This last weekend, the Kiamichi Technology Center at Talihina graduated class No. 2 from its auctioneering school. They held an auction, letting the new graduates have an opportunity to practice their new-found skills. The auction raised $19,000 to support Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA), whose volunteers help abused and neglected children in court. This was a fun evening helping a good cause. I always enjoy getting to be a part of this type of auction. The other uniqueness about this school is that KTC found a need to train auctioneers locally, and they met it by graduating 19 new auctioneers. This school not only puts Talihina on the map, but also brings many people into Talihina who spend their dollars locally for eight days.
Also this past weekend, Wilburton was filled with horse trailers and wagons as Mark and Bobbi Ward held their 13th annual “What about Bob’s” chuckwagon races. Who knew that there were so many people interested in this friendly competition? Fifty-eight teams from numerous states traveled to Wilburton with 3,000-plus attending these festivities. As we look for ways to bring people to town with promotions and incentives, we should look to the Ward family as an example. It’s hard to estimate total dollars spent in Wilburton, but it definitely had a positive impact.
At the Capitol, the Legislature came back into two special sessions on June 13. Our first duty was to convene in the special session the governor called for the purpose of eliminating the state sales tax on groceries and reducing the personal income tax for all Oklahomans. These are both measures the House passed in regular session, but they didn’t make it all the way through the Senate. For this special session, the House introduced a number of measures with both temporary and permanent inflation-relief options for Oklahoma taxpayers. In our second legislatively called special session, the Senate voted on six measures on Monday to grant American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds to various projects that will result in more nurses and health care workers in Oklahoma as well as some rural water projects and others. The House was set to vote on these measures Wednesday. I’ll be able to give a more thorough update of our work in my next column.
As always, thank You for allowing me to serve you. It is a true pleasure. If there is ever anything I can do for you, I can be reached at (405) 557-7381 or by email at jim.grego@okhouse.gov.
Jim Grego serves District 17 in the Oklahoma House of Representatives. His district includes Latimer County and parts of LeFlore and Pittsburg counties.
Get Local News!
