Search this site
Matching entries from BatesLine
An open letter to Tulsa visitors on the centennial of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre
To journalists, photographers, and visitors, pilgrims this week of the centennial of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre: Welcome to Tulsa. Some context may help you interpret what you see and hear this week.
Coronavirus cluster at Arkansas church shows asymptomatic spread
A large cluster of Chinese Communist Party Bat Virus cases has emerged in rural Arkansas, apparently the result of asymptomatic spread at a March 6-8 church event, may trace back to the headquarters of Assemblies of God World Missions, based in Springfield, Missouri.
A vision of Middle Earth: New Zealand's Blue Spring at Te Waihou
A friend recently asked for advice on places to visit in Australia and New Zealand. Our family had the blessing of visiting both countries a couple of years ago, and I returned briefly the following year. I had plenty of happy memories to share. I don't write about our travels...
Smithsonian Channel mangles Greenwood history
There was some excitement among Tulsa history buffs when it was learned that the Smithsonian Channel would be showing colorized clips from home movies showing Greenwood, Tulsa's historic African-American district, as it was in the mid-to-late1920s. Instead we have another instance of the erroneous notion I call the "Greenwood...
Memorial Day: Pvt. Albert W. Bates, 45th Division
Albert W. Bates was my grandfather's youngest brother, five years younger. He was drafted into the Army at age 20, served in the 157th Infantry Regiment of the 45th Division, the Thunderbirds. He is buried in Welch Cemetery near his parents and some of his siblings. From the Oklahoma War...
Santorum the right choice for Oklahoma
I had decided some time ago that when Oklahoma's turn to vote came around, I would cast my vote as necessary to block Mitt Romney's progress toward the Republican nomination. Whoever was ahead of Romney in the polls or the closest to beating him would get my vote. (Dan McLaughlin,...
Nancy Rothman: Where did all the money go?
On July 17, 2011, the Tulsa World ran a story on the 2003 appeals court ruling that levied attorney's fees on Tulsa City Council District 2 candidate Nancy Rothman because of her contemptible attempts to alienate her sons from their father and to smear her ex-husband's reputation. (The story ran...
How did you use your extra second?
2008 was twice a leap year. Not only did we have our quadrennial bissextile day, we had an extra second there, just before 6 p.m. Tulsa time. I hope you used it well. Both leap days and leap seconds serve the same purpose -- keeping the clock and calendar in...
Amazing! When passing grade is lowered, more students pass test!
I'm stunned by today's banner headline article on the front page of today's Whirled. Here's the headline: Test results spike after change The story breathlessly tells of "remarkable results": The statistical leaps being reported by area districts in the percentage of students deemed proficient in Algebra I are staggering --...
Primary movement
Last week, the Oklahoma House of Representatives passed, by a vote of 82-14, HB 2595 (link opens a Microsoft Word-compatible Rich Text Format file), which would move Oklahoma's 2008 presidential preference primary from the first Tuesday in February to the last Tuesday in January. The bill was authored by State...
Jumpin' at the Woodside
A little breather while we wait for the results to come in. Ladies and gentlemen, it's Gene, Gene, the Dancing Machine: TV veteran Mark Evanier writes of the effect of a Gene, Gene appearance at another Gong Show taping: The minute they started playing his music — "Jumpin' at the...
River realities: The Arkansas, viewed from an airboat
This is the originally submitted version of a story that was published on September 20, 2006, as my column in the September 21-27, 2006, edition of Urban Tulsa Weekly. The story as published can be found on the Internet Archive. Posted on BatesLine on March 23, 2016. River reality By...
Young Republicans debate; Whirled gets it wrong (again)
Last night I represented the opposition in the sales tax debate sponsored by the Young Republicans. Clay Bird, the Mayor's chief policy adviser, represented the position "vote yes on everything." Councilor Chris Medlock, having just voted with the rest of the Council to endorse the whole thing (despite serious reservations...
Feed Subscription
If you use an RSS reader, you can subscribe to a feed of all future entries matching 'leap second'. [What is this?]
