Submitted photo
Flames destroy Donnie Nixon's home in Cartersville on Jan. 8. A fund to help him recover from the loss has been set up at the First National Bank of Stigler.

HIGH STEPPING

Staff photo by Wendy Smith
Keota third-grader Dakoda Hansen struts his stuff during a line-dancing exercise class at the school.

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Water sales? Voters should decide

By Doug Russell
News Editor
Should Oklahoma sell water out of state? You decide.
That's the gist of a proposal filed by two Oklahoma lawmakers, who said the people of Oklahoma should be the ones to decide whether or not waters from The Sooner State go to Texas.
Senate Joint Resolution 58 would leave it up to Oklahoma voters to decide whether or not to sell water out of state. Currently, the Oklahoma Legislature is required to approve all water agreements with other states, but state Sen. Jerry Ellis said the issue is too important to be left up to only the legislature. That's why he and state Rep. Eric Proctor are pushing a joint resolution to leave the possibility of out-of-state sales up to the people of Oklahoma.
In a prepared statement, Ellis said, "The decision will impact every generation of Oklahomans who follows after us. The water belongs to the people of Oklahoma, not to any high-paid corporate lobbyist or to any Legislature. The future of Oklahoma water should not be bargained away in backroom meetings between politicians and Texans or in midnight sessions of the Legislature."(more on this story in this week's Stigler News Sentinel)