Hello friends and neighbors. Now it’s time for me to Rant AGAIN….I wasn’t involved last year but I can honestly say it was the most STUPID thing I have ever seen happen in a community. Take a lifelong county basketball tournament to not only another county……to another F’n State….. Somebody has their head up their butt and is listening to their severe case of gas…. C’mon people let’s lay it on the table and fix it don’t do this crap one more year. I understand the issue of NOT ENOUGH SPACE. I personally have seen so much bs government waste in this county that it would be easy to pool resources to have a UAFS / Greenwood type Basketball Arena here in Poteau. Quit worrying about your own little budget and let’s look at the income for the entire community and county from this Tournament staying here in Poteau and/or other town in the county and what it brings financially to us and even more the pride of the teams.  Here’s a fact:

Every time money changes hands within a community, it boosts the community’s overall income and level of economic activity, and fuels the creation of jobs. The more times money changes hands within the community before heading elsewhere, the better off the community is. And spending money at a locally-owned business has a greater multiplier effect because they are more likely to re-spend their dollars locally. In most cases money turns over in a community 5 to 7 times.  That’s good business people….

So to get the Ball rolling I’ll post my Rant on my blog and on the forums and the rest of you jump in and help me out with support or completely disagree. Step up and let your voices be heard. DON’T BE SCARED!!!!!

Facebook? What the heck is Facebook? Why would I need or want it? Well!!!!! Facebook is a social networking website. The website’s name stems from the colloquial name of books given at the start of the academic year by university administrations with the intention of helping students to get to know each other better.

Why? Because everybody needs to be on Facebook! It allows users to add friends, send them messages, and update their personal profiles to notify friends about themselves.

For example: I graduated in 1981 and haven’t seen many of my classmates since the graduation party (that had way too much everade) at the end of the year….. Facebook has allowed many of us to at least connect again after all these years, share pictures of our families and even organize a multi-class renunion (I didn’t attend but the pictures shared from it were really nice to see). It also allows people to find old college friends, neighborhood friends that might have moved way in the 5th grade and even family members that you may not have seen in years. Once the connection is made you can stay in touch, share pictures, videos and chat in real time or leave post on other friends and members walls (page). Additionally, users can join networks organized by city, workplace, and school or college.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that if you don’t have a Facebook page go sign up. It’s quick, simple and may help you connect with people you have completely forgotten about. http://www.facebook.com

We need a couple of really good restaurants to setup shop in Poteau. Chili’s, Applebee’s, Bennigan’s, Wendy’s etc…. Come on “Powers-That-Be” let’s get it done. I like a few of our food places now but want a little more choice of quality food. Maybe even a glass of wine with a steak. (I don’t drink wine but would just because). So let’s get out there and SHOP our city for the potential it has. Poteau has the potential to be a great community and our Current City Government and Some County Officials have gone a long way to get us headed in the right direction. NOW IT’S TIME TO FOLLOW THROUGH!!
On another note I want to be able to pay my Poteau water bill online. I can pay every bill I have, whether through choice pay or their own online payment system on a web page. Gas, Electric, Internet, Cell Phone but not Water.  Com’on Mr. Mayor we talked about this so get it done. You have made a lot of great things happen here (thats why I haven’t ran for Mayor you’re doing a great job) so just make the online bill pay happen and get on the ball for some good restaurants. I will buy your first dinner at our new Chilis if you’ll make it happen

I have actually heard people say “we’re not in a recession here in LeFlore county”…..WHAT?….Are you nuts? I see people living and feeling it everyday. The price of gas has gone down a bit but it hit our bank accounts hard over the last year. People had to dip into savings just to be able to afford to drive back and forth to work. The current unemployment rate in LeFlore County has risen from 5.9% in Nov 08 to 6.6% in December 08 and continues to rise. ( http://www.oesc.state.ok.us/Research/News/2009/CountyRatesContinueToIncreaseInDecember.pdf ) For those who are still employed and haven’t had to go through a period of time without a job and had to live on unemployment or no income at all are probably not feeling it too much except maybe things are just a bit tighter ( damn! I can only eat at McDonalds instead of Red Lobster ). For those of us who have lost jobs or closed businesses are feeling the pain. Many have gone months without finding any type of work and most are willing to take anything they can get but there simply aren’t any jobs available. I know how hard it is to dig for change just to put enough gas in the car to make it to a job interview only to find hundreds of others in line with you. I was lucky enough to find work locally at Southern Star, Inc., which is one of the finest companies I have ever worked for. Even when both people in the household working it is still a struggle. You may have Health Insurance through your employer that you pay for every paycheck and then when you have to go to the doctor you still end up paying for more than is affordable…your bank account still feels the hurt.
I don’t know when things will get better for our City, County, State and Nation but I pray that it’s soon. I hate to see people suffer because some wall street billionaire and politician bastards decided their lives were more important than everyone elses. It’s time for all of them to be held accountable for their mis-use and it’s time for all of us to make sure they are!

Ok….We passed prop 3, and were promised an Appleby’s…where is it? I didn’t expect a building to pop up overnight, but I thought we would have at least heard something by now…a flyer, a groundbreaking, something! It really would be nice to have a few new places to eat….. Somebody let us know what’s going on (Mr. Mayor)
I also noticed that Long Johns is getting an interior makeover…..or comple interior removal……anybody know what’s going in? Is it Wendys (oh please let it be)

RANT TIME: WE ARE POTEAU! We are the county seat for LeFlore county. We have the largest population in the county. WHY then? Do we have a crappy gymnasium. Why do we not have a great facility for concerts and productions that is city owned? We should have one at least as nice as the CASC auditorium! Why do we not have artificial turf on our football field? Why do we have almost half as many kids going out for band, football and other extracurricular activities as other schools in our area (Greenwood for example)!? Why is it that our school looks like a piece of tinker toy crap that’s been pieced together over the last 80 years instead of buying more property in another location and building a nice high tech facility for education! We have had the money in the past and it’s been squandered. I am extremely disappointed in our school board over the last 30 years for allowing things to move in a downward spiral instead of moving up (I miss Ted being in there, he spoke his mind). The thing about change is that change is supposed to be good and cause growth. This place has either become stagnant or gone down! It’s time for the people of this community to STAND UP and say ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! Get involved in meetings…..Create community groups…..heck just comment on discussions like this….believe me people read it…you would be surprised……Start with with your local school board and work your way up to the mayor…..they all have phone numbers and they all live here in town…..if you ruin their dinner when you see them out just to let them know how you feel, so be it…….that’s part of being in public office (that’s why I don’t run)!