Actuality; Actuality March 1997

A federal judge has freed more than $36,000 in Kyowa tribal assets, frozen since last year when a lawsuit was filed in state court against the tribe. US District Judge Ralph Thompson says federal funds and property appropriated by the tribe are immune from garnishment. Kyowa Chairman Billy Evans-Horse says the ruling will prevent the tribe from considering firing employees and cutting a housing program to help the needy with home repairs. The money was frozen to pay any judgment awarded to Carl G. Gungo, Exploration Joint Venture. Four groups, including Gungo, alleged the tribe, failed to make good in promissory notes when it bought shares in an aircraft repair and maintenance facility. For the Oklahoma update, this is Steve Carmedy.

You know, I think there's hope. I'm not going to take this as a setback forever. I think we can keep working towards charter schools and some other things that will help the state's educational system. The message is that unfortunately, since they're satisfied with the status quo and that things are perfect, we don't really need to look outside all that very far to solve our problems. Fortunately, almost half of the membership disagreed. Our top telephone attorney, our director of public utilities, and the commissioners said this is a bad piece of legislation. It's bad for the people of Oklahoma and those people that have difficulty paying their utility bills are the ones who have the most to lose. We view the bill as a bill that's not pro-competition but anti-competitive, not as a bill that is progressive but as a bill that is regressive, not as a bill that is going to bring

competition and innovation and new service offerings and lower prices and the other benefits that we all anticipate of the information age. But it's a bill that will retard the development of that. As in every section of this bill, it will be the Oklahoma Corporation Commission which takes the broad legislative language and implements and flashes out the program and administers it if there is no other myth that should be dispelled up today. It is that the Oklahoma Corporation Commission is read out of its present functions of interpreting and rulemaking and regulating telephone companies in Oklahoma that is simply not the case.

Right now, even though a bill may have one look to it in the Senate or one look to it in the house, when it's all said and done, it'll be a different bill. I want to wait and see what comes through the process. Whatever does come through the process should lower utility costs, lower rate costs for Oklahoma taxpayers and provide a better quality of service. So who knows, sometimes there's a real slit between the cup and the loop. As this process continues, I'll be very open-minded to it but what comes to my desk better be a bill that provides those two things and we'll see. We're living in what you would call under a dictatorship out there in the shine wrap of a country because the business committee does what they want to do, when they want to do it and the people suffer for. And a good example of this is this $107,000 donation. We want a congressional investigation, congressional inquiry or another audit by the inspector general

because of our tribal business committee is out of control with spending, not only with tribal funds but also with federal funds. Some of those practices included allowing city workers to give themselves no interest loans by leaving IOUs or post-dated checks in the city cash register. The practice was uncovered during an audit by state auditor and inspector Clifton Scott. Auditor say it's impossible to track the flow of cash through Shikota's cash register. The audit found several other discrepancies. Among them, the city's emergency medical service paid nearly $69 a box for moist tallettes when the same item could be purchased in Tulsa for less than $9 a box. The supplier returned more than $7,300 to the city when questioned about the cost. For the Oklahoma update, I'm Jolly Brown.

The development is planned for a four square block area in north downtown Oklahoma City. The Benham group of Oklahoma City and Ross Barney-Jan Kowski architects of Chicago were picked yesterday to design a federal office campus. Preliminary descriptions call for up to 250,000 square feet inside several buildings in a campus like area. Congress has appropriated $40 million for the work. Up to 500 federal workers will occupy the complex when it's complete in the year 2001. The Murrow Building was destroyed by a truck bomb on April 19, 1995. A total of 168 people were killed in the blast. For the Oklahoma update, I'm Jolly Brown. But the very high interest rates associated with these kinds of charges also produces revenue to covered losses that many of the credit card issuing companies are facing with these

bankruptcy filings. Don't think we're at the stage of even the increased bankruptcy or the increased problems that people are getting into with credit card debt to start impacting the economy. I just don't see that. That we wouldn't spend these dollars, these new dollars solely on Amtrak and on mass transportation needs within cities. What we need to do in a state like Oklahoma that is a large rural base is to link together the smaller communities by modern highways to the interstates and to the larger cities. And that certainly isn't something that will be done if we focus these funds on a national level on Amtrak and the needs of mass transit within cities and welfare work experiments. The court gave Charles Philip Smith a two-year suspended sentence Thursday. Smith was convicted in the 1979 stabbing death of German citizen Johann Kesselmann. Smith was serving with a U.S. Army

artillery unit and southern Germany at the time of the murder. Smith confessed in his testimony to stabbing the man. Smith said he was drunk and went to sleep on a park bench near the Danube River. He said he awoke to find Kesselmann standing in front of him with his pants open. Smith said he lost control and stabbed him. Smith testified that he had been sexually abused by a priest as a child and sentencing him. The judge considered the fact that Smith was 19 at the time of the killing. The case had remained unsolved until a criminal investigation command agent began looking into it in 1992. For the Oklahoma update, I'm Kenya Hill. Governor Frank Keating says Adair Laflora and Sequoia counties are eligible for a state assistance. These storms hit February 20th and 21st. Local government leaders will be able to

apply to the state department of emergency management for state funds. The funds can be used for debris removal or for repair and replacement of roads, bridges, dams and public buildings. For the Oklahoma update, I'm Kenya Hill. That's it for the actuality reel on March 13th, which is a Thursday. This is the actuality reel for Friday, March 14th, 1997. Openness is the best policy. Openness always is the best policy. The two men are accused of killing banker Dan Short after a robbery in Noelle, Missouri. Short was bound to a chair and thrown into grandlight nearly eight years ago. The agofskis are serving life sentences for federal bank robbery charges, but murder convictions in state court could carry the death penalty. The trial was moved from

Miami to Stillwater last month because an unbiased jury couldn't be seated in Delaware County. Today's motions include a request for a continual and a request for a dismissal to attorneys representing Joe Agofsky have asked to be taken off the case. For the Oklahoma update, I'm Jolly Brown. The Sooners face off tonight against the Stanford Cardinals in the late game in the West bracket. Tip off tonight in Tucson, Arizona will be sometime after 930 Oklahoma time. OU hopes to reverse its recent string of early exits from the Big Dance. So far, the four other Big 12 teams in the NCAA tournament, including Big 12 Champion and number one seed Kansas, have won their opening round games in the tournament. The 11th seeded Sooners bring a 19 and 10 record to their matchup with the six seeded Stanford Cardinals. For the Oklahoma update, this is Steve Carmity. An expert from a California disaster reconstruction company may testify for the prosecution at the Oklahoma City bombing trial. Vice President Robert Cadillac of Failure Analysis

Associates says his company was called in by the Federal Emergency Management Administration shortly after the bombing. Siding a judge's gag order, Cadillac wouldn't comment specifically on the case against Timothy McVeigh, but he told the Oklahoma City radio station that a company official will probably testify about the nature of the damage to the building and its relationship to the bomb. Big Bays trial on Federal murder and conspiracy charges is set to begin on March 31st. For the Oklahoma update, I'm Jolly Brown. The truth has a way of getting out better when you have an open process. U.S. bankruptcy court judge Tom Cornish must decide whether to grant an extrakey's

petition to force the cell saw track into Chapter 11 reorganization. Track economist Alexander Holmes says revenues have fallen by one-third since the bankruptcy petition was filed. Blue Ribbon Downs owes a quarter of a million dollars in back fees to the Oklahoma Horse Racing Commission. Ex-Jockey Mark Barnes of Choctaw won a $1.3 million judgment against the track last year for a 1984 riding accident. Barnes says he filed the Chapter 11 petition to keep the commission from revoking the track's license. For the Oklahoma update, this is Steve Carmody. But the other elements of my agenda, corrections, very much alive, workers comp, reform, dramatic reform, very much alive. In the education arena, all of these things are still in some degree or other alive. Some have stronger heartbeats than others, some have very faint pulses. But obviously, I can't move the agenda. I have to have support from Democrats as well as

Republicans. But by the same token, the authority of the governor with the veto, the other side can't move their agenda. So we have to work together and I think we are. I think we have failed to treat HIV and AIDS as a public health crisis, but not because we have treated it as a civil rights issue. As a nation, we have allowed HIV and AIDS to carry a stigma, and that stigma has often gotten in the way of adequate prevention and care measures. I visited with the CDC about two months ago and spent a great deal of time in Atlanta. They want this kind of legislation so that they can, in fact, do what they're supposed to do right now, they're precluded. The AME totally endorsed this. Other age groups that are truly interested in

solving the epidemic have endorsed it. We want to make sure we protect the confidentiality, and that's a strong part of this bill. We want to make sure that we give people an opportunity to protect themselves. We want to make sure that once you've been exposed that you have the ability to know that you've been exposed, so you can do something about it. One, and number two, so you don't infect someone else. I have some concerns about how we could mandate partner notification and maintain that confidentiality. It requires partner notification that if, in fact, you've been exposed to somebody with HIV, you have the right as an individual in this country to know that you've been exposed. Presently, you don't have that right. Number two, it requires reporting of the disease. If somebody tests positive for HIV, then it should be reported to the Center for Disease Control,

just as tuberculosis, chlamydia, and many other diseases. There's 50 such diseases right now. That's how we control and plan our treatment modalities and interception modalities on infectious diseases. The third thing it does is it eliminates the ability for an insurance company or anybody else that knows your status, HIV status, from withholding that from you. I do have some concerns about this legislation, and if I mention, I think it's important to carefully look at all the ways that this could play out and the effects that it could have regarding partner notification as a means of HIV prevention, that would only be effective prevention if the person who's notified is actually not infected and then goes on to change their behavior as a result of the counseling and testing experience. We have a broad-based support. We have some

opposition, especially from the AIDS activist groups and the homosexual community because they fear partner notification and they fear of retribution based on confidentiality. But we have a bipartisan bill that is strongly supported by all across the, and the other thing I would tell you is every physician that's a member of Congress that has been talked to about this legislation, totally 100% agrees with it. It's not the usual run of tourists and business travelers coming to town, and another two weeks Denver will be the site of the Oklahoma City bombing trial of Timothy McVeigh, unless McVeigh's lawyers win a delay or a change of venue. The trial is expected to attract about 2000 spectators, journalists and survivors, and in three months maybe while McVeigh's trial is still going on, heads of state and thousands more will arrive for the group of seven summit and

industrialized nations. Most people in Denver seem unfazed after all the city handled the pope and about 200,000 other people four years ago. Hotel marketing director Colette Redcliffe predicts the impact of the visitors on the city will be no big deal. For the Oklahoma update, I'm Kenya Hill. Timothy McVeigh's attorney wants his client's trial move to one of several distant cities, but Stephen Jones admits he's not packing his bags. Jones says he doubts U.S. District Judge Richard Mayt will rule and McVeigh's favor. That's after Jones last week. Ask the judge to dismiss charges against McVeigh, delay the trial, or move it to a remote city. McVeigh's murder and conspiracy trial in the Oklahoma City bombing has already been moved from Oklahoma to Denver. Jones cited reports of McVeigh's purported confession published recently by Playboy

and The Dallas Morning News, a similar story was released Sunday by Newsweek. However legal experts say they don't expect Mayt's to grant the motion, most say they expect the trial to start two weeks from today as scheduled. For the Oklahoma update, I'm Kenya Hill. The dark salty waters of Lake Texhoma hold a plentiful catch for anglers in search of black bass, crappy, and catfish. But while sports fishermen consider the salt nutrient, others view it as a contaminant, in water supplies which feed needy municipalities, industries, and agriculture. The Federal Red River Chloride Control Project aims to divert natural salts that flow into Lake Texhoma and other points downriver. The plan for a system of dams, brine reserves, pipelines, and pumps on the west Texas prairie has been on hold since 1994. Opponents claimed desalination

might jeopardize the land and the wildlife. A re-evaluation by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is expected to be made public sometime this month. Environmental groups and Lake Businessmen hope the Corps recommends abandoning the plan. But Ron Glenn, of the Red River Authority of Texas, says the project would enhance the environment and provide new water supplies for Texas cities, such as Gainesville and Vernon. For the Oklahoma update, this is Steve Carmody. Lockheed Martin, IMS, administers Oklahoma's automated system of issuing food stamps and assistance payments. A federal mandate requires the state to implement an electronic benefits transfer system to allow welfare clients to use a credit card system to buy food and receive assistance payments. The system replaces food stamps and has been hailed as a breakthrough in curbing welfare fraud. Department of Human Services Director George Miller says his agency raised concerns

last year about the contract. Now how Speaker Lloyd Benson and Senate President Pro Tem Stratton Taylor want Auditor and Inspector Clifton Scott to look at the circumstances surrounding the Department of Central Services award of the contract. Benson says Oklahoma may be paying much more than other states are paying for the same services. For the Oklahoma update, this is Steve Carmody. That was the actuality reel for Friday, March 14, 1997. This is the actuality reel from Monday, March 17, 1997. The Supreme Court has ruled the tribe can continue taxing oil and gas produced from land, it held in trust for tribe members by the federal government. The court turned down a challenge to the tax by oil and gas producers. They had complained that the tribe gave up jurisdiction over the land in 1890 when its reservation was broken up. The tribe decided in 1988 to tax petroleum

produced from any land within its jurisdiction. It says the land includes the reservation itself and land held in trust by the federal government for individual tribe members. Oil and gas producers challenged the tax in federal court. They've paid nearly five million dollars in taxes into an escrow account. For the Oklahoma update, I'm Jolly Brown. But we're delighted that we don't have to wait another day to have this way too long a process come to a beginning which will start March 31, 1997. I feel that that's not in compliance or in accordance with the victim's rights laws as it had been passed and this is just kind of a clarification of the victim's rights law and it will allow those who are scheduled to testify in the trial to view other portions of the trial that they're not directly involved in.

The only difference is it's primarily endorsed so when people come out to the fairgrounds instead of seeing the tremendous amount of activity outside during the fall fair it's it's all indoors and I'm knowing what it's going to do. Voters in Destiny, Del City must act to come to and war acres are electing mayors this week in Norman, Edmund, Moore, and Oklahoma City. City Council races tops the ballot despite several years of criticism of the City Council's management of the 300 million dollar maps project. This year City Council races in Oklahoma City have been quiet. Ward 1 Councilman, Ross Tp, faces a challenge from Bernie Sresmuthan Eckert in Ward 3 in Cumbin, Jack Cornett has drawn a trio of challengers, Julian Hadley, Sue Ann Jones, and C Wayne Hood and Ward 7 Councilwoman Willough Johnson is opposed by Tony Howard as Clyde Madden and Ron Summers for the Oklahoma update. This is Steve Carmody. We want to make sure we protect the confidentiality and that's a strong part of this bill.

We want to make sure that we give people an opportunity to protect themselves. We want to make sure that once you've been exposed that you have the ability to know that you've been exposed so you can do something about it one and number two is so you don't infect someone else. I have some concerns about how we could mandate partner notification and maintain that confidentiality. My impression is that someone on the defense team itself from Mr. Jones' office who had access to this material has chosen for some motive not known to me and others. To let this information out. Since it came from the defense team I can't help but wonder myself personally if that wasn't part of the defense team strategy to lay the foundation for an impossible appeal later. I believe that the judge and the federal law and the process

will be able to select an appropriate jury made up of individuals who be qualified to do their job under the law and I believe after they hear the evidence that they'll be able to render an appropriate verdict based on the evidence and each and every one of us will live with whatever their verdict is. If the defendants are found guilty as charged in a conspiracy to plan, build, deliver and explode an instrument of mass destruction that resulted in the murders of the individuals that they're charged with then an appropriate punishment will be provided and I'm sure that'll be carried out and most people will be glad when the process is over. Many people, the anxiety, was very, very high the last 30 days which you would expect

and the anxiety will continue to be present as we go through the process as as victimized and victims families of the worst terrorist act in history as we watch the evidence unfold and the defendants on either a close circuit screen or in person and so it's very difficult for families. I visited with the CDC about two months ago and it's been a great deal of time in Atlanta. They want this kind of legislation so that they can in fact do what they're supposed to do right now they're precluded. The AME totally endorsed this. Other age groups that are truly interested in solving the epidemic have endorsed it. We're confident that there will be an affirmative vote tomorrow in the House and that the Senate will pick it up rapidly. I don't know the Senate's schedule but I do know that Senator Nichols on the

Senate side obviously is is working to move it fast rapidly and we're confident the president will will sign that within very short order after he gets the bill on his desk and it'll be in effect and time for the for this particular bombing. But I think we have failed to treat HIV and AIDS as a public health crisis but not because we have treated it as a civil rights issue. As a nation we have allowed HIV and AIDS to carry a stigma and that stigma has often gotten in the way of adequate prevention and care measures. It's it's grown steadily as I said only in our fourth year it's an educational process to the public. We have 91 years of tradition that the state fair only four years here so people still learning we're here. Well I'm not surprised at all that the judge in this case would deny the defense motion to either dismiss the charges delay the starting

of the trial for a year or consider a change of venue. None of those seemed reasonable to anybody that's familiar with the case and probably they were filed for possible efforts on the part of the defense for the appeal later. The defense made the request following several published reports with a purported confession by Timothy McVeigh admitting to blowing up the Alfred P. Murrah federal building on April 19th 1995. However and as ruling judge mage suggested the stories hadn't had the wide exposure that the defendant's law years presumed. Mage added that nearly two years have passed since the bombing and the story has been extensively reported and the more sensational stories could be expected as the trial date nears. Mage wrote that he has full confidence that a fair minded jury can be in paneled and that those selected will return a just verdict based on the law and evidence presented to them.

Prosecutors had no immediate comment on the ruling. McVeigh's attorney Stephen Jones says he won't file an appeal. Jury selection in Timothy McVeigh's trial is set to begin March 31st. A trial date for co-defendant Terry Nichols has not yet been set. For the Oklahoma update, I'm Jolly Brown. Kidding and Bush made a bet on last year's Oklahoma Texas football game. Oklahoma upset the University of Texas 3227. Kidding says he and Bush weren't the barbecue to bring Oklahoma's and Texans together in a broader community. The feast on 1,500 pounds of beef is scheduled for Saturday at the Alta's High School football stadium. Among the 5,000 people expected to attend are Oklahoma head football coach John Blake, Congressman JC Watts, a former sooner quarterback and OU athletic director Steve Owens, the 1969 winner of the Highsman trophy.

For the Oklahoma update, this is Kenya Hill. The bill's author Mark Cycle says he and other lawmakers have objections to mandates contained in the federal welfare reform law signed in August by President Clinton. The state senate risks losing millions of dollars in welfare and Medicaid funds by killing the measure. They revived it last week. In addition to a registry of new employees, Senate Bill 706 directs the state to yank hunting and fishing licenses and would authorize welfare officials to subpoena financial records and order a person to take genetic tests to determine paternity. Since November, the state has seized drivers and professional licenses from nearly 400 Oklahoma's who owe child support. Welfare officials say Oklahoma's collection rate for court-ordered child support is about 46 percent. Without the legislation, welfare officials say Oklahoma could lose its temporary aid to needy families funds and a major block grant for federal Medicaid funds.

For the Oklahoma update, I'm Kenya Hill. This has been the actuality rule for Monday, March 17th, 1997. Protection has that we use mostly during the time that our people here. The church most of us don't help secure the guard. She knows around the clock. But it might be in the future. An Oklahoma City radio station quotes sources as saying, this is the actuality rule for Tuesday, March 18th, 1997. Oklahoma City is about to see one of the greatest things in downtown that has seen a long time. The designs are hung and we will begin the public exhibition on Thursday, March 20th, and proceed through the weekend with several hours of open to the public.

Sheriff John Wetzel has ordered belly chains and additional security when all violent offenders are transferred. The action follows the escape of a 40-year-old accused killer earlier this month. James Allen Marx was being taken from the county jail to an eye doctor when he escaped from a 61-year-old female deputy. Marx kicked in the front door of a house and took a woman hostage. She fled and contacted police officers who later recaptured Marx. Wetzel says Marx was wearing leg shackles and handcuffs, but he wasn't in a belly chain, which would have immobilized his arms. Wetzel says now violent offenders will wear belly chains and be accompanied by two deputies when they are transferred. For the Oklahoma update, I'm Jolly Brown. The good news is the tax forms and the instructions have not changed too much over the past year,

so if someone is preparing their own tax returns, they can probably use last year's tax return as a good go-bye. In Bethany and Del City and War Acres, they have city-wide elections for mayor, so we're seeing a little higher turnout in those areas, but in Oklahoma City in Edmund, it appears to be around perhaps 8-12 percent, but there's still a number of hours left for voting, so we hope that maybe everyone will take advantage of this opportunity to vote. The Supreme Court ruled that state authorities must provide hearings before removing prisoners from some release programs. The unanimous decision says Ernest Eugene Harper was entitled to a hearing because the program he was in, quote, was a kind of parole. Oklahoma's pre-parole conditional supervision program is designed to ease occasional prison overcrowding. It allows prisoners to live and work in society.

Harper was placed in the program in 1990. After he spent an uneventful five months outside of prison, the governor denied him parole and Harper was ordered back to the state penitentiary. He objected, and a federal appeals court ruled that denial of a hearing violated Harper's due process rights. For the Oklahoma update, I'm Jolly Brown. The most experts would tell you that Oklahoma became a gas, a predominantly gas producing state five, six years ago anyway, and really it's the natural gas industry that is driving the economic future of our business in Oklahoma. Although oil is still important, gas in terms of economic impact is about twice as important now in the state. The stage one entries are all hung, and you will view everything from a statute to an incredible park. I mean there are 600 more than 600 designs, and they will get a chance to see a little bit of everything.

House Resolution 924 was approved Tuesday on a 418-29 vote, and goes to the Senate. Republican sponsors say the bill clarifies an input. This is the actuality reel for Wednesday, March 19, 1997. The suit will claim that through its collective agencies, the United States government neglected to protect persons in and around the mirror building, despite knowing that terrorists had discussed plans for violence before April 19, 1995. I told someone the other day, I'm more angry at the government now than I am at Tim McVay. Tim McVay was going to do what he was going to do regardless. He was out to kill people, but when someone in our government knew, he could have said, hey, you might want to keep your kids out today just in case something might happen. I do not think the federal government or any government

had prior knowledge of the bombing. I do not think that the people that I worked with, my co-workers knew I had any intent to try to take my life. What I see here is a set of rules that are a little bit one-sided. We are not specifically on a witch hunt. We are not looking for, we're not a criminal investigation. That's not the purpose of this committee. If things arise, they point in that direction. They will be referred to the proper parties that set forth in the rules. Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edminson says consideration of House Bill 1815 should be delayed. In a letter to Muscogee State Senator Ben Robinson, the bill's author, Edminson said the bill would make it hard for his office to represent and protect utility customers. Edminson told Robinson

it would be best to delay approval of the measure until after the Oklahoma Corporation Commission finishes studying the issues. House Bill 1815 would remove the commission's ratemaking authority and allow deregulated telephone companies to set their own rates after a two-year moratorium. Long distance giant AT&T and the cable industry opposed the bill while southwestern bell and the state's smaller telephone companies favor it. For the Oklahoma update, I'm Jolly Brown. We quit placing inmates on those programs. We could August or September of last year. At one time we had somewhere between 50-100 and 2,000 people on pre-prol.