State Briefs: Town halls planned

U.S. Reps. Tom Cole and Dan Boren plan town hall meetings next week, Cole in person and Boren by phone. Cole, R-Moore, and Boren, D-Muskogee, each held town hall meetings during the turbulent August recess period when health care reform and government spending were on the minds of many. Cole’s meeting is at 5:30 p.m. Monday in the Southmoore High School auditorium, 2901 S Santa Fe, in Moore. "The meetings I held in August were very informative,” Cole said. Boren’s telephone town hall is scheduled for 6:20 p.m. Tuesday. To participate, residents of Boren’s eastern Oklahoma district can call one of his offices to provide information to be included on the call. Here are the numbers for Boren’s offices: Washington, D.C., (202) 225-2701; Muskogee, (918) 687-2533; Claremore, (918) 341-9336; McAlester, (918) 423-5951; and Durant, (580) 931-0333. Boren is holding a second telephone town hall at 6:20 p.m. Oct. 26.

CHRIS CASTEEL,

Washington Bureau

Jefferson Keel, lt. governor of the Chickasaw Nation of Oklahoma, was elected president of the National Congress of American Indians at the organization’s 66th Annual Convention this week. Keel had served as first vice-president since 2005. Keel, who is in his third term as lieutenant governor of the tribe, spent 20 years on active duty in the U.S. Army. He got his bachelor’s degree from East Central University in Ada and his Master of Science degree from Troy University in Alabama. His election as head of the National Congress of American Indians came the same week that President Barack Obama announced a White House conference with all federally-recognized tribes in November. Next week, Keel is scheduled to testify before a U.S. House subcommittee on Indian health care.

CHRIS CASTEEL,

Washington Bureau

Ponca City has been chosen as the site for a regional Veterans Day observance, one of 41 sites named in the country. Selected by the Veterans Day National Committee, the sites are "model community events” that represent "fitting tributes to America’s heroes,” according to the Veterans Affairs Department. The regional sites may receive help from the Department of Defense in staging their Nov. 11 observances. The 2009 observances will include parades, ceremonies, military exhibits and tributes to local veterans. The Veterans Day National Committee was established in 1954 by former President Dwight D. Eisenhower.

CHRIS CASTEEL,

Washington Bureau

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