For those people who are looking for something to do on July 4, there is a variety of activities to choose from in Pottawatomie County alone.
Shawnee’s 17th annual Red, White and Blue celebration is scheduled for Saturday evening at the Heart of Oklahoma Exposition Center. The gates will open at 6 p.m., with musical performances slated by Uncalled Four and Randy Houser.

THE ISSUE: Challenges and opportunities lie ahead

OUR STANCE: Commissioners are on the right path

Water and sewer rates are going to increase. Unfortunately, the city’s infrastructure needs in this area have mounted over the years and the projects identified are crucial to Shawnee having a safe water system and providing adequate sewer service as well.
Residential and commercial customers will have to ante up in order to pay for more than $55 million in capital needs related to water and sewer.

I’ve refrained from weighing in on the much publicized scuffle between an Oklahoma Highway Patrol trooper and a Creek County paramedic last month.
The incident took place near Paden and the ambulance was carrying a patient reportedly headed to the Prague hospital.

Reader agrees with guest editorial

I just wanted to say that Jamie Bergsten’s article the other day on watching what you say in front of children and doing what is right in front of children, was right on and it’s one of the best guest editorials I’ve read in a long time. Keep up the good work, Jamie.

Thank you Jo for your timely letter. I agree the obscene profits of insurance and pharmaceutical companies should be seized by the Health Reform Czar to pay for our right to public health care. Why should immoral advertising coerce us to pay till we bleed just so evil CEOs and lazy shareholders can smoke hundred dollar cigars and swill 40-year-old Scotch at their luxury villas.

Call your congressman and let them know that the bill they are voting on Friday shouldn’t be called cap and trade, it should be cap and steal. The Waxman-Markey Bill (HR 2454) is not a bill to clean the air or to clean water or to remove CO2 from the air, it is simply another route for government control and taxation.

 Despite criticisms to the contrary, I think a public health insurance plan is crucial to real health care reform. Insurance  and pharmaceutical lobbyists are smearing the public insurance option at every opportunity in order to protect their big profits.

It’s really all about fear, isn’t it? Fear that those who have “good” insurance will lose it; fear that those without insurance will never have any. Many are concerned about the cost to taxpayers and that we’re all becoming a bunch of commies.

Working together, the Shawnee Chamber of Commerce and the city of Shawnee have taken a major step to improve the appearance of Shawnee. They have created a partnership to move that goal foward. It all started with the chamber’s past chairmen committee when they invited the city planner from Norman to share their successes in making Norman the “Sixth Best Place to live in the U.S.” by Money Magazine.

Letter to the editor very well said
I just finished the letter to the editor by Barton D. West. Very well said Mr. West, very well said.

Residential and commercial users of the city’s water and sewer systems are sure to see a rate increase in the future. Exactly how much and when hikes might be put in place are still to be determined, but there’s little question they are coming.

In connection with the cleanup campaign which has been launched as a combined effort on the part of the city and the Greater Shawnee Chamber of Commerce, I checked the city’s Web site to determine the number of active cases and complaints on file.

This response is not directed at the American Legion, which we wholeheartedly support, nor is it meant to disparage Boys State, which is a phenomenal asset for the young men in Oklahoma.
Further, this letter is not an attack against Mr. Amerson, whom should be celebrated as a veteran of The Korean War. For your service, we sincerely thank you.

THE ISSUE: Keeping the momentum on the sports complex
OUR STANCE: Lease the property rather than purchase it.

Movement on Shawnee’s proposed regional sports complex continues to inch along. Several different city commissions have wrestled with this project since it was promised as one of the “Big Four” more than 10 years ago as voters approved making the third penny sales tax permanent.

The 2009 Legislative session generated a flurry of activity as legislators addressed several important topics such as tort reform, health care reform, reorganization of the child welfare system, and alternative energy initiatives. Balancing the state budget in a challenging economic climate was also a major accomplishment.

Receipt should be offered
In Tecumseh, utility bills are double the price they rightfully should be. I’m afraid to turn my air conditioner on this year because I know it’ll be a struggle to pay it. And wouldn’t it be nice here if they kindly handed us a receipt when we paid it instead of having to ask for one.

In response to Howard Hall’s most recent attack on Barack Hussein Obama, my first question in why do you continue to use his middle name. By now everyone in the world knows that Hussein is Obama’s middle name. The only possible excuse for its continued use by you and most other Republicans  is a feeble attempt at guilt by association.

I would like to thank those who have suggested a response to Joe Hall’s critical assessment of my letters to the editor. Put yourself in his shoes. How would you like to defend Barrack Hussein Obama? What would you say about his accomplishments since he has become president?

Ricky Dale Crain states in his letter that “legal realism,” results in having no law at all. I assume he means that if you interpret rather than just follow the law as written, there would be no absolute law that a person (or a court) could follow, and chaos, or worse yet, dreadful harm, would be visited on the populace.

During this year’s International Finals Youth Rodeo, two former contestants and a rodeo announcer who was killed last month will be inducted into its Hall of Fame. The IFYR is scheduled for July 13-18 at the Heart of Oklahoma Exposition Center.