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Roses popular, easy to grow in Oklahoma
Roses are one of the most popular plants in Oklahoma gardens, and many are relatively easy to grow, especially the newer varieties like the Knock Out® rose. Roses offer color and fragrance in the garden, and many make wonderful cut flowers. If you have a garden, you should try your hand at growing roses!.
03/22/2012 | Comments 0From ‘Long Black Limousine’ to Elvis
That would change years later. For the next seven years, band members came and went. Finally, Black put together a group of musicians that have been with him for more than 20 years. They include guitarist Graham Pugh, bass player Rick Alongi, drummer Bob Gorley and keyboard player Phil Sapper, formerly of Harvey and the Wallbangers.
03/01/2012 | Comments 0Young artist generates new ideas for veterans memorial expansion
“This will not be done with any public money,” said Howe, an Air Force pilot who flew B-52s during the Vietnam war. “Each statue will cost $40,000, but this type of art puts us in a different realm. It will take us into the world of art, which opens new avenues for giving.
02/23/2012 | Comments 0Fleck and Flecktones to perform April 10 at Rose State
The extraordinary initial line-up of his incredible combo are touring to support their latest recording, “Rocket Science.
02/17/2012 | Comments 0Real Life
In my presentation, I told the club members about the importance of supporting their local newspaper. After all, we received numerous compliments about our publication and its new appearance, content and local ownership. In this business, compliments can be few and far between, so we enjoyed all of the positive remarks.
02/17/2012 | Comments 0‘General’-ly speaking
In fact, every night when he goes home, the general’s hat comes off – if only temporarily – and suddenly the commander of one of the most critical U.S. Air Force bases turns into father, husband, scuba diver and avid fan of New England sports teams..
02/10/2012 | Comments 0Longtime MWC fire department spokesman Jerry Lojka retires
Lojka spent 29 years at the Midwest City Fire Department and served in several roles, including firefighter, inspector, investigator, public education officer, public information officer and fire marshal.
His favorite job was that of department spokesman as he answered questions from the press, and conveyed important fire prevention tips to the public.
Real Life: Lojka will be missed at fire department
This week’s retirement of Midwest City Fire Marshal Jerry Lojka reminded
me how an effective and well-intentioned PIO does his job. During the
past 14 months I’ve discovered that he knows his job and he understands
the role reporters play in the world of news and information.
02/03/2012 | Comments 0MWC grad, Hudson to receive national awards
Midwest City School graduate Lester Claravall will receive the prestigious Lewis Hines Award for Service to Children and Youth during a ceremony in New York City on Monday.
The award will be presented by the National Child Labor Committee, which serves as the sponsor for the Lewis Hines awards...
Images of 2012 MLK Prayer Breakfast
Several hundred people attended Midwest City’s 15th annual Martin
Luther King, Jr., Prayer Breakfast Monday at the Sheraton Hotel’s Reed
Conference Center. Featured speakers were former state legislator Angela
Monson, Oklahoma City police officer Paco Balderamma and Midwest City
graduate and current University of Oklahoma student Rodney Farrow.
01/19/2012 | Comments 0
July 28th, 2011
Prescription drop-off box arrives at Choctaw Police Department
Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Control provides receptacle for expired, unused medications
The drop-off container resembles a mailbox and was delivered last week to the police, courtesy of the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Control. OBNDDC officials plan to install the drug disposal boxes in all Oklahoma counties.
The Choctaw drug box is in the lobby of the police department. Police Chief Conny Clay (pictured) said ONBDDC representatives will pick up the disposed drugs each week. Because the program is so new, no prescription drugs have been placed in the drop-off box yet, Clay said.
Teenagers also target their parents’ current or expired prescription drugs to abuse, trade or sell in order to obtain alcohol, marijuana or other drugs.OBNDDC spokesman Mark Woodward said prescription drug abuse is a growing epidemic in Oklahoma, especially with teenagers who often raid their parents’ medicine cabinets.
“It’s unnecessary and unsafe to leave outdated drugs in the house. Old, expired medications left in the home can be targeted by users. Teenagers also target their parents’ current or expired prescription drugs to abuse, trade or sell in order to obtain alcohol, marijuana or other drugs,” he said.
The drug agency is working with police departments and sheriff’s departments to establish permanent locations for the drop-off boxes. Woodward said the new program will allow the public to dispose of old medication year-round, rather than waiting on an official drug take-back day in their community.
“Take-back days have been very successful, but we don’t want people stockpiling expired medication in their home for weeks or months until a take-back program is held in their community,” he said.
‘SILENT CANCER’
OBNDDC Director Darrell Weaver called prescription drug abuse a “silent cancer,” with 84 percent of drug overdose deaths tied to prescription drugs.
“Simply put, our citizens are dying and it’s unacceptable,” he said. “This statewide program is believed to be the only one of its kind in the nation, and we believe it has the potential to have a significant impact on this troubling problem. If we save one citizen’s life then the effort will be worth it.”
Choctaw Schools Superintendent Jim McCharen has on more than one occasion called prescription drug abuse by teenagers a bigger problem than other drugs like marijuana.
When discussing the district’s drug testing policy, McCharen said officials began testing students involved with extracurricular activities because of prescription drug abuse.
“We didn’t start because of marijuana or other types of drugs. We started because prescription drugs were quickly becoming the most abused drug out there. It was something they could easily get from their parent’s medicine cabinet,” he said.
During the 2009-10 school year, 736 drug tests were conducted with 20 students testing positive. During the 2010-11 school year, 378 drug tests were conducted through the end of April and only six students tested positive. Students are tested for illegal drugs as defined by Oklahoma law, performance-enhancing drugs and over-the-counter drugs that are used for an abusive purpose.
The Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics has a list of drop-box locations on its web site at ok.gov/ obndd. The list will be continually updated as the permanent locations are established over the next few weeks, Woodward said.
Copyright ©2012 Eastword News. All rights reserved. Reproduction or use of content in any manner without permission is prohibited. To obtain permission, contact us.
Prescriptions for cold medicine and "Wandering Weaver" goes to Bourbon Country?
We have another case of the government punishing the people to catch the less than 1% misusing a common product, using flawed data to back up their "logic".
Now common cold remedies using ephedrine and pseudoephedrine are sold at drug stores everywhere. But those ingredients are used in producing meth too. So to "solve" the meth problem Senator Tom Jensen (R-Kentucky) will force you to go to the doctor to treat your sniffles. Doesn't make sense.
The problem isn't the medicine, the problem is how it's being misused.
Senator Jensen proposes to punish the 99% that are using the medicine correctly. Even our own Darryl Weaver, head of the Bureau of Narcotics in Oklahoma weighed in for Kentucky. In Kentucky. In Kentucky? Wandering Weaver went to Kentucky ... to help Oklahoma? How does that work?
Mr. Weaver believes the potency of home made meth is greater than that smuggled in from Mexico. Somehow he believes you shouldn't be able to get common cold tablets for your kids at the corner drug store. But the law of supply and demand exists in the illegal drug industry too. Prices are decreasing as purity levels are increasing in an effort to attract users. Purity has increased to 90 percent even as the price per gram has dropped to about $89, according to a federal Drug Enforcement Agency database and reported in the study.
But as Senator Jensen proposes to restrict your rights in a misguided effort to stop home-made meth, it ignores the ingenuity of the drug lords. According to Jane Maxwell, senior researcher at The University of Texas, meth purveyors are getting around restrictions on pseudoephedrine by turning to a manufacturing method that uses different chemicals.
"It's not surprising that meth use is rebounding", Maxwell said in the journal Addictive Behaviors in December 2011, "that's the pattern during the decades that meth has been used. It really is a cyclical pattern of use is up, we put in barriers to producing it or to prevent it from being obtained and that takes it down for a little while," she said. "But then it goes back up again." The recent down cycle occurred after sale of ephedrine and pseudoephedrine were severely restricted. The up cycle began as makers of the drug in Mexico reverted to another method called P2P for the principal chemicals involved.
Wandering Weaver should stay home and solve our problems here.
So why is Oklahoma punishing it's law abiding residents in an effort to chase a problem that already has been side stepped by the drug lords?
“Time for Law Enforcement to Back Up Its Citizens, Not Turn Its Back”
Last week I read in The Times (Pryor Creek, OK) that Diana Reeves lived in a peaceful neighborhood for 33 years.
Past tense.
In a house down the street, there seemed to be a lot of visitors. At first it was during the day. The visitors rapidly increased to any day and anytime. It evolved into a sort of drive up system. A car would pull over in front of the house; someone would exchange sacks and run back into the house. Then a lookout was added. After a few months of calling the sheriff, she had enough and went to the police station. No results. As any good citizen would do, she said enough and took the additional courageous step of taping the activities as well as recording vehicle license plates. Armed with some great information, she gave it to Sheriff Frank Cantey. Cantey assured her they would like to get these guys. Problem solved, results expected shortly. But over a 14 month period, only one off-duty officer stayed on her street for about 90 minutes. That’s about .00015 of 1% over the 14 month period devoted to stopping this meth house. Since the activity magically stopped during the one-time surveillance then reappeared 20 minutes after the officer left and the neighborhood NEVER had any follow up police work, one must wonder what’s actually going on. Is it deliberate indifference, other priorities (in the #1 area for pseudoephedrine sales in the state?) or something as nefarious as a Sheriff gone bad?
A cheap shot at law enforcement? I don’t think so. This could have been the scenario in any town in Oklahoma. With our top narcotics enforcement agent Darryl Weaver, calling for greater regulations on Oklahoma’s law abiding citizens instead of catching these guys, is it any wonder that bad attitude has made its way to the local level? What a lazy way to solve a problem – ignore it until it gets too big, then punish those that are playing by the rules.
The problem isn’t the medicine; the problem is law enforcement being viewed as lazy, not tenacious and slow to act.
With the police calling for citizen involvement and with Diana Reeves not only answering that call but going beyond what should be expected, and being ignored, I wonder what kind of message law enforcement sitting on its hands sends Oklahoma's tax paying citizens and how cheerful criminals must be smiling. Let's hope this period of law enforcement sitting on the sidelines ends soon and that good folks like Diana Reeves can go to bed at night knowing law enforcement has her back as opposed to turning their back on her and the rest of its citizenry.