Today is the deadline to make reservations for the annual planning session of the Greater Shawnee Area Chamber of Commerce. The day-long session is scheduled for Thursday, Oct. 29, at Remington Park in Oklahoma City in the Eclipse Suite.
Theme for the planning retreat is “Our community must meet the challenges which lie ahead.”
Addressing quality of life issues and providing solutions requires strong leadership and that will be among the challenges the participants will be asked to begin focusing on during the planning session. This will be the third consecutive year the chamber has gone to Remington for the event, and is based on chamber members who have indicated they prefer to return there rather than travel further and spend the night away.
The day begins with registration at 8:30 a.m. Those attending should find the session informative and it will be interactive with question and answer periods, along with breakout sessions.
Shawnee City Manager Brian McDougal and some of his staff will lead a panel discussion on the status of some of the projects under way and already planned for this fiscal year, any of which are anticipated in the near future, and the critical issues facing the community.
Georgie Rosco, director of the Oklahoma City Neighborhood Alliance, will give a presentation on some of the efforts, successes and challenges faced in helping clean up portions of the state’s largest city.
Shawnee’s Community Development Director Justin Erickson will update the participants on the joint campaign of the city and the chamber regarding code enforcement, Operation Paintbrush and efforts to make the city more business friendly.
Kirk Humphreys, who served as Oklahoma City mayor from 1999-2003, was a former president of the Oklahoma City School Board and who also was involved with the Putnam City School district, will be keynote speaker. He will discuss the successes and the challenges in the metropolitan area.
Gordona Rowell, executive director of the Convention and Visitor Bureau, will talk about the proposed visitor’s center for which the land has been purchased.
And Shawnee School superintendent Marilyn Bradford will address the group, discussing the upcoming bond issue next month.
There will be break-out groups on education, led by Joe Ford and Marta Land; code enforcement headed up by Anne Maloy Coke; and water moderated by Dr. Joe Taron, recently appointed by Gov. Brad Henry to the Oklahoma Water Resources Board.
Each participant will be in two of the break-out groups and presentations by each of the moderators will precede dinner which begins at 6 p.m.
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Shawnee’s Trick or Treat night has been set for Saturday night, Oct. 31. Police Chief Russell Frantz says it will be from 5:30 p.m. to 9 p.m., same as last year.
That is considered Halloween night. However, occasionally, in previous years, Trick or Treat has been set for a different evening.
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Steve Burrage, Oklahoma’s State Auditor and Inspector, will present a free non-nonsense informative session that reveals the high stakes hazards of fraud and theft in an organization.
The session will be held on Thursday, Nov. 5, at the Greater Shawnee Chamber of Commerce and begin at 11:30 a.m. For those wanting lunch that day, the cost is $10. For attendees not requiring lunch, the session is free.
The presentation by Burrage is being sponsored by Youth and Family, the Shawnee Chamber and the Local United Way.
The Association of Certified Fraud Examiners estimates the annual cost of internal theft in the U.S. is seven percent of revenues. Nationwide, that amounts to $994 million, the association states.
To register for the seminar Nov. 5, please contact Joy at Youth and Family at 275-3340 or e-mail joy@hopehouseonline.org.
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Shawnee’s Planning Commission has a full agenda for its meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 27, in the commission chambers at city hall.
Among the agenda items is a request by Roger Klaus and John Winterringer to install deer crossing signs at each end of Elm Street and Independence and Elm and Bradley along with the corner of Bryan and Bradley.
There is a consideration of a request from Carol and Douglas Shoemaker, 420 S. Leo, to request OG&E to install a street light on the pole by their driveway and for the city to pay for the monthly electrical charges.
Delbert Totty, who is member of the Planning Commission, has several requests. They include providing left turn lanes at unmarked entrances to the mall from the access road; initiating no left turns at Union and Highland, Beard and Highland and Broadway and Highland, east/westbound only; and installing a no left turn sign at Poplar and Kickapoo on the southbound side.
The meeting begins at 6 p.m. and is open to the public.
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The Central Oklahoma Cattle Conference will be held in Chandler Thursday, Oct. 29, at the Agri-Civic Center in Chandler. The conference will begin at 8:30 a.m. and conclude about 3 p.m., Mick Jones, Lincoln County Extension Ag/4-H and CED said.
The conference is being sponsored by the OSU Cooperative Extension Service and Lincoln County Cattle Producers Association.
Those planning to attend should go to the OSU Extension Office in the Lincoln County Courthouse to make reservations as soon as possible, Jones said. The $10 per person covers the meal and written handout materials made available to all participants. Tickets at the door will be $15.
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If you have ideas or something of interest for this column, call 214-3922 or e-mail michael.mccormick@news-star.com. Include name and phone number for contact purposes.
SHAWNEE, Okla. —
