December 16, 2023 Issue, Page 1 of 10

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Serving Western Oklahoma Since 1901es ota. Weekend Edition SPSF recognizes 2023-24 teachers grant winner at recent basketball season opener \BBB Ee bie Sze~ tema ee i Day Ds | Si thescind dollars 7 By Sheryl Ponce Sunday,” Simon explained. He said that the tractors are 1961 John Deere 3010 Diesels, This year's Elk City Chamber of Commerce special ornament and after that first Sunday evening debut, everyone came up to ‘The Sayre Public School Foundation was established in and t-shirt honors Jason Simon's pink tractor that was debuted him, asking him how long it took him to paint the tractor over- night. That was the point he was trying to make with it. 1993 for the sole purpose of promoting public education in at the 80th anniversary of the Elk City Rodeo of Champions. our community. Members of the Foundation board are par- What is the story and history about this iconic tractor? Better “My dad found that one over by Berlin, it was in the front yard ents, professionals, and community leaders, independent of yet, is there another tractor coming? of the property. Dad new the guy that hadit. It had been there for the school board and administration, who are dedicated to ex- Elk City graduate Jason Simon has been serving on the ro- years and years. Through a coffee shop transaction, we ended up cellence in education. deo board since 2010, and on the 80th anniversary of the rodeo, with it,” Simon laughed. e Foundation’s largest project is the Grants to Teachers he wanted to do something special for the anniversary. Sunday He still uses the original green tractor on his farm, although Program which annually awards educational grants to teach- was the breast cancer awareness night called, “Tough Enough not very often, but the pink one is saved for the rodeo parade, the ers for creative programs that enhance learning. ese grants to Wear Pink,” which is why it was specifically found and built: rodeo, and hayrides during the Chamber's Moonlight Madness. are awarded with interest earned from an endowment fund “We have a green John Deere tractor, a green and yellow one, “[t’s really been a lot of fun. It certainly turns your heads when that was established in 1993. Our students bene t directly you drive it into town. It really does,” Simon said. from the innovative and stimulating additions to the regular and that was the whole point. I wanted the tractor to be like a curriculum that are made possible by the Grants to Teachers twin sister to it. My dad, Carl Simon, went around looking for Simon’s father died in 2020, and the best part of the tractor is program and in turn, the entire community reaps the bene ts one. He called me one day, and he said had found something that Carl was able to debut the tractor at the rodeo. For over 30 of o ering citizens a top-quality educational system. Teachers that was different, but that would not work. It absolutely had to years, he drove the tractor each night of the rodeo, dragging the are invited to apply for the grants each year before the Foun- be an identical twin to the one that we have. I wanted it to look arena, and although Simon has taken over his father’s job, he was dation’s September board meeting where they are reviewed. like it changed its clothes (at the rodeo), and it worked. We ran pleased that Carl was able to see the project through. At their September board meeting, the Foundation ap- the green one Friday and Saturday nights, and the pink one on See Tractor page 2. proved $37,022.44 in grants for the 2023-24 school year and the grant materials have been delivered to the following re- cipients: Adult Educators Learn about Current Drug Trends + Caitlyn Maccauley » Sharon Cummins + Tara Tignor + Kari Johnson + Andra Wyatt “The kids are listening to this, so our job as parents, educa- + Cheyenne Jones tors, professionals, grandparents, and neighbors, is to keep our + Millie Greene kids off the destructive path of substance abuse. It is getting + Brittney Hill + Charlene Carter harder and harder when they're being told certain drugs are not + Katie Swint dangerous anymore. It’s now a mess. I have seen marijuana, in + Shea Bales my 20 years in the Drug Enforcement department, and realize + Chrisinda Fairless » Jamey Guy any drug in our culture that now says it is medicine and should + Melissa Lewman+ Cynthia Helton be legalized into mainstream, which is unregulated, and that + Staci Barker anybody who wants it, can get it, and less restrictive becomes a + Kristy Phyillaier mess,” Woodward said. + Amanda Swint He went on to say that marijuana tells the brain, “I love how + Nick Fowler this makes me feel.” It is taking problems away and makes the + Catherine York person feel good. There are 355,000 people in Oklahoma who + Jennifer Crabb have their marijuana card, which is ten percent of the popula- + Amanda Greer tion. “Kids don’t have to sneak around to get marijuana anymore. See Award page 2. ‘These kids are getting it from a relative now, they're not sneaking around behind shop class in high school. Parents are not batting an eye about it because the parents are saying, ‘Hey, it’s just re- laxing’ Once the brain figures out the behavior finds the way it wants to feel, it wants to feel that way all the time. If it doesn’t, (feel that way) it’s going to fight back. Marijuana says, ‘Wow, I | K love this behavior.’ We're talking about 9- 10- and 11-year old’s vaping marijuana in our middle schools, that's our sixth and sev- ie enth graders,” Woodward continued. Woodward has been speaking in small towns. There he has By Sheryl Ponce seen younger kids using marijuana because their brains have convinced them they are not able to make it through the day At the end of last month, the Western Technology Centers without having anxiety or depression. Adults seem to be justify- Adult Education teachers attended a AEFL and Oklahoma Lit- ing their intoxicating behavior by saying it makes them feel bet- eracy Council Conference in Guthrie, where they learned about ter. Although Woodward did not talk about the medical benefits current drug trends from Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and of the drug, but only what he has seen in the communities, Dangerous Drugs Control's Public Information Officer, Mark “L call it (marijuana) the Trojan horse because we look at the Woodward. outside of this thing. We said it’s beautiful, we want it in our Woodward talked about the dangers of marijuana, calling it building. So we opened up our gates and we rolled it in. We didn’t the “trojan horse and the elephant in the room.” He said that want to talk about the dark inside that we were going to unleash it is one of the intoxicating substances that are now reclassi- into our buildings. We knew what was coming because we had Chapter GX of PEO President, Nan Shiblom, presents fied or downplayed. Marijuana has been classified as a harmless seen what happened in California, which passed medical mari- her donated quilt to the winners of their Pat Sprowls drug that will cure medical problems and bring money into the Memorial Scholarship fundraiser. They are Tammy and schools. He disputed these claims. See Trends page 8. David Atkinson. Courtesy photo. 8 1M 04879 "13151 6 Weather tomorrow 45/ 28 Vol. 120, No. 100 75 cents, 10 pgs. Mail delivery 580.225.3000 View online elkcityoknews.com