February 2016 Oklahoma Publisher

Official Publication of the Oklahoma Press Association

The Oklahoma Publisherwww.OkPress.com

www.Facebook.com/okpressVol. 87, No. 2

12 Pages • February 2016

INSIDECAUCUS COVERAGE: Fourteen University of Oklahoma journalism students descend on Iowa to cover the presidential election.

PAGE 4

STOPPING HACKERS: Firewalls add a layer of defense to keep hackers out of your computer.

PAGE 10

FOI AWARDS: FOI Okla-homa is seeking nominations for its annual awards program.

PAGE 11

DONATE TO ONF to receive this Will Rogers print. Details at OkPress.com/will-rogers.

Publishers and news executives had an opportunity to meet with their represen-tatives and senators during the Feb. 11 Oklahoma Press Association Legislative Summit.

Front pages of OPA’s 180 business member newspapers were displayed in the fourth floor rotunda of the State Capitol in Oklahoma City for the event.

OPA Executive Vice President Mark Thomas addressed members in the Blue Room while waiting for Gov. Mary Fallin to speak.

“I appreciate all of you being here today,” said Thomas. “It’s important for you to come see your elected officials and let them know you’re here to talk to them.”

Thomas also reviewed a list of bills OPA is interested in this year. As the OPA lob-byist, Thomas tracks any bill that mentions taxes, newspapers and public notice.

“There’s only about 13 bills on the list I gave you, but I’m tracking about 200 bills,” he said.

OPA President Robby Trammell, news director at The Oklahoman, introduced Gov. Fallin, who recapped her 2016 State of the State address and fielded questions from the audience.

“I’ve told many people that this is the year of action,” Fallin said. “We have deep challenges facing us as a state because of the energy downturn and many other issues going on around the world. The most serious issue we have to deal with this year is the budget itself and being able to pro-vide core critical services to our people.”

Facing a projected $1.3 billion shortfall, the largest in state history, Fallin has pro-posed examining every sales tax exemption in the state, tax credits and incentives and to increase the tax on cigarettes.

“I signed a law that put into place a com-mittee to review all tax incentives and tax credits for businesses,” Fallin said. “It has a process and a committee that will start meeting Feb. 25.”

James Denton of Edmond has been appointed by Fallin to be her representative on the eight-member Incentive Evaluation Commission. Denton is a certified pub-lic accountant and the president/CEO of Arledge and Associates.

“We’ve got a lot of work to do,” Fallin said. “It’s going to be a very challenging year with the state budget.”

Fallin answered questions from mem-bers about education, health issues and earthquakes.

Governor speaks at OPA Legislative Summit

Members of the Oklahoma Press Association wait for Gov. Mary Fallin to speak in the Blue Room at the State Capitol. From left, Leilani Ott, McIntosh County Democrat, Shauna Belyeu, Eufaula Indian Journal, and Rodney Haltom, Eufaula Indian Journal.

Front pages of all OPA business member newspapers on display in the fourth floor rotunda at the State Capitol during the OPA Legislative Summit on Feb. 11.

2 The Oklahoma Publisher // February 2016

“Shots fired,” blared the police scanner. I recognized the address as being in a low-

income neighborhood – “south of the tracks” – a few blocks from The Seminole Producer, where I worked as a young reporter and editor in the 1970s-80s.

I grabbed a camera, jumped in my 1973 Pontiac Grand Prix with a “Press 1” specialty tag, and rushed to the loca-tion.

As I pulled up to the aging “shotgun” house and jumped out -- neighbors were pointing toward the back yard. Excited, I raced around the house and what I saw stopped me cold.

An elderly man stood on his back porch holding a rifle. At his feet, the lifeless body of a young boy. I snapped a picture.

The man looked at me, but didn’t raise his rifle. It was then I realized that I had beaten the police to the scene and I was alone with the gunman. I heard sirens in the distance.

Without saying a word, I wheeled around and rushed into the front yard as two patrolmen jumped out of their patrol cars. Knowing both officers, I told them what I had seen and followed them as they raced to the back yard with guns drawn.

The officers ordered the gunman to put down his weapon and raise his hands. They handcuffed him as he mut-tered something about having shot a burglar.

Officers checked the boy, I’d guess 11 or 12, dead from a single .22 caliber rifle shot to the middle of his forehead. A trickle of blood had run down the side of his face.

The scene still haunts me.The boy had fallen back off the

porch and was lying face up, with arms outstretched. He wore a sock on his right hand, which was clinched in a fist, and his left hand was open, bare.

Beneath a window on the porch was

a wooden box, surrounded by pieces of broken glass, and hanging from a nail on the window frame was a sock match-ing the one on the boy’s right hand.

The man, probably in his early 80s, told police he had been taking a nap when he was startled and awoke to find “a burglar” trying to get into his bedroom window. He had blindly fired a shot though the curtain. The boy fell backwards, a nail snagging one sock off his hand.

From initial appearances, it looked like the boy had stood on the wooden box, broke the window pane in an attempt to get into the house, and was wearing socks on his hands to hide any fingerprints.

Police officers, sheriff’s deputies, ambulance personnel and I shook our heads, surveyed the scene, and com-mented on how sad a death for such a young person. Someone asked, “What’s wrong with youth today?” The old man said little, almost like he was in shock.

It was then that an ambulance atten-dant noticed the boy was clinching a piece of folded notebook paper in his sock-covered hand.

We gathered around -- standing over the body -- to see the note. A police offi-cer unfolded it and written in crayon, in a child’s scrawl, was: “Sorry we broke your window.”

Turns out, neighborhood boys had earlier been playing baseball in a vacant lot next door and had hit a ball that broke the man’s window while he was away from the house.

This child had gone to an abandoned house and had found another window pane and was attempting to replace the one that had been broken when the deadly shot was fired.

It was a sorrowful tragedy and important lesson for me to learn as a young journalist: everything is not always what it appears to be – the truth can be elusive at times, but always needs to be pursued.

THURS., FEBRUARY 25, 2016RESISTING REGURGITATION WEBINAR

Cost: $35, 1:00 p.mDo you feel like you’re always writing recaps instead of original news stories? Tim Schmitt, with GateHouse Media, will share tips on how to make your stories multifaceted and people-focused. To register, visit onlinemediacampus.com.

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Cost: $35, 1:00 p.mMany journalists hate math, but love numbers stories. With a few easy steps, you can use Excel to crunch numbers in a way that is reliable and fast. Join Erin Jordan as she shares her tips for making the most of Excel as a reporting tool. To register, visit onlinemediacampus.com

THURS., APRIL 21, 2016OKLAHOMA JOURNALISM HALL OF FAME

New members of the Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame will be inducted at a luncheon on April 21. For more information, visit http://okjournalism.uco.edu/.

FRI. & SAT., JUNE 10-11, 2016OPA ANNUAL CONVENTION

DOWNTOWN OKLAHOMA CITY SHERATON HOTELThis year’s convention will be held on Friday and Saturday. Education/networking sessions and social events are scheduled Friday afternoon through Saturday leading up to the annual awards banquet Saturday evening where we will celebrate the winners of the Better Newspaper Contest.

For more information on upcoming events, visit the OPA website at www.OkPress.com or contact Member Services Director Lisa Sutliff at (405) 499-0026, 1-888-815-2672 or email [email protected].

OPA CALENDAR OF EVENTS

In pursuit of the elusive truth

OPA receives applications for business, associate membership

The Oklahoma Press Association has received two applications for mem-bership.

The Minco-Union City Times has applied for a business membership, and Steve Booher has applied for an associ-ate membership.

The Minco-Union City Times, a weekly published in Grady County, states in its permit that its periodical mailing permit has been in effect since Jan. 23, 2014. The publication is printed in Grady County and is entered in the U.S. mails at Minco, Okla.

The newspaper office is located at 205 Main in Minco.

Steven Kizziar is listed as publisher

of the Minco-Union City Times Jon Watje is editor and Joel Schmidt is advertising manager.

Steve Booher served as publisher of the Cherokee Messenger & Republi-can for 34 years. He retired in January 2014.

Any current member wishing to object to the application of the Minco-Union City Times as a business mem-ber, or Steve Booher as an associate member, must do so in writing to the OPA Board of Directors at 3601 N. Lin-coln Blvd., Oklahoma City, OK 73105 by March 8.

Board members will vote on the applications at their next meeting.

“You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.” – John 8:32

The superintendent of McAlester Public Schools was fired Feb. 6 after the MPS Board of Education concluded she violated school district policy.

The McAlester News-Capital said the board dismissed Marsha Gore because of violations of policy regarding credit card usage and personal spending. The vote to dismiss Gore was a unanimous 4-0.

McAlester attorney Bill Ervin and his son, Joe Ervin, presented the case against Gore.

“We think the evidence justified the board’s decision,” said Bill Ervin.

Gore and her attorney, Joe E. White, declined comment after the decision.

The McAlester News-Capital began an investigation into finances at the school district in early September.

Gore had been suspended since November. Her husband, Skip, the dis-trict’s suspended plant operations man-ager, faces a termination hearing Feb. 12-13 related to his alleged involvement.

McAlester superintendent fired

The Oklahoma Publisher // February 2016 3

New editor at Pryor Times

The Oklahoma Publisher

PUBLISHERMark Thomas

[email protected]

EDITORJennifer Gilliland

[email protected]

OPA OFFICERSRobby Trammell, President

The OklahomanDayva Spitzer, Vice President

Sayre Record &Beckham County Democrat

Rod Serfoss, TreasurerClinton Daily News

Mark Thomas, Executive Vice President,

Oklahoma City

OPA DIRECTORSJeff Funk, Past President

Enid News & EagleBrian Blansett, Tri-County HeraldTed Streuli, The Journal Record

Ray Dyer, El Reno TribuneMike Strain, Tulsa WorldJohn Denny Montgomery,

The Purcell RegisterMark Millsap,

The Norman Transcript

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The Mustang News is under new ownership.

John and Paula Settle of Larned, Kan., recently purchased the weekly news-paper from the Tribune Corporation, owned by the Dyer family of El Reno.

The Settles said they were excited to continue the newspaper and partner with the Yukon Review, which they pur-chased in June.

“It’s an excellent newspaper and we want to continue that into the future,” Settle said. “We are lucky to have the staff there and have been watching them for a while. This is a good fit with The Review and with the market itself, both Mustang and Yukon are growing tre-mendously.”

The Settles have owned and operated several community newspapers over the past 28 years. John’s father, Marshall Settle, was the longtime publisher of The Chickasha Star and a past president of the Oklahoma Press Association.

The community will also have the opportunity to meet David Settle, John’s brother who has been helping manage the family’s newspapers in Kansas since 2005. Prior to that, David owned The Chickasha Star, Minco Minstrel and Tuttle Times for several years before selling the properties in 1988.

John and Paula Settle said they feel fortunate to take over ownership of the Mustang News from the Dyers.

Sean Dyer, co-publisher of the El

Reno Tribune, said the Settle family has a long history of newspaper publishing in Oklahoma, and that Canadian County will be well served by their “experience, dedication and professionalism.”

“We look forward to working with John and Paula Settle as well as their brother, David Settle, for many years to come,” Dyer said.

“We know the community will con-tinue to be served by a strong newspa-per family that cares about helping to improve the quality of life for the people and businesses that make Mustang and eastern Canadian County their home.”

Mustang News under new ownership

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The staff of the Henryetta Free-Lance moved into its new building on Jan. 21.

Cookson Hills Publishers Inc., owner of the Free-Lance, purchased the Event Center building at 302 W. Main in December.

“We are excited to commit to Hen-ryetta by purchasing a building down-town,” said Jeff Mayo, publisher of the Free-Lance. “This will move us east and closer to the heart of the city.”

Mayo said the move to the new build-ing was made after some light updating to accommodate the newspaper opera-tions.

The building was purchased from the Baker family.

Angel Ellis, editor of the Free-Lance, said she hopes everyone will enjoy the newspaper’s new location, which has many advantages for staff and custom-ers.

“We are on a very visible corner with easy to use parking that wraps from front to side.

“For the staff, it’s conveniently locat-ed close to City Hall and the police sta-tion so we can easily make our rounds to gather the news,” she said.

Henryetta Free-Lance moves

Pryor Times Publisher Carolyn Ashford recently announced the pro-motion of senior reporter Cydney Baron to the position of managing editor.

Baron has been a reporter with The Times since 2012.

A 2007 graduate of Pryor High School, Baron attended Rogers State University and majored in English.

For the past three years, she has covered a wide variety of beats includ-ing crime, courts, education and city and county government. She also has been responsible for newspaper design and layout for the past year in addition to managing The Times’ web-site and social media accounts.

“The Times is fortunate to have a native Mayes County resident leading its coverage,” Ashford said.

“Cydney Baron is dedicated to making sure all areas of the county receive coverage of important events and activities.”

Seven new members were elected to the FOI Oklahoma board of directors on Jan. 23.

Joining the board were Phil Bacha-rach, chief of communications and pub-lic affairs for the State Department of Education; Nathan Elliott, managing editor of KWTV News 9; David Fritze, executive editor of Oklahoma Watch; Ginnie Graham, news columnist for the

Tulsa World; Joe Hight, owner of Best of Books in Edmond; State Auditor Gary Jones; and Tom Kovach, a former Nor-man councilman.

Bill Young, public information admin-istrator for the State Department of Libraries, is the 2016 FOI Oklahoma president. Paul Monies, an energy reporter for The Oklahoman, was cho-sen as president-elect for the year.

FOI Oklahoma elects board members


Tobacco is still a problem in Oklahoma.

Madison Price has joined BH Media’s Oklahoma Weekly Group as mobile edi-tor.

Price will assist all news organiza-tions that are part of the Oklahoma Weekly Group including the Broken Arrow Ledger, Coweta American, Owas-so Reporter, Sand Springs Leader, Skia-took Journal and Wagoner Tribune.

The 23-year-old will be based out of the American newswroom in Coweta.

Christy Wheeland, editor of the

Coweta American, said she is excited to have Price join their news team.

“She is interested in all aspects of community journalism and will be an asset for all of our publications,” Whee-land said.

Price, a life-long Broken Arrow resi-dent, graduated from the University of Tulsa in 2014 with a degree in organiza-tional studies. She started her journal-ism career in May 2015 as a freelance writer for the Broken Arrow Ledger.

BH Media weekly group adds mobile editor to staff

Calley Lamar has joined the staff at the Okeene Record.

Lamar, who graduated from South-western Oklahoma State University with a Bachelor of Arts degree , is an aspiring writer and film enthusiast.

“I’m glad to work for The Okeene Record and hope to exercise my skills as a writer and creative story teller while delivering news to the people in this community,” Lamar said.

Okeene Record welcomes new reporter

Arlene Higgins celebrated her last day at the Watonga Republican on Jan. 15. Higgins chose to retire after more than 5 years as office manager. The

newspaper staff saw her as a valued employee and genuinely good person.

Higgins plans to move to Arkansas to be closer to her family.

Watonga Republican staffer retires

University of Oklahoma students took Iowa by storm as they covered the U.S. presidential campaigns.

Fourteen journalism students arrived in Iowa on Sunday, Jan. 17, as part of a semester-long reporting project. They returned to Oklahoma City on Feb. 2.

“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for most – if not all – of them,” said OU journalism professor John Schmeltzer, who conceived the idea for his multi-media journalism course.

The students were asked to report on the concerns of millennials for the upcoming presidential election. All of their content was featured on Oklahoma Routes, OKRoutes.com, the online mag-azine for the Gaylord College of Journal-ism and Mass Communication. Their work also was published on Huffington Post Pollster.

Schmeltzer and fellow journalism fac-ulty member Mike Boettcher traveled back and forth to oversee the project in Iowa and to teach other classes in Nor-man.

The experience was a great way for students to learn about political report-ing and its importance, said Schmeltzer.

They “learned more in two weeks than I could teach them in an entire semester,” Schmeltzer said. “You learn so much about the process by being out there, being in the trenches.”

The caucuses are over, but the stu-dents won’t stop covering the presiden-tial campaigns. One student is covering the nation’s first primary in New Hamp-shire and two students will be sent to South Carolina for the Feb. 20 Republi-can primary.

In advance of Super Tuesday on March 1, 16 additional students have been added to continue the coverage through Oklahoma and Texas.

“The Super Tuesday states are going to matter this year,” Schmeltzer said. “We will have the largest political news reporting team operating in Oklahoma, with 30 total reporters in two-person teams.”

While the work will continue to be exciting, Schmeltzer doubts it will get any better than the Iowa experience.

“Fourteen students can put on their resumes that they were published in and broadcast on professional news outlets,” he said.

OU journalism students report on caucus from Iowa


DEATHSTHOMAS LAROY BROWN, a former print setter for the Bristow News, died Jan. 25, 2016, in Cushing. He was 69.

Brown was born March 14, 1946, in

Cushing. After working as a print setter for the Bristow newspaper, he went on to work as an assistant manager for a Phil-lips gas station.

Brown is survived by his father, Don Brown of Cushing, and numerous sib-lings and their spouses.

DAVID CRAIGHEAD, a former Oklaho-ma journalist and state representative, died Jan. 19, 2016. He was 84.

Craighead was born March 8, 1931, in Romania to American missionary par-

ents. He graduated from Baylor Uni-versity with a degree in journalism and English and worked in various positions at newspapers in Oklahoma and Texas.

From 1973-1989, Craighead served in the Oklahoma House of Representa-

tives, representing District 95 in Mid-west City.

He is survived by his wife Betty and two daughters, Gail and Ruth; son-in-law Thomas Henderson, and two grandsons.

In Memory of Our Friends & ColleaguesMatthew Pena (Gah-Kohn)

Jan. 4, 2015

Richard Albert HornerJan. 7, 2015

Norbert Dee RoachJan. 9, 2015

Monteray NelsonJan. 17, 2015

Anna Janzen PjeskyJan. 21, 2015

Bonnie Lou Michael BlackstockFeb. 9, 2015

Dorothy Ann StahmerFeb. 22, 2015

■ BY JEFFREY CALDWELL, TheTMCA.com REPRINTED WITH PERMISSION

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), enacted in 1998, prohibits users of copyrighted works from circum-venting technological measures placed on those works (e.g., encryption), sub-ject to limited exemptions. Some of the exemptions are permanent, such as reverse engineering to ensure interop-erability. Other exemptions are revis-ited every three years by the Librarian of Congress. During this process, the Librarian of Congress determines class-es of works for which non-infringing uses are likely to be adversely affected by the prohibition against circumven-tion. The goal of the exemption process is to “ensure that the public can still engage in fair and other noninfringing uses of works.”

The following list is only a summary of the exemptions, many of which have several specific requirements that must apply for the exemption to be triggered. The new exemptions were effective as of Oct. 28, 2015, and the final rule is available on the Copyright Office’s website at https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2015/10/28/2015-27212/exemption-to-prohibition-on-circumven-tion-of-copyright-protection-systems-for-access-control.

The exemptions approved by the Librarian of Congress include the fol-lowing:• Motion pictures (including television

programs and videos) where circum-vention is undertaken solely in order to make use of short portions for the purposes of criticism or comment in seven enumerated circumstances involving educational purposes, non-

fiction multimedia e-books offering film analysis, noncommercial videos and documentary filmmaking.

• Literary works distributed electroni-cally (e.g., e-book, PDF, or other digi-tal works) where the circumvention is for the purpose of implementing assistive technologies for persons who are blind, visually impaired, or have print disabilities.

• Unlocking of computer programs that operate cellphones, tablets, mobile hotspots, and wearable devices to allow connection of the device to an alternative wireless network and such connection is authorized by the operator of such network.

• “Jailbreaking” (which essentially means circumventing software secu-rity measures on a device) of com-puter programs that operate smart phones, smart televisions, and tablets and other all-purpose mobile com-puting devices to allow the device to interoperate with other computer software or to remove software appli-cations.

• Circumvention of protection mea-sures on computer programs that control motorized land vehicles (including farm equipment) for pur-poses of diagnosis, repair, and law-ful modification of the vehicle. This exemption will not become available until Oct. 28, 2016.

• Circumvention of protection mea-sures on computer programs that operate the following devices and machines for purposes of good-faith security research: (i) devices and machines primarily designed for use by individual consumers, including voting machines; (ii) motorized land vehicles; or (iii) medical devices

designed for implantation in patients and corresponding personal moni-toring systems. The exemption as to voting machines will not become available until Oct. 28, 2016.

• Video games embodied in physical or downloaded formats for which out-side server support has been discon-tinued, solely for the purpose of copy-ing and modification of the computer program to: (i) restore access to the game for personal game play; or (ii) restore access to the game when nec-essary to allow preservation of the game in a playable form by a library, archive, or museum.

• Circumvention of computer software that operates 3D printers that employ microchip-reliant technological mea-sures to limit use of feedstock, solely for the purpose of using alternative feedstock.

• Literary works consisting of compila-tions of data generated by implanted medical devices or by their corre-sponding personal monitoring sys-tems, where the circumvention is undertaken by a patient solely for the purpose of lawfully accessing the data generated by his or her own device or monitoring system.

Some of the exemptions rejected by the Librarian of Congress included jail-breaking software on dedicated e-book readers (e.g., Amazon’s Kindle Paper-white) and jailbreaking software on home video consoles for the purpose of installing alternative operating systems and other non-infringing uses.

Editor’s Note: TheTMCA.com covers Trademarks, Copyrights and Advertising for Dorsey & Whitney

LLP, 51 West 52nd St., New York, NY 10019. P: 212.415.9269 F: 212.953.7201

New exemptions to the DMCA THANK YOU

to the following individuals and organizations for their recent

donations to the Oklahoma Newspaper

Foundation:

The Cleveland AmericanThe Comanche Times

The County Democrat (Shawnee)Kingfisher Times & Free Press

Langdon PublishingThe Purcell Register

Robinson Publishing Co.Stroud American

Yukon ReviewMisty Brown

Jeff & LynnDe Funk

A donation to the Oklahoma Newspaper Foundation will support its efforts to improve the state’s newspaper industry and quality of journalism.

ONF’s programs include training and education for professional journalists, scholarship and internship programs for journalism students, and Newspaper in Education efforts.

ONF relies on donations and memorial contributions to fund these programs.

If you would like to make a donation, please send a check to:

OKLAHOMA NEWSPAPER FOUNDATION

3601 N. Lincoln Blvd.Oklahoma City, OK 73105


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LAST MAN STANDING. What keeps one tree standing while the rest of the row bow down to ice? The mystery unfolded at the home of Donnie and Kaye Sodders south of Hydro.

Photo by RUSTY CARNEY, The Country Connection News, December 1, 2015

Kindergartner Logan O’Kelley pumps his fist into the air and screams as a curtain is pulled back, revealing 30 bicycles that were about to be given away to Will Rogers Elementary students in Stillwater, Okla.

Photo by DAVID BITTON, Stillwater News Press, December 19, 2015

The December 2015 contest was judged by a member of the

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The Country Connection News


SNAPSHOTS FROM THE OPA LEGISLATIVE SUMMIT

Thurs., Feb. 11, 2016 • Oklahoma State Capitol, Oklahoma City

You’ve Got Questions!• Can I photograph minors without consent?

• Can police deny access to recordsby issuing a press release?

• Should I alter my archiveswhen a person demands it?

• Can I report inaccurate tesimony given in open court?

• What are the laws about liquor advertising?

These are questions answered by the attorneys for the OPA Legal Services Plan members in recent months. Newspapers always need timely legal advice on issues related to newspaper publishing.

You should join OPA’SLEGAL SERVICES PLAN!

See www.OkPress.com/LSP or contact Lisa Sutliff at (405) 499-0026 or toll-free in Oklahoma 1-888-815-2672

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Mark Millsap and Caleb Slinkard from The Norman Transcript look for their representative’s office at the state capitol during the OPA Legislative Summit.

Brad and Dayva Spitzer, Sayre Record & Beckham County Democrat, with State Rep. Todd Russ, and Casey Paxton, Mangum Star-News.

Mark and Cindy Lewis, publishers of The Wynnewood Gazette, at the OPA Legislative Summit.

Paul Laubach, The Okeene Record, and OPA President Robby Trammell in the halls of the state capitol.

John Denny Montgomery and John D. Montgomery from The Purcell Register speak to State Rep. Lisa Billy while attending the OPA Legislative Summit.


Your schools are in trouble. That’s the overriding theme of the stories on your front pages this month.

The state budget crisis deepens every day as oil continues to tank, and a state tax cut erodes even more support. Some communities are going to lose schools. Others are having to drastically cut ser-vices. Teachers are going elsewhere.

Remember when the axiom used to be a town needed four key elements to be viable: a school, a bank, a post office and a newspaper?

Hasn’t changed much has it? Notice how they’re interconnected?

So what can you do about it?Cover it, cover it with more than just

school board meeting minutes and press releases from the state. Make sure your readers know how serious the problem is, because that’s going to be the only way to solve the problems at the state level. I think you ought to have a new story every issue.

One of the best examples I saw was in The Purcell Register with Jeanne Grimes reporting, “Grim finances – Purcell Schools facing hard times.”• Sean Rowley in the Tahlequah Daily

Press, “School budget woes,” and con-solidation.

• Hugo News, school wrap up – “‘Read-ing, riting, arithmetic’ Oklahoma edu-cators struggle with the fourth ‘R--’ Revenue.”

• Kirk McCracken, Sand Springs Lead-

er, no cuts to sports this year, but…. Talk about getting readers’ attention!

• Jeff Harrison in the Midwest City Bea-con, “Mid-Del schools brace for steep cuts.”

• Victoria Middleton in the Mustang News, “Schools buckle down in state budget crisis.”

• Steve Metzer, Lawton Constitution, “Duncan schools in crisis.”

• Rep. David Perryman, The Country Connection News (Eakly), “Duck and Cover,” about school consolidation.

• Nate Robson, Oklahoma Watch, “School funding cuts expected to deepen.”

• Rusty Ferguson, The Cleveland Amer-ican, “School budget cuts lead to gloomy forecast.”

• Diana F. Dandridge-Rystrom, Sequoyah County Times, “State short-fall means school budget cuts.”

• The Fairfax Chief, “School budget cuts.”You can tell the alarm in the cover-

age and headlines of Gov. Fallin’s state of the state address: Moore American, Mack Burke, “Not buying it”; Stillwater News Press, “State of unrest”; Muskogee Phoenix, “Capitol buzzes over teacher pay raise vow”; The Norman Transcript,

“Mixed Reactions”; Enid News & Eagle, also carrying Janelle Stecklein’s CNHI reporting; Lawton Constitution, “State of the State: In need of taxes”; Randy Krehbiel, Tulsa World, “Proposed bud-get has something for nearly everyone to dislike.”

Other solid education coverage: Linda Hicks of The Lone Grove Ledger asks tough questions for superintendent in support of a school bond issue. Okemah News Leader reports the schools taking the department of education to court.Other news ideas abound.• Yukon Review by Victoria Middleton,

“Internet dangers class reveals scary world to parents, teens.”

• Eufaula Indian Journal – Jerry Fink’s dramatic coverage of the killing of a bank president.

• Enid News & Eagle, Sally Asher, “My night in a homeless shelter.” Journal-ism that matters, putting humanity into poverty.

• Watonga Republican, Ian Pribanic, “Left with an empty feeling,” when Walmart closes.

• Mustang Times, “Powerball fever hits city.” And The Miami News Record, Jim Ellis, “Powerball fever has spread everywhere.”

Reporting on problems helps fi nd solutionsClark’s Critique

by Terry ClarkJournalism Professor,

University of Central Oklahoma, [email protected]

Continued on Page 9

Featured this month are The Purcell Register, Tahlequah Daily Press, Hugo News, The Fairfax Chief, Watonga Republican, The Oklahoma City Tribune, Enid News & Eagle, The Eufaula Indian Journal, Yukon Review, Perry Daily Journal, The Hooker Advance and Sequoyah County Times.


Clark’s Critique Continued from Page 8

• Jo-Ann Jennings of the Broken Arrow Ledger, “Guardian Angels on duty,” on service dogs for special needs children.

• Garvin County News Star, Ronda Cowen, “Will the peach festival sur-vive?”

• Colin Murphy, Perry Daily Journal, “Is religion positive or negative?” – Talk about guaranteed readership!

• The Ada News, Carl Lewis, “All paws on deck,” animal shelter needing help.

• The OKC Tribune, Colin Murphy, “Liquor debate gets Old Fashioned.”

Notable: New flags – The OKC Tribune, Perry Daily Journal; The Hooker Advance.

Other heads: The Fairfax Chief, “You had me at ‘Meat Pie,’” on a local culinary craze; Lawton Constitution, Malinda Rust, on the spelling bee, “Bee positive.”

HEAD’EM UP AWARDS: First place, Watonga Republican:

Left with an empty feelingSecond place, Stillwater News Press:

State of unrestThird place, The OKC Tribune:Liquor debate gets Old Fashioned


OPA Computer Consultant Wilma Newby’s column is brought to you by the Oklahoma Advertising Network (OAN). For more informa-tion on the OAN program, contact Oklahoma Press Service at (405) 499-0020.

Hardware defense helps make older computers safer

LEGAL ADVICEis just one of the benefits of being a member of the Oklahoma Press Association’s Legal Services Plan. Remove the worry of needing professional advice by enrolling today. For more information contact:

OKLAHOMA PRESS ASSOCIATION’S

LEGAL SERVICES PLAN

1-888-815-2672 or 405-499-0020

Many offices have older com-puters with software that can’t be upgraded due to budget restrictions.

Those same offices are hav-ing problems with their comput-ers becoming infected by viruses. Whether you have an older Mac or an XP computer, it needs protection. The problem is that anti-virus com-panies are dropping their protec-tion for older systems. Even Google Chrome is no longer updating on Mac OSX 10.6, 10.7, and 10.8.

One publisher told me that he’s getting 45 attacks a day on the news-paper’s website.

Hackers are relentless. It’s been shown that an unprotected PC or Mac will be attacked in 20 minutes if left on the Internet without antivirus software.

Hackers have software that searches the Internet for devices that are vulnerable to being hacked. Even if you’re not going to “bad” websites, your computer can still be attacked. If you have a subscription to an antivirus, you’re probably okay, but those older computers can’t get good antivirus software.

One solution is to put up a hard-ware defense with antivirus soft-ware installed between the incoming Internet and older computers. This stops viruses before they get to your computer.

These devices are called exter-nal firewalls. Basically, the customer purchases a box that looks like a router or switch. This is your hard-ware. Next, the customer purchases antivirus software that is downloaded on the box and is self updated. The firewall box stands between your network switch and the Internet. All interoffice sending and opening of files is exactly the same because it’s

done behind the firewall. But now all computers behind the firewall have a new layer of defense from attacks.

The antivirus software will cost around $100 a year; the box starts at $250 for a good one. If your network is updated to 100BT or Gigabit Eth-ernet, the firewall will need a port that runs at that speed to keep the office Internet running as fast as it can. Some firewall appliances to look at are Sonic Wall, ZyXEL, Cisco and Dell. Some of these are routers as well but they cost a lot.

Make sure your antivirus soft-ware auto updates itself so someone doesn’t have to do manual updates that somehow never get done. This is your defense from the viruses and malware and it’s only as good as the latest update.

Some of these firewalls keep internal computers from sending out spam to everyone in your mail list – and keep hackers from using your machine as their own server. A lot of hackers take over your computer and you never know it’s happening; all you know is that your computer is running very slow. People have been writing computer viruses since the 1980s and they get better at it every day.

SIMPLE SOFTWARE, MACROSI keep hearing people lament over

some of the older, simple software that used to make our jobs easier.

Macs used to have cool programs like Type Twister, and macros that were simple to use and saved time.

So I decided to look for something compat-ible. I discovered that Macs still have Auto-mater, and with Mac OSX 10.10 or newer it works with voice com-mands. To use, sim-ply set up a routine, then add a dictation command to set it in motion. For example,

you can tell your computer to clean up that messy desktop at the end of the day with a simple phrase like “finish up”. Or have it move all the PDFs from yesterday’s paper to the archives folder. Play around with it for a little while and you’ll think of lots of ways it can save you time and key strokes.

On the Windows side, users have been left with the built-in speech recognition software that has been there starting with Vista. It took a lot to get it to work, if it worked at all. And, they’ve had their share of third party applications, like WinAutoma-tion, which cost several hundred dollars. Some Java programs, such as AutoHotKey, are free but require some programing skills to get the same sort of automation.

That all changed with voice com-mands available on Windows 10 “Cortana.” Now some automation works on the PC desktops and in Microsoft programs.

It would be cool if Microsoft would merge the Voice Recognition program and Cortana for Windows users so they could be used togeth-er, much like we use Automator with the Mac voice control. If they could make it as easy to use as our old macros were on the first versions of the Mac, it would be worth the time to set it up.

If you haven’t looked in a while, TypeStyler for Mac recently released Version 11.4. There’s also a version for users with Power PC Macs. Type-Styler retails for $59.99, and is avail-

able to purchase at www.typestyler.com/store/. This program is more than 20 years old and is still one of the fastest ways to create a new logo or special page effect. It’s even able to create fly-ers with an included page layout program. Here are just a few of the things you can do with this soft-ware:

• Adjust the opacity of the type’s fill or effect

• Place photos into type, then adjust the crop and reposition the picture

• Export the file as a PDF, a lay-ered Photoshop or Illustrator file

• Export a movie of your object with cool effects (good for presenta-tions or Web snippets)

Typestyler has a 3D visualizer, if

the computer it’s running on is fast enough to handle it. The price was dropped a lot with this version so consider giving it another look.

CAPTURING PHOTOSRecently I talked about how to get

legal photos off Google or Bing by going to the search features, look-ing for usage rights and choosing results that come up under “Labeled for Reuse.”

These photos sometimes come with viruses when you download them, as it seems can happen with most anything you download.

You need to watch what you’re downloading to protect yourself – or try this little workaround:

Use the screenshot feature in Windows or Mac to capture the art. To start, click on the photo to get the largest, complete picture you can see on the screen. On a Mac, hold down the Command and Shift keys and hit the number “4” key. Your cursor becomes a crosshair that you can drag over the photo to take a screenshot, which appears on your desktop. Open the screenshot in Photoshop to color correct. If it’s easier, Command, Shift “3” is a full screenshot on the Mac. Newer Macs even save the date the screenshot was made.

On a Windows computer, use the Snipping Tool, which looks like a little pair of scissors. It’s found under Start, All Programs, Utilities. It’s a good idea to pin this feature on the Task Bar. In Windows 8-10 just search for Snipping Tool. When it comes up choose new and the screen grays out. This is the time to drag over the photo on your screen. Now it brings it up as a file to be saved in HTML, PNG, GIF, or JPEG. JPEG works best. After saving, open the file in Photoshop and color cor-rect. Saving it as HTML saves the URL with the photo, which generally isn’t what you want. This is a good, clean way to get the art.

By the way, the Snipping Tool can do free-form snips, rectangular snips, full-screen snips or a window snip (like a browser window or dia-logue box). Just use the dropdown button next to “New” to get to those options.

Computer Notesfrom the road

by Wilma (Melot) [email protected]


ADMINISTRATIONMARK THOMAS

Executive Vice [email protected] • (405) 499-0033

JEANNIE FREEMANAccounting Manager

[email protected] • (405) 499-0027

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MEMBER SERVICESLISA (POTTS) SUTLIFFMember Services Director


ADVERTISINGLANDON COBB

Sales [email protected] • (405) 499-0022

CINDY SHEA Advertising Director


BRENDA POERAdvertising Assistant


CREATIVE SERVICESJENNIFER GILLILAND Creative Services Director


ASHLEY NOVACHICH Editorial/Creative Assistant


COMPUTER ADVICEWILMA (MELOT) NEWBY

Computer [email protected] • (405) 499-0031

DIGITAL CLIPPING KEITH BURGIN

Clipping [email protected] • (405) 499-0024

KYLE GRANTDigital Clipping [email protected]

JENNIFER BEATLEY-CATESDigital Clipping Dept.


GENERAL INQUIRIES(405) 499-0020

Fax: (405) 499-0048

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OPS ADVERTISING INSERTION ACCURACY Oklahoma Press Association recognizes the 133 business member newspapers that successfully ran all ads placed by Oklahoma Press Service for the fourth quarter (October-December) of 2015.

Congratulations for a job well done.The (Afton) AmericanThe Allen AdvocateAlva Review-CourierThe Anadarko Daily NewsThe Antlers AmericanThe Apache NewsThe ArdmoreiteAtoka County TimesBartlesville Examiner-EnterpriseThe (Beaver) Herald-DemocratBlackwell Journal-TribuneThe Boise City NewsBristow NewsBroken Bow NewsThe Canton TimesThe Carnegie HeraldThe Chelsea ReporterCherokee Messenger & RepublicanThe Cheyenne StarClayton TodayThe Cleveland AmericanClinton Daily NewsThe Comanche TimesThe Cordell BeaconCoweta AmericanCushing CitizenThe Davis NewsThe Delaware County JournalThe Dewey County RecordThe (Eakly) Country Connection NewsThe (Elgin) ChronicleThe Ellis County CapitalEdmond SunEnid News & EagleThe Eufaula Indian JournalThe Fairfax ChiefFrederick Press-LeaderThe Gage Record

Garber-Billings NewsGarfield County Daily Legal NewsThe Geary StarGuthrie News LeaderHarper County LeaderThe Haskell NewsThe Healdton HeraldHeavener LedgerThe Hennessey ClipperHoldenville NewsHoldenville TribuneThe Hominy News-ProgressThe Hooker AdvanceHughes County TimesThe (Hugo) Examiner(Idabel) Southeast TimesInola IndependentThe Kingfisher Times & Free PressKiowa County DemocratThe Konawa LeaderThe (Lawton) County TimesThe Lawton ConstitutionThe Lincoln County NewsThe Lone Grove LedgerThe Madill RecordMangum Star-NewsMarietta MonitorThe Marlow ReviewMcAlester News-CapitalMcIntosh County DemocratMidwest City BeaconThe Mooreland LeaderThe Morris NewsMountain View NewsMuskogee PhoenixMustang NewsThe Newcastle PacerThe Newkirk Herald Journal

Northwest Oklahoman & Ellis County News

Nowata StarThe Okarche ChieftainThe Okeene RecordOkemah News LeaderThe (OKC) Black ChronicleOKC FridayThe(OKC) OklahomanThe OKC TribuneOologah Lake LeaderOwasso ReporterPauls Valley DemocratPawhuska Journal-CapitalThe Pawnee ChiefThe Perkins JournalPerry Daily JournalThe Piedmont-Surrey GazetteThe Ponca City NewsPoteau Daily NewsThe (Pryor) TimesThe Purcell RegisterThe Ringling Eagle(Roland) Eastern Times-RegisterThe Rush Springs GazetteSand Springs LeaderThe Sayre Record

& Beckham County DemocratSequoyah County TimesThe Seminole ProducerThe Sentinel LeaderThe (Shawnee) County Democrat

Skiatook JournalSpiro GraphicStroud AmericanSulphur Times-DemocratTalihina AmericanTaloga Times-AdvocateThe (Tecumseh) Countywide & SunThe Tonkawa NewsTulsa BeaconTulsa Business & Legal NewsThe (Tulsa) Oklahoma EagleThe Tuttle TimesThe Valliant LeaderVian Tenkiller NewsThe Vici VisionVinita Daily JournalWagoner TribuneThe Walters HeraldWatonga RepublicanWaurika News JournalWeatherford Daily NewsThe Westville ReporterThe Wewoka TimesThe Wilson Post-DemocratWoods County EnterpriseThe Wynnewood GazetteYale News

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Freedom of Information Oklahoma is accepting nominations for its annual awards program that recognizes indi-viduals and organizations promoting the First Amendment and the free flow of information to the public.

An Oklahoman who has promoted education about or protection of the individual rights guaranteed by the First Amendment receives the Marian Opala First Amendment Award. This award is named for the late Oklahoma Supreme Court justice, a Polish immigrant who exemplified a belief in First Amendment rights.

The Ben Blackstock Award is pre-sented to a non-governmental person or organization that has shown a commit-ment to freedom of information.

The organization’s Sunshine Award goes to a public official or governmental body that has shown a commitment to open meetings and open records.

Those who oppose dissemination of public information are named with FOI’s Black Hole Award.

The awards will be presented April 2 as part of a Sunshine program, “A Night of Sunshine.’’

Deadline for nominations for all awards is Friday, March 4.

Nominations must include a letter of no more than 250 words justifying why the person or organization is deserving of the award. Nominations may be made via email or mail to [email protected] or to FOI Awards, PO Box 5315, Edmond, OK 73083-5315.

Additional information is available at: http://www.foioklahoma.org

FOI Oklahoma is a statewide organi-zation founded 26 years ago to educate the public on the First Amendment and openness in government.

Nominations sought for FOI Oklahoma awards


Thank you for continued support of “Share The Warmth”Read the Winning Columns & Editorials on the OPA website:

www.OkPress.com (Under Contests)

Enter and Win a $100 Check

from Oklahoma Natural Gas!

The December Oklahoma Natural Gas Column and Editorial Contest

was judged by a member of the Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame.

1. Each month, send a tear sheet or photocopy of your best column and/or editorial to Oklahoma Natural Gas Contest, c/o OPA, 3601 N. Lincoln Blvd., Oklahoma City, OK 73105-5499.

2. Include the author’s name, name of publication, date of publication and category entered (column or editorial).

3. Only ONE editorial and/or ONE column per writer per month will be accepted.

4. All entries for the previous month must be at the OPA office by the 15th of the current month.

5. Winning entries will be reproduced on the OPA website at www.OkPress.com.

Entries must have been previously published in print. Contest open to

all OPA member newspapers.

Although Oklahoma Natural Gas Company selects representative contest winners’ work for use in this monthly ad, the views expressed in winning columns and editorials are those of the writers and don’t necessarily reflect the Company’s opinions.

Is there anyway you can come?

With those words, life changed for me this weekend.

On Friday morning, I received the call that my good friend Kim’s grandmother died.

Its been a long process, but Nana, as she was known, was able to die at home in her own space, thanks to the efforts of Kim and her mother.

On Friday evening, as the events of the day began to settle, Kim called.

Her simple question put things into perspective.

Trying desperately to hold things together for her family, her voice cracked as she asked, “I know it’s a deadline day, but is there any way you can come Monday for the funeral?”

Kim and I have been friends since 1998. She taught me to quilt (first by hand, then by machine). We were in the same book club.

I’ve watched her son, who was just an elementary student at the time, grow up to become a married father of three.

It’s a friendship that has spanned both the years and miles. We talk on Facebook and when she “pocket dials” me, or when something significant happens in our lives.

She, along with her husband, drove three hours to be at the epic proposal when the Lawman decided to surprise me.

In July, they returned so Kim could serve as the “Girl Fri-day” at my wedding, helping me with a variety of tasks and basically keeping me calm before I walked down the aisle.

(She likes to regale people about how she had to “help” me get into those dreaded things known as Spanxs. Let’s just say, it took a village and leave it at that.)

Kim’s only asked me to come like this once before.

When Kaleb was a teenager, he was involved in a dreadful wreck. With things touch and go, Kim asked me to come — and I did. I sat with her at the hospital, and helped her stay sane.

It was like that on Monday. Thanks to a variety of people, some on staff and others in the community, the contents of Tuesday’s issue of The Grove Sun was completed by the time I rolled out of town.

I drove those three hours, expecting to take my turn as Kim’s “Girl Friday,” or in today’s terms, be her Minion.

But instead of doing things, I found myself simply being present.

We laughed, we cried, we hugged. I held her hand (boy does she have a tight grip) through the visitation and funeral.

I’m a do-er by nature. I want to fix things.

In this instant, there was nothing to do or fix. Instead, my gift to her on this day was simple.

I was present.

I didn’t give her anything or do anything. My presence at the funeral was what she needed.

Oh I did get to hold all of Kaleb’s children — one of which is just a couple years shy of Kaleb’s age when I first met him — and I did help a bit at the post-funeral dinner.

But primarily, my gift was that of presence instead of presents.

It’s something to think about as you worry about what will go under the Christmas tree. Maybe what your friend or family member needs most isn’t another thing, but rather, time with you.

I learned Monday, that my presence alone was truly the best gift I could give my friend.

DECEMBER 2015 COLUMN WINNER

KAYLEA HUTSON-MILLER, The Grove Sun

Presence or presents

OKLAHOMA NATURAL GAS CONTEST WINNERS

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE DECEMBER 2015 WINNERSDecember Column: KAYLEA HUTSON-MILLER, The Grove Sun December Editorial: BARB WALTER, The Hennessey Clipper

February 2016 Oklahoma Publisher

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Transcript of February 2016 Oklahoma Publisher