September 17, 2019 Issue, Page 1 of 10

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y Serving ; Western Oklahoma 4 | Since 1901 ‘Tuesday, September 17, 2019 Weekday Editi Medicaid expansion on ballot a Zz a campaign holds meeting in Elk City \ w) #8 Safest Cities in Oklahoma more about gathering signatures for Medicaid expansion to ~ MovetoRealEstate (based on FBI Uniform Crime Report) be placed on the ballot in Oklahoma. #4 Best Towns for a Young Family The Yes on 802 campaign sponsored the signature-collec- - NerdWallet tion training in Elk City, and it also held trainings across the #4 Best Town to Start a New Business state in Tahlequah, Ponca City and Alva on Sept 10. {g NerdWallet (36 new businesses in 36 months) e Supporters learned how to properly collect signatures to = a = help put Medicaid expansion on the ballot. They must gather This sign in Ackley Park shows recent qual- the 178,000 signatures required by the Oct. 28 deadline. ity of life measures in Elk City. The city just After the signatures are turned in, the secretary of state got some new data about its safety status counts the signatures and then turns them over to the gov- compared to other cities in the state. Staff ernor. photo by Don Munsch. “We hope that it will be on the ballot sometime in 2020,” said Amber England, Yes on 802 campaign manager, who Elk City receives high presided over the meeting in Elk City. “The law says it has to be on in the next general election. But the governor could ratings on safety put it on a primary ballot, or he could call a special election. By Don Munsch, Editor There’s no precedent that it would actually go beyond No- Elk City has made the top 10 in a couple of lists that vember 2020, but we actually lose control of the timelines, track safe cities in Oklahoma for 2019. so to speak. We’re hoping for a 2020 election.” The city is ranked second in one poll, conducted by Supporters said State Question 802 would bring more than Background Checks.org, and was ranked seventh by Safe- a billion of Oklahoma tax dollars back from Washington ev- Wise. ery year to deliver healthcare for nearly 200,000 Oklaho- Background Checks said Elk City has “remarkably low Corey Lively, chief executive officer of Great mans, help keep rural hospitals open, boost local economies crime numbers,” as it logged a “mere nine violent crimes Plains Regional Medical Center in Elk City, and create thousands of jobs. in 2017 for an average below 1 violent crime per 1,000 discusses the Yes on 802 ballot initiative at “This issue is extremely important to me for a couple rea- [people].” a training session last week at the hospital. son,” said England, who hails from Lone Grove, in southern The group said it uses the most recent FBI crime statis- Standing behind him is Amber England, Yes Oklahoma. “No. 1, I understand what it means to be in ru- tics to create state rankings. on 802 campaign manager. Staff photo by Don ral Oklahoma and see a hospital close and know what that “There were initially 7,430 cities in the data set,” Back- Munsch. means to patient care and access to care and potentially that ground Checks said in a news release. “After filtering out By Don Munsch, Editor it could mean life or death in many cases.” the cities with populations of less than 10,000, 2,929 cit- A handful of people attended a regional training meeting She also said her father worked 37 years at a Michelin tire ies remained. We then calculated violent crime rates and Sept. 10 at Great Plains Regional Medical Center to learn See 802 page 2. property crime rates by dividing the crime numbers by the population to get rates per 1,000. We also calculated the First-time run event to benefit ratio of law enforcement workers to per 1,000. These were weighted with -50% for the violent crime rate, -25% for the property crime rate, and +25% for the law enforcement rate. The resulting metric gave us the safety index score. Lincoln Teen Center The higher this number, [the] more safe the city is.” Another rating service, SafeWise, in a report issued in February, said Elk City’s violent crime rate is 0.75 per By Don Munsch, Editor See High ratings page 2. People interested in participating in the first Run Elk City on Sept. 29 have plenty of time to register. several different ideas.” The event, which will raise money for the Lincoln Teen The group thought about updating the miniature golf Center in Elk City, starts at Ackley Park and will include course at Ackley Park, but Community Action Project Plans a full marathon, half marathon, 5k and | mile fun run. The money will pay for that, Ellis said. Approved by voters in marathon and half marathon begin at 7 a.m., the Sk starts at February, CAPPs pays for a number of projects in Elk City, 8 a.m. and fun run starts at 9 a.m. including an indoor activity facility, through an extension of As of Friday, the event had 67 runners, up from 49 on the existing Pioneer Sales Tax. Sept. 10, said organizer Stephanie Ellis. Most of the runners. “So we started looking for something that may not be get- are doing the 5k, and at last count, she said about 10 people ting any money from the CAPPs initiative and one of those signed up for the marathon. All participants will receive a things was the Lincoln Teen Center,” Ellis said. T-shirt and medal. Maps are online at the Run Elk City web- Representatives from the Lincoln Teen Center can decide site. how best to use the money, but most likely it’s going to go Registration is $75 for the marathon, $50 for the half-mar- toward a dropped ceiling in their gym and some air condi- athon, $30 for 5k and $25 for the fun run. All proceeds go to tioning updates, Ellis said. the Lincoln Teen Center. Justice Rheaume, director of the Lincoln Teen Center, said The event is a project of Elk City Leadership Class VI. In he appreciated the support of the Run Elk City. The teen the past, Elk City Leadership Class projects have included center is a non-profit, non-denominational youth ministry downtown benches and the Thunder basketball court. that works with the local school district, churches and city- “Part of giving back to the community that has helped us sponsored youth programs to meet various needs of the teen learn so much about Elk City and around [the area] is rais- population, according to its website. ing money to give back,” Ellis said. “So we went through See Run Elk City page 2. MODA awards grants to area towns, cities The Board of Directors of the Midwestern Oklahoma De- officials said. years, and has served as its CEO since 1990. velopment Authority recently awarded grants totaling more The funds go toward everything from splash pads to play- “I want to remind cities/towns that are included in the than $88,000 dollars to nine area cities and towns, according ground equipment to leadership workshops to firefighting four-county area that MODA serves (Washita, Beckham, to a release from MODA. equipment. Cities and towns compete for the funds each Custer, Kiowa) to seriously consider applying for these The grants are awarded each year for community devel- year. Total funds awarded are based on a formula devised yearly grants,” said Board Chairman Don Greteman, in the opment and economic growth, and cities qualifying for the by the MODA Board of Directors. release. “Although the requirements are stringent and re- grants can receive up to $25,000 if their projects meet cer- “It is always the highlight of my year when we can award quire matching funds from the grant applicants, the time and tain criteria. Cities receiving grants this year were Sentinel, these grants,” said Kathy Carlisle, chief executive officer of effort is certainly worth it.” Cordell, Carter, Corn, Lone Wolf, Rocky, Roosevelt, Sayre MODA, in the release. “If MODA can help in some small The MODA Board of Directors include Chairman Don and Weatherford. way to lessen the financial burdens these cities/towns face, Greteman, Burns Flat; Guy Hilton, Sayre; Jimmy Ingram, The cities often use the funds to improve existing pro- then we have fulfilled our mission at MODA.” Weatherford; Rick Wiest, Cordell; Lee Litterell, Elk City; grams or use the monies for entirely new projects, MODA Carlisle has worked for the Authority for more than 40 and Jason Hulin, Clinton. ALCAN Weather tomorrow / 69 Vol. 117, No. 75 75 cents, 10 pgs. Mail delivery 580.225.3000 View online elkcityoknews.com