Oklahoma ScissorTales: Salute to state's top teacher

FOR Becky Oglesby, Batman is the perfect superhero.

“Batman was just an ordinary person with no superpowers, but he chose to make a difference,” Oglesby, a fan of the Caped Crusader since childhood, said this week. “And I think it's a choice to make a difference in the world around you, and I aspire to be like that.”

Oglesby, an art teacher at Ranchwood Elementary School in Yukon, succeeds in that pursuit, and as a result was selected 2019 Oklahoma Teacher of the Year. The announcement came Tuesday at the Oklahoma State Fair.

As a second-year teacher in Moore in May 2013, Oglesby helped protect her first-grade students during a tornado that destroyed Plaza Towers Elementary. That experience, she said, drove home the point that, “until you really make a child feel safe, that learning's not going to unfold the way it should.”

A panel of judges selected Oglesby, 30, from among a dozen finalists. The others in contention for the 2019 honor were: Catherine Adams, Piedmont Public Schools; Natalie Fielden, Sapulpa; Shari Gateley, Putnam City; Amy Greenhaw, Jenks; Carol Hunsperger, Grove; Teresa Lansford, Norman; Jenny Morphis, Hilldale; Warren Neff, Bartlesville; Jessica Robinson, Altus; Michelle Shelton, Noble; and Jannean Thompson, Berryhill.

Congratulations and thanks are due to Oglesby and all those nominated for their outstanding work on behalf of Oklahoma children.

RITE of passage

In Cleveland County, the sheriff, his deputies and staff have been going through RITE Academy training. RITE stands for Racial Intelligence Training and Engagement. RITE training puts an emphasis on self-awareness regarding cultural diversity issues and biases. The goal is to make for improved interaction with the public, whether in the field or at the sheriff's office. “The RITE training isn't about placing blame,” Sheriff Todd Gibson says. “It's about knowing ourselves better, putting ourselves in another person's shoes and learning how to get a handle on our own emotions so we don't go into a situation angry.” Law enforcement agencies are frequent targets of criticism from the public. This effort is just one example of ways law officers across the country are trying to counter that criticism and improve relations within their communities.

Venezuela, socialist paradise

Polling has shown younger Americans are more willing to support socialism than prior generations. One explanation for that trend is younger citizens have little real-world exposure or understanding of socialism. Perhaps they should note what is happening in Venezuela, where a poll by Meganalisis found 30.5 percent of citizens say they often eat just once a day and 28.5 percent report eating “nothing or close to nothing” at least one day a week. In all, 78.6 percent reported trouble keeping themselves fed. The poll also found 84.3 percent would favor a multinational “intervention” if it brought large amounts of food and medicine to Venezuela and 20.5 percent intend to leave if President Nicolas Maduro remains in power and the economic situation doesn't change. It takes a lot to turn an oil-rich nation into one of the worst places to live on the planet, but socialism found a way.

Benefits of religious observance

Popular culture often bashes religious faith, but the benefits of religious belief continue to far exceed anything the entertainment industry offers as an alternative. A study from Harvard's T.H. Chan School of Public Health reviewed data from 5,000 people to determine whether the frequency with which a child/teen attends religious services with parents or prays/meditates was correlated with their health and mental health in their 20s. Study subjects were followed for eight to 14 years. Researchers found those who attended religious services at least once a week as children or teens were about 18 percent more likely to report being happier in their 20s than those who never attended services. They were also almost 30 percent more likely to do volunteer work and 33 percent less likely to use drugs. When it comes to religious belief, there's a yawning gulf between the Hollywood version and reality.

Political party intensity

Overconfidence is a flaw that hurts both major political parties. In 2016, Democrats simply could not admit that Donald Trump might become president, which may have fueled a complacency that played a role in Trump's victory. Now Republicans are the ones who may need to worry about their voters being overconfident. A survey conducted for the Republican National Committee, reported on by The Hill newspaper, found 57 percent of those who identified as strong Trump supporters said Democrats don't have a chance to win the House, while 37 percent believe they do. That's translating into lower voter intensity on the Republican side compared with the high intensity on the Democratic side. In politics, it's not enough to get a majority of citizens to agree with your views. You must also get those citizens to vote. The GOP appears in danger of living the flip side of Democrats' 2016 experience.

PETA's idea of a good time

Saturday is National Hunting and Fishing Day so, naturally, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is doing all it can to prevent any observance of the occasion. This includes a letter sent by PETA to the Boy Scouts of America urging the scouts to “discontinue fishing and fly-fishing badges and instead replace them with badges that don't promote the exploitation or endangerment of animals, such as a trash-fishing badge or an edible-plant identification badge …” Left unsaid is that fishing and hunting fees pay for many conservation efforts, which means elimination of fishing would effectively be anti-environment. And, more to the point, it's hard to imagine how picking up trash will ever be as enjoyable as an afternoon of fishing. Like many activist groups on the political left, it appears PETA members won't be happy until they've outlawed fun in all its forms.

A good guy with a gun

In Cicero, Illinois, police recently tried to stop a car, eventually boxing it in. The driver fled on foot, firing a gun at three officers. A citizen with a concealed carry license, who happened to be driving by, exited his car and fired at the suspect, who was hit and hospitalized. (It was not immediately known if the suspect was shot by the officers or the citizen.) Officer Luis Duarte subsequently underwent surgery for bullet wounds to the arm, leg and side. While this may disappoint some gun-control advocates, Police Supt. Jerry Chlada Jr. praised the concerned citizen: “We were lucky enough to have a citizen on the street there who is a conceal carry holder, and he engaged in gunfire with the suspect.” Despite activists' efforts to portray law-abiding gun owners otherwise, they remain a force for good in our society. Just ask the officers of Cicero.