"Jumping the shark" is a colloquial term that is used to describe a moment in time when something that was once good, useful, needed, credible and or respected abruptly changes course and becomes bad, useless, unneeded, untenable and or disrespected.

In this case it appears that one half of the Lawton City council through their need to be in control, without regard to the betterment of the citizens they serve, have banded together to form a vile group of negative, closed minded, disrespectful oppressors of any idea that is positive or forward looking.

During a time when public safety is in the forefront of the citizens minds, a time when a child has been killed in a senseless drive-by shooting and an individual is assassinated and his body left across the street from Cameron University, a time when some of these very council members, such as Councilman Wells, ran for office with promises of more Firefighters and more Police Officers, some come to the table demanding that there be no additions to our Police and Fire departments. In fact one of Councilman Wells' first pronouncements during the budget meetings was to decry any added Police Officers or Firefighters in this budget. He and some others attribute their decision to their belief that new Public Safety positions are not worth an extra $1.40 per month on average to water account holders.

I don't know who they are pretending to represent but it's not me or anyone else I know or to whom I have talked. The citizens want more roads repaired than last year, not less, as is now planned. The citizens want more old water and sewer lines replace this year not less.

When you provide less service to the citizens the city is moving backward, getting older and more broken down. Citizens want things to be better. Any representative that believes he or she can do more with less funding or even more with the same funding is fooling themselves. And sadly they are robbing the taxpayer of a future for this city.

Council members Shanklin, Wells, Zarle, Hanna and sometimes Haywood need to understand that by trying to "save" the citizens $1.40 a month now they are dooming the citizens to a one time increase of over $4.00 per month and possibly even more in three years . Unless of course they are planning on scaling back all services from now on, to the point of no infrastructure repairs at all.

It was quite interesting to learn that Councilman Hanna has been meeting with some other members prior to the public meetings to determine the outcome of yet to be heard agenda items. I find it even more interesting that he has so little respect of the citizens that he would complain publicly as he did during the last budget workshop about not being allowed to meet prior to the session to decide how everything was going to happen. (Meetings by a majority of elected officials to discuss topics of a governmental nature that are not posted and open to the public are considered illegal under Oklahoma State Statutes. Those members don't need to all be in one place during one meeting if a chain of conversation can be proven.)

I and others in my ward and around this city found it abominable that a majority of the council would vote to rescind the ruling of the Municipal Judge, effectively telling the public and other retail establishments that selling beer to minors is in fact not that big of a deal.  Councilman Shanklin went as far as to say that he had been caught selling beer to a minor in the past so he understood how it could happen and the accused should be given another chance. (This action actually provided the accused with three more chances.) Selective legislation for those that the council deems to be "good" violators is no better than selective enforcement by the Police Department. While the council hires and pays a good salary to the Judge he should be given autonomy in his decision making process and if there are mitigating circumstances he should be given the latitude to allow those circumstances to guide his decision.

Calling me or others in the community to voice your discontent with these elected officials will get nothing accomplished. Call those individual council representatives that are not meeting your expectations and tell them you want something different. If they don't respond to your requests, it is within your power to recall those individuals you have lost faith in, they work for you.  If you really are fed up with the ill advised and possibly illegal activities of some representatives, it is your responsibility to start the process. It has been accomplished before.

Now is the time for the citizens of Lawton, Oklahoma to rise up and take control of their future. It is within your ability to make the changes that will insure a positive future for our city.

Otherwise, resign yourself to a future without hope or progress.