HOLIDAYS
OU FOOTBALL
VALUABLE SAVINGS INSIDE!
Showdown in Waco
Pondering presents?
Kenny Stills and the Sooners were trying to hold off the Baylor Bears.
Find out what kids and adults are putting on their wish lists this year.
NEWSOK.COM
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THE OKLAHOMAN SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2011
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NEWSOK.COM
COVERING OKLAHOMA SINCE 1907
SINGLE-ENGINE PLANE WOULDN’T MEET GUIDELINES FOR ATHLETIC TRAVEL ADOPTED AFTER 2001 ACCIDENT
Crash raises questions on OSU’s travel policy BY RANDY ELLIS Staff Writer rellis@opubco.com
STILLWATER — As Oklahoma State University mourns after the second airplane crash to devastate
its basketball programs in 11 years, questions have arisen as to how this happened at a school that adopted one of the most strict athletic travel policies in the nation following the first crash in 2001.
The airplane that crashed Thursday killing four people near Perryville, Ark., was a singleengine Piper that would not meet the OSU team travel policy’s minimum requirement for aircraft to
INSIDE I Weather ruled out as cause, 6A I Painful task for interim coach, 7B SCAN IT Scan the QR code below to view a photo gallery and related video.
INSIDE ADOPTIONS
STATE LEADS NATION The number of adoptions made through Oklahoma’s Department of Human Services is growing faster than in any other state in the country, according to new national statistics. PAGE 25A
be “powered by two or more turbine engines.” Gary Shutt, OSU spokesman, said university officials assert the airplane wasn’t required to
EMPLOYMENT
CAREER DEMAND SOARING
SEE OSU, PAGE 6A
PIEDMONT FAMILY THANKFUL FOR FAITH
As business in Oklahoma City’s aerospace industry soars, the demand for aircraft maintenance technicians also is taking off.
TORNADO AFTERMATH | THE HAMILS MOVED TO CASHION AND HAVE WELCOMED A SECOND DAUGHTER PAGE 1C
Bryan Painter
WEATHER
bpainter@ opubco.com
MOSTLY CLOUDY
COLUMNIST CASHION — With the ultrasound before them, Ryan Hamil, 3, and his brother, Cole, 15 months, could hardly sit still. They had one sister and soon would have another. Hank Hamil, a custom harvester, had started wheat harvest in Throckmorton, Texas, but came home for the day, just for the visit to the hospital. He and his wife, Catherine, recall the looks on the boys’ faces as they watched the motion on the screen. That was May 20. Four days later, a violent tornado churned toward their home near Waterloo Road and N County Line Road in Piedmont. Catherine protected her children by huddling under a mattress in a bathtub with the boys and daughter, Cathleen, then 5 years old. The deadly EF5 struck. Cole died in a hospital.
High: 50 Tonight’s low: 44 PAGE 30A
WEEKEND DEAL Visit www.wimgo deals.com to purchase and receive an instant voucher via email. Current wimgo deal: Threeday instructional baseball summer camp at Legacy Sports Academy for $75 ($195 value). Details on Page 2A.
Hank and Catherine Hamil, along with their daughters, Cathleen and Hannah, talk about faith during an interview at their home in Cashion. The Hamils lost their two sons during the May 24 EF5 tornado. PHOTO BY PAUL HELLSTERN, THE OKLAHOMAN
More than 100 rescue workers and volunteers searched for Ryan for two days before finding his body in a lake at the subdivision near where the
family lived. Catherine and Cathleen were hospitalized, but survived. And on Oct. 17, Hannah was born. Thanksgiving Day will
mark six months since the tornado claimed the lives of their sons, but still Hank and Catherine are genuinely thankful for both faith and family.
Hank, who was cutting wheat in Texas when the tornado destroyed their house, has big tears well SEE FAMILY, BACK PAGE
Plentiful exemptions complicate Oklahoma sales taxes BY WAYNE GREENE Tulsa World
Buy food for your family, pay sales taxes. Buy food for your earthworm farm, no sales taxes.
Buy a $9 ticket to the movies, pay sales taxes. Buy a $275 ticket to an NBA basketball game, no sales taxes. Buy a bottle of aspirin, pay sales tax. Buy a bottle of prescription
Dear Lord, help us be good listeners when Your message is preached. Amen. 11D 1C 1E 29A
149 exemptions at last count. State and federal law, court decisions and interpretations by the Oklahoma Tax Commission have created a network of exemptions, SEE SALES, PAGE 4A
HEALTH
TODAY’S PRAYER
Advice Business Classified Deaths
OxyContin, no sales taxes. Seem confusing? Oklahoma’s sales-tax rules are pretty simple in theory. Everything that’s sold in the state is subject to the sales tax, unless there’s an exemption. But there’s the rub: There are
Movies Opinion Sports TV
4D 22A 1B 10D
Volume 120, 319 Six sections Copyright 2011 The Oklahoma Publishing Co., Oklahoma City All rights reserved
Rescue mission program offers Bridge to Life City Rescue Mission resident Jill Thompson is participating in the Bridge to Life program, which she says is helping her recover from physical violence and substance abuse. PAGES 16-17A
PHOTO BY CHRIS LANDSBERGER, THE OKLAHOMAN