I am a retired science teacher with 30 years of experience and have 3 points that I wish to challenge you on.

First is the required documentation of citizenship for students. I taught for 7 years in the Oklahoma City school system, and there were students that I would have liked to have sent back to their country of origin, while at the same time some students were so impressive that I offered to act as their sponsor for citizenship. I also had citizens in class that were so unruly that I wanted to send them to any country that would take them. This is just a ruse to persecute people that Trump considers undesirable.

Second, I am an Evangelical Christian, and I oppose religious instruction by the State. I have differences with other Christians regarding doctrine, and I am sure I and many of my fellow Christians would have differences in the State’s interpretation of the Gospel. For the State to impose their interpretation on students violates the separation of Church and State. Mark 12:17 states, “Render unto Caeser that which is Caeser’s, and render unto God that which is God’s.”

The third point I wish to confront you with is that you wish to spend $3 million on Bibles. While many would commend you on this, it is an unnecessary expense. The Gideons have been providing Bibles for decades, and I don’t know of any church who would deny any kid who asked for one. I believe the Bible should be treated with respect, but I fear that with many of the students that I had in class they would vandalize God’s Word. Go to any school district and thumb through any of the textbooks and note the graffiti left there by children and adolescents. I fear the same fate would occur for any Bibles the State would issue to the general population of students.

Your focus needs redirection. The percentage of teachers on emergency and alternative certificates continues to increase every year. This begs the question, “Why are traditional teachers leaving the profession?” When that question is addressed, then we can begin to correct the problems in public education.

Sincerely.
Mike Mitchell

Voting With Your Wallet
By Narissa Anderson

The average consumer funds politicians & PACs about 3 times more through their purchasing decisions as compared to their direct political contributions. Corporations earn profits from your everyday purchases. Some of those profits are then donated to politicians and causes you might not agree with.

Ever wonder about the businesses you frequent and how they are politically aligned? Download the app Goods Unite Us to get the answer. Simply search for a company and you will see where their contributions go.

Breakdowns are given by party affiliation using the R elephant or the D donkey. A few stores, such as Aldi, have a green thumbs up symbol. This indicates they do not donate significant amounts to politicians or PACs.

Shopping and investing using Goods Unite Us data, will force corporations to be incentivized to get out of politics or to support the causes that matter to their consumers most.

Look for this logo on the Google Play or Apple App Store. Let's put our money where our mission is!

Meeting notes from February

We had an awesome monthly meeting on February 11th with a tremendous turnout. We discussed the upcoming Chickasha City Council elections (04/01/2025) and the candidates from our party who will be running: Dr. Ashanti-Alexander, Josh Rauls and Virginia Savage. We talked about our plan to make a voter's guide for the election and opened the discussion to the floor about questions we will be asking the candidates as part of that. Those questions should be going out to candidates in the next week, and we plan on having the voter guide available at the March 11th meeting. It was a lively meeting with a lot of good discussion!

MARCH 1 - SERVICE PROJECT
The crazy Oklahoma weather caused us several delays, but we have now scheduled our first Grady County Democrats' Service Project. We will be meeting at the Chickasha Soup Kitchen, 528 W Pennsylvania Ave, Chickasha on March 1st at 1:00 PM to help move some dirt and help with some planting for their garden. We encourage volunteers to wear blue if possible and bring gloves.