THERE IS A DIFFERENCE

To begin with, I want to say that I support the rights of legal firearm owners and support the 2nd amendment of the constitution so the following bit of written nonsense is just what you want to make of it.

Facebook, the social media where most anyone can voice an opinion, photo or just play some online game against others has been booming over the years. Friends can post all kinds of odd and fascinating material. From a simple birthday wish to writing scathing editorials on government waste, people have found that others may feel the same way as they do and have fellowship and comparable thoughts on certain subjects. One of the hottest subjects the past month has been gun control. Most comments come from those that have served in the military or are presently serving and some come from many gun owners that have used their legal right to have firearms. One of the most widely used photos of propaganda has been the "clip and magazine" photo. Among others that have surfaced over the past few months this one struck me in a funny way so I decided to throw a curve ball at this one and give my own rendition of this classic testosterone filled effigy.

Here is the original post:

Here is the post I created for those that don't own guns but work in an office

surrounded by intelligent single-minded people obsessed with a nonsocial hobby or pursuit:

Like I said, make what you want of this but if you think on it long enough you might figure out that the pulp binders are the ones in charge of your gun rights and the gun owners are just the squeaky wheel on the cart getting ready to be greased.

Dollars Without Sense

This past Sunday night, NBC's NFL football game was preempted by President Obama's speech in Connecticut. The dismay of many football fans led to an online Twitter barrage of rude and racist comments aimed at the President. A few examples of these comments are as follows:

These few statements are tame compared to the more racial ones that have been posted. What is wrong with these individuals? Bradley Patterson, one of the many that commented, played for the North Alabama college football team as a long snapper. After his comments, the athletic department kicked him of the team. Since when do sports of any kind become more important than life and the tragedies that come along with it. Sports are meant to be a way of evolving one's own inner self and to be a role model emulating the sporting creed such as live clean, play hard. Play for the love of the game. Win without boasting, lose without excuses. Respect officials no matter if there is a bad call and to never forget that they represent their school and city. Over time the sporting creed has all but disappeared from sports while wanton greed and lack of sportsmanship has become the normal. I say this because it's on television and at the local sports arena every day. Sports can still be an ambassador of good but it's become corrupt and some of the fans that follow the teams have become the same. With salaries going through the roof for coaches and players it's a wonder that anyone can afford to go to a college or pro game of any sport. Here is one example of greed in sports. it's not something made up out of the blue, it's an actual football contract between one of the major colleges and it's coach in the United States. Oklahoma University Football Head Coach Contract . I don't think it's fair to the instructors that they have to take a back seat to sports programs. College Professor Salaries  and college coaching salaries should be on a level playing field. Everyone excels in their own realm but I don't think that one should outshine the other  as far as the pay scale being so indifferent. Sports figures are no different than anyone else. Whether you coach, play, or sit in the stands, we all are basically the same, some are just placed on a higher pedestal than others by their peers. It's still no cause to place them so far above everyone else they become deities to the sports institution. Everyone wants a winning team but there is no shame in losing. In every game there has to be a loser. Serious fans of any sport don't think this way. Winning is the only option and losing means you are worthless and at all cost there has to be a way to become a winner. So this goes out to the overly serious fans that believe their football game was more important than human lives. You have become a puppet to the world of sports. Whenever someone pulls one of your strings you wander about  and act as one who is in control of the strings that are being pulled. In other words....you're only as smart as the one pulling the strings. Sports is only entertainment, it's not life critical. It's there to enjoy and not to feed on like a piece of meat thrown to a hungry lion. Whatever happened to the days people played sports for the fun of playing and the fans watched for the entertainment value of the event?  It's still there....it's just masked under all that hype and crap we have to put up with every time we tune into  a sports channel or see live in an arena. 

From Bank To Church

In the past 104 years, Barnsdall Main Street has changed in it's appearance many times. Though the buildings are basically the same from their historical beginnings, they could tell countless stories of small town America and the locals that patronized the stores in years past. It's my belief that the most historical building on Main Street is the building at the northeast corner of Main and 5th. It was the first stone building built on the dirt thoroughfare and began as the Bank of Bigheart.

1908: Looking north on 5th St. Pearson - Jackson Store (Left); Bank Of Bigheart (Right)

Tellers window inside the Bank of Bigheart.

Being one of the only stone buildings on Main Street in 1911, it rode out the tornado with minimal damage as  the strong winds ripped through Bigheart and destroyed a large portion of the town.

1911 tornado damage on Bigheart Main Street looking west.  The Bank of Bigheart is standing on the right

1911 tornado damage to the Bank of Bigheart

The bank finally closed it's doors and was then reopened as the D. B. Kelley Arcade and Book Store. D. B. Kelley occupied the west annex of the Runyon theater building before moving into the vacant Bank of Bigheart building.

D. B. Kelley Arcade in the west annex of the Runyon theater building 

D. B. Kelley pictured inside the his arcade in 1931.

D. B. Kelley Arcade, 1931

In 1939, D.B. Kelley sold his arcade to Mr. and Mrs. Blevins as it became known as the Blevins Arcade.

Blevins Arcade in 1971. Widely known as Sallie's to the Barnsdall population.

After the death of Sallie Blevins the building took on other businesses and organizations such as a Mexican restaurant, donut shop, cafe, chamber of commerce and church.

2012 Cornerstone Community Church.

 The building is on the Register of Historic Places and deserves the right. It has withstood the test of time but is in need of a cosmetic overhaul. The Church has plans for moving into their new building located across the street soon. What will become of the building is unknown? My idea for the building is this. Place it in trust to a group that will refurbish and restore the building to it's earlier days and then move the Bigheart museum into it. With it's central location in town and it's square footage it would be possible to display all of the articles in the museum instead of only part of them. As of now, the present museum is cluttered with all kinds of artifacts and pieces that cannot be displayed. What could be more fitting for the oldest and most historical building on Main Street? Give it an identity and long term purpose to help teach the children of Barnsdall about the town in which they live.

Lascivious Burger: By Carl's Jr

When it comes to placing an ad on television for the visually hungry, Carl's Jr has come through with some ads that would make some "PG" rated movies look like Sesame Street. The franchise, which has been in the bottom of the fast food ratings war for a while has been busy with trying to muster up some business with splashing some Playboy bunnies on the boob tube ( pardon the expression). According to Zagat's 2012 Fast Food Survey, Carl's Jr isn't in any of the top five rankings for any of it's categories which include; Best Burger, Best Fried Chicken, Best French Fries and Best Overall Value.With this well known fact, the geniuses at Carl's Jr have come up with a brainstorm. I don't recall when it became common for ad executives at Carl's Jr to begin the bimbo burger legacy but it doesn't look to have made an impact on the way Carl's Jr burgers taste. I've ate Carl's Jr before and I can see why they haven't made the top of the list when it comes to fast food burgers.

It must have been around 2009 when Carl's Jr started selling burger sex on television. An actress named Audrina Patridge from MTV's series The Hill was splattered across the small screen, clad in her gold bikini and slopping on a Teriyaki burger that she refers to as her "bikini burger". Reminiscent of her reality show she played on where at times she looked a lot like what she was acting out for the Carl's Jr ad.

Audrina Patridge

Carl's Jr - Audrina Patridge Teriyaki Burger Video

By 2010, Carl's Jr struck high society gold when it came across the celebutante Paris Hilton. The lanky and shapeless siren of the Hilton fortune must have been in need of more exposure since her reality show went end up earlier that year.Paris was a hot item during this time and Carl's Jr once again came across with more of the same but with an extra helping of bimbo-ness (so...it's not a real word). In this commercial, Paris is seen washing a car but most of the time she is soaping herself until the last few seconds when she takes a bite of Carl's Jr BBQ beef burger.

Paris Hilton

Carl's Jr -  Paris Hilton BBQ Beef Burger Video

After the Paris commercial, the guys at the front office scheming up it's newest form of lavish lewdness found Sports Illustrated model Kate Upton. Kate worked for Guess and Victoria's Secret and also had parts in the movies Tower Heist and The Three Stooges. This commercial was banned from the list of Super Bowl ads in 2012 for it's content. It's just what all those armchair quarterbacks would have missed their bathroom break for.

Kate Upton

Carl's Jr - Kate Upton's Southwest Patty Melt Burger Video

To end with, there is one more debauchery burger ad to go through. This one stars the Playboy Playmate Sara Underwood. Sara began her working career selling heaving equipment but moved on to Hooters and then was picked up by Playboy after her appearance in the girls of the PAC-10 issue. She was named Playmate of the year in 2007 and has had roles in several films. If you're wondering who the brunette is in the commercial, it's Emily Ratajkowski. an actress that has a role on the Nickleodeon program ICarly.

Emily Ratajkowski and Sara Underwood

Carl's Jr - Sara Underwood's BBQ Memphis Burger Video

There's no doubt that if Carl's Jr was to put as much effort into making a tasty burger instead of spicing up the appetite of high testosterone men, they might move up in the burger war rankings. But for now, scantly dressed gals parading around with burgers in hand is something you would rarely see at the local fast food joint. But I do have a favorite for burger commercials such as the ones I've posted here in this story. It's one you won't see on the television. May I introduce the "Karl's Sr Six Pound Burger" video.

You can have a One Star day at Carl's Jr. Happy eating!

History Comes Knocking Pt. 3: Fated Flight Of The F-5E

During the summer of 2011, two individuals were cleaning up a property near the Bird Creek bridge, when one of them made an uncommon discovery. While moving some piled up pipe and fence posts, an old relic from the past emerged from under the junk pile. Most likely bewildered as to the find, the person that found the piece took it, and placed it in his garage, where it would stay for over a year, until the fall of 2012. One evening this past October my wife was on Facebook exchanging messages with another person in Barnsdall. As I came into the room my wife asked if I was interested in a piece that came off a plane, possibly a P-38. She told me the person who has it wanted to bring it by the house, cause they thought it may have come from a crashed P-38 and wanted me to take a look at it. Once again, the excitement was starting and the thought of what kind of piece was it that this person had? I replied to my wife to send them a message to bring it by and I'll look it over. Within the hour a truck pulled up in front of my house. As I walked out the front door to greet the two people in the truck, I tried to tell myself that this piece they had in their truck bed probably was not from the P-38 but from some other plane and I shouldn't get my hopes up.
 As the tailgate on the truck came down, I looked over to see what they had brought. As I stood there and looked, it only took a split second to see that this was no ordinary piece of aviation. I could tell in an instant this was a WW II era propeller blade. I ran and got a tape measure to make some quick measurements and to get a feel for the size of the prop assembly as a whole and found it to be the right length and width. On closer inspection , I found that it was an aluminum blade which I felt made the find more significant. When asked if this could have been on the P-38 that crashed years ago, I said it was a good possibility but more research was needed to find out for sure. I asked them what they were going to do with it and they said they were going to give it to me since I liked planes. To me it was a mild shock but there was no way I was going to turn this down.I thanked them for the blade and told them I would let them know my findings after I made a few contacts with some other people.

The next day I took photos and measurements of the prop blade and looked for any markings that may have been on it. I came up empty on any marking or identifications. All I had to work with was the set of photos and dimensions of the blade. It wasn't looking very good at this time but I wasn't going to give up. My hunch was that it was either a B-25 or P-38 prop blade cause of the rounded tip of the prop.

Prop blade of the possible F-5E. The length of which is over 5' 6" and 11.5" wide. The base still has the bearing stack and spacer intact and blade retaining nut intact.

 At this point it was a toss up. Armed with very little information I began contacting aviation restoration groups with no luck. I then remembered the article I read a couple years back about the crashed F-5E and scrambled to find the web site, remembering the paragraph he wrote about finding other information on the plane crash and to contact him if they had found some. Possibly the author could help me out since he knew so much about the crash near Barnsdall? It wasn't long after that, I sent an email to the author Clint Daniel, along with the photos that I took of the blade to see what he thought of the chance of the blade being from the crash. His return email wasn't as good as what I had hoped for. Clint Daniel is an aviation archaeologist with many years experience in the Pacific digging up WW II crash sites and he thought that with the prop being in as good a shape as it was, it couldn't have been involved with the crash in 1945. He asked me if there were any ID numbers on the blade? I didn't find any on the inspection of the blade the first day I had it so I didn't send anything along with the email. A week went by and the prop blade was just laying on my driveway, I would look at it from time to time trying to think of a way to ID this piece of metal. I went over it again and again in my head until it came to me. The only place I never took a close look at was the base of the blade where it enters into the prop assembly. With decades of muck on the base I couldn't tell if anything was on it or not. Looking for a wire brush to clean up the base, I soon found out my wire brush was missing, I quickly made a trip to my dads house to borrow on from him. When I returned, I began the process of clearing the dirty years away from the base. It wasn't long before I took a look and seen three numbers emerge from the filth. It had taken about ten minutes to clean the base and when I finished, there they were. Every single number and letter was still visible for identification. It was now party time! New photos were taken of the ID numbers and another email was sent to Clint Daniel. His return email was more promising saying there was no doubt it was from a P-38 but it seem to be from a J model P-38. Unless there was a way to find the prop blades origin and what model plane the P-38 started as when it was built, the chances were slim to connect it to the crash.
It was time to call in the big guns and get some research. I contacted the Smithsonian's Air and Space Research group to help me out. I sent in the planes number 44-23602, the ID numbers and some photos of the prop blade. For my wait, I received an envelope three weeks later with all the information they had on the plane except for the maintenance records, which had been lost to history.

Part of the ID numbers on the prop blade base

The plane was built as a P-38J-25 at Lockheed, in Burbank California and accepted into service on 6/8/44. From there it went to Coolidge Air Field in Arizona to be fit with a radio and dive flaps and photo equipment. It was then flown to Panama on 7/8/44. At this point the history of the plane is unknown till it returns to the states, which was common for all military planes during WW II. It returned to Vandalia Air Field in Ohio as a P-38 F-5E photo recon aircraft on 9/20/44, then to Wright Air Field in Ohio on 3/14/45. Then on 5/31/45, the F-5E would land at it's final Air Field at Coffeyville, Kansas.

The Smithsonian also sent a list of propellers and governors for service aircraft which had the information on the P-38J model with the prop assembly and blade number for the F-5 series planes. With this information, I contacted Clint Daniel by email and sent him the information. His return mail was an overwhelming jump for joy and there could be no doubt that the prop blade was from 2nd Lt. Charles R. Schliefers P-38 F-5E that crashed on July 2, 1945.

So what am I going to do with this piece of Barnsdalls' aviation history? It's hard to say. For over 40 years I've thought about this plane and now I have part of it. I'll just say it's in good hands at the moment and I'll think about what I'll do with it at a later time.

History Comes Knocking, Pt. 2: Fated Flight Of The F-5E

I was around ten years old when I first heard the story of the F-5E crashing just outside of Barnsdall. The location of the crash seem to be a mystery of some sort since most people that told the story could only say that it crashed near Websters Hill. Over the years I was in school, every time I would venture out on a ride west of town with someone I would scan the hills looking for any indication that there may have been a plane crash. Although I knew I was looking at over thirty years of vegetation growth on the hillsides, I was always an optimist as to thinking there was that one slim chance there would be some clue as to the whereabouts of the crash location. As years faded into history, so did my thoughts of the crashed plane until 1980 when I began working for the Petrolite Corporation in Barnsdall. My interest in the subject began to grow again after having an evening chat with Glen Pease, one of the stills workers at the refinery. Glen had been at the refinery for many years and had just as many stories to tell to any of the new guys that had been hired. It was just my luck that one of our small conversations was about WW II. As a history buff, I was all ears about hearing anything about what happened during the war. It was during this conversation that a bombshell was dropped on me that would have me looking for years. Glen casually made a reference that there was a piece, most likely part of a propeller of the WW II  F-5E that crashed outside of Barnsdall in one of the buildings on the Petrolite property. I just looked at him in disbelief without saying a word, but my mind was thinking, what kind of piece was it, where could it be hidden, what building was he speaking of? He then told me that it was a rumor he had heard over the years. That was all that was said about it and he never spoke of it again. My enthusiasm was once again energized and at that time, I was living with my parents in one of the company houses ( BARECO Cottage 19) on the northwest corner of Petrolites property. In the summer of 1981, I purchased a Yamaha 150 three wheeler and used it to help in one part of a two part search. On many occasions I would set out from the house armed with nothing more than a topography map and a tank full tank of gas. My purpose was to drive the oil patch roads west of Barnsdall and if possible cross a few pastures in the pursuit of a crash site that was by now 40 years old. The second part of the search would take place on the grounds of the Petrolite property.  It was here I began a search that would last on and off for years. After a couple years of trying to locate a crash site, I finally came to the realization that it was a lost cause since I didn't have much information to go by. But twenty-five years working evening and night shift can get a lot of looking done for what I thought may be a piece of a plane no bigger than a shoe box. But with every demolished building came the reality that there wasn't any piece of the F-5E anywhere on the Petrolite property. It was now the year 2005 and once again the F-5E was fading into history.

In 2009, I was searching for information online for a story I was going to write when I came across a web site by Clint Daniel. He had written an extensive story loaded with information on the crash of the F-5E. Not only did he have the official crash report by the Army Air Corps  from 1945 with  photos of the crashed plane, he also had a small piece of the plane his dad had picked up while he was at the crash site in 1945. At this point I was thinking to myself...this must of been about the size of any piece that was gathered up that day. Something big enough to put in your shirt pocket and walk away with. At the end of his story he had written a small paragraph stating that he would like to hear from anyone that may have any information about the crash. I was unaware at that time that anyone was looking for the crash site until I read his story. Come to find out he also looked for it in 2008. I  now felt like the story had a final ending, even if the crash site wasn't found, there was a full story online that could finally close the book on this event. But this wasn't the end, and two years later a new chapter was about to be written......

Part 3 coming soon.

A piece of the P38 F-5E that crashed west of Barnsdall in 1945.
Photo from the Clint Daniel site.

History Comes Knocking, Pt.1: Fated Flight Of The F-5E

The early morning of July 2, 1945 was going to be a clear and warm day for pilot 2nd Lt. Charles R. Schleifer. What started out as a possible reconnaissance survey flight would end fatally two miles west of the town of Barnsdall, Oklahoma as his Lockheed F-5E  would crash into a hillside. The official crash report from the Army Air Corps stated the probable causes for the crash were unknown but after reading the eye witness reports from C. Art Jones and Clinton E. Daniel, and doing research and investigating performance reports on the F-5E, I came to my own conclusion of how the crash occurred. Though my opinion is only my interpretation of the event, I believe it's what happened on that day.

2nd LT. Charles R. Schleifer
Photo from the Clint Daniel site

Lockheed F-5E  Photo Recon Aircraft

While on a flight from the Coffeyville Army Air Corps Field in Coffeyville Kansas, 2nd Lt. Charles Schleifer and an unknown pilot flying another aircraft of the same description  were flying in tandem at an extremely high altitude. Lt. Schleifer was flying in the trailing plane. At 0810, on July 2, 1945,  it's possible Lt. Schleifer wanted a closer look at something below or wanted to test the dive flaps on the aircraft which were a modification on the plane. As eye witness reports state, he pulled out of position, rolled and placed his aircraft into a dive. The plane was diving at a high rate of speed and appeared to spiral as it came down. The witnesses recalled the plane was making a loud screaming sound such as it might be at full throttle. Near the altitude of 1000 ft. the aircraft was trying to pull out of the dive into an inverted attitude. For a few moments the aircraft leveled into an inverted attitude before disappearing out of sight and crashing into a hillside near the C. Art Jones farm. 

Official photo from the Army Air Corps on the F-5E crash
Photo from the Clint Daniel site

After researching the performance characteristics of the F-5E and checking into the modifications of the plane, I concluded  that the aircraft surpassed it's airspeed limits and could not recover from the dive. According to the performance tests, the planes tail section would buffet if passing airspeed limits and cause structural damage. The performance tests included controllability handling  and diving characteristics, which state that at extremely high dive speeds the airplane tends to become rapidly nose heavy and elevator effectiveness decreases, making it difficult to pull out of a dive. Elevators are the flaps on the tail wings that give the plane directional control up and down. According to the crash report the plane was in a 60 degree  horizontal and inverted attitude when it crashed. This leads me to believe in two different scenarios, either the pilot mistakenly pulled back on the yoke while he was inverted to pull out of the dive which would turn him straight into the ground or the pilot lost stability control and lift while being inverted and was unable to roll out of the inversion.

Reports say that after the crash, people from Barnsdall made their way to the crash site, where it was said that the plane disintegrated upon impact and was on fire. During this time curious onlookers were picking up pieces of the crashed plane.  The body of Lt. Schleifer was recovered and sent to Tulsa. That night the local Boy Scout troop stood watch over the wreckage until an Army Air Corps recovery team could be on scene the next morning. 

Clint Daniel, son of Clinton E. Daniel, (witness to the crash), was given a piece of the crashed F-5E over 15 years ago by his dad. Clint Daniel wrote the story "A Mystery Solved 1945-2006"on the crashed F-5E on his web site. This might seem like the end of the story but it isn't. Another piece of the fated flight of the F-5E has surfaced with it's own story which will be told in the later part of this flight into history.

Have You Read The Scrolls

Everyone has some kind of thing they do in the bathroom as they sit on the toilet while doing their business. Some people like to read a newspaper or magazine, others may text or talk on their cell phone while some people just casually sit there until the job is done. I like to look at labels and read whats in products that sit on the sink counter such as, toothpaste, soap, hair spray or lotion. I'm always finding interesting ingredients that go into the products we all use in the bathroom. But there has been one I have been overlooking for some time, until recently. That would be the roll of toilet paper. Back in the day before the advent of Ultra, Premium or Double Roll along with the double, triple and extra cushioned embossed and scented roll there was the single layer, regular and unscented roll. Basic and to the point. It was just toilet paper with no frills rolled onto a cardboard cylinder and placed four rolls to a pack. But I noticed something different as I looked around at the roll on the dispenser hanging off the wall. The cardboard cylinder inside the roll seem to be larger than normal. I thought it was just a fluke and maybe there was a mistake at the factory. Looking down I noticed some other cardboard cylinders in the trash can that were the same size as the roll on the wall. It was becoming clear now that this was no mistake, something wasn't right with this product. Doing some investigating of my own this past week has brought me to a conclusion. Georgia Pacific, the makers of Angel Soft bathroom tissue have stuck it to the consumers. Recently, GP (Georgia Pacific) has changed the packaging on it's Angel Soft toilet paper, with this change there has been another subtle change such as, less sheets per roll. Though the amount on the cylinder may look the same cause of the larger cardboard cylinder, it's really less. Angel Soft regular rolls used to have 150 sheets per roll, they now have 132. This also went along with the slight increase in the amount you pay per roll, so now you get less for more money. Another annoying fact is the crazy advertising they place on some of the Angel Soft Double Roll packages.

The labelling on this package reads 70% more sheets on a double roll. If a single roll is 150 sheets this double roll should have 300 sheets?  HOLD ON! Is my math wrong or should this read 100% more sheets? Isn't this a "DOUBLE" roll?           

                        

 How about this example.

This is their "Thickest" ever! Read the package label on the back and it will tell you it's still 2-ply. It's the same as the original 2-ply. Why is it thicker? But it did add some extra cents to the price.

Here's my favorite.

This advertisement comes straight from GP to the stores that offer Angel Soft:

The new angel soft bath tissue is now the thickest ever. Angel soft continues to bring you the ideal balance of softness and strength at a great value. Longer lasting angel soft triple roll has triple the sheets of our regular rolls, which means even fewer roll changes. Now that’s convenient.

Angel Soft, Double Rolls, [18 Rolls*2 Pack] = 36 Total Count ( Angel Soft )

Brand : Angel Soft , Model :

• Flushable and septic safe
• 18 double rolls
• 264 sheets per roll
• An ideal balance of softness and strength

*********

This is the new packaging that GP has put on the shelves. It boasts of being the thickest ever (still 2-ply as before). It "continues" to bring ideal balance and strength (otherwise known as...it's not changed). Plus it has the triple roll which has triple the sheets of a regular roll. STOP AGAIN! If a regular roll is 150 sheets per roll then shouldn't the triple roll have 450 sheets? Even with the downsized roll of 150 sheets to 132 sheets, this triple roll should have 396 sheets. That's a far cry from the 264 sheets it advertises. Bend over everybody....you're about to get it up the wazoo and pay a little extra for a little less. 

A Bunch Of Ding Dongs

November 16th 2012, the life of the Twinkie came to an abrupt end. Some said the iconic treat would last forever in it's cellophane wrapped cocoon but those that manufactured the creamy confectionery soon found out that what they thought was brinkmanship soon turned from walking a picket line to standing in line for government assistance.  The Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union went on strike November 9th, disrupting production and deliveries due to their pensions being eliminated and an 8% cut in wage. Management gave them the ultimatum of returning to work by November 15th or the company would be insolvent and the liquidation of it's assets would be auctioned off.

From where I stand, the union and management brought this on themselves. Here's how I see it, you can agree with it or not. When Hostess goes into bankruptcy for the second time since 2009 there's something amiss in the finances. This past year Hostess gave pay increases to it's executives. Take the top wage earners for instance:

Brian Driscoll, CEO, around $750,000 to $2,550,000. 
Gary Wandschneider, EVP, $500,000 to $900,000. 
John Stewart, EVP, $400,000 to $700,000. 
David Loeser, EVP, $375,000 to $656,256. 
Kent Magill, EVP, $375,000 to $656,256. 
Richard Seban, EVP, $375,000 to $656,256. 
John Akeson, SVP, $300,000 to $480,000. 
Steven Birgfeld, SVP, $240,000 to $360,000. 
Martha Ross, SVP, $240,000 to $360,000. 
Rob Kissick, SVP, $182,000 to $273,008.

 This looks like Bain capitalism at it's worst. Cut pensions and wages for the workers and increase wages and benefits for the executives, then use bankruptcy as a bargaining tool during contract negotiations. In March of this year, Brian Driscoll, CEO for Hostess resigns his position in fear that the company will go bankrupt again and be forced to sell off its assets.This is  when the Union should have done their financial homework by reading the yearly financial report each company has to furnish to it's stockholders. There is a time to strike and walk a picket line but this wasn't one of them. Union members thought the first time bankruptcy bluff was the same the second time around. Most seem to go on the assumption that the company would fold over and give in to their proposals. If they would have been more financially schooled on the profitability of their company they would have made concessions to their already dismal outlook.
 For 30 years I was a member of a Union and they have their good and bad points. I've been on strike and walked a picket line in the cold and I can say it's not a glamorous thing to do. I've been through layoffs, downsizing and hour reductions. I've seen company buyouts and management changes. I'm sure those Union members at Hostess have seen the same things over the years. What I don't understand is that they knew this was coming and they decided to go forward with the strike and risk all they had as far as wages and benefits go. A strike is never a good thing to do unless you know in all certainty that you have the upper hand  otherwise your just walking on the street with no paycheck. Who's to blame for the Twinkie demise and the fall of Hostess........everyone that worked for the company. There was no right or wrong side but there are winners and losers and the winners will walk away with money in their bank account while the losers walk away to the unemployment line. So be the death of the American "Twinkie" icon.

Will the Twinkie live on? Possibly under the guise of another snack company but if it does will it hold the same iconic state of it's past? We'll just have to wait and see, until then, gather up your boxes of golden creamy treasure cause the once mighty Hostess which was ran by a bunch of Ding Dongs and Twinkies has been chewed up and devoured by it's own greed and lack of restraint.

Rest in peace, Twinkie the Kid

Life's A Ditch: If You're Water

It's time once again to voice my opinion on something that has turned the corner of Third St. and Highway 11 into a flood zone. There is a right way and a wrong way to go about doing things within the city limits and as I can tell, what began as a project to remove a building has turned one of the lots on Third St. into a storm water diverting monster. Anyone familiar with the area will know that Johnny Kelley owns the lots between Third and Forth St. along Highway 11 where Kelley's Trucks and More has a business. A couple years ago the church building that sat on the corner of Third St. and Highway 11 was razed. After the removal of the debris, fill material was hauled in to raise the level of the lot to be level with the highway leaving the property line on the north and east sides lower than the lot on which the material was laid. The lot is now used for parking vehicles and trailers from the Kelley business. The leveling of the lot has changed the water drainage flow which takes in all of the water shed from Fifth St. to Third St. along  the north side of Highway 11. What used to be a ditch along the north side of the highway  to Third St has been removed in front of the Kelly property and all water flowing to the Third St. drainage whistle now diverts from in front of the Kelley business north up the alley until it reaches the property line where the fill was ended to level the property. the water then travels east passing through the yard of Lori Mayfield where it pools to form a small lake in her front yard. When her front yard fills to capacity it begins to flow east over Third St. and onto the properties  of the Catholic Church and down my front walk and driveway. There is a huge drainage whistle that sits at the corner of Third St. and Highway 11, very little of the water drains into it cause the ditch on the east side of the Kelly property was removed and now is used by vehicles as a place to turn around. In fact there are no ditches that go to the drainage whistle at that corner. Any remaining ditch that does exist doesn't drain cause of the elevation. The city recently came down and tried to remedy the problem by placing an undersized whistle in front of Mayfields property and hoping that the water would run north to the Chestnut drainage whistle. In all effort this was a major FAIL which was realized in the last rain. it doesn't take an engineer to see that water doesn't flow uphill. Why try to make water go uphill for 150 ft into a half plugged whistle on Chestnut when you can go 50 ft. to a 36" whistle that's not plugged  and all you have to do is dig a ditch that was once there, before it was covered over. From what I've seen this type of thing happens all over Barnsdall. Do the city workers or council not know the requirements for doing the job right the first time? If so, then this water drainage problem on Third St, or any other street would have never happened. The (BCO) Barnsdall City Ordinances cover many things on this subject. None of which I know of have been followed. from the diverting of storm water to other properties to using the wrong size whistles on drainage ditches. So what have the families in this area done about the situation? They have talked with the Mayor and city workers numerous times and what have they received in return...more storm water.

I'll tell ya.....life's a DITCH!!!

Water coming across Third St onto the front walk

Water coming from across Third St. down the driveway.

A few days after the rain  the water is still standing. Also note the new turn around that people use instead of going through the car wash.

Barnsdall State Bank

The Barnsdall State Bank was the successor to the Bank of Commerce in Barnsdall. On December 7, 1925, through a telegram received from O. M. Motherhead, Bank Commissioner, the Barnsdall State Bank was given authority to open it's business in a two story building at the corner of 5th and Main. On December 22, 1925 the first meeting of the board of directors was held with L.F. Roberts - president, John Kennedy - secretary, Sam Ingram-director in attendance. Changes in the bank officers came frequently in the next few years. Sam Ingram was elected president in July, 1926, Roberts became vice-president and Kennedy remained secretary. By January of 1928, John Kennedy had become president, Fred Kennedy became lead cashier and N. R. Hutchison became cashier. John Kennedy was re-elected in 1936 as president, N. R. Hutchison was elected vice-president, lead cashier and managing officer. During January of 1941, John Kennedy was elected chairman of the board.  N. R. Hutchison was elected president and C. A. McKibben was named lead cashier.

1928 Barnsdall State Bank employees: L-R,  John Kennedy-president, N. H. Hutchison-cashier, Fred Kennedy-lead cashier.

John Kennedy sold his controlling interest in the bank in July 1959 and a special stockholders meeting was set up in August of that year. New directors were elected and Matthew J. Kane of Pawhuska, H.T, Stoabs,  J. Fred Stoabs Jr. and A. L. Moore of Barnsdall became board members. H.T. Stoabs was president from 1962 until 1969 when he became chairman of the board. Joe Edgington, a cashier from November 1960 became president in 1969. Also in 1969, Robert L. Fowler joined the bank as a cashier and member of the board of directors.

Barnsdall State Bank around 1931 at the corner of 5th and Main.

By July 1971, a new bank had been built at the corner of 4th and Main to house the Barnsdall State Bank. In December 1973, Joe Edgington, president of the bank died. Robert L. Fowler was named his successor in January 1974. 

Barnsdall State Bank 1971

Robert L. Fowler remained president of the bank until his retirement. He died in September 2008.  The Barnsdall State Bank was acquired by Osage Federal Bank out of Pawhuska, Oklahoma and operates as such to this day.

In operation since 1925 the Barnsdall State Bank has seen many changes including the acquisition by Osage Federal Bank of Pawhuska, Ok. This is the bank as it looks in 2012 on the corner of 4th and Main.

Bigheart Newspaper Ads of 1921

The Bigheart Times newspaper changed it's name in January of 1922 to the Barnsdall Times. Looking back into some old issues of the Bigheart newspaper, I was intrigued by some of it's business ads. I thought I would post some so everyone else that hasn't seen them will get a chance to do so. The time is June, 1921. Bigheart had become a thriving small city as oil, farming and ranching had taken hold in the area and the population at the time was 2100 people. Enough to support many small businesses at the time.

"You're Next"

Home Killed Beef And Pork

Society Clothes "Strictly Cash"

A 2500 pound car that gets 18 to 20 MPG in 1921?

If It's Jewelry, They have it.

Barnsdall Photo Book

Over the years there have been many stories written about Barnsdall, it's origin and it's people. The town of Barnsdall has been around for 107 years and I've been witness to 50 of those years in which many things have happened over that time. Recently I was contacted by one of the members of the Methodist church about a project that caught my attention. Being a history buff, I was interested in the proposal of helping put a book together about Barnsdall's history and it's residents. In 1983, Naomi Schmidt had a book published about Barnsdall's history but most of it was in story form and packed with more print than photos. 100 copies of the book were printed which makes it a rare book to see. The idea of putting together a book made with  photos and descriptions about Barnsdall's history and people, in my judgement was an idea worth looking into. Everyone has heard that a photo is worth a thousand words. It's time to put the quip to the test and see if it is true. Working within the confines of not plagiarising and copyright laws, putting the book together will be a daunting task. This is why I want to call on Barnsdall residents, past and present, about using their private photo collections to help in devising a photo essay book about Barnsdall and it's people that have lived here over the years. Historical photos of Barnsdall's past are few and far between and information on them can be scarce to nonexistent. There's no doubt that the more material received, the better the book will be.

The criteria for photos can be:

• Businesses and owners
• Buildings
• Street scenes
• Schools
• Churches
• Places
• Civic Activities

It would be great to have the community involved with the project. If anyone has a photo or photos they would like to send in. Scan your photo(s) and email them to.  jerry_d_patrick@hotmail.com  Along with each photo, send in your name and a description of what the photo is about. Only photos with historical significance can be used. A picture of Fido laying on top of his doghouse and gnawing on a bone won't do. Happy photo hunting...I'll keep everyone up to date on how things proceed.

Hey Mom...What's to eat?

The question asked many times over. Hey mom, what's to eat? Growing up in a time before fast food was on every corner and heat and eat dinners for microwaves were something you seen on the Jetsons. There was a time when mom cooked meals for the family. It was a time when buying fresh vegetables from a local farmer or going out to the chicken yard  to pick out the evenings meat entree was something normal to hear about or do. My family was like that. Though we lived in town, my parents had roots back to farming life, where living off what you could grow or raise, was, what was on the menu. Since my dad's parents lived within 10 miles of us we would make Sunday trips to my grandparents farm over at Evergreen where we could get about anything we needed to make up a meal or two. It was always fresh, I guess that's why later on, some of the things I would eat never seemed as good as the stuff we would get off the farm. My grandparents farm was a living supermarket just waiting for someone to come along and pick from its vines. My grandpa Patrick was a generous, hard working and to the point person. The farm was his life when he wasn't managing a work crew on the railroad. I was always amazed at everything that he could grow and the animals that he would care for. Picking up your food off the farm wasn't like going to the grocery store to pick out items from the shelves. My grandpa always had the necessary picking items available for you when you showed up. It was always a choice of either a bucket, burlap or paper sack, with or without a potato fork or spade. He ( my grandpa) always told me, go get what you want, as long as you pick it. He would then proceed to grab up one of his lawn chairs and sit in the shade under a tree and watch as we would go after what we wanted. It was the same each time we would go into the garden to pick vegetables. My grandpa's garden had many things. Here is what I remember about what he grew. Pumpkins, watermelons, cantaloupes, grapes, strawberries, pears, peaches, apples, plums, cherries and blackberries. He always grew enough fruit to have grandma bake him a pie or cobbler and to have jelly made out of what he had when he didn't sell it to people that were always coming by. He also grew tomatoes, potatoes, corn, green beans, cucumbers, squash, okra and peppers. It was like walking the dirt aisles of an outdoor vegetable and fruit store. On the other side of the farm is where the animals were. Cattle, pigs, turkeys, ducks, chickens and down over the hill was a pond that you could get fish from if you wanted to try for them. Milk, eggs, homemade butter, it was all there for you. We would fill the back of the ole 62' Chevy station wagon with fresh food to bring home. As my grandpa got older, the garden got smaller and the animals were slowly disappearing from the farm but he always would share what he had. As a kid, I got to know the meaning of fresh food and what it took to grow it and bring it in to the house to prepare. These days many of the younger generation think that fresh is something you pick off the vegetable shelf or out of the meat section at the local grocery store or stopping by the frozen food section to get dinners that are packaged up and ready to heat up is the thing to do. That all may be fine for them but they have never tasted anything like what my grandma Patrick could cook up from the fresh items she could use everyday from the farm. There have been many times that I have come in from picking vegetables in grandpas garden and he would would follow me into the house and ask grandma one thing. "Hey mom, what's to eat?