NORMAN — The weeks leading up to election day are like living in Disneyland for political junkies like me. Candidates who would subject themselves to the campaign trail are some of the most interesting people. They say and do the darnedest things. Except for allowing politicians to make those annoying robocalls, it’s a great system.
We’re a little over two weeks shy of the state’s July 27 primary. The hot contests locally seem to be the Democratic primary for House District 44, a couple of judge’s races and the Democratic primary for governor. At a Norman function this past week, candidate Mary Fallin didn’t even mention the three other Republicans on the ballot.
Good strategy. Unless any of them get some traction or Fallin makes some fatal remarks in the next few days, Fallin will be the Republican nominee. State Sen. Randy Brogdon’s support is deep but not very wide.
On the Democratic side, Lt. Gov. Jari Askins, from Duncan, spoke to local Democrats Friday. She’s a familiar face in Norman and at OU sporting events. Attorney Gen. Drew Edmondson, a Muskogee native, will speak to the same group Friday. It could come down to an eastern Oklahoma versus western Oklahoma matchup.
n n n
Norman voters looking for a chance to weigh in on the water and sanitation rate increase questions will have to wait a few more weeks. That won’t be on the ballot until the Aug. 24 runoff election.
Norman voters — not the city council — can raise their own utility rates. It grew out of voter distrust nearly four decades ago. Utilities director Ken Komiske said the proposed rate increase is spread out over three years.
“We’re kind of unique in that we let our customers decide what rate they want to pay,” Komiske told a business group Friday.
The last rate hikes for sanitation came in 2004 unless you count the $3 per residence, mandatory, monthly recycling fee added in 2008. The last water cost increase came in 2006.
Komiske said costs to provide sanitation and water have all increased while demand continues to rise. Chemicals, trucks, fuel and landfill costs have all risen. Through automation and efficiency, the number of customers per employee is down.
About 9,000 tons of yard waste, or about 9 percent of our waste stream, is diverted from the landfill each year. The questions will be voted up or down separately.
n n n
One familiar name won’t be on any upcoming ballots. Former Norman mayor Ron Henderson has spent the past few months creating Mr. Sportsbar at 307 E. Main Street. The location was most recently an antique store and art gallery but oldtimers in Norman remember it as the Fritch drug store.
Henderson, whose first business in Norman was a convenience store at Porter Avenue and Robinson Street in the 1970s, is bullish on downtown. He gets credit and blame for the Main Street revitalization a few years back. He is out of the convenience store business and has painstakingly built the restaurant and bar with some interesting artifacts. The bar is a former Three Flags bowling lane. One back counter piece came from the Sand Mark gift store in the Hollywood Shopping Center. A New York subway stop, pointing the way to his revered Yankee Stadium hangs overhead.
He’s retained the building’s high ceilings. It’s a “Cheers” like atmosphere. The signature drink, the “Lunch Box,” is borrowed from Edna’s, a club in Oklahoma City that sells hundreds of them on a typical Friday night.
Mr. Sportsbar is the latest downtown restaurant and bar but won’t be the last. Another one is envisioned in the former Danny’s TV and Appliance location.
Andy Rieger 366-3543 editor@normantranscript.com
