Attendees at Haskell County GOP meeting rebuke Boggs for mistruths (plus my take)

Among the runoff elections being held on August 25th is the GOP contest in State Senate District 7 between incumbent Larry Boggs and challenger Warren Hamilton. Hamilton is campaigning as a strong conservative and an ardent abolitionist, believing that Oklahoma ought to make a stand for the unborn and stop regulating abortion and treat it as the murder of innocent human life that it truly is.

Abolition of abortion has been somewhat of a flashpoint in the SD7 race, as Sen. Boggs did not vote to hear Senate Bill 13 (the abolition bill) on the Senate floor, which was not brought up for an actual hearing because 30 Republicans and 8 Democrats voted to table while only 4 Republicans voted to hear the bill. Boggs missed the vote because he was not in the chamber at the time (allegedly having a conversation outside in the rotunda, I believe).

There was a meeting of the Haskell County Republicans on July 14th that ended in some fireworks, with Sen. Boggs coming rather... unhinged and getting into a heated argument with some abolitionist supporters of Hamilton's, to the point that Boggs had to be physically restrained.

The following cartoon pretty accurately sums up Boggs' demeanor as shown in multiple videos:

After the meeting, both sides came out with their story of what went down (including some absolute garbage from one camp, as I detail further down). Some days later, a group of Haskell County Republicans ran the following statement as an advertisement in newspapers throughout SD7, specifically not endorsing any candidate, but correcting what they deemed to be serious mistruths and efforts by one candidate about what went on that night.

I'll post my thoughts on the whole saga below this. There's some stuff that needs to be said about individuals on both ends of the kerfluffle.

DA supports Haskell County Sheriff's Second Amendment Sanctuary declaration

Well, this week has certainly been an active one regarding Second Amendment issues in Oklahoma.

First, on Wednesday, Logan County Sheriff Damon Devereaux declared Logan County to be a Second Amendment Sanctuary County, vowing to uphold the Second Amendment and refusing to enforce any act or order that infringes upon it. Anti-gun State Rep. Jason Lowe (D-OKC), who led the effort to repeal Constitutional Carry, decried the move.

Then, yesterday, Stephens County Sheriff Wayne McKinney followed suit, adding his county as the second Sanctuary County in Oklahoma.

The floodgates opened today. Canadian County joined. Bryan County joined. Haskell County joined. Pittsburg County joined. Others will be doing likewise in the coming days, I'm sure.

Adding to the list is Chuck Sullivan, District Attorney for Haskell and Pittsburg counties. He lent his support in the following letter sent to Haskell County Sheriff Tim Turner:

Second Amendment Sanctuary County: Pittsburg becomes sixth to join

Pittsburg County Sheriff Chris Morris has joined the Second Amendment Sanctuary County movement, which has swept Oklahoma this week.

County Sheriffs that have declared Sanctuary status:

• Logan County (Wednesday)
• Stephens County (Thursday)
• Canadian County (Friday)
• Bryan County (Friday)
• Haskell County (Friday)

Sheriff Morris posted the following statement this morning:

Haskell, Bryan County sheriffs join 2A Sanctuary movement

The Second Amendment Sanctuary movement is sweeping through Oklahoma, after kicking off in Logan County earlier this week.

• Wednesday: Sheriff Damon Devereaux of Logan County
• Thursday: Sheriff Wayne McKinney of Stephens County. 
• Friday: Sheriff Chris West of Canadian County

Haskell and Bryan counties have joined today as well, according to announcements by their respective sheriffs, becoming the fourth and fifth Second Amendment Sanctuary Counties in Oklahoma.

Haskell County Sheriff Tim Turner released the following statement this morning:

Haskell County Sheriff Tim Turner

Bryan County Sheriff Johnny Christian issued this statement earlier today:

Bryan County Sheriff Johnny Christian

The Conservative View: Nausea and Political Correctness

This week's Conservative View, by Adair County Commissioner Russell Turner (R-Stilwell).

The Conservative View
by Russell Turner

Nausea and Political Correctness

I have never played the stock market because it is a place that can land you in the poor house before you know it. Those that make a lot of money in the market often do a lot of research before they invest. I have heard of people that learned of an innovative invention that some company developed, then invested in that company and made a hefty return. I guess that everything that we do in life is a gamble. We gamble on the profession that we choose to make a living or the choice we make in choosing a husband or wife. From the news headlines that I have seen over the past year or so, I think a sure fire investment would be to invest in Pepto Bismol.

It is very evident that the politically correct crowd is so afraid that the Christian religion will offend someone or some group that they must remove this vile set of beliefs from any public view. I have written about the people in Haskell County in Oklahoma who were forced to remove a monument from their courthouse lawn that had the Mayflower Compact and the Ten Commandments inscribed on it.

We Americans may have become a victim of our own success. Have we grown so arrogant that we believe that all of the greatness of this nation was a result of us being more intelligent than the rest of the world or maybe the way we parted our hair? Our founders realized for our country to prosper we needed the help of a higher power. The U.S. leaders have called for a day of prayer during times of crisis since 1775 but the tradition is under attack. Many Americans are familiar with the name Billy Graham and his organization and his work to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ.

I have spent many hours listening to Mr. Graham and I never once heard him call for violence against anyone who did not prescribe to his belief system. His message was that it is the choice of the individual to accept or reject his beliefs. Recently his son Franklin Graham was invited to speak at a Pentagon prayer service, but that invitation has been rescinded because some groups disagree with his comments about Islam. I have never heard the Grahams call someone (who didn’t believe as they do) an infidel and suggest that they be killed because of their non-belief. Can the Muslims say the same thing? For now I will just buy an extra bottle of Pepto.

If you wish to contact Russell Turner, or want to subscribe to his email loop, email him at rdrepublican@windstream.net.

The Conservative View: 'Sleeping in History Class'

This week's Conservative View, by Adair County Commissioner Russell Turner (R-Stilwell).

The Conservative View
by Russell Turner

Sleeping in History Class

Earlier this week I saw the news report on the court decision that will force the people of Haskell County in Oklahoma to remove a monument from their court house lawn in Stigler. For the people who do not know, the monument had some very objectionable inscriptions on it. On one side the Mayflower Compact was carved and on the other side was the most objectionable inscription, the Ten Commandments. For those that are so offended by the Ten Commandments being in public view on county property, evidently they were asleep when they were in American history class while in school.

All of western law is based upon those simple Ten Commandments. Our country was not founded upon the Koran or any other religion. Unlike other religions, the God that gave us the Ten Commandments allows us the free will to accept or reject the code of conduct in those simple ten rules. Our country is very young compared to other societies; in less than 250 years our nation achieved a level of prosperity that no other nation ever came close too. Other nations have been in existence for many hundreds or thousands of years, fortunately our founders had the wisdom to see the flaws of those countries.

In many countries the people are led to believe that the rights and freedoms that the citizens have come from the government or some religious leader. In our country it is clearly stated that all men are endowed by the CREATOR the right of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. I assume that the people that are so offended by the monument in Stigler would want to remove all aspects of the principles on which our nation was founded. Do they want to destroy the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights, the Constitution? Do they want to stop the practice of having a president being sworn in while his or her hand is on the Bible? Do they want to remove the words “IN GOD WE TRUST” from our currency?

To me it seems so strange that we are willing to spend all kinds of money and time fighting a losing battle on the war on drugs and all of the other crimes that our citizens are committing at an increasing rate. Would the monument in Stigler cure all of those ills? Probably not, but I can say for sure that the monument wouldn’t make the situation any worse.

If you wish to contact Russell Turner, or want to subscribe to his email loop, email him at rdrepublican@windstream.net.