May 2023 Archives

For fun, I decided to look up the local newspaper from 50 years ago this weekend. I was particularly curious to see what kind of live entertainment was on offer, and what people were watching on TV. (News clips below are from newspapers.com. Click the image to see the original on that site, or you can "open image in new tab" to see it at its original size.)

The Tulsa Oilers (Class AAA, American Association, affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals) had a free Little League clinic at Oiler Park at 5:30, sponsored by the Jaycees and KTUL channel 8, followed by the Oilers vs. the Denver Bears at 7:30, followed by Memorial Day fireworks after the game. Huckett's Downtown Bowl at 1221 S. Main offered student bowling for 43 cents per line.

Bell's Amusement Park, at the west end of the Tulsa Fairgrounds, offered "Double Fun Days" for the first week of summer: $3 to ride all rides except the Zingo, the big wooden roller coaster, between 11 am. to 3 p.m., and again between 8 p.m. to midnight, with "4 Hours of Super Rock Music by the 'Timbre' Group.' Lakeview Amusement Park at 4100 N. Harvard offered Dollar Days all Memorial Day Weekend: Ride all the rides you like for $1, from 1 p.m. until closing time. Amusement parks were typically pay-by-the-ride.

World Museum and Art Centre, the collection of evangelist T. L. Osborn on the south side of I-44 east of Peoria, announced new summer hours, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., and urged families to visit the World Museum FIRST before heading off on vacation to see "classic cars, buggies, and exquisite antiques... comical caricatures and whimsical junk-art... the Fine Arts Gallery... the imposing Polynesian and Oriental Expos."

The big entertainment event was Jethro Tull in concert, with Brewer and Shipley, at the Tulsa Assembly Center, with remaining tickets available for $5.00 and $4.50.

An even bigger legend would be singing on Sunday, not in a bar, but at Tulsa Baptist Temple: Wanda Jackson performing at "THREE GREAT SERVICES!" 9:45 am, 11:00 am, and 7 pm.

• Hear Her Thrilling Songs and Testimony
• Voted Outstanding Lady Western Singer of 1971
• Before Conversion, She Appeared at Tulsa's Leading Night Spots
• Bring a Carload of Your Friends

Plenty of country & western dancing on offer: Gene Mooney and the Westernaires at Cain's ($2.50, 9 pm - 1 am, BYOL, Singles Welcome); Johnny Leach and the Country Gentlemen at the Will Rogers Round-Up Club in Claremore; The Persuaders with Dale Postoak at Dutsch's Party Barn (1/2 mile east of 91st & Memorial).

Just down the road from Dutsch's was the Gaslight Dinner Theatre, performing Take Her, She's Mine by Phoebe & Henry Ephron.

The VFW offered sounds of the '40s ($3 couple, $2 male stag, $1.50 ladies). Across Central Park, the American Legion offered Bobby Wayne and His Band. (Ted Creekmore and the Tuf-Nut Rover Band had been there the week before.) Harry Arnold and His Orchestra were playing at Danceland Ballroom, 2635 E. 11th St., an old movie theater that was still standing until about 20 years ago, when Bama demolished it for more parking.

Nightclubs offered the California Malibus at the Aristocrat Club, 1543 S. Sheridan; hypnotist Richard DeLaFont at Captain's Cabin, 7970 E. 41st; Gus and The Band at the Cave Club in the Falls Apartments, 61st & Memorial; Karen Rondel at the Copa Club in the Hilton at I-44 & Yale (now the derelict OYO Hotel).

Dining options included several Lebanese steakhouses: Eddy's at 3510 E. 31st, Jamil's at 2905 E. 51st, and Elias' Garden Trails Steak House at 91st & Lewis. The latter offered a prime rib or filet dinner for $4.50, including "relish Dish, Humus, Pahini, Taboli, Cabbage Roll, Lebanese Salad and Baked Potato." The notorious Avalon Supper Club, just across the Creek County line near the Turner Turnpike gate, served dinner from 6 p.m. to 5 a.m. Other restaurants advertising: Peppe's (downtown at 14th & Main, Villa Capri at 61st & Sheridan); Henry Jin's Ricsha Cantonese Gourmet Restaurant, 3301 S. Peoria; Mondo's in their original location on 61st between Riverside and Peoria; D-J's Charburgers and Game Room; 2623 E. 11th; Sleepy Hollow, 6605 S. Lewis; Next Door at 5107 S. Harvard (Cheeseburger & Suzy Q's for 94 cents). The Sky Chef Americana restaurant invited the general public to Dinner for 2 Night, Friday, Saturday, and Monday: A prime rib dinner for 2 went for $6.95, and they'd validate your airport parking ticket.

For those interested in naughtier nightlife: The Pearly Gate, 1549 S. Sheridan, "Tulsa's Finest Adult Stage Show," featured Little Princess ("Tulsa's Favorite Act") and Miss Baby Dumpling, whose photo can be described as an early-day Rosanne Barr in a beehive hair-do and a nightie. The Far East Tavern at 1108 S. Harvard offered "Dancers Daily, 2 p.m. to 2 a.m.). "Sexy Shannon" was performing at Milt's Show Bar at 51st & Yale. The once-grand Majestic at 4th and Main and Studio 1 at 520 S. Main downtown offered "adult" "art films," as did the Capri Drive-In between Tulsa and Sand Springs. Loew's Brook, a mainstream movie house that is now a restaurant, was showing the X-rated United Artists production Last Tango in Paris, starring Marlon Brando. Demand for tickets was high enough that tickets had to be reserved in advance, unusual for movie theaters in that period. The Sunday paper had a form you could cut out and send in to the theater with your choice of days and times.

(MORE: The Pearly Gate, or sometimes Pearly Gates, had some legal troubles over the years: At the time of this ad, the City Commission suspended the bar's license for five days starting May 31 for an open-saloon violation. In 1977, a customer sued the bar after he was bitten by a lion, and there was another 3-day suspension for allowing drunks to loiter.)

There wouldn't have been much else happening in downtown Tulsa. Only one mainstream downtown theater remained open: The Rialto at 13 W. 3rd was showing Sweet Jesus Preacher Man, which was also showing at the Apache at Apache and Harvard.

In 1973, Tulsa had 30 movie screens, with two indoor twins (Village Cinema at Admiral and Garnett, Boman Twin at 31st and Sheridan) and two outdoor twins (11th Street Drive-In, Admiral Twin). The booming eastside of Tulsa boasted the city's first triplex theater, the Plaza 3, now home to Eastland Baptist Church. It was the newest theater in town; the Village twin was the next newest. The rest were single screens of varying vintages. Tulsa had six drive-in theaters, plus the 51 Drive In on 71st Street between Tulsa and Broken Arrow (which had been State Highway 51 before the Broken Arrow Expressway was completed. The only new G-rated movie that weekend was the musical Oliver! at the Village Cinema, but the Plaza 3 offered revivals of Gone with the Wind and Camelot.

The best place to watch a cinematic epic in Tulsa was the Continental, located east of the Skelly Drive and Broken Arrow Expressway interchange, roughly where Interchange Plaza office building is now. It was part of a small chain, with outlets in Oklahoma City and Denver. We went there to see the Pink Panther movies, and they always had the latest James Bond film. That particular night, the Continental was showing Hawaii, based on James Michener's historical novel, and starring Julie Andrews and Richard Harris. It must have been showing in OKC as well, because that's the address in the ad: United Founders Plaza at May and Northwest Highway.

I had never heard of the Vamp Theatre. The address would put it roughly where the Brookside Walmart Neighborhood Market is now located, and where the infamous Stables Lounge once was. Looks like someone had the idea of showing old-time movies, aimed at a family audience, but then you could go to Crystal's and watch Little Rascals (Our Gang) shorts while you ate pizza. The Mondo's ad mentioned silent movies, too.

(UPDATE: The first Vamp ad appears in the February 12, 1973, paper. The May 26th ad was its final appearance, as far as I can determine. That first ad promoted a concert movie of Leon Russell, but hinted that it would be a live performance. On April 21, Doctor Soul of KKUL radio would be there in person to host the screening of the Super Soul Show. Early May featured "Mick Jaggar" [sic], and May 10th and 11th boasted Tulsa's first continuous rock marathon, four straight hours of concert movies. An interesting idea -- show rock concert movies to paying customers -- that didn't draw the crowds the entrepreneur imagined. A late switch to classic movies (including The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari from 1919 and Marlene Dietrich's Blue Angel from 1929) didn't turn things around. The same address is attached to McKay's Appliances in 1972 and furniture, etc. in 1974.)

The First Baptist Church ad for special worship services for singles is cleverly placed in the midst of the entertainment pages.

For those who preferred a quiet day in front of the television, KOTV channel 6 offered its usual Saturday afternoon line-up: Championship Wrestling at 2, the Wilburn Brothers at 3, Billy Walker's Country Carnival at 3:30, Buck Owens Ranch Show at 4, Nashville Music at 4:30, Porter Wagoner Show at 5, the CBS Evening News at 5:30, and Hee Haw at 6. I didn't appreciate country music in 1973, although I preferred the corny jokes and pretty girls on Hee Haw to Lawrence Welk on KTUL channel 8. Saturday afternoon TV on the other stations was focused on sports, but KTUL started the afternoon with Generation Rap, American Bandstand, and Soul Train. KTEW channel 2 had NBC's Big League Baseball.

KOTV had CBS's big prime time Saturday lineup, too: All in the Family, Bridget Loves Bernie, Mary Tyler Moore, Bob Newhart, and a special: The Musical Magic of Burt Bacharach. The other networks didn't compete with the last two hours, but just threw on old movies.

After the 10 p.m. news on all three stations, more old movies. KTUL ran the 30 minute Horn Bros. Country/Western Variety Show, advertising Horn Bros. Furniture on Admiral at I-44, and then Mazeppa's Uncanny Film Festival, this week showing Brother Orchid and House of Frankenstein, mixed in with the antics of Gaylord Sartain, Gary Busey, Jim Millaway, and the rest of the Mazeppa crew.

What was I doing that Saturday? None of the above other than watching TV. I might have ridden my bike around the neighborhood, maybe down to the In-N-Out convenience store at Admiral and 200th to get an Icee. Mom probably took my sister and me with her to go grocery shopping at Red Bud in the Rolling Hills Shopping Center. Some Saturday nights, I put together a Chef Boy-ar-dee pizza kit, mixing the dough, trying to spread it over the cookie sheet without leaving holes. (Mom would make Kraft Macaroni and Cheese because my sister didn't like pizza.) We would have tuned in for Hee Haw and later for Mary Tyler Moore and Bob Newhart -- but not All in the Family. We would have switched over to watch Emergency! Dad loved the shows that Jack Webb produced (Dragnet, Adam 12) and the genre of cop and detective shows that were so popular in the '70s.

The whole region would have been watching the weather: There was a tornado watch until 3 a.m. Two lines of storms moved through northeastern Oklahoma that evening, one around 3:30, another around 8, producing a tornado that wiped out Keefeton, in Muskogee County, killing five, including four members of a family of 5 who were trying to get to the school to take shelter. Another twister took out most of Walker's Tourist Court on the east side of Locust Grove. In all nearly 20 tornadoes were observed around Oklahoma that Saturday night.

Monday, May 22, 2023, Gov. Kevin Stitt vetoed HB 1236, a bill that, by the change of a single word, would have significantly neutered Oklahoma's deterrent against Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs). Deep-pocketed and powerful public figures have used meritless lawsuits to punish critics and chill free speech. The process is the punishment: Without anti-SLAPP laws, someone trying to crush critical speech can simply file a lawsuit, without even making a prima facie case that actionable defamation occurred. Even if the defendant ultimately prevails, the defendant faces enormous costs to defend the suit, privacy-invading discovery requests, and time and costs to respond to interrogatories and attend depositions, just to get to the point where the court would be willing to consider a dismissal, to say nothing of the additional time, stress, and expense involved in getting to a jury trial.

Anti-SLAPP laws like the Oklahoma Citizens Participation Act (OCPA) provide a bypass of the process-punishment by allowing for an early motion to dismiss, where the plaintiff has to put his cards on the table at the beginning of the process, and the defendant can move to dismiss on the basis of free-speech protecting precedents such as New York Times v. Sullivan.

Court of Civil Appeals Chief Judge Thomas Thornbrugh described the purpose of anti-SLAPP laws in Southwest Orthopaedic Specialists v. Allison:

Anti-SLAPP legislation appears to be the result of an increasing tendency by parties with substantial resources to file meritless lawsuits against critics or opponents, with the intent of discouraging or silencing those critics by burdening them with the time, stress, and cost of a legal action. To carry out this purpose, anti-SLAPP acts typically provide an accelerated dismissal procedure, available immediately after a suit is filed, in order to weed out meritless suits early in the litigation process.

Anti-SLAPP laws also protect speech by making falsely accused commentators and reporters whole for the funds they spent defending themselves, thus deterring meritless suits designed only to silence them. 12 O.S. 1438 states:

Section 1438. A. If the court orders dismissal of a legal action under the Oklahoma Citizens Participation Act, the court shall award to the moving party:

1. Court costs, reasonable attorney fees and other expenses incurred in defending against the legal action as justice and equity may require; and

2. Sanctions against the party who brought the legal action as the court determines sufficient to deter the party who brought the legal action from bringing similar actions described in the Oklahoma Citizens Participation Act.

HB 1236, which was co-authored by House Speaker Charles McCall and Senate Majority Floor Leader Greg McCortney, simply changed the "shall" highlighted above to "may."

In his veto message, Gov. Stitt explained his reasons for rejecting the bill:

Pursuant to the authority vested in me by Section 11 of Article VI of the Oklahoma Constitution,I have vetoed Enrolled House Bill 1236.

Enrolled House Bill 1236 would amend the Oklahoma Citizens Participation Act, which is
designed to deter lawsuits intended to chill Oklahomans' right of free speech, right to petition and right of association. Currently, defendants who secure dismissal of lawsuits under the Act are entitled to mandatory costs, attorney fees, other expenses, and potential sanctions. The Bill would make discretionary what is now mandatory.

Such a change would undermine the Act's purpose, ensuring a greater frequency of frivolous lawsuits against Oklahomans exercising free speech. Although I would support an amendment providing for mandatory attorney fees only when a strategic lawsuit against public participation (SLAPP) is found to be frivolous, this amendment would go too far in relaxing a needed deterrent.

For these reasons, I have vetoed Enrolled House Bill 1236.

If awarding costs was a matter of discretion, a district judge might take note of a plaintiff's money, power, and connections, and decline to impose court costs after dismissing a SLAPP case for failing to make a prima facie case. A district judge might be worried that a wealthy, powerful, and connected plaintiff might recruit an opponent for his re-election.

We live in a time when mainstream media organizations, press outlets with the resources to fight a lengthy court battle, have chosen to become mouthpieces for the powerful, "to afflict the afflicted and comfort the comfortable," to invert Mr. Dooley's appraisal of the newspaper business. If the public is to hear about the evil deeds and corrupt practices of the powerful, it will fall to courageous outsiders who would be devastated by attritional lawfare waged by the deep-pocketed. The Oklahoma Citizens Participation Act provides essential protection to these truth tellers. One of my proudest accomplishments in a quarter-century of public involvement is my part in getting the OCPA through the legislature, with the essential help and leadership of Rep. John Trebilcock, Sen. Rick Brinkley, and Sen. Anthony Sykes. Thank you, Governor Stitt, for protecting the law's ability to protect us.

MORE: Over the weekend, Jonathan Small, president of the other OCPA (Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs) urged Gov. Stitt to veto HB 1236:

"Special interests who have for years tried to silence Oklahoma conservative voices have now asked lawmakers to make it easier to stifle conservative views," Small said.

Under current law, a defendant sued for defamation who wins a motion to dismiss asserting a First Amendment privilege is entitled to costs, attorney fees, and a sanction "sufficient to deter the party who brought the legal action." ...

"The special interests lobbying for this bill are saying the quiet part out loud: they want to bully opposing voices with no accountability," Small said. "Governor Stitt has never been one to give in to bully tactics, and OCPA encourages him to veto this bill."

OCPA journalist Ray Carter quoted national organizations supporting press freedom on the importance of anti-SLAPP laws, with high praise for Oklahoma's law:

The Institute for Free Speech ranks Oklahoma's current anti-SLAPP law among the best in the nation, noting the law "protects the exercise of the right of free speech, right to petition, and right to association."

"Anti-SLAPP statutes are designed to address a structural problem within American law: namely, an unscrupulous litigant can use litigation strategically to suppress or punish speech he or she dislikes," the Institute for Free Speech notes. "Such a litigant would typically claim that the speech constituted defamation and then sue others to harass them, silence them, or force them to bear significant litigation costs. Those who are faced with such a lawsuit ... are often presented with a harsh choice - accede to the litigant's demand for settlement (which may include paying compensation, ceasing criticism, and apologizing) or continue to bear heavy legal fees as the suit progresses. Either choice may entail substantial losses of speech, reputation, time, and money. These are costs defendants must bear even when faced with lawsuits that plaintiffs have a minimal chance of winning."

The Institute says that strong anti-SLAPP laws like Oklahoma's current law "encourage potential plaintiffs to think twice before hauling speakers into court with weak or frivolous cases."

The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press notes, "SLAPPs have become an all-too-common tool for intimidating and silencing criticism through expensive, baseless legal proceedings."

The Reporters Committee notes that strong anti-SLAPP laws, such as the one that currently exists in Oklahoma, "are intended to prevent people from using courts, and potential threats of a lawsuit, to intimidate people who are exercising their First Amendment rights. In terms of reporting, news organizations and individual journalists can use anti-SLAPP statutes to protect themselves from the financial threat of a groundless defamation case brought by a subject of an enterprise or investigative story."

Writing for the Nieman Journalism Lab in 2021, Peter Coe, a lecturer in law at the University of Reading, noted that SLAPP lawsuits were "increasingly being used by powerful people to shut down criticism from activists, academics, whistleblowers, and journalists."

"SLAPPs are used to try to prevent the public from learning about matters of public interest that could harm the reputation of a company or government," Coe wrote. "They typically take the form of defamation lawsuits, but very often the companies or individuals who start these claims know they will never win. Rather, the aim of the claim (what makes it a SLAPP) is to dissuade journalists from reporting on a controversial story by making it as costly and time-consuming as possible."

UPDATE 2023/05/25: An attempt to override the veto this morning failed overwhelmingly, with only 36 House members voting to override and 61 voting to sustain. I'm told that House rules would allow another override attempt, perhaps after additional arm-twisting. Contact your state rep and encourage him or her to vote against any further attempts. OCPA's Jonathan Small announced that any vote in favor of override would be scored negatively in their ratings of legislators.

Tony Lauinger, State Chairman of Oklahomans for Life, who has tirelessly, for decades and at his own expense, lobbied on behalf of the unborn at the State Capitol, is calling on Oklahomans who oppose abortion to support SB 368. In his message below, Lauinger rightly points out the short-term thinking of those who insist on absolute abolition right now. The bill passed both houses overwhelmingly, but the Senate rejected the House's amendments, and the bill was referred to conference committee consisting of Senators Garvin, Rosino, Haste, Daniels, Treat, and Hicks and the standing House Conference Committee on Public Health, consisting of Representatives Roe, Hasenbeck, Newton, Randleman, Stark, and Ranson. (Sen. Hicks and Rep. Ranson are the only two Democrats on the conference committee.)

Oklahoma is a democracy, with a constitution that authorizes initiative and referendum. A law that is only supported by 4% of the population is vulnerable to a well-funded initiative petition campaign that would be cast as a choice between that "extreme" 4% position and a "moderate" position (abortion on demand) supported by 30% or more of the voters. SB 368, enacting restrictions supported by 71% of the population, offers a much more defensible position against counterattack. State courts are less likely to find an overwhelmingly popular law unconstitutional. Referendum backers will not see an easy target.

In 2017, the Kansas State Supreme Court struck down an anti-abortion law, finding a right to abortion in the Kansas state constitution's language stating that "all men are possessed of equal and inalienable natural rights." When legislators sent a constitutional amendment to the voters, asserting that the Kansas state constitution should not be construed to grant a right to abortion, the voters defeated it, with 59% voting no.

I trust Tony Lauinger's judgment, grounded as it is in years of his successful efforts to inform, persuade, and change hearts and minds, over that of the "principled" "abolitionists" who insist on the strictest terms and the harshest punishments right now. The ringleaders of that movement are at best dupes of the abortion industry or at worst its paid influencers, using emotional manipulation and religious guilt on Christians of tender conscience to push for laws that will trigger a pro-abortion backlash and turn the mushy middle, the persuadables, against protecting unborn children at all.

In time, Oklahomans who have been persuaded to see the humanity of the unborn child, worthy of legal protection, will see the logic of extending that protection regardless of the circumstances of conception. I came to that conclusion decades ago, but it didn't happen overnight.

Here's the email from Oklahomans for Life:

One Last Chance to Defend Unborn Child Against Unlimited Abortion on Demand in Oklahoma:

URGENT: Email Senate & House to Pass SB 368

Due to the heroic efforts of Senator Julie Daniels, we have one last chance to fortify Oklahoma's ability to defeat the abortion industry's constitutional amendment imposing unlimited abortion on demand on our state. Please send an email to senaterepub@okforlife.org and a second email to houserepub@okforlife.org urging SUPPORT for SB 368. Your two emails could be identical, and brief. Please send even if you have done so previously.

This essential pro-life legislation, which did not get approved earlier in the session, has been revised and inserted in a different bill. The new bill, SB 368, must pass both chambers of the legislature this week, before adjournment Friday. It is urgent to contact Senators and House members with emails of Support for SB 368. The goal is to provide permanent protection for future generations of Oklahoma children.

Two ominous developments have occurred in recent weeks. The Oklahoma Supreme Court showed its hostility to unborn children by striking down a pro-life law enacted last year, and Wisconsin became the latest state in which the abortion industry won a statewide election that centered on abortion. Pro-abortion forces are now 7-0 in statewide votes since Roe v. Wade was overturned last June: seven pro-abortion victories, zero pro-abortion defeats.

A poll of Oklahoma voters' attitudes about abortion shows our current criminal law, abortion prohibited except to save a mother's life, is supported by just four percent (4%) of Oklahoma voters. SB 368, which would prohibit ninety-five percent (95%) of all abortions, reflects a pro-life position enacted last year in Oklahoma's civil abortion law, which includes rape reported to law enforcement and incest of a minor reported to law enforcement, and is supported by 71% of Oklahoma voters.

Those thinking SB 368 is not pro-life "enough" are thinking short-term rather than recognizing the reality of pro-abortion momentum since Roe v Wade was overturned last June. The abortion industry has huge advantages in money and pro-abortion media bias, and the initiative-petition process in our state leaves us totally dependent on "the consent of the governed," raw democracy, in defending a position supported by only 4% of voters.

We have two choices:

1. modify our current law to fortify our state against the pro-abortion onslaught that is coming by enacting SB 368 which would prohibit 95% of all abortions and represents a pro-life position supported by 71% of Oklahoma voters; or

2. take the short-term approach, refuse to act, and then lose the right to life for ALL unborn children in Oklahoma when the constitutional amendment is adopted next year bringing unlimited, unrestricted abortion on demand to our state.

No unborn child in Oklahoma will have a right to life under the constitutional amendment the abortion industry will propose. That's the pro-abortion option.

Will the pro-life option be one that is supported by 4% of Oklahoma voters, or one that is supported by 71% of Oklahoma voters? That is what's at stake. That is why SB 368 is absolutely essential.

Please send an email to senaterepub@okforlife.org and a second email to houserepub@okforlife.org urging SUPPORT for SB 368.

Thank you.

Tony Lauinger, State Chairman

Food for thought: The abolitionists are basically recycling Never-Trumper arguments.

THE OTHER PERSPECTIVE: State Rep. Jim Olsen (R-Roland) explains his opposition to SB 368.

UPDATE 2023/05/24: Today, the Senate rescinded its rejection of the House amendments to its bill and also rescinded its request for a conference committee. From page 2 of this morning's Senate Journal:

Senator Garvin asked unanimous consent, which was granted, that the Senate rescind the rejection of the House amendments and the request for conference for SB 368.

What this would seem to mean is that the same bill, the version with House Amendments, has now been approved by both House and Senate.

I've been asked to give a lecture to a civics class on City of Tulsa government. Below are the collection of links from which my presentation was drawn:

• Oklahoma Municipal Code (Oklahoma Statutes, Title XI, Cities and Towns)
• City of Tulsa charter (Municode)
• City of Tulsa ordinances (Municode)
• City of Tulsa executive orders
• City of Tulsa website
• Tulsa City Council website
• City of Tulsa Internal Audit Reports
• TGOV (televised council and authority, board, and commission meetings
• Tulsa City Council FB page, with meeting live-streams
• Fiscal Year 2022-23 Adopted Budget
• Fiscal Year 2023-24 Proposed Budget
• City of Tulsa campaign contribution reports
• Improve Our Tulsa proposed 2023 sales & property tax package
• Improve Our Tulsa 2023 sales tax ordinance
• Improve Our Tulsa 2023 "Brown Ordinance" -- vague list of project categories
• Tulsa Planning Office
• Tulsa zoning code
• City of Tulsa codes, Comprehensive Plan (PLANiTULSA 2010), and small-area plans
• PLANiTULSA proposed 2023 comprehensive plan update
• Oklahoma Tax Commission sales & use tax reports
• Tulsa County Assessor public data (assessed property value, millage rates)
• City of Tulsa Census quick facts

MORE perspective on local government and power dynamics:

• My April 2022 talk to City Elders on campaign finance in local elections, with links to supplementary reading.
• BatesLine's Tulsa City Hall category
• The Kaiser System, by Michael Mason: Mason approaches the topic with empathy and care as he exposes the groupthink, fear, and divisiveness created as a small group of people use immense wealth as leverage to control our community's civic direction.
• Tina Nettles's account of the revision of Tulsa's animal ordinance is a good case study in how Tulsa's authorities, boards, and commissions are filled with mediocrities, steered by bureaucrats, and indifferent to thoughtful citizen input.

Twenty years ago today at 6:01 am, the first blog entry at batesline.com came into being, an automatically generated entry proclaiming, "MovableType 2.63 has been successfully installed!" The first blog entry authored by a human followed at 12:22 pm, explaining why I decided to start a blog:

...Although I don't mind getting forwarded links that a friend thinks I'll find interesting, I hate to intrude on someone else's mailbox too often. A handful of times I have blasted out an article en masse to my address book, and I've received positive feedback each time, with friends thanking me for keeping them informed, and some saying they'd like to hear from me regularly. So how to do this without wearing out my welcome?...

Blogs solved my quandary -- I could blast one e-mail to friends and family, point them to my site, and they could visit and read as much or as little as they pleased. I don't want to be intrusive, but if you want to know what I'm thinking about today, here it is. Come and get it!

A couple of weeks later, I added some more meta-content:

Since I'm about to send a blanket invitation to many, many friends to let them know about this site, I suppose I ought to have an explanation ready in a prominent place.

This is a weblog, or 'blog' for short. It's meant to be a collection of reflections and ideas, mostly links to and comments on things in the news. Because my tastes are rather eclectic, you can expect this weblog to be eclectic too, symbolized in the names of the "stations" on the site logo above. Below you'll find comments on Tulsa's "Dialog/Visioning Process", urban design, and the joys of political volunteering, cute baby pictures, T-ball game reports, and a reminiscence about game shows.

My initial ideas of what a blog should contain was a mixture of commonplace book and diary, but reporting and commentary on local government soon came to dominate BatesLine. As inspirations for blogging I cited Instapundit, the blog of law professor Glenn Reynolds, featuring frequent short takes on the news, the conversational format of National Review Online's The Corner, and the Daily Bleat of columnist James Lileks. All three are still around, although only a few of the NRO interlocutors from 2003 are still there.

Lileks has a daughter almost exactly the same age as mine, and today he writes about flying to London to give a speech and to visit his daughter, who is at university there, and visiting a part of the metropolis where I spent much time a few years ago, Albertopolis, the museum district of South Kensington, home to the Victoria & Albert Museum, the Natural History Museum, the Science Museum, the Royal Albert Hall, and Imperial College. His embedded Google Maps street views revealed to my disappointment that Baden-Powell House, built as a hostel and conference center for the Boy Scouts, has been sold because of the impact of the pandemic overreaction on Scouting revenues. It's now a corporate event center and the statue of Baden-Powell has been moved to Gilwell Park. Lileks spent a spare hour visiting the Victoria & Albert Museum; someday I hope to have a browse through the Malcolm Chapman Collection of Tony Hancock scripts and memorabilia, part of the V&A's Theatre and Performance Archive.

A month or so before my first blog post, our family had switched from dial-up internet (we had IOnet, Internet Oklahoma, which had been purchased by Earthlink) to DSL through Southwestern Bell. It occurred to me that, rather than sending out new email addresses tied to our new internet service provider (ISP), it might be wiser to acquire a domain name that we'd use for permanent addresses, whatever our ISP might be. We toyed with puns and plays on our last name, including "Bates Clef," but settled on BatesLine, which could be taken as a play on either the statistical "baseline" or the musical "bass line." Later in the year, I drew on the Line part of the name to produce a header image in imitation of the London Underground map, with stops representing topics. Following the pattern of Northern Line, Central Line, Piccadilly Line, I kept the two words separate in the logo, until about a year later when a friend complained of my inconsistent branding -- Bates Line, Batesline, batesline. I settled on camel-case.

A company called BlogHosts offered a preinstalled copy of the Movable Type content management system. Several of the bloggers I followed at the time used their services, including Joe Carter's Evangelical Outpost and BlogCritics. I don't recall for sure, but I suspect I went with the Silver package for $5 a month, a domain name, and 5 email addresses. (The allowances got dramatically better shortly thereafter.) BlogHosts was a small business with a small staff, founded by Jace Herring in March 2003. By November 2004, BlogHosts had insurmountable technical problems (taking BatesLine offline for a short time) and shut down completely on New Years' Day 2005, to the great frustration of many.

My first post of substance was about a proposed concert venue between Tulsa and Sand Springs, a privately-funded amphitheater designed for musical performances that might have filled the need that backers of a 20,000-seat arena claimed for their twice-defeated facility. The entry points to a long-broken link on another website, the first of many now littering the BatesLine backlog. BatesLine has made it a priority to ensure that our own URLs remain valid so that inbound links find their target, at the expense of updates to the look and feel of the site. In the following post, about the 2003 Oklahoma Republican convention, I am already apologizing about not posting for a couple of days, and the end of the post features the first-ever instance of the frequently occurring "More later" -- a promise for more details "when I have time" which is more often broken than kept.

BatesLine made its debut before the emergence of social media and Web 2.0. Short takes have since migrated to Twitter and family news moved to Facebook, where it's possible to define and limit the audience for each post. Now even long-form writing has migrated to third-party platforms, with Substack luring writers who were deplatformed elsewhere.

I've been asked when I'm getting a Substack. I staked my claim two years ago, haven't made any use of it, but it occurred to me that it could be a handy and reliable way to have a mailing list. So while actual content will continue to be posted here on BatesLine.com, you can sign up as a BatesLine subscriber at Substack and get notifications of new content. At some point, I might add subscriber-only content, but even that will ultimately end up here, possibly after a delay.

I thought I might go month by month and/or category by category through the archives, highlighting interesting finds, and perhaps I will, but I'm out of time for now.

More later.