Oklahoma. . . sad and mad

[Native Floridian]

None of the money being spent by either side in the 2nd amendment fight would have made a difference here. That money is being spent at a national level.

Schools are funded at the state and local level.

The state comes to you and says we need more money What are you going to say? Sure here you go!
No you are going to say no more money!

Less government means less government. Old schools not having safe rooms is one area where that rubber meets the road. Hard choices have to be made. That the school is old and still standing, never hit by a tornado, defies the logic to spend money to retrofit it. Most taxpayers are going to turn thumbs down on that expense if given the opportunity. That your leaders did it for you, they got your message "No new taxes!"

This post isn't pointed at anyone or any group. Just posted to get the point across that you can't have it both ways. We can't demand lower taxes and less government and then shake our fist when less government hurts us.

 

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[jeff of pa]

In reality you can make a CONCRETE bunker above ground when re building or construct one in an existing building. I cant imagine not having a bunker for kids in a tornado alley area. It isn't that costly to just pour concrete about a foot thick to stand a 100 kids for a few minute above ground. . I been in 2 tornados and It sucks and swirls every thing around and the debris is wicked till it passes. Looks like there would be a law to make some kind of retreat in new home or business in a tornado alley area ?? shortribs

Sure if a couple feet thick, & Entered from Below,
a very Low Lying Cement dome or multi sided leanto type structure,
should be able
to withstand 1000's of MPH winds

nothing should be able to get ahold of it.
only fear would be something like a Railroad car dropping straight down on it.
as you said they only need a few minutes as long as Search & Rescue
survived the storm, and
knows where the entrances are.

 

[mical66]

native floridian you are right, and it is a shame people are that greedy or tight,, what ever you want to call it .
in my County , the county schools are in bad need of more income, so the Mayor tryed to get the county to accept either a property tax increase or a wheel tax increase for the county and the money would go to the schools for more teachers and supplies/maintenance .
The county shot it down in a landslide vote , so as of now the County school students are being left behind the city schools which have more diverse classes, better equipment , more sports teams newer and much larger facilities and the County people doomed there own children .( not really doomed just expresion )

 

[Native Floridian]

Sure if a couple feet thick, & Entered from Below,
a very Low Lying Cement dome or multi sided leanto type structure,
should be able
to withstand 1000's of MPH winds

nothing should be able to get ahold of it.
only fear would be something like a Railroad car dropping straight down on it.
as you said they only need a few minutes as long as Search & Rescue
survived the storm, and
knows where the entrances are.

I agree that there could be an engineering solution. Then again, those 100 ton hopper cars carrying grain? They get tossed like matchbox cars. So maybe not so simple as we think. Even with this storm, noone's going to ante up for this. Especially in Dixie Alley, where the tornados are as prevelent as Tornado Alley,

These tornados horrify me. That town has been hit 3 times in the last 15 years. Including another F5 in 1999. I don't get why people still live there. There's fate and then there's asking for it!

 

[kuger]

native floridian you are right, and it is a shame people are that greedy or tight,, what ever you want to call it .
in my County , the county schools are in bad need of more income, so the Mayor tryed to get the county to accept either a property tax increase or a wheel tax increase for the county and the money would go to the schools for more teachers and supplies/maintenance .
The county shot it down in a landslide vote , so as of now the County school students are being left behind the city schools which have more diverse classes, better equipment , more sports teams newer and much larger facilities and the County people doomed there own children .( not really doomed just expresion )

...................I dont agree,here we were told that a Lottery was to kick in massive amounts of money to our schools...it did for a while...now nothing...they keep coming up with new tax's then give themselves(the Politicians)a raise...then come up with illegal tax's veiled as fee's,one of which right now,I already pay for with my property tax.They always seem to have money for illegal aliens or welfare programs,or to give it to country that hates us,while our chilren here are neglected and they try to make those of us that are sick and tired of working to get by..barely getting by,and having more and more STOLEN from us in the name of a TAX,and people (whom must not work,or are independently wealthy)try to make us out to be the bad guy?

I pay more tax now for less,terrible roads,water you can not drink,filthy fuel,sub standard emergency service,horrible public schooling....etc...WHY,where is all MY money going?Seems they did just fine when I was a kid,with a lot less!!!!!

 

[jeff of pa]

I agree that there could be an engineering solution. Then again, those 100 ton hopper cars carrying grain? They get tossed like matchbox cars. So maybe not so simple as we think. Even with this storm, noone's going to ante up for this. Especially in Dixie Alley, where the tornados are as prevelent as Tornado Alley,

These tornados horrify me. That town has been hit 3 times in the last 15 years. Including another F5 in 1999. I don't get why people still live there. There's fate and then there's asking for it!

I have to agree. to live there you better have very Good insurance.
& your also Backed up by the Fed.

When you get that Check, Move

Just don't go to cali (Earthquakes) South Florida (Hurricanes) or Volcano areas in case
death & Destruction follow you

 

[Native Floridian]

native floridian you are right, and it is a shame people are that greedy or tight,, what ever you want to call it .
in my County , the county schools are in bad need of more income, so the Mayor tryed to get the county to accept either a property tax increase or a wheel tax increase for the county and the money would go to the schools for more teachers and supplies/maintenance .
The county shot it down in a landslide vote , so as of now the County school students are being left behind the city schools which have more diverse classes, better equipment , more sports teams newer and much larger facilities and the County people doomed there own children .( not really doomed just expresion )

The same fight is going on throughout the country. Which is why i posted that noone will pay for it. All will agree it's a good idea, just not good enough to fund.

In my neck of the woods things are somewhat different. The area is noted for its top flight school districts. The over the top real estate values here are supported by the top performing schools. There is much demand for housing here so parents can get their kids into the schools. For that reason schools are a priority here. The school budget still increases every year passing a vote by the residents and the school board. I'm sure we have all sorts of stuff we don't we don't need starting with the Superintendant's luxury SUV. But that's for another post.

 

[wwwtimmcp]

they are going to have to rebuild so do it with a fit and proper tornado safe school. our vocational school here was poured concrete walls with fins poured to add structural integrity. they use telephone poles launched directly at these structures to make sure it is strong enough. my prayers to those affected.

 

[Native Floridian]

I have to agree. to live there you better have very Good insurance.
& your also Backed up by the Fed.

When you get that Check, Move

Just don't go to cali (Earthquakes) South Florida (Hurricanes) or Volcano areas in case
death & Destruction follow you

I like our section of the country. Outside of an occasional superstorm we got the weather thing knocked! No worries!

Florida - sink holes that swallow you whole! Geez, something else to worry about!

Seriously, year after year of these storms , one has to ask, why live there?

One of the scariest videos I've ever scene was from a news crew in Florida a few years ago. Maybe longer. There was reported tornado on the ground and this crew went out to find it. Except at 3am in the dark they couldn't see anything. Then there was a huge flash of lightning and there it was - this tornado, huge, like a monster in the dark! One of those wedge tornados, an f4 or f5. No way to to get out of it's way! most people were asleep and had no idea that the monster was coming for them. No warning! That storm killed a lot of people. Don't remember how many. But i'll never forget that video! Tornados scare me!

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

Schools in Florida have no underground shelters I know of, most houses have no basements either.

You get a cat 5 hurricane it can wipe the ground like the hand of god and cat 4 does major damage to anything old or not built to new standards.

Having lived in Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri, Minnesota, North Dakota have seen tornados.... All you can do is get into a basement or interior bath room get in a bathtub and coverup.

Most people want justify building a safe room in their homes they will probably never need, and are not going to want to pay the increase in taxes to build them in every school, we are already taxed to death...

Even if you have a safe room odds are you want be near it when its needed...you get little to no warning when a tornado is going to hit...

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[jeff of pa]

seeing what an f4 / f5 can do scares me.

how ever, I have never paid much attention to the warnings here.
Yes we get more & more warnings each year.
I won't be surprised if there is at least a watch here this week yet as this Humidity breaks
& we drop from low 90's to the 40's, But I won't be running to the Basement
"Conditioning" has me saying naaaa not here.
& hoping I'm Right

 

[kuger]

............I'll take earth quakes over a tornado any day...talk about un-predictable!I have been through some BIG ones!!

 

[Beans]

............I'll take earth quakes over a tornado any day...talk about un-predictable!I have been through some BIG ones!!

We have had earth quakes here, just not big ones. They seem to be in the same area. This tornado came close to the same path as the 1999 tornado. Some people are saying why live there? Well what drives the economy here in the Oklahoma City metro area is Military (Tinker AFB) and Headquarters of some major Oil and Gas companies. A person can not just up and transfer to another Military base, or decide to work at another Oil and Gas company. I am sure those who work retail or fast food (another major employer) may be able to find another job at another fast food place but then they can not afford to move.
Lottery... now that is something that should be able to help build the much needed public Tornado shelters at schools and other locations but you will not see that happen.
When a Tornado hit the South East part of Oklahoma last year, the Choctaws built tornado shelters in their 7 counties.
The President will be touring Moore on Sunday.
Preliminary the tornado has been rated an EF-5

 

[mical66]

i grew up in central florida and honestly our schools were great , the lottery money did and still is going to help schools in florida .
as for where i live in east tennessee , i love it here , we did have tornadoes come thru last year and a few years ago that did alot of damage with only 7 casualties , and my wife yelling at me the whole time to get off the porch and get in the down stairs bathroom with them. i live in the city and feel i can watch the lights go out and with all the lightning i can see when it is getting close and when or if it did i would run to the basement, but it went around my city so we were ok.
But back to the schools here , our city schools have state championships in almost all sports we play at 1 school or the other , we have people move here for our schools. But you go out into the county and its totally different .
My son is attending ETSU and ran into a friend of the families daughter who lives in the county , she was telling him how hard a time she was having but it wasnt the work, it was having to do every thing online and with the computer, she thought she knew all abotu computers but when she got to college and the way the require students to turn in reports check there reports , she had to learn how to do it all. where my son who went to the city school said it was all stuff they covered in middle school .
county residents did not want to pay a extra 5.00 a year to help their schools and the kids are and will suffer for it.

 

[Jason in Enid]

I agree that saferooms at schools would be nice, but just remember that when YOUR school district comes begging for 10s of millions to retrofit existing schools. This isn't a small deal, and a room for 100 kids? What country-bumkins school do you think you are talking about. 100 kids isn;t even a single grade in many schools, let alone the WHOLE school. It will require construction of an above ground bunker the size of a gymnasium, with triple thick, reinforced concrete walls and roof. How many millions per school do you think this is going to cost?

I'm not arguing that they would be good and will save lives. I'm just pissed at people who don't live here claiming how "criminal" it is that WE don't have them.

 

[Native Floridian]

Tax dollars to fund K-12 schools is complicated. Hopefully other areas aren't as screwed up as NJ.

About 30 years ago NJ lost a lawsuit that sought to equalize spending per student between poor districts and wealthy districts. The Ruling In Abbott Vs Burke created what was until a year or so ago called the Abbott Districts. They go by another name now but the same funding formula is still in place.

There are 590 school districts in NJ. Of these, 31 are Abbott Districts. That's 31 out of 590. For the 2011-12 school year NJ laid out 7.6 Billion tax dollars for school aid. Of that 7.6 Billion dollars the 31 Abbott districts split 4.4 billion dollars. Again, 31 districts split 4.4 billion dollars. The remaining 559 districts split the 3.2 billion dollars of remaining school aid.

Now if that seems screwed up to you - we agree! From the governor on down. Butttt, everytime it's been taken to court, the state has lost.

 

[mical66]

Jason , i do not think anyone that has talked about how wrong it is really thinks that any one in Oklahoma are " Bad " or " Evil " in any way .
Just alot of hurt and emotions when not only people but children lose there lives , and i know it is even worse for the people close to the scene .
it is a way to cope with the feeling of helplessness .

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

Jason I think those people don't realize the costs it would take to accomplish it.....your talking increase in property taxes of thousands of dollars per home....

No homeowner is ever going to agree to that including myself.


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[RGINN]

My brother lives in Moore. My nephew goes to one of those schools that got blown away. It got real exciting that afternoon at my house here in Colorado. I sleep during the days and had no clue but my Dad called me and got me up cause he couldn't get no celphone service to my brother. I didn't know what I could do but he said 'Get on that computer'. I told him you may have something there, so I went to Facebook and they did have Internet service and they were all chatterin away down there. My brother got on and told us they were all ok and nephew Alex wasn't at school due to a doctor's appointment. I don't want to promote no religion, but that boy thinks a lot of me, cause I am the uncle everybody would like to have, (I got fireworks) so it was a drop to my knees thank you Jesus moment. All of my family's hearts go out to the family's who lost kids. They ain't nothin we can do to make it more better or bring them back, but we're here to support y'all.

 

[Beans]

My brother lives in Moore. My nephew goes to one of those schools that got blown away. It got real exciting that afternoon at my house here in Colorado. I sleep during the days and had no clue but my Dad called me and got me up cause he couldn't get no celphone service to my brother. I didn't know what I could do but he said 'Get on that computer'. I told him you may have something there, so I went to Facebook and they did have Internet service and they were all chatterin away down there. My brother got on and told us they were all ok and nephew Alex wasn't at school due to a doctor's appointment. I don't want to promote no religion, but that boy thinks a lot of me, cause I am the uncle everybody would like to have, (I got fireworks) so it was a drop to my knees thank you Jesus moment. All of my family's hearts go out to the family's who lost kids. They ain't nothin we can do to make it more better or bring them back, but we're here to support y'all.

Glad your family is OK. I have to take my sister up to Moore tomorrow, right where the Tornado went through. Not looking forward to it, seen it in 99 don't want to see it again but no choice. And by the way if your family needs anything let me know and I will do what I can to help.