With fall in the air, tourism seems to be front and center of my time this past week. I’m just not sure what the fall foliage is going to look like as we continue to suffer from extreme drought conditions.
I attended the Latimer County Tourism meeting this past week as they continue to move forward with their vision of all-terrain vehicle trails in the county that could possibly connect Wilburton and Robbers Cave State Park and points beyond. I believe this is an idea whose time has come. There are many details to be worked out, but at least we have a starting point. Congratulations to them on their work.
I also attended the soft reopening of the recently remodeled lodge at Robbers Cave State Park this past Saturday. Talk about a room with a view! Every room has a view of the mountains as well as Coon Creek Lake in the distance. It really is great. The lodging rates seemed reasonable as well. I believe as word gets out about this diamond in the rough more people will travel to visit this beautiful park.
At the Capitol, the Legislature reconvenes in special session this week to consider appropriating much of the remaining American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds we have available to the state. The House and Senate Joint Committee on Pandemic Relief Funding’s working groups met multiple times to look at projects suggested by the public. They brought their recommendations to the full committee, and a number of those are now legislation that will be discussed on the House floor this week during the special session. We plan to appropriate funds for rural water projects, workforce development initiatives, mental health care and much more. I’ll fill in more details next week on what we accomplish.
As always, thank You for allowing me to serve 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.
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