Letters to the Editor: Friday, June 6, 2008

Published: June 6, 2008

With one exception, members of the Oklahoma Supreme Court struck out and committed a disservice to the state of Oklahoma in allowing former state Sen. Gene Stipe to retain his full state pension. In its published opinion, the court said, in essence, "He did the crime, but not on state time.” To conclude that Stipe didn't use his position and influence as a legislator to affect the crimes for which he was convicted is a slap in the face of every state worker, legislator and Oklahoman who abides by the rules and conduct themselves within the guidelines and laws of legal and ethical conduct.

I would encourage you to take a list of justices to the voting booth. When the question is posed on the ballot as to whether to retain the justices, vote NO to retain the following: Rudolph Hargrave, Marian Opala, Joseph Watt, Tom Colbert, John Reif, James Edmondson, Yvonne Kauger and Steven Taylor.

Thank you Justice James Winchester for doing the right thing and voting with ethical turpitude to uphold the state retirement board's removal of those benefits.

Jay Wall, Edmond

Edmondson, Kauger and Taylor did not participate in the Stipe decision. Retired justices Hardy Summers and Robert Lavender joined Hargrave, Opala, Watt, Colbert and Reif in forming a majority on the decision.

If Oklahoma taxpayers need a reason to vote against most of the state Supreme Court justices when they are up for retention, they got it when those judges voted to give Gene Stipe a pension of more than $7,000 a month plus a lot of taxpayer dollars retroactively. Stipe was in the Legislature 54 years and most taxpaying Oklahomans don't think he deserves more of their dollars. James Winchester was the only justice to vote against this taxpayer rip-off. The others didn't show the courage and/or common sense to acknowledge that Stipe violated the intent of his oath of office, if not the technical letter of it in the election tampering case.

Remember, taxpayers, that most of these judges have sat on the court a long time and many are old. Why not encourage their retirement in favor of some new people?

Joe Ralls, Moore

Regarding "Ruling lets Stipe keep his pension; Former senator is eligible for $7,042 a month” (news story, May 28): One would surmise that a criminal of Gene Stipe's stature would at least forfeit half his benefits. Some of our so-called laws benefit crooks more than good, honest, hardworking people. No wonder so many of our young people are confused these days as to right and wrong.

Martha Stroud, Oklahoma City

I recently attended an end-of-school-year awards ceremony at Wilson Elementary in Oklahoma City. One by one, as each category of awards was presented, I noticed something interesting and inspiring: Many of the girls who walked up to get an award were also Girl Scouts. Others throughout the 39-county service area of Girl Scouts-Western Oklahoma have told me they witnessed the same thing at their schools' awards ceremonies. Putting a daughter, granddaughter, niece or sister in Girl Scouts is preparing them for leadership opportunities and recognition in other areas of their lives.

It could be a coincidence, but it's interesting to note that as GS-WO focuses on the sciences, we see more and more girls getting science awards at their schools. This summer, girls will be learning how to dust for fingerprints and extract DNA at the CSI Summer Camp, and build robots at the Robotics Summer Camp. The early results of these types of programs are showing us that girls want to explore science and technology — and now we see that they are being rewarded at school for their efforts.

Cathy Stackpole, Oklahoma City

Stackpole is CEO of Girl Scouts-Western Oklahoma.

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