Readers sound off on proposed Yukon amphitheater, banking rule, Ryan Walters | Letters

Why we should protest the proposed Yukon amphitheater

I am writing in opposition to the building of the Sunset Amphitheater at Frisco Road and Route 66, less than one mile away from my home. Although this site is in the city limits of Yukon, Oklahoma, many OKC/Yukon residents living just south of Interstate 40 will also be negatively impacted by the approval of this venue.  This company has only built one amphitheater thus far, in Colorado Springs, and residents there tell me that they can hear concerts and audibly understand the songs’ words from as far away as 2.8 miles from their much smaller Ford Amphitheater. Please review the independent noise pollution study commissioned and paid for by Colorado Springs’ City Council at Venu’s Ford Amphitheater in response to hundreds of ongoing complaints from local citizens. Venu’s executives are quick to say, “we will be great neighbors,” but their actions speak louder than their words.  For reference, the National Institutes of Health and the Environmental Protection Agency Noise Pollution Standards recommend a daily sound level limit of 55dB to promote health and welfare. The NIH also recommends a maximum limit of 70dB to prevent hearing loss.This independent study concluded that the Colorado Springs’ Ford Amphitheater (which is much smaller than what is planned for inside Yukon city limits) produces sound levels of up to an incredible 128dB! My home is my refuge of peace, as I am sure yours is. After long days and nights of working at the Paycom (Center) and the (Chickasaw) Bricktown Ballpark, I cannot imagine coming home to 70 concerts a year that will rattle my windows, shake my walls, and dictate when I may and may not be allowed to sleep. Three miles of sound travel, as the complaints from Colorado Springs' Ford Amphitheater show, would affect the majority of Yukon and parts of OKC, not just the nearby neighborhoods like mine.  Many residents’ homes and businesses, including our local hospital, many of our city parks, and most of our visitors staying in local hotels are going to be negatively affected by each and every event held, 70 times a year, more than once a week. This is not a problem for only the neighborhoods near the proposed site. This is a city-wide Yukon and OKC problem. Please join me in protesting this project.    ― Scott Downs, Yukon

New overdraft rule will hurt those in need

Visualize your mother at the tender age of 67 who has been blessed to work until retirement and the time to collect Social Security has come. However, the income isn’t enough to pay rent, utilities, and/or groceries. This is a commonality amongst the customers that I serve at First Security Bank & Trust Co. in northeast Oklahoma City. The customers’ job title, age, gender and income source might vary, but the important takeaway remains consistent. There is not enough money to make it through the month. However, with our bank’s overdraft privilege program, it can be enough. 

First Security Bank & Trust Co. is the only Black-owned minority depository institution in Oklahoma. With our single branch location, we reach and proudly serve a predominantly Black demographic. For many customers, overdraft protection provides a vital lifeline to ensure essential expenses are paid. Overdraft privilege for our customer base is often times their only option to make ends meet.

Small dollar loans are not an option at our institution and, in any event, some of our customer base might not qualify for a loan. Therefore, we offer an overdraft privilege as an option so that our customers think of their bank as their first option for small dollar liquidity. Instilling trust in the banking industry will always be a top priority of our institution. Additionally, customers do not want ― or need ― a $1,000 loan that comes with repayment obligations that the customer must manage — or risk a hit to their credit score.

But in his final days in office, a government regulator in Washington, D.C. ― Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Rohit Chopra ― issued a regulation that could end our customers’ access to overdraft. Chopra’s regulation declared overdraft protection services to be “credit” regulated by a statute designed to regulate credit cards and other consumer loans unless the overdraft fee is below a $5 price cap or below the institution’s “breakeven” costs to operate its overdraft program. Chopra’s rule applies directly to banks and credit unions with more than $10 billion in assets. But don’t be fooled; First Security is a community bank, but we compete for the same customers as larger banks that also serve Oklahoma City.

If the large bank down the street reduces its overdraft fee to Chopra’s $5 price cap, we will need to respond or risk losing many of our customers. If we determine that we cannot offer overdraft services at $5 per overdraft, we will be compelled to limit or end this valuable service. Our customers may then turn to higher-risk products such as payday and vehicle title loans offered by less regulated non-bank lenders. That result benefits no one. Consumers ― not a government official ― should make decisions about the financial products and services they want to use.

― Haylie Calicott, Oklahoma City

How did the Bible make it past the screeners?

We live in a state where our state schools Superintendent Ryan Walters wants to put Bibles in every classroom at a cost of $3 million. As the Oklahoma Supreme Court decides if this is even legal and the state Legislature decides if they want to fund this, I would like to give my opinion. I am a parent of three children. I live in Edmond, and I am a United Methodist minister, serving Crown Heights United Methodist Church in Oklahoma City. The initiative to have a Bible in every classroom is galling to me as a parent, pastor and citizen of this country.

First, having only the Bible in classrooms shows a bias toward Christianity. Every Muslim, Hindu and atheist student should question if we are pushing our faith on them. In a country where we have the freedom to practice any or no religion and we say we adhere to a separation of church and state, Bibles in classrooms have no place. 

Second, I am highly biblically literate. I studied Christianity for seven years of higher education. I cannot imagine why every classroom needs a Bible. Kindergarteners? Elementary classrooms? Middle school band? High school math? Why would we pay money for a book that is not on grade level or not even remotely close to the subject material being taught? Fine, if a high school literature class wants to read a historic portion of the Bible, I don't mind that. That is one classroom in every high school! Not every classroom in every school.

Third, I do not want public school teachers talking to my children about Christianity, faith or God. I am very careful about what my kids learn about religion and who teaches them. Teaching from the Bible is begging for teachers to cross the line into teaching matters of faith. Let parents religiously educate their own children.

Fourth, if we are banning books for having inappropriate content, I am very curious how the Bible made it past the screeners. The rape scenes in Judges 19 or 2 Samuel 13, the laws on sexual intercourse and menstruation, the dated understandings of women and slavery ― gosh, if John Steinbeck or Alice Walker wrote this stuff, Ryan Walters would have banned it. 

I am trying to say that I am one of many in this state who do not support this initiative. I so want our state to focus on what it takes to educate every child. Teach reading and math. Stop wasting time on this senseless topic. 

― The Rev. Trina Bose North, Edmond