Better plate than never
Oklahoma now has an official centennial plate.
The plate depicts two scissor-trail flycatchers – the state bird – flying around branches of the state tree, the redbud.
The handcrafted plates are made by Frankoma Pottery in Sapulpa. It’s the first commemorative plate made by Frankoma in about 15 years, said Crystal Merryman, owner of the pottery.
The numbered and signed plates come in prairie green and sell for $100 each.
They’re signed by Merryman and Murv Jacob, the artist who drew the plate’s design. Regular centennial plates in either brown or gold sell for $40.
Jacob said he came up with the drawing before the scissor-tail flycatcher was selected earlier this year to be on Oklahoma’s commemorative quarter that will be released in 2008.
Merryman, who presented Gov. Brad Henry today with the first numbered centennial plate, said she expects between 1,000 and 2,000 of the numbered plates will be sold between now and the end of the year.
“On Dec. 31, we’ll be breaking the mold,” she said.
The plate is sanctioned by the Oklahoma Centennial Commission. The commission did not provide any state money for the project.
The terra cotta color for Frankoma products comes from Sugar Loaf Hill about a mile from the pottery plant.
“The combination of the great Oklahoma clay and superior craftsmanship and just the simple yet elegant design of Frankoma Pottery have made Frankoma famous around the world,” Henry said.
More information about the plates may be found by going to Frankoma’s Web site at frankoma.com.
Michael McNutt, Capitol Bureau
Oklahoma snapshots
After driving 60,000 miles in 20 months, Mike Klemme has put together a photographic essay of Oklahoma.
One of the hardest tasks, he said, was paring down the more than 20,000 images he shot to about 400 that are included in the coffee-table book.
‘That was quite an editing process,” said Klemme, who presented a copy of the book today to Gov. Brad Henry. The governor wrote the book’s foreword.
Klemme, a professional photographer from Enid, has spent the past 25 years photographing golf courses around the world.
His project, the Oklahoma Centennial Photographic Survey, is sanctioned by the Oklahoma Centennial Commission. The commission allocated $20,000 to the project.
The 280-page book has six sections documenting Oklahoma’s land, people, business and industry, the arts, communities and tourism, sports and recreation.
The native Oklahoman said he went to each of the state’s 77 counties.
“I’d give myself an assignment to go out and shoot something,” Klemme, 54, said. “On the way there I would find four or five things I didn’t know and on the way back I’d find four or five things. I’ve already made up a list of things for the next volume.”
The book sells for $59.95. A collectors edition with a leather slipcover and cover sells for $399.95.
More information is available at the Web site, celebratingoklahoma.com.
Michael McNutt, Capitol Bureau
West is not the best (entrance)
If you’re coming to the Capitol, avoid the west parking lot.
The west entrance – usually open 24 hours a day, seven days a week and the best access for the handicapped - is closed as construction is ongoing on the west parking lot.
The southeast entrance now is open 24 hours a day, and is handicapped accessible.
Visitors also may use the east and north entrances during regular business hours.
Construction on the west parking lot is expected to be finished by Nov. 1. When the work is done, the west entrance once again will be open all hours and will be handicapped accessible.
Just a reminder that everyone entering the Capitol will go through a security checkpoint. Everyone who enters the Capitol is required to put items they bring in through X-ray machines and walk through a metal detector device. Troopers and security officers staff each entrance.
Michael McNutt, Capitol Bureau
State officials monitoring flooding, oil spill
Gov. Brad Henry today is looking at flood-ravaged areas of the state.
He left this morning aboard an Oklahoma National Guard Blackhawk helicopter to tour Washington and Ottawa Counties in northeastern Oklahoma.
The governor is expected to take a brief tour this morning in Miami. He is scheduled to meet residents affected by the flooding. He will also visit workers staffing the local emergency operations center.
Henry then will be given an aerial tour of the Bartlesville area, where more than 2,500 have been evacuated from homes, before heading to tour the Shawnee-Tecumseh region.
He’s expected to land in Shawnee and look at flood damage in the Brookridge Housing Addition just north of Shawnee.
The governor will return to Oklahoma City after his stop in Shawnee. He will be accompanied on the tour by state Emergency Management Department Director Allbert Ashwood.
Meanwhile, state environmental officials are watching an oil spill that has entered Lake Oologah, a water source for the city of Tulsa.
The oil spilled into the Verdigris River from a Coffeyville, Kan., refinery on Sunday and was headed toward Oologah Lake, a water source for the city of Tulsa.
“We are hopeful that because of the large amounts of water that are out there that the oil will be spread out and diluted and displaced and not cause a tremendous problem,” Henry said Monday.
Miles Tolbert, the state’s secretary of environment, said the oil spill, while serious, poses no threat to several Oklahoma communities that get their public drinking water from the Verdigris.
The drinking water comes from below the surface waters of the river; oil floats on the surface and should not be sucked into the drinking water systems, Tolbert said.
“They should not be impacted by this spill,” he said.
However, residents along the river should be aware that the sewage treatment plant in South Coffeyville was flooded, which will cause a danger of bacteria in the river, Tolbert said. Communities along the river are being encouraged to increase testing levels.
Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius called Henry on Monday to apologize.
“She’s very concerned and offered her help and assistance,” Henry said.
Michael McNutt
Capitol Bureau
