Lonnie & Lew Ann Wynn awarded Garden of the Season

WELCH—Lonnie and Lew Ann Wynn are the recipients of the Redbud Garden Club’s “Garden of the Season” award for Spring 2010. Their yard, at 424 S. Jefferson in Welch, features beautiful trees and flowers on all sides of the house in both the front and back yards.

Both Lonnie and Lew Ann grew up in Welch, and they have lived at their current residence since 1980, adding on to the house in the early ’90s. Their son, Tyson (your humble WelchOK.com publisher and executive editor), and daughter, Shelby, grew up in this home, which is now also the residence of dogs Tinkerbell and Tess.

Lonnie is employed by C.T. Construction, which builds and refurbishes convenience stores and travel centers (most recently remodeling Snack City in Vinita). Lew Ann has worked at the Miami Housing Authority for twelve years.

The Wynns pose next to their backyard water garden

The Wynns' voodoo lily plant, which is very beautiful when it blooms but also smells like rotting meat

WELCH—The Welch FCCLA chapter has scheduled a blood drive at the Welch Civic Auditorium, Mon., May 10, 2010, from noon-5 p.m. Every potential donor will receive a free t-shirt. Welch FCCLA is in the running to win a $500 scholarship, and last year Welch FCCLA was #2 in the state for school of its size.

This event has been added to our Community Calendar.

Want to donate blood? Here’s a link to the Red Cross’s site about preparing to donate blood.

And here’s a video about the donation process:

WELCH—Shawn Goodwin has emailed us asking to spread the word that the Welch physical education department would appreciate the donation of any old baseball or softball mitts you have laying around. We thought this would be a great opportunity to have a little fun.

So here it is:

Bring your mitts by the WelchOK.com offices at 361 S. Commercial (just north of the post office on main street) and we’ll collect them for delivery to the Welch PE dept. For every mitt you donate, you will get one (1) entry into the WelchOK.com drawing for a $50 Wal-Mart gift card. So take this opportunity to get rid of an old mitt you have laying around, make things better for the PE kids at school, and get a chance for a little Wal-Mart green (and you might even save a few cows, if you’re into that kinda thing). We’ll have the drawing Fri., May 7, 2010, at 3:30 p.m.

Kids who wish to donate mitts must have their parents’ permission. Odds of winning depend on the number of entries. Our offices are open most regular business hours, but if we’re not here when you come by, please try again!

Your Prom King & Queen

JOPLIN, Mo.—Welch students and their dates met at The Bridge in Joplin Friday night for the annual tradition known as prom. After eating on their own, the formal-attired Wildcats snacked, talked, and danced the night away. After the prom was over, junior class parents hosted attendees in another portion of The Bridge for after-prom activities, which included wall climbing, basketball, a mechanical bull, ping pong, and video games, among other activities. When 3 a.m. finally rolled around, prom-goers were ready to call it a night, and each Welch junior and senior in attendance received an envelope of cash as a reward for attending the after-prom event. Prom has come along way over the years, progressing from the gym, cafeteria, Civic Auditorium, and other locations, but the end-of-year merriment continues, and the Wildcats this reporter observed were a group of folks that would make the hometown crowd—parents included—proud.

Here are a few pictures of the night.

WELCH— The Welch Public Schools music department will present its sixth annual dinner concert, Mon., Apr. 26, 2010, at the Welch Civic Auditorium. The Wildcat band and chorus will perform, and students who prepared solos for district and state contests will also be on the program. The menu includes a spaghetti dinner buffet that includes Italian-style green beans, salad, garlic bread, and cherry cheesecake. The buffet will begin at 6:30 p.m., and students will perform while guests enjoy the meal. Tickets are $5, and kids six and under can eat for $3. Tickets are available from all secondary music students and will be available at the door. All proceeds from the event will help fund the spring trip on which music students will travel to Kansas City to participate in the Worlds of Fun Festival. For an evening of good food and fine entertainment, everyone is invited to join the young Wildcat musicians on Mon., Apr. 26.

This event has been added to our Community Calendar.

Winston McKeon contributed to this report.

WELCH—The Welch Town Council met for its regular monthly meeting tonight and, as its first order of business after a presentation of new meter reading equipment, approved its purchase at a cost of not more than $5,500.

Since 2007, public works staff members have been using a third-party meter reading tool that is not approved by town water meter manufacturer, Sensus. The equipment approved for purchase today is manufactured by Sensus, thus it should have no interoperability issues. It’s also designed to work seamlessly with the town’s existing billing software. The new meter reading wand and mobile PC unit communicate wirelessly via bluetooth and are upgradeable if the town ever elects to add radio transmitters to water meters so that they can be read by radio signal rather than touch, as the existing system does. There was some discussion about possibly upgrading to radio transmitting meters now, but trustees opted to continue with the current touch system. The meter reading equipment upgrade would have been twice as much for the radio equipment, plus each meter would need to be outfitted with a radio transmitter at a cost of $155 per meter head, almost $62,000 for all meters on the town system. The trustees reasoned that such an upgrade was too costly at this time but expressed hope that a grant might be secured to make it possible in the future.

This new purchase should alleviate many of the problems public works staff has had with misreads and interoperability of the third-party meter reading wand. It will not give town workers the ability to read through snow, though, as that can only be accomplished with the radio transmitting equipment. The technology is rapidly advancing, though, and the representative who spoke to the council anticipates cheaper radio systems to be forthcoming. The newly purchased reading equipment will allow workers to know immediately whether a meter has been correctly read, rather than after the data has been offloaded back at town hall like the current system. That, combined with the anticipated new billing cycles, which will give a two-week cushion between reads and billing, should resolve many of the issues that have plagued the public works department of late and delayed billing.

Town trustees, John Dorsey, Winston McKeon, and Rusty Satterwhite, prepare to convene the town hall meeting

WELCH—The Welch Town Council played host to approximately 35 Welchkins last Thursday night in a 2.5-hour, town hall-type meeting at the Welch Civic Auditorium. The meeting began with each of the three town trustees and the volunteer fire department chief reporting on various items of town business. If you’d rather hear the meeting audio than read our report, scroll to the bottom of this page.

Documents distributed at the meeting were:

• Town of Welch Financial Report
• Welch Public Works Authority Financial Report
• Sample WPWA Request for Waiver of Water/Sewer Fees Form
  
• Town of Welch Complaint Form
• Town of Welch Pet License Form
• Town of Welch Open Records Request Form [retrieved from town hall Apr. 12, 2010]
  

Mayor Winston McKeon led off, thanking attendees for their interest. Here are some highlights of his comments:

• He referenced what they have viewed as recent successes, such as the town clean-up day, snow removal efforts, affording to have three paid staff members, the lagoon project funded by the community development block grant (CDBG), Empire District Electric’s painting of power poles, and Harvest Fest growth.
• McKeon announced that another town-wide cleanup day is scheduled for Sat., Apr. 17, 2010. (See our previous story here.)
• He also stated the town is in the process of re-purposing an existing vehicle for snow removal and sand/salt use.
• He anticipates applying for another CDBG in 2010 to resurface as many streets as possible.
• There are efforts to install benches and new planters on main street.
• McKeon requested citizen volunteers step up to assist with the town’s emergency readiness team.
• He noted that the Welch Cemetery maintenance has been put out for sealed bids, which will be opened at the council’s regular meeting, Mon., Apr. 11. (See our previous story and download RFP form here.)
• He explained that the town has made a change in how town finances are handled. The town clerk is no longer a signatory on town checks. Two trustees must now sign all town checks.
• He reminded attendees of town hall hours: Mon.-Thur., 10 a.m.-4 p.m. (closed one hour for lunch); Fri., 1 p.m.-6 p.m.
• He invited input from citizens.
• He asked that trustees be given an opportunity to respond when people send cards and letters.
• He reported that the town will be renegotiating franchise agreements with utility companies and asked for input regarding utility service.
• A goal for the year will be seeking grant moneys.
• He encouraged citizens to request any and all town information by filing a Freedom of Information/Open Records form at town hall.
• He also referenced garbage collection information previously posted here.

From Trustee Rusty Satterwhite’s remarks:

• He explained the process by which Harley Malone and Brad Mount read meters, noting that equipment failures are leading to no-reads, which must be followed up on.
• He explained that existing equipment will not staff to read meters through snow.
• Two mains have broken recently, causing delays in billing.
• He addressed the water leak waiver policy. If a bill is in question due to uncharacteristically high water use, citizens are asked to pay their average water fee and ask the town clerk to file a waiver form for town council consideration. (Download sample form here.)
• If residents have large water usage, filling pools for example, their sewer rates will be adjusted if the town is notified.
• He reported that rates are being adjusted upward because there haven’t been water rate increases since the late 1980s-early 1990s.
• He stated that the town will likely change billing cycles from the first-to-last day of the month to 15th-through-14th of the month. Bill will still be mailed from the first tot he fifth of the month. The two week difference will allow public works staff some cushion to do re-reads and deal with unforeseen issues like leaks, main breaks, and computer failures.
• He stated that a grant has been secured to install a lift station on the north side of town, and that the installation should be complete by the end of summer.
• He reported that town lagoons fill very rapidly during storms and that a smoke test will soon be done to determine where the large influx of water originates.
• The town is looking to purchase new meter reading equipment.
• The town is working with a new engineering firm that also seeks grant funding fro needed projects.
• He referenced the recent notices the town received from the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality noting that at certain times of year the town water supplies have elevated levels of radium.
• Public works needs residents with copper/lead plumbing to allow them to take periodic water samples. If you have copper/lead plumbing, please call town hall at 918-788-3616 if you would allow samples to be taken from your home. The state is requiring 20 samples from the system (up from the previous 10), and the town is have difficulties finding that many copper/lead systems.

From Trustee John Dorsey’s report:

• The town contracts with the Craig County Sheriff’s Department (CCSD) to provide police services. Each month, the town pays CCSD $3200 in exchange for 68 hours of patrol per week.
• The council has discussed manning its own police force, but the current arrangement is more cost feasible.
• The council receives a monthly report from CCSD.
• CCSD has up to 24 hours to respond to non-emergency situations.
• Part of the $3200 monthly fee is recouped by tickets issued.
• The town has complaint forms to report issues that citizens would like addressed. Download the form here.
• Dorsey is also the administrative officer for property violations, and he patrols periodically. The town seeks amicable resolution to issues but does have authority to fine offenders.
• Brad Mount serves as animal control officer, and he has been concentrating on stray dogs. The town has and Mount is trained in the used of a tranquilizer gun. Stray cats will also be dealt with.
• The council has passed an ordinance allowing ATVs and golf carts on town streets so long as they have a town permit, are driven by a licensed driver, and are operated only in daylight hours.
• The town is pursuing homeland security grants for police department.
• The council has discussed security cameras for certain locations.
• The town would like to start a neighborhood watch program.

Fire Chief, Brandon Webster, reports during the town hall meeting

From Volunteer Fire Department Chief Brandon Webster’s remarks:

• He thanked people for paying their dues.
• He noted that dues have gone up but that the fire department is working to lower its ISO rating, which should lower property insurance rates significantly. The current ISO rating is 8, and they hope to lower it to 6 or 5.
• Storm siren speakers are in place to serve the hill on the south side of town. Empire District Electric is purchasing an activator switch for them and has agreed to install and power them free of charge. Additionally, a new activator switch has been purchased for the sirens at town hall. The new activators will allow for remote activation, so that storm spotters can run the sirens from the field, rather than having someone physically activate them from town hall.
• They are working to provide a storm siren on the north end of town.
• Burn permits are available from town hall.
• Volunteers are needed for the Harvest Days committee.
• The fire department has taken over maintenance and flushing of fire hydrants from public works. It will help the fire department with its ISO rating and free up public works staff.
• Dues are spent on maintenance, equipment, training, and personal protection.
• Volunteer fire fighters are receiving training every other month.
• May 22 will be the fire department fundraiser feed.

The floor was then opened to questions from the audience, and several were forthcoming. Many centered on recent water bill issues. Due to equipment failure and inclement weather, water bills were estimated for November 2009, December 2009, and January 2010 (December, January, and February bills). Most persons’ March bill was higher, as it was a return to actual usage charges. Town Clerk, Barry Oliver, reported that the billing software computes an estimate by taking the last 12 months’ bills, deducting the highest and lowest, then averaging the remaining ten.  The first month a bill is estimated, it is billed at 90% of that average, the second month it is billed at 75% of the average, the third month is billed at 90%, and so on. No one could recall a previous time when bills had to be estimated for three months in a row. Additionally, town water meters measure in 1,000-gallon increments, and no rounding is done. So, if a water customer uses 999 gallons of water, it goes un-billed. The next gallon they use will cause them to be billed for 1,000 gallons. So, it’s possible for a customer to be billed for no water one month (when they used almost 1,000 gallons), then be billed for 2,000 gallons the next month (when they used only 1,001 gallons).

There were various other questions and answers. Rather than try to recreate them here, we’re giving you the opportunity to hear it as it happened via the audio recording below. Some speakers were not on microphone, so they may be harder to hear. WelchOK.com will be following up on the legal issues that were raised.

Town Hall Meeting Reports Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Town Hall Meeting Q&A Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

WELCH—The Welch Parent Teacher Organization (PTO) has scheduled a fundraiser lunch from 11 a.m.-2 p.m., Sun., Apr. 11, 2010, at the Welch Civic Auditorium. The meal, which is $6 per person per plate, consists of beef brisket, scalloped potatoes, green beans, rolls, homemade desserts, coffee, lemonade, and iced tea. Takeout is also available. Funds raised will be used toward the purchase of new playground equipment for the elementary school. There will also be a 50/50 pot.

Click here to view and download the PDF flier, which you are free to post.

This event has been added to our Community Calendar.

From the Redneck Diva:

“What do you want to be when you grow up?”

Little boys will often answer with fireman, policeman, or Spiderman. Little girls want to be teachers or actresses or hair stylists. My answer, however, was almost always “a mommy” or “a housewife.” Oh sure, over the years I had times where I wanted to be a police officer, an actress, a lawyer, or a teacher, but as I got older, the desire that was utmost in my heart of hearts was to be a homemaker, a mommy, a wife.

Back when FHA stood for Future Homemakers of America, I joined and took the name literally. I truly was a future homemaker. My life’s goal was to get married, have babies, and stay at home to take care of my family. I loved Home Ec, I was an officer in my school’s FHA chapter, I could cook up a storm (even if my sewing skills left something—okay much—to be desired) and threw myself into my dream of having a home of my own. My high school teachers and guidance counselor were disappointed, saying I was selling myself short and not taking advantage of my gifts and talents, and they continually pushed the teacher issue. I relented and enrolled in college, attended a semester, and quit. I got a job, found a country boy, got engaged. My dreams were soon to become a reality—or so I thought. He dumped me. I was devastated. I mourned not only the loss of a love, a relationship, but also the fact that I was further away from my All-American Housewife dream.

When I met my husband, one of the first things we agreed upon when we decided to get married was that when the time came, I would stay home with our kids. He knew full well the burden of providing for the family fell solely on him, and he took the job on with pride. I worked in a hospital pharmacy for a while after we got married, still dreaming of babies, a bright, sunlit kitchen, a yard full of toys, and me keeping an immaculate home, sewing clothes for my children and cooking well-balanced meals every nigh—all with a smile on my perfectly make-upped face.

Anyone else out there laughing hysterically yet?

The time came to start a family. I quit my job and opened a home daycare so I’d already be a stay-at-home mom when the blessed event occurred. After some fertility issues, we finally had a baby, and she was the center of our universe. She was wonderful, and she was happy, and she was perfect. She slept through the night, she rarely cried, and she lulled us into complacency. My house was clean back then. At the time, my husband was working 60-80 hours a week, so it was mainly Abby and me and all the time in the world to clean and learn colors and read books and sing songs and nuzzle her chubby neck that smelled like Baby Magic all the time. Per the advice of my veteran homemaker mom, I almost always had makeup on and my hair fixed every day when my husband came home from work. Mom had stayed home with Sis and me until I was in my teens; she was my role model and my hero, so I listened. And at age 24, I was the Queen of the Homemaking and Mothering Universe.

Then came child #2.

You’ve heard the phrase, “motherhood ain’t for sissies,” right?

I learned quickly that with two children under the age of three, a house and its keeping will get away from you faster than you can say, “Where’d I put that can of Pledge?” My boy was everything my daughter was not. Where she was quiet and self-entertained he was noisy and high-maintenance. He pushed buttons, flipped switches, destroyed, explored, and agitated the living daylights out of his older sister. He turned our previously neat, tidy, and quiet home upside down. He wasn’t bad, he was just different. There were days it was all I could do to feed the three of us something other than peanut butter and jelly or Kraft macaroni and cheese, much less get out of my pajamas and brush my teeth. Makeup? HA! Vacuuming? Dusting? Scrubbing the bathtub? Bah, humbug! I was doing good just kicking a path of brightly colored toys down the hallway so no one broke his neck. Why put the darn things up when those two wonderful, darling children of mine were just going to drag them out the second they hit the toy box? We were a family of four crammed into an 800-square-foot house, and we were drowning in Fisher Price, Sesame Street, and crumbs under the dining room table.

So we bought a house on 40 acres with over twice the square footage of the house we’d had in town. We had a toy room! The kids’ rooms were clean all the time, and even the toy room was moderately tidy. The kids were three and five at this point, and we spent our days playing in the yard. I vacuumed and dusted and even took an occasional nap. I had again gotten a handle on this homemaker gig.

Then came child #3.

She cried a lot at first. So did I. Don’t get me wrong. I was happy, but I was bewildered at the realization that quite possibly this mom/housewife thing wasn’t as easy as I had once dreamed. I had always excelled at every endeavor when I was younger, so why was this so difficult???And why did I feel like I was FAILING?

And again, my mother came through with wise words of comfort and said, “Just enjoy your babies. They will only be this age once. Today they are older than they’ve ever been, tomorrow they’ll be older than they are right now ,and if you spend all your time worrying about being perfect you will miss out.”

And suddenly, it hit me: Why try so hard to perfect something that I had actually done a pretty good job with up to that point? I wasn’t perfect, but I was a good momma. My home would likely never be featured on the pages of Southern Living, and we outgrew it shortly after we moved into it, but my kids were happy, healthy, well-adjusted, moderately polite, and they were the whole reason I was doing what I was doing. I was so caught up in being Super Mom that I had lost sight of the three reasons I was a mom to begin with.

Now, the kids are 8, 11, and 13. Instead of Fisher Price and Little Tykes, we are focusing on Marvel comics, the latest issue of Bop magazine, and glitter—lots and lots of glitter. Board books about Elmo and what Brown Bear sees have given way to The Spiderwick Chronicles and Fancy Nancy. I haven’t rocked one of my babies to sleep in a very long time. The heavenly scent of Baby Magic has been replaced with the likes of Love’s Baby Soft and Axe body spray. Everyone knows their colors, can ride a bike, and feed themselves with a fork. I don’t worry about ear infections, developmental milestones, and potty training anymore. Those worries have somehow morphed into concerns over bullies, boyfriends, and violence on TV.

My house is a little neater now. Some days. Instead of kicking a path of brightly colored toys down the hallway I find myself picking up sweaty basketball uniforms, scraping the hairspray off the bathroom counter, and tripping over cords charging the many electronic devices my children own. Rather than killing myself trying to make the house a showroom, I’m focusing on making my kids into the adults they’ll someday be.

After all, they’re older than they’ve ever been, but younger than they’ll be tomorrow. And no amount of dusting, vacuuming, and mopping will change that.

Diva

Kristin Hoover is the Redneck Diva. A local blogger and stay-at-home mom, Kristin has won Okie Blog Awards for her humorous take on the rural life of a natural-born diva who married a redneck and produced three offspring. Visit her blog at http://www.theredneckdiva.com.

WELCH—The Welch Area Development Authority will meet at 3:00 p.m., Mon., Apr. 12, in the Welch State Bank board room. According to the posted agenda, meeting items include discussion of the main street grant completion, possible real estate purchase, liability insurance purchase, and new “Welcome to Welch” signs.

You can view the complete agenda here.