I don’t know about the rest of you but it irks me to no end that some Americans don’t pay their fair share of taxes. For years, some of the richest among us have moved their money overseas to avoid paying taxes on it. That means our country has to either raise taxes on the rest of us or get deeper in debt.

The Shawnee Conservation District has announced that funds are available for cost-share assistance on ponds, critical area planting, grassed waterway, range planting, terrace, diversion, grade stabilization structure, pasture and hay planting, and nutrient management. The percentage of cost-share is 75 percent of the average cost, SCD officials said.

Shawnee, it is a reality, your teens are drinking. According to the 2008 Oklahoma Prevention Needs Assessment (OPNA), 85 percent of 12th graders who reported drinking alcohol consumed it at a friend’s house and 78 percent drank alcohol at a party within the last year. To bring these statistics close to home, 91 percent of Shawnee 12th graders consumed alcohol at a friend’s house and 82 percent drank it at a party.

I have been reading the articles on your website and in my local newspaper concerning Project K-9 sponsored by your organization and would say that the effort expanded by your employees is commendable and their efforts insured that this pet adoption fair was a total success.

Three Shawnee groups are finalists in the Keep Oklahoma Beautiful Environmental Excellence Competition. They will be recognized at the annual awards banquet on Tuesday evening, Nov. 17 at the Skirvin Hilton Hotel in Oklahoma City.

Weldon McGaw tells us that President Obama “said in one of his many speeches that we are no longer a christian nation.” He further tells us that he “got that from Obama himself” (letter 11-6-09). Neither of these statements is accurate.
The source of McGaw’s quotation is not Obama, but instead he got that from one of many e-mails circulating which misquote Obama.

Kudos to Fallin for voting against reform
Kudos to Mary Fallin for voting against the health care reform. With the last four presidents running the organizations that want global government instead of sovereignty, we should be jealous about what power we give them. Thank you Mary.

Two resolutions will be considered by the Shawnee Economic Development Foundation board during its meeting this morning.
One deals with the TIGER grant application and the other is in connection with the possible I-40 and Bryan Street interchange.

Strike the big tent Republicans. In the special elections last Tuesday, Republicans Bob McDonnell and Chris Christie won their respective races while Conservative Doug Hoffman came out of nowhere losing his race by only 3 percent. Their message: Conservatism. There was no talk of reaching across the aisle or expanding the Republican tent. 

I am writing to you in  regards to my daughter. She attends Sequouah Elementary School. She had an incident in school on Oct. 26. She was playing on the monkey bars when three boys from the same grade came over and hit her in the stomach and hurt her. She fell down off the monkey bars onto the dirt, then the three boys had jumped on her back.

Down through the years, we have seen the leadership change between Democrats and Republicans. Myself being registered as a Republican (only because there is nothing else to the right), never got too upset when the Democrats won. I always knew next time we would have another chance and things stayed pretty well balanced.

Senator Coburn is thinking very carefully about our vets on this Veteran’s Day because several Veteran’s organizations are calling him and pleading with him to release his hold on SB 1963, the Veterans’ Caregiver and Omnibus Health Benefits Act of 2009.

In the year 2000, Commissioners of the Land Office (CLO) determined the city’s easement for the majority of 360 acres of school land along the shoreline of Shawnee Lake No.1 reverted back to the state because 28 acres had been leased as cabin sites instead of being used for the reservoir.

I have a personal story to share that may influence your vote in the up coming Shawnee School Bond election.
From 1985 to 1989 I was assigned to Will Rogers Elementary School as principal. In 1989 I accepted the position of elementary principal in a neighboring school district. The third grade classes were located in an older building with a flat roof. The principal’s office, teachers work room and attendance office were also located there.

Thanks for sponsoring Project Canine, helping puppies
I just wanted to call and thank the Shawnee News-Star for sponsoring Project Canine. These puppies, these dogs, they needed homes and they needed them now. I think people were a little mean spirited who were objecting to this. I wasn’t able to adopt a dog but I did give some money to help buy food and I just really thank the Tri-County Humane Society. I didn’t know that we had one and I’m just so glad we have one. God bless you.

Oklahoma’s Department of Transportation is hosting a series of meetings across the state as it looks at its long range transportation plan. One of these is planned for Shawnee on Nov. 16, at Gordon Cooper Technology Center, from 4 until 6 p.m. It will be held in the dining room.

The people who rescued the dogs from the puppy mill may have been trying to be good Samaritans, but they were not using proper procedures. There are numerous rescue groups in this state, and they are all trying to reach the goal of no more homeless pets, and they never release an animal to a new home without being spayed or neutered.

In light of your recent articles regarding the current condition of Shawnee High School, I would like to emphasize the significance of the problem and its implications for the health of students.
I am a member of the senior class of Oklahoma Baptist University’s School of Nursing, and there is a Community Health course included in our curriculum. Within this course, a project focusing on health needs in a community has been assigned among eight groups.

My letter dated 11-04-09 drew heavy fire on the statement that we weren’t a christian nation. I have to tell you that I got that from Obama himself. He said in one of his many speeches that we were no longer a christain nation.

There’s a whole lot to like about the City of Shawnee! The vitality of any city is directly tied to the willingness of its citizens to recognize and act in behalf of present and future needs. The fruits of this vitality can be seen all around us in our Convention Center, new “state of the art” mid school, coming Kickapoo road project, and the new business starts and expansions seen around town.