The Clinton Daily News 09/11/2014

September 12, 2014 2:45 pm /

An election to deter-
mine whether or not the
Clinton Fire Depart-
ment will become
unionized has been
scheduled for Friday,
Sept. 26, by the State
of Oklahoma Public
Employees Relations
Board (PERB).
Voting is scheduled from 10
a.m. till 12 noon, but the polls
will close earlier if its deter-
mined that all reghters eli-
gible to vote have done so. The
election will be held in Room
226 at City Hall.
Only fulltime reghters are
eligible to vote. City Manager
Mark Skiles last week provided
the Clinton Daily News a list of
12 employees who are eligible.
Fire Chief Randy Carpenter
was not on the list as he is
excluded by law from voting, as
is his administrative assistant,
Courtney Jones, who is not
a reghter but is a fulltime
employee.
A simple majority of those
voting is required for the mea-
sure to pass. Thus, if all 12 of
the eligibles vote, seven would
have to approve for the depart-
ment to become unionized.
The ballot is very simple.
Fireghters will have the
choice of checking, I wish
to certify IAFF, Local 5016 as
the bargaining agent or No
representative.
Local 5016 of the Internation-
al Association of Fire Fighters
is apparently the exclusive
employee representative for
unionized remen worldwide.
PERB Administrator Debbie
Tiehen said the ballots will be
counted as soon as the polls
close, whether thats at 12
oclock or earlier. Once every-
body whos eligible has voted,
we close the polls, she said.
Ms. Tiehen said there will be
three
observers
to assure a fair and impartial
election one representing the
city, one Local 5016, and one
from PERB.
Right after the election the
results will be known, she said.
Well ask a city representative
to be there as well as a union
representative, and all three of
us will count the votes.
Ms. Tiehen added, The state
is involved to make sure its
a fair, secret-ballot election.
Were authorized to hold the
election so its neutral.
The city had the right to re-
quest a hearing within 10 days
of being notied that a petition
asking for an election had been
received, and alleging that at
least 30 percent of fulltime
reghters in the department
had signed it.
In a letter sent to Skiles
notifying him that such a peti-
tion had been received, Tiehen
said he would have the right to
call for a hearing, or he could
stipulate to the facts, agree to
waive the hearing, and request
that a consent election be held.
If no request for a hearing
is made by the city within 10
days upon receipt of this letter,
the (PERB) board shall deem
the right of the parties to be
waived and order an election
forthwith, said Tiehen.
Asked what facts the city was
stipulating to by waiving the
Thursday, Septemeber 11, 2014 | Vol. 92, No. 43 See you on Facebook! www.facebook.com/ClintonDailyNews USPS 118620 | clintondailynews.com
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Sheep and goat competition also
graced the show arena at the Custer
County Fairgrounds in south Clinton
for the 2014 Custer County Free Fair.
Capturing the Grand Champion Ewe
prize was Shaylee Maddox of Thomas-
Fay-Custer City while Madison Lax
of Arapaho-Butler was the Reserve
Grand Champion Ewe winner.
In the sheep showmanship com-
petition the winners were Shaylee
Maddox of TFC, junior; Madison Lax,
intermediate; and Rachel Fast of Wea-
therford, senior.
Two more A-B exhibitors went home
with the top market lamb prizes.
Brecken Hunter won Grand Cham-
pion honors while Madison Lax won
Reserve Grand Champion.
Weatherford had all the top prizes
in the goat show from the fair. Maggie
Green showed the Grand Champion
Market Wether Goat while Alicia Per-
kins showed the Reserve Grand.
Goat showmanship awards went
to Dane McPherson, junior; Maggie
Green, intermediate; and Alicia Per-
kins, senior, all from Weatherford.
Ewe breed winners included:
Southdown Shaylee Maddox,
champion, reserve.
Dorset Tucker Dickey of TFC,
champion; Jacob Nelson of A-B, re-
serve champion.
Hampshire Jayden Oyler of Clin-
ton, champion; Colton Allen of Wea-
therford, reserve champion.
Commercial Madison Lax, cham-
pion; McKenzee Miller, reserve cham-
pion.
In the market lamb show at the fair,
these winners were chosen:
Southdown Rance Lax of A-B,
champion.
Shropshire Shaylee Maddox of
TFC, champion.
Speckled Jayden Oyler, champion.
Hair Jennifer Prophet of Weather-
In his report to the Clinton
Board of Education Monday
night, Clinton High School
Principal Kenny Stringer
talked about ACT tests and
the dropout rate. Meanwhile,
Clinton Middle School Princi-
pal Mark Moring talked about
character education and a
special exhibit on the U.S.
Constitution at his school.
ACT TESTS
Stringer said 82 seniors
took the ACT college admis-
sion test during the 2013-2014
school year.
A total of 60 percent of the
seniors took the test, which
was the highest participation
rate ever. Clinton students
average score was 18.6 while
the state average was 20.7.
DROPOUT RATE
Stringer also went on to
present the CHS dropout re-
port to the board. He said they
originally had four students
who had dropped out of the
system and couldnt be ac-
counted for.
The principal said even
homeschooled students count
as part of a schools dropout
rate. The dropout rate is a
key component of a school
systems A-F school grade as
calculated by the state Depart-
ment of Education.
Of the four students, school
ofcials nally learned that
one of thhem had shown back
up in the Clinton system at-
tending the alternative school.
Yet another of those who had
dropped out had enrolled in
a school in Arkansas, leaving
only two students unaccount-
ed for. Stringer said this was
about where the school was
last year on dropouts.
CHARACTER EDUCATION
Also making a report to the
Clinton board was Clinton
Middle School Principal Mark
Moring who said his students
are participating in a charac-
ter education program that
includes components on com-
See UNION, page 3
See FAIR, page 3
See EXHIBIT, page 3
In measuring, science a universal language
This foursome in science class at Clinton High School concentrates on making mass
metric measurements. Mass represents the amount of matter present in an object,
and a quadruple beam or triple beam balance is used to measure it. These students
are, from left, Cailey Metheny, Tifany Stroud, Deon Basler and Jerica Holman. They
are all in Jaclyn Helts science class.
CDN | Robert S. Bryan
ACT, dropout, Constitution
school reports are presented
Fair sheep, goat results listed
Union vote
for firemen
set Sept. 26
BY GERALD GREEN
Clinton Daily News
Clinton customers of AT&T
experienced lengthy outages of
telephone and Internet services
Monday and Tuesday.
An attempt Wednesday morn-
ing to nd out the cause got no
response from the companys
Oklahoma headquarters ofce.
A man who answered a call
from the Clinton Daily News
said he would have someone
call back, but no one did.
The Daily News was one of
the customers that lost service.
The newspaper has four phone
lines, and two were actually
lost Monday morning. Then
shortly after noon Tuesday, the
CDN | Courtesy photo
Arapaho-Butler High School exhibitor
Madison Lax took home the Reserve Grand
Champion Ewe honor from the 2014 Custer
County Free Fair as well as the intermediate
sheep showmanship plaque. Congratulating
her is judge Jimmy Davis of Walters. See AT&T, page 3
AT&T service
lost locally
for some time