ScissorTales: Praiseworthy

The Oklahoman Editorial

Published: November 17, 2007

WE admit to liking a good lawyer's joke as much as anyone, and we certainly have been critical of an environment that seems overly weighted toward the enrichment of attorneys.

Nevertheless, when lawyers do good they deserve to be recognized for it.

We hereby recognize the Oklahoma Bar Association's Wills for Heroes program. Conceived last year by OBA President Stephen Beam, the program provides free legal services to firefighters and law enforcement officers in Oklahoma. These services include wills, powers of attorney and advance directives, or "living wills.”

Beam says the OBA's Young Lawyers Division has heartily embraced the program. Young lawyers are already working with the Yukon Fire Department and the Oklahoma City Fraternal Order of Police. Statewide application of the program is planned. The American Bar Association is also on board with the program.

Beam says the contact he's had with police officers so far shows the officers "were truly grateful for this service.” For lawyers and police, the program offers a chance to meet and interact in a setting other than the courthouse, perhaps as adversaries.

We salute Beam and others providing a valuable service to the men and women who provide a valuable service to us all.

Political endorsements have limited worth. Just ask Howard Dean. Within weeks of getting former Vice President Al Gore's endorsement, Dean saw the bottom fall out of his 2004 presidential campaign. That's not to say the two events were linked — just that endorsements often are more splash than substance. Remember that while assessing the impact of Pat Robertson's recent endorsement of Republican front-runner Rudy Giuliani and the National Right to Life Committee's nod this week to Fred Thompson. In the end, voters decide for themselves, making endorsements by other politicians, celebrities and interest groups secondary at best.

There was promising news on the medical front this week, and both stories originated in Oklahoma City. One involved an experimental vaccine that could slow or even prevent Alzheimer's disease. Research on the vaccine was led by Jordan Tang at the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation. The hope is that human clinical trials involving the vaccine can be conducted in three to four years. "These results are extremely exciting,” Tang said. "They certainly show that this vaccination approach warrants additional investigation as a therapy for Alzheimer's disease.” More exciting news involved InterGenetics, a firm that learned its genetic breast cancer risk test has been released nationwide. InterGenetics had hoped this would happen two years ago, but a full-scale launch was held up by federal regulators. Dr. Craig Shimasaki, president and CEO of InterGenetics, said centers in 13 states are ready to begin commercial testing, with another 20 or so in line. "This is what what we've been working for now for about 14 years of research,” he said.

Willa Johnson's election to the Oklahoma County Commission was good news for Johnson and her supporters but bad news for residents of the Oklahoma City Council area she formerly represented. It was bad not only because Johnson so ably represented Ward 7, but because those citizens will be without representation for up to five months. A primary election is set for Dec. 11, but that won't necessarily end the matter. A general election will be needed unless a majority winner emerges in the primary (four candidates filed for the office), and the second election wouldn't happen until next year. This means Johnson's seat could remain empty from Sept. 17 until Feb. 5, due to state law and the city charter. Ward 4 Councilman Pete White thinks that's too long and a charter change is needed to allow appointment of an interim council member. We agree.

Schools need to get students up and moving more, requiring them to have more time in physical education classes. So says Anne Roberts, executive director of the Oklahoma Institute for Child Advocacy. Roberts told a legislative task force that elementary school students should get 120 minutes of physical education a week instead of the 60 now mandated, according to the Tulsa World. A state education department official said expanding the school year or adding time to the school day would make that more feasible. We'd tend to agree on both counts. The number of children who are overweight or at risk of becoming overweight is staggering. Reality is that schools already are faced with a lengthy list of time-consuming mandates. The state can't just keep piling on more without adding time.

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