of Oklahoma doing an article for the EDMOND OUTLOOK magazine. I didn’t know it till recently that they distribute over 50,000 prints. They also have the SHAWNEE OUTLOOK I was in several months earlier. Many people are reading these magazines, even more these days than the local news papers. The stories in these magazines are incredible and are worthier of reading. You must give it a read; I’m sure you’re going to like these stories. I’m putting my money on the smaller News Releases these days, it’s sad but the internet is has most all the information you need so these local articles are focusing on subjects in our area.

     Anyhow back to my Capital Tour. I tooled around the Capital for a while and visited with a few law makers and ran into a few who knew some of my folks. They were pretty high on the horse while we talked but over all it was just part of their job arguing to get their laws passed. One good thing that is in place now is Transparency, Accountability and Innovation in Oklahoma State Government 2.0 Act of 2011 (HB 1086) into law. What a great idea if we can get the entire scoop on what is going on. 

    I found out that Gov. Mary Fallin that on Wednesday vetoed a measure that removed the salary cap for deputy directors and division directors of the Oklahoma State.  This session of legislation would have removed the salary caps for director salaries at the Board of Dentistry, Board of Nursing, Teachers' Retirement System and State Banking Department. The cap for the OTRS director is currently $116,500, while the head of the Banking Department can earn up to $137,200. Altogether, the bill would have removed the limits on nearly $650,000 in salaries. 

You can look for yourself and bookmark the page if you are wondering what is really going on just go to Documents.OK.Gov

In her veto message, Fallin says there are state employees at all agencies that deserve raises and the bill "does not constitute good public policy."

     After being a good friend of speaker of the house I realize the work done there is to help the people of the state, it is that there only so much money to go around and I’m hoping to see more money go into our education system. We sure need it because we don’t rank on the higher side of education in the US. Our future is in the hands of our youth. So it would be nice if they could read and write.

     I have traveled to about to every library in the state and many of the schools and I can see a huge difference in one library or school from another. I’ve seen many improvements but not in the districts that severely need it. There are a lot that still don’t have the technology needed for them to graduate and find a decent job.

100' Wedding Ring or the Big Carolina