Swimming Regionals
Mercy Foundation Gala
Heritage Hall’s Owen Flynn, right, won two gold medals at the Class 5A regional swimming meet in Edmond. Page 5.
During the event, Jane Jayroe Gamble leads those in attendance in singing Happy Birthday to Sister Rose Elizabeth Power, her 90th. Pages B1.
OKC FRIDAY Vol. 53 No. 41 • Two Sections • 16 pages February 14, 2020
www.okcfriday.com facebook.com/okcfriday OKC’s only locally-owned legal newspaper with all local news Serving Oklahoma City, Nichols Hills, The Village, Quail Creek, The Greens and Gaillardia for 46 years
Sales tax for OKC parks up for vote on March 3 By Rose Lane Editor
populations. Organizations represented at the Allied Arts Kickoff event included: Oklahoma Children’s Theatre, Oklahoma Youth Jazz
Oklahoma City voters will go to the polls on March 3 to say yea or nay to a permanent 1/8-cent sales tax for parks. A resident filed an initiative petition with the City Clerk on Sept. 6, 2019, proposing an election for a limited-purpose 1/8-cent sales tax for Oklahoma City parks. The resident filed 7,977 signatures in support of the petition on Dec. 2, 2019. The city clerk and municipal counselor verified the number of legally sufficient signatures from Oklahoma City voters surpassed the 6,499 needed to trigger an election. The proposed 1/8-cent parks sales tax, if approved, would be similar to the 3/4-cent sales tax dedicated to public safety (primarily the police and fire departments) and the 1/8cent sales tax dedicated to the Oklahoma City Zoo. Voters approved those permanent taxes in 1989 and 1990 after initiative petitions in 1989. The rest of the permanent Oklahoma City sales tax would go to the General Fund for day-to-day operations, which is also mostly public safety services. There’s also a temporary penny sales tax that will fund Better Streets, Safer City projects until March 31. MAPS 4 will kick in for eight years beginning on April 1. The City Council would oversee spending of revenue from the proposed parks sales tax. The proposal would require the funds to be spent only on parks operated by the city, not city-owned parks operated by non-governmental foundations like Scissortail Park or
See ARTS, Page B2
See PARKS, Page 2
Olivia Kay performs with the Sooner Theatre Ambassador Group during the Allied Arts Campaign Kickoff event. The organization hopes to raise $3.4 million for arts in the community.
Allied Arts sets sail on $3.4 mil fundraising goal Under the leadership of campaign co-chairs Julie and Mark Beffort, Allied Arts kicked off its 2020 community-wide fundraising campaign to raise more than $3.4 million for central Oklahoma’s cultural community. Allied Arts board chairman Steve Mason welcomed more than 350 donors, sponsors, volunteers and government leaders attending the Campaign Kickoff event at the Embassy Suites by Hilton. The event featured inspiring performances by a variety of nonprofit organizations supported by Allied Arts and the reveal of the Allied Arts 2020 campaign video highlighting three individual impact stories. Funds donated to Allied Arts ensure free and affordable programming for all, arts education opportunities in underserved schools and healing arts opportunities for sick, disabled and veteran
Allied Arts Campaign Honorary Chairman James Pickel with Allied Arts President and CEO Deborah Senner and Mark Beffort, who will chair the campaign with his wife Julie.
‘I escaped from China’ By Vicki Clark Gourley Publisher
Bill Bonadio at the 3-star Michelin Restaurant in Haiko, China.
“I escaped from China,” said Bill Bonadio, the long-time owner of Papa Dio’s. Bill and his significant other, Cece Yue, planned a trip to celebrate the Chinese New Year with
her family on Haiko Island, China. They flew out of San Francisco and had a two-hour layover in Wuhan before their flight to Haiko Island. The news about the Coronavirus centered in Wuhan reached them two days after arriving in Haiko.
FRIDAY’s
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They immediately bought masks and 20 bottles of hand sanitizer. They did not go anywhere outside their luxury hotel. Fortunately, it served three “fabulous” buffets a day. Bill started plotting their escape from China. Trashing his return ticket
through Wuhan, he found a flight from Haiko to Japan. The next leg of the trip was to Hawaii, where they rested up. Having crossed back over the International Dateline, they arrived in Hawaii at the same time they left See CHINA, Page 3
Leaders to be honored at gala Leadership Oklahoma will honor three Fridaylanders for leadership at its annual Excellence in Leadership Gala at The Skirvin Hilton in Oklahoma City on Saturday, April 25. Oklahoma State System of Higher Education Chancellor and CEO Glen D. Johnson and Marnie and Clayton Taylor are the honorees. “Each year, Leadership Oklahoma recognizes the outstanding contributions of Oklahoma corporate and individual leaders for their com-
mitment and service to elevating the quality of life and empowering our state for greater prosperity,” said Marion Paden, president and CEO of Leadership Oklahoma. “This year’s Excellence in Leadership award recipients are truly deserving based upon the remarkable and meaningful differences they have made in Oklahoma. It is our privilege to honor them.” The Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes individuals See GALA, Page 3