OCPAC – Criminal Trespass by Turnpike Authority?
John Michener
1. Program August 31: Candidate Interviews
2. Criminal Trespass of Turnpike Authority?
3. Primary Results
1. Program August 31. This Wednesday at noon at Mama Roja we will interview Avery Frix, Republican candidate for House District 13 (Muskogee, McIntosh). The seat is being vacated by term-limited Democrat Rep. Jerry McPeak. We will also interview Erin Adams, Libertarian candidate for House District 33 (Logan, Payne). The seat is being vacated by term-limited Republican Rep. Lee Denney.
2. Criminal Trespass by Turnpike Authority? State officials and agencies often act in lawless ways without consequence. They set themselves above the law. Once upon a time, officials took the trouble to pass special provisions to “legitimize” inappropriate behavior, but these days they need not bother. The citizenry have become so ignorant of moral principles and so complacent toward abuse of authority that officials do what they like simply because they are officials. Duped Christians believe they are duty-bound to submit to any action by any governing authority. This mentality has become so prevalent that the lawless behavior is spreading from state agencies to private companies and contractors who work for the state. Here is a recent example of this arrogance and criminal trespass.
The Oklahoma
Turnpike Authority (OTA), a public-private partnership, hired MacArthur
Associated Consultants (MAC), a private firm, to complete a preliminary survey
as part of its plans to build a turnpike loop around the northeast side of the
metro. The consultants will need
permission from landowners to enter private property in order to complete the
survey. To obtain the necessary
permission, OTA/MAC sent letters to the targeted land owners “requesting”
access. We put requesting in quotation
marks because the letter says, “If no response is received…we will assume we
have your permission to enter your property…”
You read that correctly. A private company, assuming the same arrogant stance as the state, is acting as though it can exercise eminent domain even before the property has been stolen. How well would this approach to permission go over if you or I tried to gain a free night’s stay at the Holiday Inn? We could mail a letter to the hotel manager stating, “We want to stay in your hotel Friday night. If we have not received a letter of rejection by Thursday night at midnight, then we will assume we have your permission to enter the honeymoon suite and use the sauna.” This is the argument being advanced by OTA.
Read the OTA/MAC letter here, and here is the appropriate response from landowner Frank Volpe.
3. Primary Results. Two of our endorsed candidates lost their runoff elections: Amanda Teegarden and Paul Blair. Two of our endorsed candidates won their runoff elections: Joe Newhouse and Scott McEachin.
Additional Notes
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· We currently meet on Wednesdays at noon at Mama Roja Mexican Kitchen.
· The views expressed in this email are the personal opinion of John Michener and do not necessarily reflect the views of OCPAC, its leadership team, or its members.