REAL ghost stories
I’ve always loved a good ghost story.
When I was a boy growing up, we would go on Scout camp outs, or have friends over and sleep out in the back yard under the summer stars. When I was older, we sometimes would have a camp out on vacation. And when I became a parent, we would do Scout camp outs (you’re never too old to be a Scout), or fishing trips.
But ghost stories always “livened” things up. Occasionally, what was supposed to be downright scary became downright funny.
On one Scout camp out (earlier version), a few of my fellow minicampers, armed with pocket knives for protection, sat around a fire at night and tried to outdo each other with the scariest story.
There were tales of headless spooks roaming the woods, bloody warriors looking for body parts lost in combat, drowning victims, hanged criminals and many others, whose mutilated forms were so aptly described by the storyteller that they best not be here.
Usually, the narrator would toss in a groan or moan for good measure. Sometimes, two or more would work together to add an element of surprise, such as tossing a stick or rock off in the distance when no one was looking to make a startling sound.
All in good scare; sometimes with funny results, especially if someone actually did react in terror.
I don’t scare easily these days. But I do still like a good story. That’s why reading what paranormal Tonya Hacker comes up with in her adventures catches my attention. As author of Paranormal Eyes, she details events and examines what has been reported to have occurred in and around Oklahoma, as well as elsewhere.
If you know of such an item, location, or sighting, she would love to know about it. Just give her a heads-up.
Read her Paranormal Eyes at KNOWIT/NEWSOK.COM/UNUSUAL-WEIRD-OKLAHOMA. And while you’re there, check out odd-but-true stories elsewhere in the country and around the world by clicking on the buttons directly below the title of the page.
Hot topics
I call it “being curious.” Some call it “being snoopy.” But I’ve always been interested in what’s on everyone’s mind. After all, that’s what people in my business are supposed to do: find out what people want to know about and give them as much information as you possibly can.
Sometimes, it’s easy. You can start with weather. Especially in Oklahoma, the weather plays a big part in most everything, from business to pleasure, from life to death. Weather is a factor.
You always can talk politics. This is an election year and, no matter how hard you try, you can’t escape hearing or seeing someone voice an opinion on who is and who is not doing the right thing, who will or who will not win in the November general election, who ought to stay, who ought to go.
One of the most significant freedoms we have it the right to state our opinion, and the right to agree or disagree, whether you do or don’t want to hear it.
Now that the Thunder’s season has ended, there’s a break. Right? To a degree. There are still the Thunder players participating in the Olympics, which, by the way, is another topic that will be even bigger soon.
We’re just a few weeks away from the start of the new football season. The predictions and expectations already are there.
Money always is an important topic, from how to make it to how to spend it, or how to save it. Add to that the cost of anything, which always seems to being heading upward. Who has money, who needs money and how to help those who don’t have enough to adequately survive also get attention.
Vehicles have been popular topics since the first ones were invented. You can expect that to continue until we don’t use them anymore.
Health matters — yours or those of someone else, how to avoid them and how to treat them — are important and often discussed.
Items relating to the military, particularly in a state like Oklahoma where it has such a presence, affect many people.
You also will read, see, or hear about such topics as children, pets, religion, travel, recreation and cultural events.
Plenty, huh? And there are many more.
Each of the topics mentioned above is in at least one of our “know it” topics. It may be a story, it could be a photo, or it might be in a topic’s resource material. Then again, it might be in more than one, sometimes several.
That’s why they are there: To give you information. And you can contribute as well by sending news releases, notes of praise, or other tidbits to the online communities.
Visit HTTP://KNOWIT.NEWSOK.COM/ and look them over.
End of vacation blues
I love time off.
I know I’m not alone. I would also make a great multi millionaire. I know what I’m doing when it comes to lounging and spending money. I’m very good at it. If there was a professional league for relaxing and spending money, I would be in it. I would probably be an all star.
This leads me to the downside of this conversation. I loathe going back to work after time off. Its depressing. It starts the Sunday before going back to work on Monday after days off. I start thinking about work, what I need to get done, what has to be done by noon, and so on and so forth.
It usually causes me to not sleep very well Sunday night. My mind is reverting back to work mode. No more lazy days by the pool. No more dining out late. No more driving or flying to exotic or non exotic locations on a whim. No more sleeping in late.
I wonder if everyone feels the way I do, thats why so many people have terrible moods on Mondays. So many gloomy people.
Maybe we should move to a 4 day work week, Mondays become the last day of the weekend. Maybe that would work.
Probably not, we would just dread Tuesdays. Oh well, a boy can dream.
Happy Go Back To Work After A Long Holiday To You All!!!!!
Bah Humbug!!!!!!
Fishing and catching
My dad used to tell me that there was a difference between fishing and catching. He said that he did more catching than fishing. I remember “sneaking up” on the fish at times, making no noise, watching where I stepped, holding sneezes, as if the fish were watching us.
My dad loved to fish, but what he didn’t love was making sure I was fishing properly. I can’t tell you how many times I got my lure snagged in a low hanging branch, right after my dad told me to “watch out for that branch there”. He would turn three shades of red as he tried to wade out to the branch and retrieve the lure.
I went fishing recently at Lake Texoma and had a wonderful time with friends catching our limit in under two hours. I was reminded about my dads’ frustration when I looked at our guide’s face a few times when he had to undo what some of us did to our lines and our bait. The familiar grimace and the face changing colors and the biting of the tongue.
It seems comical now, but back in the day, I’m sure my dad did not find anything funny about taking care of an amateur fisherman trying to do the right things.
I guess the important thing about fishing is making sure you do some catching.
Everything is better when catching, even the mistakes.
Hot hot heat
My daughter was complaining yesterday about how hot it was in Midwest City. She apparently forgot how hot it was last summer, when you could boil an egg on the sidewalk every day of the summer.
She tells me that it just feels hotter this summer. I guess I can’t argue, I told her, the older you get, the more the heat affects you. At least from my perspective this is true, of course she is only 18, I tell her, when I was 18 I wasn’t bothered by the heat. This isn’t true of course, but she doesn’t know this.
Reminds me of the stories from my dad and grandpa, about walking through 6 miles of snow and ice to get to school, when a loaf of bread cost a nickel.
I guess each generation has their horror stories, I know this because when I told my daughters that when I was in school, when I wanted to find someone, I drove around until I found them. No cell phones. Their jaws dropped in amazement. The horror!
They asked me what I did as a child for entertainment. I told them I went outside and played. Again, shock and awe. They couldn’t believe kids actually went OUTSIDE to entertain themselves. True story.
So the next time my daughter tells me its too hot to go outside, I will tell her the story of when I used to walk half a mile to school, in the sun. Beads of sweat dripping off of my brow. Thinking how nice it would be to have a cell phone to call someone for a ride.
Only thing is, I had no idea what a cell phone was at the time.
She doesn’t need to know this.
I can see my dad and grandpa smiling now.
Thunder fever hits the street corners
Noticing the other day that the one Thunder t-shirt stand in Midwest City has blossomed into three stands overnight. Impressive growth!
I guess if there is ever a time to sell Thunder merchandise on the street corner, now is the time. I haven’t stopped to look at the t-shirts yet, but I will say the ones that I can read from my car are pretty clever and colorful.
Someone told me that some of these stands are operating illegally due to NBA merchandising laws, but I say more power to them. Making people proud of their community team by selling a few t-shirts, nothing wrong with that.
I hope the Thunder continue to win and bring home a World Championship, that would be incredible. It’s amazing the power of a sports team to bring together a community. I wish that we could bottle that and use it year round, maybe do something crazy like eliminate homelessness or help cure poverty or crime.
I wonder how much money is being made by local stores and outlets on Thunder merchandise, I bet it is astronomical. I hope at least a small part of the proceeds are being put back into the community.
You know, do some good.
Heritage Park Mall
We have a mall in Midwest City.
You can’t shop there.
You can’t go inside and walk anymore.
Why is it still there? There is a church where Dillards used to be. Sears still anchors the other end. Why is it still there?
Why doesn’t someone have some vision and do something! Lots of traffic all around it, surely something can be done!
The mall used to be the place to be for teenagers here, but now nothing goes on at the mall. No shopping. No walking. Nothing.
I’ve got it! This is where the movie theater could go! Perfect place for one! Large parking lot, lots of space. Hello, Warren Theaters, are you listening? What a great addition to this community, and what a perfect location!
Maybe someday, but for now, the sad old mall sits abandoned, waiting for new life. Waiting for someone with vision to make something out of nothing. Cold and lonely. But not forgotten.
New for you: News From You
“Have I got news for you.”
Ever heard that phrase? Most of us either have said that, heard it, or done both during our lives. There’s always something we think is important enough to share with others and they with us.
A few years ago, when we established our “know it” communities we offered readers a chance to share news releases, alerts, recognitions and other information (including photos) by sending their items by email to any or all of the five sites:
edmond@newsok.com
mid-del@newsok.com
norman@newsok.com
okc@newsok.com
yukon@newsok.com
Many groups and individuals have participated. You can see what they are sending by going to the reader-submitted area (upper right) of each community:
http://knowit.newsok.com/edmond
http://knowit.newsok.com/midwest-city
http://knowit.newsok.com/norman
http://knowit.newsok.com/oklahoma-city
http://knowit.newsok.com/yukon
(Note: You can see all of them by going to: http://knowit.newsok.com/)
The instructions also advise that editors at The Oklahoman will consider items submitted for publication in the newspaper. That has happened.
But now, that has been enhanced by using a page, labeled News From You, each Saturday in the Local/State section of the newspaper.
We even include posted blog material.
So how can you get your information to us for consideration?
You can send to the communities, as mentioned above, by following the directions for emailing.
Or, you can send email to Metro reporters Vallery Brown (vbrown@opubco.com), Matt Patterson (mpatterson@opubco.com), Jane Glenn Cannon in Norman (jcannon@opubco.com), or Diana Baldwin in Edmond (dbaldwin@opubco.com).
It’s your news to share and be shared.
Look! Up in the sky! It’s a bird …
Borrowing those words from the opening of the old “Superman” TV series, yep, it IS a bird. It’s a BIG bird. A big METAL bird. And it has found a home on the Interstate 40 Crosstown in Oklahoma City.
The Skydance (or SkyDance, if you prefer) Bridge was dedicated Monday afternoon and lighted Monday night. The pedestrian bridge, spanning the new portion of the highway near Robinson and a few blocks south of downtown, eventually will connect north and south areas of an urban park. Work on the park is expected to begin next year.
It’s a big structure, meant to represent the “sky dance” of Oklahoma’s state bird: the scissor-tailed flycatcher. At nearly 400 feet in length and almost 200 feet high from road surface to tip of the wing, it’s hard to miss and easy to spot as you travel on I-40.
“The Oklahoma City SkyDance Bridge adds a striking and iconic element to Oklahoma City’s landscape,” Mayor Mick Cornett said. “Evoking the state bird, it’s a visual reminder that this is a city taking flight.
“For the millions of Americans who cross our country on I-40 each year, the brightly lit sculpture will be a head-turning reminder that they were in Oklahoma City.”
In a news release Tuesday, the city’s communications director, Kristy Yager, wrote that planning for the structure began in 2008 when Cornett announced a competition to design a pedestrian bridge of “iconic status that reflect the cosmopolitan and vibrant qualities of Oklahoma City and serve as a symbol for the City.”
The bridge design and structural engineering was performed locally by S-X-L. Civil engineering was done by MKEC engineering. SXL and MKEC engineering won a national competition for the project in 2008.
SXL is a collaboration of architects, engineers, university professors and designers that include Laurent Massenat, Professor Hans Butzer, Professor Stan Carroll, Ken Fitzsimmons, Professor Chris Ramseyer, David Wanzer, Jeremy Gardner, and Brett Johnson.
“Our design team was excited about helping connecting not only north to south and east to west, but in connecting travelers’ first impressions of our evolving city with this majestic image for Oklahoma City,” Butzer said.
Manhattan Road and Bridge was the general contractor. W&W Steel fabricated the steel and Swanda Brothers fabricated the feathers.
“The extreme amount of personal pride demonstrated by everyone who worked on this bridge, from architects, engineers, to the constructors and the City and state administrators, was unprecedented,” architect Stan Carroll said.
Yager’s release said the bridge was built prior to development of the MAPS 3 downtown park to avoid disrupting traffic once the new I-40 opens.
She said total cost for the pedestrian bridge is $5.8 million, of which $3.5 million came from Oklahoma Department of Transportation funds and $2.3 million came from the 2000 and 2007 General Obligation Bond Authorizations.
As with any artwork, Skydance will have its fans and there will be those who may not favor it as much. But it will be visible and easily recognizeable in Oklahoma City.
See more about the MAPS projects in KNOWIT.NEWSOK.COM/OKLAHOMA-CITY and more about Oklahoma Sites to visit in KNOWIT.NEWSOK.COM/TRAVEL-TIPS.
Acceptance
I believe one of the most difficult terms to understand when dealing with an addicted child is acceptance.
My experience has lead me to accept the fact that our children are not at fault. They did not choose to become addicted.
Here are other things I have come to accept:
* I have accepted that I did not cause the disease of addiction.
* I have accepted that I have absolutely no power to control the future actions of another person.
* I have learned that my own peace and serenity only can be restored and maintained if I accept addiction as a disease — a primary disease, a brain disease.
* I have accepted that I can trust God and through my trust in Him I can maintain a loving and caring detachment from the chaos that addiction creates.
* I have accepted the suffering that addiction has caused our family and our loved one. It is through this suffering that God now uses me for His purposes.
* I have accepted that there will be others who do not understand my pain but that my healing was made possible by those who do.
* I have accepted that I will not do for my child what he can do for himself.
* I have accepted that my own recovery is not completed. I will improve with each new day.
