Alva Community Coffee: Candidates for labor, insurance commissioner speak

Alex Mantz welcomed community attendees to the August Alva Chamber Community Coffee, hosted Friday by the Homestead and Kelly Parker in the month of their 20th year of operations.

Parker went on to talk about the Homestead's beginnings and recent renovations and changes. The City of Alva and Share Medical Center have been working together on Homestead operations, and have agreed to continue to do so.

Mantz mentioned the Alva-NWOSU event "Lights Over Alva" Friday night with live music performances and local vendors set up. She also mentioned the Freedom Rodeo and the many community members who volunteer at such events. Mantz thanked the many volunteers and exhorted others to help out as well. Another event coming up is the Southwest Country Fest at the Woods County Fairgrounds, Aug. 25.

There will be an event every weekend in September as well: the Woods County Fair, the Big Cruise and Car Show, the Amazing Obstacle Course Race, and NWOSU Homecoming.

Graceful Arts Center is now enrolling their classes for fall. For more information check out the Alva Chamber Facebook page. Also, on the chamber's Facebook page is information about the poker run hosted by Northwest Family Services in conjunction with the car show in September.

Sen. Casey Murdock (R-District 27) provided an update on state matters. "Oklahoma's numbers are looking like we'll be close to $1 billion over what we need," he said. This, he said, is due to "the little things we have been doing the last three years that have slowly helped the state improve its budget numbers and start to cover basic responsibilities." He said he feels optimistic about the upcoming year.

Candidates for Labor, Insurance Commissioner Speak

Fred Dorrell, a Democratic candidate for Oklahoma labor commissioner, stopped by the Community Coffee to talk about his candidacy and his experiences in the labor and union industries. Dorrell has been president chairman of the UAW Local 1895, and is an Air Force veteran. He told the Review-Courier that while the labor commissioner's remit is to protect and advocate for workers, he believes that this can best be achieved by bringing all the stakeholders to the table to find solutions that work for everyone. "Businesses need workers, and workers need businesses," he said. "Through my life, I've worked to bring people together" to solve problems, he said. He believes in incentivizing businesses "do right by their people," he said. "At the end of the day, people need to do the right thing."

Dorrell's views and proposals can be viewed in more detail at his website, FredDorrell.com, or on Facebook at Fred Dorrell for Labor Commissioner.

Also at the breakfast was Kimberly Fobbs, a Democrat running for Oklahoma insurance commissioner. Fobbs is a former member of Oklahoma's Judicial Nominating Commission, and attended the University of Texas at Austin on a National Merit Scholarship.

Fobbs told the Review-Courier she wants to turn around a disturbing trend of increasing insurance rates and decreasing coverage for Oklahomans. She said the insurance industry has influenced this trend in a way that she believes violates the state constitution. If elected, she said she plans to stop insurance companies' use of credit scores to raise Oklahomans' auto and home insurance rates; lower the denial rate of covered health insurance benefits; and protect rural residents from unfair rates, low provider reimbursement and poor access to coverage.

More information on Fobbs' proposals and background can be found on her website: KimberlyFobbs.com.

The Chamber breakfast meeting can be viewed in its entirety on the newspaper's website, http://www.alvareviewcourier.net.