{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["http://cole.house.gov/oklahoman-oklahoman-quotes-year", "The Oklahoman: Oklahoman quotes of the year", "2014-12-31", "2014", "2014-12", "Republican", "House", "OK", "Tom Cole", "C001053", "cole.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "The Oklahoman - Ken Raymond\nAt the heart of each newspaper article is a voice. It may be an official spokesman, a politician or a protester. It could come from a police officer, a business person, a judge or a philanthropist. It may be the voice of a crying victim or an exultant athlete. It could be as careful as an author\u2019s words or as spontaneous as an artist.\nBut it\u2019s there \u2014 the voice around which the story turns.\nAt the beginning of each new year, The Oklahoman looks back at the previous year\u2019s defining stories, listening, one might say, to those voices yet again.\nThese are our quotes of the year.\nPublic safety\n\u201cIt seemed to me that a grave for that many people should be marked. It seemed a sad testament to how the mentally ill were treated back then that it was not.\u201d\n\u2014 Norman Deputy Fire Chief Jim Bailey, speaking about the victims of an April 13, 1918, fire that killed 40 patients at the state hospital for the mentally ill in Norman. He was among those who discovered the mass grave in 2014. Plans are being made to place a marker there.\n\u201cI hope they maintain the evidence as we have requested them to do, but the fact that the body arrived without the heart and the larynx is somewhat disconcerting, I guess.\u201d\n\u2014 David Autry, attorney for convicted prisoner Clayton Derrell Lockett, after the Dallas County medical examiner\u2019s office returned Lockett\u2019s body to Oklahoma after an autopsy. Lockett\u2019s April execution was botched, and he died 40 minutes later.\n\u201cI was like, \u2018My God, he came here to kill me.\u2019\u201d\n\u2014 Domestic violence survivor Brandy Moreno, describing in October her thoughts when she was attacked and stabbed in the eye.\n\u201cEverybody will forget about this and nothing will change. This is the northeast side, and that\u2019s the way it\u2019s always been.\u201d\n\u2014 A woman offering in September her grim assessment of the investigation into Oklahoma City police officer Daniel Ken Holtzclaw, who is accused by prosecutors of sexually assaulting women over a six-month period.\n\u201cWe can hear a lot of screaming. We know that he\u2019s loose. He has stabbed someone.\u201d\n\u2014 A caller locked in an office at Vaughan Foods in Moore talking to a 911 operator on Sept. 25, after Alton Alexander Nolen, a 30-year-old ex-convict, is alleged to have stabbed and beheaded one employee and slashed another.\n\u201cThis was judgment day.\u201d\n\u2014 District Judge Lawrence Parish, sentencing Kevin Sweat in October to life in prison without possibility of parole for killing two Weleetka girls in 2008 and his fiancee in 2011.\n\u201cI thought there was supposed to be blanks in the gun.\u201d\n\u2014 Words attributed in February by a witness to the shooter who killed a jogger in Duncan.\n\u201cMe, too. Sorry.\u201d\n\u2014 The reply from the driver to the shooter, according to the witness.\n\u201cShe\u2019d stab you in the heart and watch you bleed to death.\u201d\n\u2014 Chad Noe, on his deceased grandmother, Ida Prewitt, who was implicated in 2014 in the 1992 slayings of two Oklahoma City women and a young girl.\n\u201cI guarantee you I have officers who have biases and racial biases. But we can\u2019t have them acting on those biases because everyone needs to be treated the same. I don\u2019t think the majority of officers are that way, but I\u2019m not naive.\u201d\n\u2014 Oklahoma City Police Chief Bill Citty commenting in the wake of a white police officer shooting and killing a black teenager in Ferguson, Mo.\n\u201cEverything you saw was a ball of fire. I\u2019ve never seen anything like it. I don\u2019t ever want to see another one like it.\u201d\n\u2014 Guthrie resident Tim Saathoff upon seeing a fatal apartment fire in the early morning hours of Nov. 19.\n\u201cIt was completely planned out. This kid is an evil person.\u201d\n\u2014 Stephens County DA Jason Hicks at an October news conference after OU freshman Alan J. Hruby was charged with three counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of his parents and sister in their Duncan home.\nReligion\n\u201cWe may be provoking the Satanists, but it\u2019s a whole lot better than standing by and doing nothing. I\u2019m going to be a light, a voice in the darkness.\u201d\n\u2014 Albert Storz of Tulsa, who preached in protest of a \u201cblack mass\u201d held outside the Civic Center Music Hall in Oklahoma City in September.\n\u201cOur family is overjoyed by the Supreme Court\u2019s decision. Today the nation\u2019s highest court has reaffirmed the vital importance of religious liberty as one of our country\u2019s founding principles. The Court\u2019s decision is a victory, not just for our family business, but for all who seek to live out their faith. We are grateful to God and to those who have supported us on this difficult journey.\u201d\n\u2014 Barbara Green, co-founder of Hobby Lobby, the day the Supreme Court ruled the company did not have to provide contraceptive coverageUnder the Affordable Care Act.\nCharity\n\u201cIn the past, we\u2019ve told the homeless you have to clean up, not drink, get a job \u2014 a whole laundry list of things they had to do before we would place them in housing. But if they could do those things, they wouldn\u2019t be homeless.\u201d\n\u2014 April Heiple, director of Food and Shelter Inc., explaining in October Norman\u2019s philosophical change in its Housing First program.\nEducation\n\u201cThey\u2019re not getting the candidate they think they\u2019re getting. They will see soon. I suspect, if she does prevail, they will see that very quickly.\u201d\n\u2014 State schools Superintendent Janet Barresi with a message for voters after being defeated in the Republican primary election in June by state schools Superintendent-elect Joy Hofmeister.\n\u201cMy fingers know what the inside of a horse feels like. My arm has to go into his bottom all the way up to my shoulder.\u201d\n\u2014 Lyndi Gilliam, associate professor of veterinary medicine, speaking at an alumni event at Oklahoma State University in June.\n\u201cWe spend so much time seeing our differences and so little time rejoicing in the things that we share. We\u2019ve got a lot to do to put aside those differences in our everyday lives and find that which make us one America.\u201d\n\u2014 U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor at a talk at Oklahoma City University in September.\n\u201cI\u2019m not in favor of anyone having guns on campus except the police and Pistol Pete. It just creates a tension that we don\u2019t need. It\u2019s fraught with risk. If we want to experiment with this idea, I recommend that we start right here in this Capitol.\u201d\n\u2014 OSU President Burns Hargis to Oklahoma lawmakers in October.\n\u201cPublic service is not about power. It\u2019s about service. I don\u2019t think anything can exceed the sense of satisfaction that comes from investing your life in the next generation.\u201d\n\u2014 David Boren on serving 20 years as OU president.\n\u201cI\u2019d say 98 percent of them know they need remediation. They aren\u2019t the least bit surprised.\u201d\n\u2014 Debbie Quiery, vice president of Northern Oklahoma College, on the high number of college students who aren\u2019t prepared for higher education. Four of 10 Oklahoma students begin college in need of remediation.\nGovernment\n\u201cI accept that legislative change comes slowly at the Capitol. What I cannot accept is to stand idly by while another 500 husbands, wives, sons and daughters lose their lives to preventable drug overdoses. I plan on using every tool at the state\u2019s disposal to fight this scourge and to help save lives.\u201d\n\u2014 Gov. Mary Fallin in May after a bill that would have required doctors to check an online database before writing narcotic prescriptions failed to pass.\n\u201cSome of these raises had merit, but I\u2019m skeptical that 48 directors absolutely had to have raises immediately above all the other needs at their agencies.\u201d\n\u2014 Fallin commenting on pay raises granted to state agency directors, including raises of $10,000 or more granted to 30 of those agency heads.\n\u201cThey aren\u2019t asking our input. They aren\u2019t asking our advice. This is way above our payscale.\u201d\n\u2014 Lawton City Councilman Keith Jackson in July on the federal program that placed unaccompanied immigrant children for months at Fort Sill.\n\u201cThis Court does not believe that attempts to provide notice via Facebook comport with the requirements of due process.\u201d\n\u2014 Supreme Court Justice Douglas Combs commenting in a parental rights case where a mother notified a man he was the father of her baby through a Facebook posting.\n\u201cMy students normally made good decisions until they consumed alcohol. Then their decisions weren\u2019t so good anymore.\u201d\n\u2014 State Rep. Jerry McPeak, a former Connors State College dean, debating against a campus gun bill.\n\u201cI just felt horrible about it. I felt sick.\u201d\n\u2014 Rep. Steve Vaughn, R-Ponca City, a pro-gun legislator, speaking in April about accidentally shooting another hunter in the head with a single, .12-gauge shotgun pellet during a pheasant hunt.\n\u201cI am sickened that the only way someone can win a race is to run negative ads against them.\u201d\n\u2014 Retiring U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn in regard to ads run last summer against U.S. Rep. James Lankford, who eventually won Coburn\u2019s seat.\n\u201cI would say you\u2019re not going to beat James Lankford in 2016 and maybe not ever.\u201d\n\u2014 GOP political consultant Trebor Worthen, of Oklahoma City, who has tried twice to beat Lankford.\n\u201cIn the days and months ahead, I hope that lawmakers on both sides of the aisle will engage in discussion on the immigration issue, restore order to the legislative process and rein in White House overreach.\u201d\n\u2014 U.S. Rep. Tom Cole, R-Moore, after President Barack Obama announced executive order to halt deportations of some undocumented aliens.\n\u201cIn the absence of a coherent plan to deal with ISIS and meaningful U.S. assistance, the direct threat to the homeland and American citizens will grow, and the likelihood is more Americans will be savagely killed.\u201d\n\u2014 U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe, of Tulsa, the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services, on threat of the Islamic State.\n\u201cMarriage equality is now a reality in Oklahoma. Same-sex couples are no longer second-class couples in our state, and their children as well may now enjoy all the benefits, protections, and dignity of marriage thanks to our clients\u2019 courage in fighting for a decade to vindicate the fundamental right of all Oklahomans to wed.\u201d\n\u2014 Joseph Thai, attorney on legal team for Mary Bishop and Sharon Baldwin, the Tulsa County couple who challenged Oklahoma\u2019s ban on same-sex marriage.\n\u201cThe truth is you get what you pay for.\u201d\n\u2014 The reaction of House Speaker Jeff Hickman, of Dacoma, to a bill that would cut pay for Oklahoma legislators.\nSports\n\u201cYou the real MVP.\u201d\n\u2014 Oklahoma City Thunder star Kevin Durant in May, addressing his mother in his acceptance speech after being named the NBA\u2019s most valuable player.\n\u201cI just don\u2019t want nobody blocking my shot. That\u2019s why I dunk so hard.\u201d\n\u2014 Russell Westbrook explaining the ferocious hammer dunk that ignited the Oklahoma City Thunder\u2019s offense in a December game against the Detroit Pistons. Teammate Kevin Durant called the dunk \u201cone of the best I\u2019ve ever seen.\u201d\n\u201cIf everything is firing on all cylinders, it\u2019s almost going to be an unfair advantage to be born in Oklahoma City. These kids are going to be standing on podiums winning medals within the next decade. It\u2019s that big of an advantage.\u201d\n\u2014 Olympic gold medal-winning canoeist Joe Jacobi in September on the upcoming construction of a whitewater park on the Oklahoma River.\nEntertainment\n\u201cI\u2019m the representative Oklahoman that every band should have. Every band needs an Oklahoman, I don\u2019t care who it is. Aerosmith. Aerosmith would be doing a lot better if they had a Travis Linville in their band.\u201d\n\u2014 Roots musician J.D. McPherson speaking in November about why musical acts should feature Oklahomans.\n\u201cWe do weddings. We played a wedding for people who met at one of our shows; it\u2019s a part of their story. That\u2019s kind of insane. It\u2019s a good crew. Everyone in the band gets along. We\u2019ve played a cage fight.\u201d\n\u2014 A member of 1990s tribute act My So Called Band in September on playing music wherever possible.\n\u201cThere was a guy the other day on a plane. I was in first class, and he was chewing tobacco, and he was spitting his tobacco juice into an empty orange juice bottle. I was seated right across the aisle from him, watching the tobacco juice ooze down the sides of the bottle. I thought, \u2018How much would he have to pay me to drink that?\u2019 Thirty years ago, I would\u2019ve drunk it for $100. ... Now you\u2019d have to pay me $100,000 to drink it.\u201d\n\u2014 Comedic essayist David Sedaris, discussing how success has changed his life.\n\u201cI\u2019ll just have to feel it out and hope for the best. Ideally, I could just play venues with a Babybjorn on my back and a guitar in the front.\u201d\n\u2014 Musician Camille Harp, talking in December about whether she\u2019ll take time off when her baby is born in January.\n\u201cWhat I love about Oklahoma is the peace and quiet. I also like the freedom and opportunities that are offered here. I came here because I wanted to paint freely with no limitations or censors.\u201d\n\u2014 Iranian painter Behnaz Sohrabian, speaking in July about why she loves the U.S.\n\u201cIt\u2019s just a fictional world. ... It\u2019s not real. There are no vampires. It\u2019s fiction.\u201d\n\u2014 Tulsa author P.C. Cast in February after being unsuccessfully sued by a woman with the same name as one of Cast\u2019s fictional characters.\n\u201cWhen I put the phone up to my head, my son said, \u2018DAD DAD DAD!\u2019 He was so excited I could barely understand him. And then he yelled, \u2018I WON THE PULITZER, I WON THE PULITZER!\u2019 ... While he\u2019s yelling it to me, his wife Alison ... was screaming, \u2018DAN YOU WON THE PULITZER, YOU WON THE PULITZER!\u2019 We were all laughing, crying and happy.\u201d\n\u2014 Edmond attorney Arnold Fagin describing the April morning when his son, Dan Fagin, won the Pulitzer Prize for nonfiction for his book, \u201cToms River.\u201d\nHealth\n\u201cObviously, with the number of deaths we have, we have a problem.\u201d\n\u2014 Dr. Eric Frische, medical adviser to the Oklahoma State Board of Medical Licensure and Supervision, talking about the state\u2019s prescription drug epidemic.\n\u201cHere we\u2019re thrust into the spotlight because of that monument, and it has put a spotlight on mental health, and it really needs to be there \u2014 on mental health \u2014 because that\u2019s what this is about. It\u2019s not about that monument. It\u2019s about a human being. ... His mind has been broken.\u201d\n\u2014 Crystal Tucker, speaking in November about her son, Michael Tate Reed II, who drove his car into the Ten Commandments monument at the state Capitol.\n\u201cDo I want health care or do I want my education right now? And I feel like finishing up without student loans is going to be a better benefit to me than getting in debt with student loans to have health care right now.\u201d\n\u2014 Stephanie James, 28, a restaurant server who lives in Edmond.\n\u201cYou\u2019re beautiful in your own way, and don\u2019t let anybody get you down just because you don\u2019t look as beautiful as everybody else.\u201d\n\u2014 Bri Johnson, 8, a Special Care student diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy, offering words of wisdom in July.\nWeather\n\u201cI\u2019m used to seeing photos in a paper or magazine and thinking \u2018wow that\u2019s sad\u2019 \u2026 but that was my life. I think we are still healing and I think we\u2019ll be healing for a long time.\u201d\n\u2014 LaDonna Cobb, reflecting a year later on surviving the tornado that struck Briarwood Elementary School in Moore.\n\u201cHe was the one closest to me that didn\u2019t make it. I had my hand on him. He\u2019s been a little hard to let go.\u201d\n\u2014 Former Plaza Towers Elementary School teacher Jennifer Doan discussing her decision to give her newborn son the middle name of Nicolas to honor her former student, Nicolas McCabe, who died in the May 20, 2013, Moore tornado.\nThe President\n\u201cBut Don did something truly extraordinary \u2014 he reached down and he picked that grenade up. And he turned to throw it, but there were Americans in front of him and behind him \u2014 inside the kill zone. So Don held on to that grenade, and he pulled it close to his body. And he bent over it. And then, as one of the men said, \u2018all of a sudden there was a boom.\u2019\u201d\n\u2014 President Barack Obama, on Sept. 15, awarding the Medal of Honor posthumously to Coweta native Donald P. Sloat, who was killed in 1970 in Vietnam.\n\u201cI have to be honest, in a battle and daring escape that lasted four days, Bennie performed so many acts of bravery we actually don\u2019t have time to talk about all of them.\u201d\n\u2014 Obama, on Sept. 15, awarding the Medal of Honor to Waurika native Bennie G. Adkins for actions in Vietnam in 1966.\n\u201cBecause of Suzan, more young Native Americans are growing up with pride in their heritage, and with faith in their future. And she has taught all of us that Native values make America stronger.\u201d\n\u2014 President Obama, on Nov. 24, presenting the Medal of Freedom to Oklahoma native Suzan Shown Harjo.\nGeneral\n\u201cThis is such a surreal feeling. The only thing I\u2019ve seen for the past five years is concrete, a little bit of grass, fence and razor wire. So this morning when they took me to see my family and all the people I truly care about, it\u2019s a day I won\u2019t forget.\u201d\n\u2014 U.S. Army 1st Lt. Michael Behenna in March, speaking exclusively to The Oklahoman upon his release from prison after serving five years for the 2008 killing of an Iraqi man in Iraq.\n\u201cI can be No. 1 in something.\u201d\n\u2014 Deanne R. Baker, whose divorce from Julie L. Baker in October was likely the first same-sex divorce in state history.\nContributing: Staff writers Graham Lee Brewer, Jane Glenn Cannon, Chris Casteel, Nolan Clay, Jaclyn Cosgrove, Randy Ellis, Adam Kemp, Kathryn McNutt, Phillip O\u2019Connor, Jennifer Palmer and Nathan Poppe; editors Nick Trougakos and Mike Sherman\nOnline: The Oklahoman", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["http://cole.house.gov/oklahoman-oklahoman-quotes-year"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 2.4517769925296307, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}