By James Beaty
Workers with McAlester Radio and the Youth Emergency Shelter had a little extra assistance loading toys from the Santa Bag gift drive on Wednesday.
Lt. Gov. Jari Askins, who happened to be in McAlester and at the radio station, wanted to help.
McAlester Radio disc jockeys Kevin Dean and Megan Waters collected gift and cash donations through live remote radio broadcasts.
“We went to First and Choctaw and broadcast live three times, asking people to drop off toys and donations,” Dean said.
They collected armfuls of toys and $765 in cash, which Dean presented to YES workers from Pittsburg and McIntosh counties.
“Kids are our future,” Dean said. “We have to do what we can to help them.”
YES workers were obviously enthused to get the donations. The drive is designed to not only benefit children staying in the YES facilities, but also those who may need help in the community.
“I would say the radio station is one of the places we depend on to provide for our program,” said Kristy Cusher, of YES. She plans to check with area agencies, organizations and groups to see if there are any children who may need gifts for Christmas who haven’t already been helped.
The presents will all be wrapped and “They can go right under the tree,” Cusher said. Any left-over toys can be used as gifts for children at YES during birthdays, she said.
After helping load the toys, Askins said “I feel fortunate to be here today.” She called the Santa Bag drive “another great example of volunteerism.”
Askins can’t recall how many times she’s been to McAlester since winning election to the post — and she said that’s a good thing.
“It’s been five or six times,” said Askins, a Democrat from Duncan.
She returned to the city on Wednesday to speak to the McAlester Lions Club, talk with some members of the McAlester Economic Development Service and hopefully see some of her friends in the city,.
Askins served as acting governor when the massive ice storm recently struck parts of Oklahoma, including Tulsa and Oklahoma City, knocking out power to more than a half-million state residents.
Prior to the ice storm, Gov. Brad Henry had flown to Pearl Harbor for dedication of a memorial to the USS Oklahoma and had still been in Hawaii when the ice storm devastated much of the state.
That left Askins, as acting governor, to sign some of the requests for emergency federal aid. She said that’s not the first time she’s served as acting governor. She does it every time the governor leaves the state, Askins said.
As lieutenant governor, she could cast the tie-breaking vote if there’s an impasse in the state Senate.
Askins said the legislature should soon release an audit performance of the state Department of Corrections.
She said she supports building either more state prisons or adding to existing prison space, as opposed to depending more and more on private prisons to house state inmates.
With revenue from the oil and gas industry down, money is expected to be tighter for the upcoming legislative session which begins in February.
“Because revenue growth is very minimal this year, it’s going to make an interesting session,” Askins said.
Contact James Beaty at jbeaty@mcalesternews.com.
