The World’s story “Michael Overall: How Tulsa Missed the Chance to Have a National Park” (July 6) is wrong.

It wasn’t oilmen or ranchers who blocked the proposal for a Tallgrass Prairie Preserve — some welcomed the possible purchase of their land; others just wanted to ensure adequate access to their properties.

Besides the access question, the main problem with the original proposal was that it would have destroyed the ability of the Osage Nation to realize the benefits of the below-ground mineral rights to which they were legally entitled and which provided a significant part of the nation’s income.

My staff and I spent months meeting with environmentalists, ranchers, farmers, community leaders and tribal nation leaders and developed a compromise agreed to by all the interested parties.

I introduced the bill and was joined by the rest of the Oklahoma congressional delegation.

The Sierra Club — one of the parties that had agreed to the compromise — then sent a letter to its members urging them to lobby committee members to reject the compromise and go back to the original proposal.

As a a result, I withdrew the bill with the full support of the entire delegation.

The land is beautiful; I’m a hiker and love its beauty and the outdoor activities it provides.

But there are multiple legitimate interests and values involved when laws and regulations are created; it’s important for members of Congress to keep them all in mind.

Preservation of beautiful land is important but American Indian lives and livelihood matter, too.

Mickey Edwards, Princeton, New Jersey

Editor’s Note: Mickey Edwards served as an Oklahoma congressman from 1977 to 1993 and was chairman of the House Republican leadership’s policy committee. He is now a visiting lecturer in public and international affairs at Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School.

Road work

Did you know Oklahoma currently ranks No. 6 in the country for most traffic fatalities?

More than half of the two-lane, state-maintained highways in Oklahoma have deficient shoulders.

Under current conditions, individuals are put in life-threatening situations when simply changing a tire on the side of the road.

Thanks to the proactive efforts of Gov. Kevin Stitt, Senate President Pro Tem Greg Treat and House Speaker Charles McCall to make roads and bridges a priority in this past legislative session, we are on the road to progress.

In 2020, Oklahoma moved from 49th down to ninth in the country for the deficient conditions of bridges.

The Association of Oklahoma General Contractors is appreciative and recognizes the efforts of our state leaders to make infrastructure a priority.

However, the job isn’t done.

We must turn our attention to address our deteriorating pavement conditions and hazardous two-lane rural highways and our own Tulsa city streets.

We can save lives by simply adding shoulders to the narrow roads in our state’s rural areas as well as improving city street pavement surfaces to eliminate the wear-and-tear on our users’ vehicles and possibly eliminate some roadside emergencies.

There is an urgency to provide safer road conditions before the need outpaces funding available.

The Oklahoma Department of Transportation created an eight-year construction plan as a map to improve road conditions on ODOT-maintained roadways, but we need continued support.

Investing in our infrastructure will assure we all get home safely.

Aaron Wilcox, Tulsa

Editor’s Note: Aaron Wilcox is the president of the Association of Oklahoma General Contractors.

Representation

When will Gov. Kevin Stitt wake up and realize that he needs to include tribal nation leaders in discussions that involve them, and he needs their input.

Stitt’s actions indicate he doesn’t understand tribal citizenship and what it means to Oklahoma.

It isn’t the old days of cowboys and Indians. It is time we join together and work toward betterment of our communities and for our great state of Oklahoma.

It is understood the event called “McGirt v. Oklahoma Community Impact Forum” was supposed to address the issues of the U.S. Supreme Court’s McGirt decision (“Crowd boos as Gov. Stitt gives closing statement at McGirt forum,” June 14).

But how can that be done without involvement from tribal nation leaders or their law enforcement individuals? (“Stitt’s office blames ‘fringe activists’ for early end to McGirt forum; Native Americans in audience say governor should have expected criticism,” June 15).

Sending an email as an invitation to attend a forum does not say, “Please join the panel so that all views can be heard.”

And Stitt’s statement at the forum, “Nobody on this panel created the McGirt situation,” was well-understood by those in the audience.

The audience participation was over concern for proper representation on the panel. That invitation wasn’t offered to tribal nation leaders.

So the organized forum wasn’t well-organized, and the intent of the forum was not accomplished.

Maybe a lesson was learned. John Q. Public would like to think so.

Barbara L. Smith, Jenks

Hern’s words

Tulsa’s congressional representative, Kevin Hern, seems to think his constituents are fools.

My jaw dropped on reading in his current newsletter that “While Americans are demanding leadership on health care, the Biden Administration and Congressional Democrats are allowing the Obamacare system to fail.”

Say what?

Isn’t this the same Rep. Hern who wrote on his campaign website that he “supports repealing Obamacare?”

And same representative who has voted in lockstep with the Republican majority that obstructed Obamacare implementation at every turn?

And now he is blaming Democrats for failure? Really?

Hern is showing himself a hypocritical as they come. Don’t fall for his blather.

Thomas Carson, Tulsa