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Oil in Oklahoma: Tulsa TV 50 years ago
I have finally gotten around to reading Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann, in anticipation of the Martin Scorsese film to be released in October. I'm about halfway through, and I was skimming ahead. (It's OK. I already knew who the bad guys were.) I was surprised to...
Apollo 11 50th anniversary: Events near Tulsa
In addition to watching commemorations on television and online, Tulsans have several options nearby and within a day's drive for remembering the 50th anniversary of mankind's first steps on the moon. The 2019 Oklahoma Aviation and Space Trail links the Tulsa Air and Space Museum, the Oklahoma History Center in...
Explaining the American election on Australian radio
A series of encounters led to an opportunity to appear on 612 ABC Brisbane (the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's locally focused station) to talk about the aftermath of the U. S. presidential election. In late October, I was walking in the Spring Hill neighborhood north of the Brisbane CBD, looking for...
Israel 2015: March 7-8: The journey there
Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great;...
Bill Christiansen for Tulsa Mayor
Another day, another mendacious attack mailer from Dewey Bartlett Jr. If I had known there were enough Tulsans who objected to rising city budgets, county tax initiatives, the City Hall move, the Great Plains Airlines bailout, and accepting Federal stimulus money to justify a mail piece targeting those concerns, I...
"Vision for Jobs" another cynical tax grab?
Just as they did in 2003, Tulsa "leaders" are preying on anxieties about job losses to justify siphoning more of your tax dollars through county government to favored businesses. Two possibilities are being discussed to raise $340 million: Either a county-wide sales tax increase of 0.4 percent or an extension...
Should the US Air Force buy American or Brazilian?
The US Air Force is looking for a supplier for Light Air Support aircraft, to be used by the Afghan Air Force and by the USAF to train other partner air forces. Award is expected this summer, and the question is whether the Air Force will pick a variant of...
Airman museum looking for memories, money
During one of my recent trips to San Antonio's Lackland AFB, on a lunch break, I visited the US Air Force Airman Heritage Museum. It's a modest facility with a monumental plans to preserve and display the history of the Air Force's enlisted men and women and the basic military...
Bynum gay proposition on council agenda tonight
UPDATE 2010/06/18: It passed as expected, 6-3. Now it goes to Mayor Bartlett's desk, and we're about to find out whether he is the conservative he claimed to be during the campaign. A month ago, I wrote about a proposal authored by Tulsa City Councilor G. T. Bynum adding "sexual...
Historical Oklahoma aviation maps
Via the Google Earth Library blog, I found a collection of historic navigational charts for air and sea travel on the website of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. It's the Historical Map and Chart Project of the Office of Coast Survey. You can search the collection by state,...
Troops' families rally in St. Paul
On my way down to the Xcel Center from Cathedral Hill, I came across a rally of about 50 red-shirted folks gathered around the Grand Army of the Republic monument, carrying American flags and placards saying: "Support our troops AND their mission!" "VICTORY over Terrorism -- Let Our Soldiers WIN!"...
How long has it been...
... since you last visited Indie Tulsa? Well, friend, that's too long. Emily the Red Fork Hippie Chick has posted two new reviews: Evelyn's Restaurant and True to You Bra Salon. Evelyn's is a southern soul food restaurant on 74th East Avenue south of the Port Road. More specifically, it's...
Simulation: It's the real thing
An edited version of this column appeared in the December 5, 2007, issue of Urban Tulsa Weekly. The published version is no longer available online. Posted September 9, 2017. Simulation: It's the real thing by Michael D. Bates How often do the stars line up this auspiciously for Tulsa? Congress...
Harvey Young Airport threatened
I received an e-mail last night regarding Harvey Young Airport. Of the many airports serving general (non-commercial) aviation that once dotted the Tulsa area, Harvey Young is one of the few remaining. The airport's north-south asphalt runway sits between 11th and 21st Street, about halfway between 129th and 145th East...
Tulsa 1957: "Where Beauty Is Everybody's Business"
From the June 1957 edition of Reader's Digest, pp. 69-71: Tulsa, Okla., is an outstanding example of the crusade for beautification that is sweeping the country Where Beauty Is Everybody's Business Condensed from National Municipal Review Daniel Longwell AMERICA is on a beautification crusade. The unsightly scars and utilitarian bleakness...
FAA letter regarding Jones Riverside Airport
Last week, on August 23, Ed Chambers of the Federal Aviation Administration in Fort Worth sent a letter to Jeff Mulder (500 KB PDF file), head of the Tulsa Airport Authority (TAA), regarding discrimination by the TAA in the treatment of Fixed-Base Operators (FBOs) at Jones Riverside Airport, the City's...
People who need beating (at the ballot box)
An edited version of this piece was published on May 31, 2006, in Urban Tulsa Weekly. The archived version is no longer online. Posted on the web, with hyperlinks to related articles, on August 18, 2010. "No man's property is safe while the legislature is in session." So goes the...
Flunking the Yellow Pages Test
An edited version of this piece was published in the May 24, 2006, issue of Urban Tulsa Weekly. The archived version is no longer online. Posted on the web July 3, 2010. Flunking the Yellow Pages Test By Michael D. Bates When he was Mayor of Indianapolis, Stephen Goldsmith had...
Tulsa needs a children's museum
So says Steve Roemerman after visiting the one in Indianapolis, and he's right. He's right about this, too: Instead of trying to convert into something else, Tulsa should hold fast to the things that are uniquely Tulsan. [Councilor Chris] Medlock believes that Tulsa should focus its strengths, and I believe...
Fun with video: Bill Martinson
Tulsa City Councilor Bill "29%" Martinson took a lead role last Thursday night trying to fend off an audit of fuel flow records for fuel sellers at Jones Riverside Airport -- a group that includes Councilor Bill Christiansen, who, like Martinson, was helped into office by Bixby resident and former...
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