OCPAC e-mail - Snooping around Oklahoma

[Charlie Meadows]

Members and friends of the Oklahoma Conservative Political Action Committee (OCPAC)

++  AGENDA FOR THIS WEEK’S MEETING

++  LAST WEEK’S MEETING WITH KAMAL SALEEM

++  SNOOPING AROUND OKLAHOMA

++  AGENDA FOR THIS WEEK’S MEETING

Our 12 noon meeting for Wednesday, August 6th 2014, will be held at Olivet Baptist Church, 1201 Northwest 10th street in OKC. First on the agenda for this week’s meeting will be the 23 minute DVD, Constitution Si! AMNESTY NO! Following that presentation I will give an overview of the two committees I have recently served on regarding Oklahoma’s education standards. In June I served on a 3 day committee sponsored by McGraw Hill and the State Department of Education to determine cut markers for the 8th grade U.S. History tests. Then in July I served on a 2 day committee to make the final edits and recommendations for some of the new questions to be used on the 8th grade U.S. History tests for the year 2015 or 2016. I signed an agreement not to reveal content, but I am allowed to discuss the process. I might also give an opinion as to the value of these assessments and tests to the overall concept of good or bad education and the attempt to hold the government schools to high standards of accountability. We will not record this meeting, so if you want to hear this information you will need to attend.  

++  LAST WEEKS MEETING WITH KAMAL SALEEM

We had a large crowd last week to hear the former Muslim Brotherhood member, Kamal Saleem  now turned Christian, speak about history and our culture war. While he got started a little slow, his message turned into very strong substance and a real eye opener to Muslim signs and symbolisms, especially applied to President Obama. His grasp of Saul Alinsky’s rules for radicals and how Obama is working those ideas was very sobering. Understanding what Obama meant when he recently said he was in the final part of his presidency so “let it rip” is imperative if you want to know how he thinks and what motivates him. 

Kamal closed with an answer to his Muslim critics who are trying to destroy his reputation and silence him, then he gave his testimony and why he has an answer for the hope within him. I urge folks to view this presentation. Log on to our web site and click onto the video link www.Oklahomacpac.com.    

++  SNOOPING AROUND OKLAHOMA

A couple of times each year my wife and I take little mini trips to different parts of Oklahoma to snoop around and see what we can learn and find of interest. For those that might find such a report interesting following will be some of the details of our most recent trip, leaving home late Saturday morning and returning late Monday afternoon. 

Our first stop was Stillwater to do some shopping for clothes at the local western wear store as I am in favor of avoiding the sales tax on clothing. Then we headed up the back roads toward Pawhuska, going through towns such as Rolston and Fairfax on the way to Highway 60. Once on 60 and heading east, about 8 miles outside of Pawhuska, my wife spotted the entry sign for the Drummond ranch, home of the very popular Pioneer Woman show shown on the food channel locally on Saturday mornings. We had not been in this area since around 1995 or so. With all the recent rains, Oklahoma is a beautiful green for this time of the year. 

Once in Pawhuska, we stopped at the local museum to check out the location of the first Boy Scout Troop in America and see the other offerings of the Museum. When we approached the door it had a closed sign which caused us to turn away. However a docent had seen us and followed us toward our car to apologize as they had just received new display cases and were closed to change out the displays. That led to a wonderful conversation with this Osage/Cherokee woman of Christian Faith about her life and family from this area. She just couldn’t resist so we quickly found ourselves in the museum with a guided tour which ended in a special room full of new as well as older duplicate books which were for sale to help raise funds for the museum. I was quite happy to contribute for a book written in 2006 under the title:  OSAGE COUNTY - A TRIBE AND AMERICAN CULTURE 1600-1934. 

Since the motel offerings in Pawhuska are a little less than what my wife likes, we were off to Bartlesville for the next 2 nights. It didn’t take me long to find Murphy’s Steak House where they have a 25 ounce sirloin steak for two with giant baked potatoes and salads for only $23. On the back of all the wait staff’s shirts is the saying: “covered in gravy”. Though we didn’t have any gravy with our meal, I later found out the original owner of Murhpy’s had the saying engraved on his cemetery marker.

Early Sunday afternoon we drove the 12 miles southwest of Bartlesville to see Frank Phillips’ getaway ranch known as Woolaroc. At one time it was made up of 14,000 acres, but land was sold off until today there remains 3,600 acres which is a little less than 6 square miles. The name Woolaroc stands for woods, lakes and rocks which is an accurate description of the ranch. 

They have a beautiful entry way which did not exist the last time we were there. The admission is $10 for adults, $8 for seniors and free for those 11 and under. Once inside, we saw an abundance of wildlife even a white deer. On the one-way road toward the cabin and museum we got caught in the middle of a bison (nicknamed buffalo) herd that decided to take the road, they weren’t in a hurry, which allowed us plenty up close viewing of this large heard of bulls, cows and calves.

Finally a cow and calf moved over enough for us to slide by. I could have lowered my window and patted her, we were that close. During that time we had an opportunity to see one bison after another go to a small cupped area of dirt surrounded by grass to lay down and roll in the dirt in an attempt to reduce the number of flies and insects on their bodies. The cupped out area is known as a buffalo waller. As a small boy my dad took me to the place near the old town of Port where he grew up as a boy to see some of the few buffalo wallers still remaining at that time. I have seen just a few more of them during my lifetime, but this was the first time I have actually seen them being used by bison. As we continued on we saw Zebra, real African water buffalo, one of the worlds more dangerous animals, and a beautiful display area for mountain goats. 

The museum I would guess is about three fourths the size of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Center in OKC. It is chocked full of original Remington and Russell art works as well as many other western and Indian artists in addition to other artifacts. In the original part of the building hangs the airplane know as “WOOLAROC”. The airplane became famous when it took first place in the 1927 Dole Pineapple race from San Francisco to Hawaii. Out of the original 15 entrants only 9 took off and then only 4 or 5 of them finished with the rest crashing or being lost at sea. The Woolaroc touted a new lightweight aviation fuel from Phillips 66 which became a huge boost to the overall Phillips brand after the race victory.

Of course my favorite part of Woolaroc is the log cabin built by Frank Phillips. Even though he built a mansion in Bartlesville, his real preference was the cabin at the ranch. There were several guest rooms where it was considered a real privilege by wealthy financiers, movie stars and politicians to spend time. Phillips was an adventurous fellow who admired and was admired by the American Indians. One of the big events he sponsored each year was a gathering of law enforcement officers, military veterans and outlaws. The outlaws were granted a one day amnesty and even though none of the really bad outlaws with large rewards on their heads attended, many of those in attendance had been arrested and put in prison by some of the law officers present. The wide angle photo of one of these gatherings was fascinating. 

We left there and made the loop back around toward Pawhuska, driving through the town of Barnsdall Oklahoma. There are 2 famous people who once lived in Barnsdall, the less famous is Anita Bryant, former Miss Oklahoma and first runner-up in the Miss America contest, I would guess in about 1961 or so. She went on to a major singing career before her comments about what I will call “homofascists” caused them to try and destroy her. The other person far more famous than Anita Bryant was the movie star Clark Gable. We made it Pawhuska to visit the Tall Grass Prairie Preserve a few miles northwest of town. We knew the visitor center was closed so we didn’t go all the way to that facility. Though tall grass prairies once covered millions of acres throughout the central portion of the U.S., not much is left today. This 35,000 acre preserve is the largest area left in our nation today. If you are ever in the area and only have time to see just one of these venues, Woolaroc is far more interesting with much more to see and do. 

We arrived back to Bartlesville in time to visit the replica of the Nellie Johnston #1 oil well rig, placed on the site of the actual well. The well, the first in Oklahoma, came in as a gusher in March of 1897. The wooden derricks of that day could be assembled or disassembled by a crew of 6 in about 6 days. Guided tours can be arranged, but the placards do a good job of explaining the operations of the well.

From there we visited the local Wallmart to finish our tax free clothing shopping, good until next year about this time. Then we headed up to Dewey to locate the Tom Mix Museum which is right across the street from the Hotel Dewey Museum. We knew they would not be open at any time during our visit to the area, but we wanted to locate them for a future visit. Since we were so close to Caney Kansas, we buzzed up there, simply to say we have been there. Upon returning to our hotel, it was almost 10 p.m. and we were worn out.

Monday morning we were up and went to see the campus of Oklahoma Wesleyan University. This is a very highly rated and conservative Christian University. The campus is beautiful, Spanish in style and pristine in its up-keep. At the heart of the campus is the La Quinta Mansion, built from 1929 to 1932 by the local oil baron H.V. Foster. At one time he was considered to be the wealthiest man west of the Mississippi. 

As an interesting side note, Foster built this mansion, another smaller in size next to it for his in-laws and another similar in size at his ranch just about 10 miles south southwest of Bartlesville. While the ranch is still in the family, he did these projects in the early parts of the great depression. 

So here is my question, for all the class envy-hate mongering liberals and progressives, should this man be severely criticized for building such extravagant, in your face, mansions during such a tough time for many in society? If you answer yes, then you are blind to what is good and foolish in your criticism. Mr. Foster employed many craftsmen for 4 years in building such beautiful places. In fact, it was his goal to hire craftsmen who were married with families as his way in helping people through the tough times of the depression. By building extravagance and opulence it took much longer to build and required many additional specialized craftsmen. That is called free market re-distribution of wealth and is a good thing. Thank God for wealthy people who are willing to spend their money which provides jobs for those with sought after skills.

Now back to the University, until the new library was recently built, the La Quinta Mansion was being used as the campus library. Today, it is probably 75% finished to serve as the administration building. Every effort is being made to make this mansion functional in the 21st Century while at the same time trying to preserve its original look as much as possible. It is open for tours from 8:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. on weekdays. 

While there we bumped into Dr. Piper, President of Oklahoma Wesleyan along with his wife. While visiting we got some of the inside scoop on future plans for the University. I would guess Dr. Piper has been President for a dozen or so years and during that time the University has experienced 150% growth in student enrollment. They are expecting record enrollment for the 2014/15 school year.

When it comes to a balance of good academics, a solid spiritual and moral environment and the teaching of a Judeo/Christian world view, there are only 3 universities in Oklahoma for which I have much respect. Of those, I would put Oklahoma Wesleyan at the top of the list. 

We left there and made one more stop in the area on our way home. A few miles west of Bartlesville, just north of highway 60, is the home of The Keepsake Candle Factory and Country Store. This handmade candle business began on a kitchen stove in 1970 and today sells their candles all across the nation and around the world. Unfortunately, I received a call while in the gift shop and couldn’t watch closely as the friendly lady giving us a guided tour was plotting along with my wife as to the amount of candles we should purchase. I shudder to think about he amount as we walked out with 2 large bags of candles. My wife assured me some of them were to be gifts if that makes a difference. I will know once I get our credit card statement?

Often times folks ask how we know so much about Oklahoma. The answer is rather simple as we invest time and energy to read, go places and learn. Then when on the road, we search out interesting places, people and of course unique local restaurants rather than the usual corporate fare. This type of learning is not boring, but actually a lot of fun and very educational. We have made these little mini trips all over the state over the past 40 years. Oklahoma has many different looks and is a fascinating place, especially given the fact we have only been a state for 107 years which is much less than half my lifetime. More families ought to try family outings such as what I have just described, you will create lasting memories especially if you tie them into history. 

I look forward to seeing everyone this Wednesday.

Charlie Meadows

Charlie...@gmail.com    

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