DUI's On The Decrease

In the city of Norman the number of DUI’s has decreased a significant amount. In 1997 there were 665 DUI cases reported throughout the Norman community including the University of Oklahoma campus. Unbelievably, as of 2010 the number of DUI’s is the exact same number as 1997. Comparing Norman to its rival town was quite disappointing. Stillwater recorded only 174 DUI’s in 1997 and while it did increase in 2010 with 233 Stillwater’s statistics are significantly lower. While we have to take into account the population difference of Norman and Stillwater, there is no excuse.

             As officer Gary Schmidt said, “A DUI is a serious matter that should not be taken lightly. It is not only effecting the person’s present, it is also effecting their future.”  According to MADD (Mother’s Against Drunk Driving), Oklahoma is ranked number 27^th in the nation with 235 drinking and driving fatalities and a state subsidy of $1.1 billion. “In 2009, Oklahoma passed a repeat offender interlock law and became the third state to make DUI with a child passenger in a vehicle a felony. MADD is working to require ignition interlocks for all convicted drunk drivers” (MADD).

            Trevor Jennings, Junior at the University of Oklahoma and a one-time offender of drinking and driving said if he could do it over again he would not have driven. He considered himself a “professional drunk driver” and never thought that he would get pulled over or face the consequences that he faced. “If you are convicted of your first DUI offense, you can expect to face consequences in your criminal court such as: fines up to $1,000, jail time between 10 days and 1 year, possible patient treatment program, up to 480 hours of community service, and a possible ignition interlock device” (duiconsequences).

            “In 2009 alone about four people were killed in an alcohol-impaired driving fatalities for every 100,000 Americans. Since 1999, the rate of alcohol-impaired driving fatalities in the U.S. decreased 23%” (Drunk Driving Research). As Jennings mentions in the video story, don’t drink and drive it’s not worth risking your life or someone else’s. 

J.D. McCarty Center Set to Break Ground

Jennifer Giamelle, Volunteer Coordinator
PHOTO BY: Ashley Burns

The News: The J.D. McCarty Center in Norman, OK is scheduled to break ground this summer to create Camp Claphands, a summer camp for disabled children. The camp will open in June of next year and will hold up to 20 campers a week.

The Impact: The J.D. McCarty center houses 36 patients that range in age from birth to 21 years. They are mostly children that are wards of the state or taken away from their families by the government. There is a waiting list, but in order to be put on the list the patients have to go through a series of evaluations and screenings and then if they meet the criteria they are then put on the list. Jennifer Giamelle, Volunteer Coordinator at the McCarty Center said, "Most children are put on the waiting list and have to wait a full year before they can live in our facilities. There are certain circumstance that are taken into account that could speed up the process for the child, but that is rare".

The Context: Established in 1946, the McCarty Center treated just one thing - cerebral palsy. Today they have treated more than 100 different diagnoses in the developmental disability category. Since 1946, they have evolved into Oklahoma's center of excellence in the care and treatment of children with special needs.


Patient and Visitor Entrance
PHOTO BY: Ashley Burns



Human Dimension: Giamelle said, "Everything we do at the McCarty Center is about two things: creative problem solving and adaptation. Our staff works to creatively solve some of the challenges that stand in the way of patients and then adapt to the tools and their environment so they can achieve their highest level of independence and functionality. We focus on the "can do," not the "can't do"".

Construction of Camp Claphands
PHOTO BY: Ashley Burns





What's Next?: The J.D. McCarty Center will be celebrating their 65th year anniversary in June. They have volunteer internships available for college students that are wanting to work in this type of field or atmosphere. The center welcomes any volunteers or student groups that would like to come and work with the children. Giamelle said, "this allows our kids to see that people do care and are willing to volunteer their time for the betterment of them". If you are looking for an internship or an ongoing volunteer opportunity you can contact the center at (405) 307-2800.



Entrance to J.D. McCarty
PHOTO BY: Ashley Burns



Jeanine L' Ecuyer Speaks to OU Journalism Students

Jeanine L' Ecuyer speaks to students about the seriousness
of the Arizona prison hostage in 2004.
PHOTO BY: Nathan

Jeanine L’ Ecuyer spoke to OU students about the Hostage Situation that took place in 2004 at the Arizona Department of Corrections. L’Ecuyer spoke in the Hall of Fame room in Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication on April 18, 2011.

In 2004 in Buckeye, Arizona at the Arizona Department of Corrections two inmates were trying to escape the prison when they ran into some difficulties. In the act of escaping they stabbed a prison worker and took two-prison guards hostage in the prison tower. Unfortunately for police the tower was designed to be impossible to shoot through. Trained negotiators through the tower phone contacted the inmates, but the only thing that was negotiated was food, alcohol and minimal information. 

Ricky Wassenaur, the more violent of the two inmates, only wanted to talk to Ilona, a news reporter for channel 10 in Arizona. Ilona was open to the idea and the negotiators started giving her tips to lure them out. Unfortunately Wassenaur decided against talking with her and demanded again more food and alcohol. Police were worried about the condition of the two hostages and knew through limited information that Lois, the female prison guard, had been raped multiple times and faked a bladder infection and Jason, the male victim had received a head injury, but they didn’t realize until the hostages were released how serious both of their conditions were. Not a lot of official information was released. While this situation was being investigated the other prisoners were evacuated and moved to a secluded area. This hostage situation lasted two grueling weeks.

L' Ecuyer discussing her position in the prison hostage.
PHOTO BY: Nathan

L’Ecuyer mentions her position in this case, as “handling media relations and that was enough”. She worked under the current Arizona state governor at the time, Janet Napolitano. Her job was important not only because it kept the whole state from worrying about their safety, but also kept the media out of the homes of the families involved.  

 L’Ecuyer said, “The difference from then and now is all the different media outlets. Twitter and Facebook were not a big deal in 2004; therefore the government was able to keep things under wraps. Although leakage was happening it was not happening as fast as it would now”. Although this was a serious situation the prisoners were given more life sentences and moved to separate prisons closer to their families. As for the two hostages, the female is still fighting through the emotional and physical hurt as well as learning to cope with being a rape victim. She is no longer working at the Arizona prison and has chosen to not speak to the media. The male victim spent several days in the hospital and suffered severe head injuries. L’Ecuyer mentioned that she doesn’t know for sure, but the last she heard about the male hostage he was physically handicap due to the sever beating.

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Norman in Dire Need of Volunteers

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Norman sign
out in front of their organization
PHOTO: Ashley Burns

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Norman office
location on Northwest Porter
PHOTO: Ashley Burns

The News:
Big Brothers Big Sisters (hereafter BBBS) of Norman is always in need of volunteers, but now more than ever. According to Lisa Wilmoth, BBBS has over 36 boys on the waiting list. Male volunteers are preferred but not restricted. BBBS of Norman will be hosting its annual event Bowl for Kids Sake in the upcoming month and people can sign up to participate or can donate online at strikeitbig.org. Wilmoth says, "We are a nonprofit and we need our community."

The Impact:
Wilmoth became involved with BBBS at the age of 19, now at the age of 32 she is an employee and volunteer. "I mentored an 11 year old girl when I first started college here and mentored her until she graduated. I knew that I was going to impact her, or at least hope so, but I never thought she would impact me. I am now an employee and still volunteering", says Wilmoth. She and her husband are currently mentoring a 15 year old boy and have been since he was 11. "It is so great for the kids to see a good healthy relationship because most of them come from broken homes", Wilmoth said. She also mentioned that when she watches volunteers over the years she sees how impacted they are by the child.

The Context:
BBBS of Norman started in the 1970's. Since their founding date they have had several programs put into place such as the community program, the school program and the couples program. "We are such a unique nonprofit due to the fact that we have been in existence nationwide now for over 100 years and because we are the largest mentoring agency and serve a countless number of children nationwide", said Wilmoth. Volunteers are asked to complete and application, a reference, an interview and if they have passed those three they will then have a number of background checks ran on them for the child's safety. Due to Oklahoma holding the record for the highest incarceration for men and the third largest for women, they are in constant need.

Human Dimension:
Wilmoth shares, "Our little brother, Jason who is 11 had no concept about college. It has never been an option to him. He comes from a great mom, but single and does her best to keep a roof over his head and food on the table. College is not on his mind because he is worrying about the next time he is going to eat or if he will have running water to take a shower or even brush his teeth. My husband and I decided when he turned 15 we would start taking him to OU on occasion to show him everything he has to look forward to. He started to become more and more interested in higher education and asked what jobs made what salaries. This child went from not knowing what the word "degree" meant to wanting to obtain a degree. Through BBBS he has realized he can have a better future for himself. It does not happen overnight. It takes countless hours and dedication."

What's Next?:
BBBS has one goal in mind and that is to serve more kids. Due to the crashing economy, nonprofits have suffered. Their number one goal and mission is to serve children and they are taking it one day at a time. "Overcome, be creative and new resources are three goals for the near future", said Wilmoth. They need positive mentoring to break negative cycles. You can contact Big Brothers Big Sisters of Norman at (405) 364-3722 or look them up on the web at BBBS.ok.org.

Bixby Community Center Reaches Out

Bixby Community Center posts
flyers for people interested in programs
PHOTO: Ashley Burns

Bixby Community Center in Downtown Bixby winding down from a busy week.
PHOTO: Ashley Burns

THE NEWS:

The Bixby Community Center in Downtown Bixby is currently looking for volunteers for this summer's 9-week long Kid's Summer Camp. They are also in the midst of planning their annual Easter Egg Hunt at Haikey Creek Park taking place on April 16th, time to be announced. The adult softball league is looking for teams for this upcoming summer as well as starting signups for Zumba, Bootcamp and Kickboxing classes.

THE IMPACT:

Delana Bentley, Community Center Camp Counselor and Receptionist says, "the Community Center is a place for the community to come together. Because we are with the county we are the only organization that can pass out flyers and information packets to the schools. If we can pull the kids in, we can pull the parents in. Since our founding date our programs have doubled in size and our Father/Daughter Dance has become one of our more popular programs. It is so nice to see the same father/daughters coming back year after year making it a family tradition. One particular story that definitely impacted the child was about a mom and her son. The mother claimed the son to be very shy and 5 minutes later we both look across the room and see the boy break dancing in front of his newfound friends. No child goes home shy." Bentley also mentions that although most of their frequent children are of low income houses, the CEO of Spartan Aeronautics brings his kids in every week. "It is nice to see that they don't think any differently, they are all equal and that is what we love", says Bentley

THE CONTEXT:

Bixby Community Center was started 7 years ago in a little building in the middle of dowtown Bixby. It is now located in an old supermarket near its original building. They have grown from three programs including the originals gymnastics, a kindergarten program and a place for families to come and participate in arts and crafts to over 20 different programs and activities. The favorites include: The annual Father/Daughter Dance, Gymnastics, Zumba for Moms, Bootcamp for adults, the annual Easter Egg Hunt and many more. You can find a list of all the programs offered at their website. 

THE HUMAN DIMENSION:

Bentley tells a heart warming and touching story, "although there are many sad and humorous stories the one that touches all of our heart's here is about a little boy named Beau. Beau is 5 years old and due to past family problems has been taken away multiple times from his mother and father. He now lives with his 70 year old grandfather who simply does not have the energy for a 5 year old. Beau's grandfather decided to enroll Beau in our Summer Camp for Kids. He was very shy at first but you could tell that he was just a little ball of energy. My own son, who ironically enough is also Beau, is 22 and decided to help out the same summer "little Beau" joined our camp. "Little Beau" loved my son and anytime he would do anything he would always confront "Big Beau" and invite him to come along. One day, I was watching them play and interact and I saw that they were building a fort out of the materials they were given. I noticed that they were finished and as I was walking over to tell them what a great job they had done, I overheard "Little Beau" say to "Big Beau", I love you and although my Beau was a little caught off guard he immediately responded with an I love you too Beau. It's moments like these that make me realize not only are we here to entertain them for the summer, but we are really here to fill in for the parents they will never have. Since that summer, my son Beau and "Little Beau" have kept in touch and call each other on each other's birthday or "Big Beau" will go and pick up "Little Beau" and take him to get ice cream. It is the little things that can brighten their day." 

WHAT'S NEXT:

The Bixby Community center is looking to add programs such as flag football, disc golf and an after school program for kids K-6. Along with adding new programs they are also looking for any ideas and volunteers ages 16 and up. There are currently a few paid positions left and starting pay is $7.50 an hour. If you are interested in becoming a Summer Camp Counselor you will need to be available 3-5 days a week from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and you will need to fill out an application online at parks.tulsacounty.org. You can also contact the Bixby Community Center to enroll your child in any of their available programs or enroll in any of the adult programs offered. Their hours of operation are Monday-Thursday from 9 a.m.-9 p.m. and Friday 9 a.m.-4 p.m. and you can look them up on facebook or on the web at the address above or you can also call them at (918) 366-4841.

Kari J. Dawkins, Putting Others First

Kari J. Dawkins is a staff member at the University of Oklahoma who always puts others before herself.

Bixby Community Outreach Center (BCOC)

Bixby Community Outreach Center in Downtown Bixby
PHOTO: Ashley Burns

   THE NEWS:  With the economic crisis, job cuts and disabilities outreach centers all across America are in dire need for the basic day to day needs. "Food, cereals, flour, clothing, toilet paper etc. are just a few things we desperately need," said present board member and future president Don Crall. Crall states, "this organization is such a unique program because we are the only outreach center in the south Tulsa area. We are not a United Way and we do not receive any funds from the government, everything is locally ran through volunteers and donations.
  THE IMPACT:  Many people in the south Tulsa area depend on BCOC for food, clothing and other goods. "Some of our previous donors are now customers. We have customers come in that own $800,000 homes to get food for their families because they have lost their jobs and have simply just fallen through the cracks" said Crall. "This organization has had such an impact on my life personally because I am able to lay down at night knowing I have done something good for someone else," said Crall. BCOC is asking for others who want to make a difference to please come and volunteer their time, repetitious giving, help keeping a constant money flow and joining the board to make their voices heard.
    THE CONTEXT: In the middle of a bitter winter in 2004 a woman could not afford heat and would spend part of an evening in a nearby laundry mat until they closed. Bixby Bulletin newspaper editor, Joe Jennings found her and decided to write a story on this situation. When a group of concerned citizens heard of these harsh conditions and became aware that there was more than just one person who was suffering, Bixby decided to establish Bixby Community Outreach Center. Many of the volunteers go to the local food bank and pick up anywhere from 2-5 thousand pounds of food.
    HUMAN DIMENSION: BCOC strives to bring aide to those in need. A customer who prefers to remain anonymous states, "BCOC has changed my life completely. They hide food in my back yard or somewhere on the way home from school so I could have something to eat because I knew that my parents didn't have food at the house to eat. BCOC became my new provider and I can only hope that one day I can give back to them like they have given to me because I may not be alive if it were not for them." Another customer that would like to remain anonymous said, "My dad would not go out and buy me clothes and if he found out that someone let me borrow clothes or had bought clothes for me he would make me return them and tell me that I did not deserve them. This is when I found BCOC. I needed clothing that the actual organization did not have my size in and because they are so committed, they took me to Walmart and let me pick out what I wanted. I am so grateful for BCOC and do not know where I would be without them."
    WHAT'S NEXT: There is an upcoming event that will benefit those in need with food, clothes and toiletry items. In august they are having a back to school drive which is in need of school supplies. "We create a carnival in a family type setting for kids to enjoy. We have free physicals, vaccines, hearing tests, eye exams and help and safety courses," Crall states. Crall mentions," radical changes are being put into place for the future to set up a room with computers to help customers look for jobs, help with resumes and provide family counseling sessions." If you would like to get involved with BCOC you can contact them at (918) 366-9226 or you can locate them on the web at bixbyoc.org. They are located in downtown Bixby at 4 East Dawes Bixby, Oklahoma 74008.

Meals on Wheels of Norman Changing Lives One Day at a TIme

    Have you ever made a statement like, "I am starving" and someone replies back with, "hi starving, I'm so and so" well most of the time it never crosses our minds, but are we really starving? Do we really know what it is like to starve? Luckily most of us will never have to face this scary and hopeless feeling of starvation. For those of us that can afford three meals a day should count our blessings because in 2010 alone 925 million people of the world's 7.5 billion starved each day. Are you willing to skip a meal to serve those in your community who are lucky to get just one meal a day?
    Lynn Haynes, Executive Director of Meals on Wheels of Norman said, "As a whole Meals on Wheels has a simple mission and vision and that is to provide national leadership to end senior hunger and to eradicate senior hunger by 2020." Meals on Wheels of Norman has been serving the community since January 21, 1972. They are a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization whose focus is on the elderly, ill or disabled that can not afford food or need some kind of assistance. "This organization is unique because we have volunteers that care so much about each and every person. We also have the help of high school students and different organizations of the University of Oklahoma. We also are unique because we are not federally or state funded therefore we can serve anyone."
    Meals on Wheels of Norman provides many services to the ill, disabled and senior residents within the Norman City Limits. "We strive to improve the mental health by providing visitation and outside communication between volunteers and the needy", said Haynes. Originally the University of Oklahoma's Food Services Department provided the meals daily. The duty now belongs to the Norman Regional Hospital because through the hospital they are able to provide the knowledge of licensed dietitians to dictate clients dietary needs. To be eligible to receive meals you have to live within the Norman City Limits, you have to be ill, elderly or disabled. There is a small price per meal and it is based on the customers income. They range from FREE to $5.75. Clients ages range from 25 years to 100 years of age, but those under 60 must receive special permission from their physician.
    Special projects are in effect in Norman such as, pet food delivery, breakfast programs and emergency food pantries. After a shocking story in 2004 when Haynes found out about many clients sharing their only meal with their furry companions, they decided that pet food delivery was necessary too. During the recent storms meals were not able to deliver and some clients were stuck for days without a meal from their trustworthy friends. "We need volunteers more than ever in times like these when we are struggling to get volunteers to drive and risk their lives to save someone else's. We strive to hook up with fraternities and sororities in cases like this because we know most of the guys have 4-wheel-drive vehicles and are willing to get out of the house, so why not come and help out. Most of the time before putting lives in danger we do what is called a call tree, it is a list of numbers for our clients. We call and make sure that they are doing okay and have plenty of food and if they don't we try our hardest to get to them somehow", said Haynes.
    Many of the stories Hayes mentioned were very heart warming and life changing. "An old lady had fallen and could not get up. She laid there for 8 hours, but did not panic because she knew that we would be there between 11 a.m. and 12:30 p.m.. When we arrived we could hear her yelling for us to help and by her voice I could tell that she was in a lot of pain. I broke in through the window and I had to step over her to call 911. The women later told us that she knew that she would be fine because we always came everyday and never missed a lunch. Something that touched each of us here at Meals on Wheels was when she told us that her family never really checked on her and that she considered us as her family because we cared and supported her. We were the new found family and never will abandon anyone."
    Meals on Wheels needs our help as a community. They are opened 5 days a week and make delivery's Monday -Friday from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.. You can learn more about Meals on Wheels by looking them up on the web at www.mealsonwheelsnorman.com, by liking their page on Facebook, Meals On Wheels of Norman, Inc. or by calling (405) 321-7272. "We need volunteers that are loving, compassionate and love brightening someone's day. Please help us change people's lives, you won't regret it, maybe it will change yours."

Audio Test

Golfing is something that enjoy doing on a nice day!

Big Event Back at OU on April 2nd to Help the Greater Norman Area

The original Big Event began in 1982 at Texas A&M when students felt the need to give back to the Bryan-College Station community. After the success of A&M’s Big Event and the passage through their student senate, The Big Event was officially and annual spring community service project. The Big Event is now an annual spring project at more than 60 major universities across the U.S. and has been successful for 24 years.

            The University of Oklahoma adopted the idea and had its first official Big Event in 1999. Since the first community service day many of the student groups have required their students and members to attend The Big Event. It continues to grow each year and the university is planning for record breaking numbers for 2011 and has high hopes for the helpful and giving students.

            OU’s Big Event meets each year in the spring between the months of March and April. This year’s event will be held on April 2, 2011 and sign ups are in process. Due to the hard economic times many schools, churches, nursing and assisted living areas, child and family advocacy groups, animal shelters, food pantries, hospice services and the list goes on have been requesting assistance. The university has named Big Event as the official day of community service for OU.

            Big Event strives to make acquaintances with the surrounding areas and shows students what they can do for their community. The Event lasts 4 hours and each group is broken up into 20 students that will find out their location the day of the event.

            A local public school has participated in Big Event for the last several years and last year students built and upgraded an outside play ground, cleaned out flower beds, enhanced the look of the school and helped stuff bags for their family Multicultural event. They plan on having another well-rounded group of students to help out with similar upgrades, cleanings and set-ups.

            The next step for Big Event is to top 2010 and have over 4,500 student, faculty and staff volunteers. Learn how you can get involved at the Big Event website, bigevent.ou.edu. Sign ups end March 4^th so make sure you apply ASAP. Applications are preferred through email to bigevent@ou.edu.

The Pearl Project

       Daniel Pearl was a brave American Journalist who served as the South Asia Bureau Chief of the Wall Street Journal. He set out on his mission to Pakistan on January 3, 2002 as part of an investigation linking Richard Reid and Al-Qaeda. He was later kidnapped and beheaded by his captors. Daniel believed that he was going to interviews but instead he was being set up and shortly was directed to his own death. Osra, Daniel's partner at the time, who after his death wanted to finish the investigation on the beheading of her beloved friend. Osra started her research back up in the Spring of 2007. They had hardly any money and the investigation took them three years to complete.

Daniel Pearl was just like any other American Journalist, curious and fearless. He felt that his job was to be an ambassador to all the complicated issues in the world. Mohammad Hashim Qadir bated Danny saying that he had connections to the information that Daniel needed for his story and then sent him to 7 other men who ended up be a trap. This project was so important and effected many people. A sense of closure put the team of journalist to peace although Danny was brutally murdered. After the investigation was complete four men were convicted, five are dead, four are still detained or missing and 14 are still free making this a total of 27 men playing some kind of role in the events surrounding the kidnapping and murder.

Most journalist today have to take extreme precautions when traveling abroad to retrieve news. Unfortunately this is our normal now as journalists. Normal in the early 21st century was being able to freely travel and  not worry about your safety and whether or not you were going to be bait for a murder, but of course those are always thoughts to keep in the back of your mind. To many Americans surprise, this occurred significantly close to the terrorist attack of 9/11. As journalists should we attempt to report on such a touchy subject during a time of crisis? Could they and do they have reasonable doubt to think that we are not American spies trying to figure out their reasonings behind things? My answer to this is we should probably not report on such issues during time of war and yes they have every reason to believe that we are spies trying to find our main suspect in such a case.

While Daniel showed amazing heroism throughout his journey in Pakistan, so did Osra and her group of young journalist that risked their lives trying to find answers. Although they never traveled to Pakistan to personally find answers, they did much research, made numerous phone calls across the world and even bravely showed up at houses of potential information givers. A total of 32 students spent countless hours and sleepless nights on finding the reasons behind his death and who were involved. The amount of time spent getting past the language and cultural barrier alone cost the young investigators an extreme amount of time. "I remember taking the first five minutes of the phone conversation just saying, "Hello, hello, hello can you hear me?" and once we got past the echoing and outside noises I then had to worry about whether or not they could understand me or if there was some way I could get enough out of the conversation to lead me to the next person" Jess said.

The group plans to travel and tell Daniel's story. They are relieved that they are finished with the investigation but not necessarily thrilled about guilty men still being on the loose. What these students and Osra have done is opened up many opportunities for future journalist to follow their dreams and to never give up on something they believe so strongly about. Their hope is to tell The Pearl Project and gain peace for the loss of the American Journalist, Daniel Pearl. You can read more information on their online book at http://treesaver.publicintegrity.org/node/63.

Making A Difference

Want to MAKE A DIFFERENCE? This blog will allow readers to have the inside look on volunteer opportunities, nonprofit organizations struggles, donation ups and downs and personal stories on the effects of volunteerism. My target audience is mainly students as well as anyone else who is interested. I will post the organizations name, contact information and location for the readers that are interested in volunteering with the specific organization. My main reason for choosing this blog topic is because people are always looking for ways to get involved. Now they can have easy access into the volunteer world while learning what it really takes to run a nonprofit, volunteer based organization.