The Oklahoma Daily

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THURSDAY AUGUST 27, 2009

THE UNIVERSITY OFF OKLAHOMA’S OKLAHOM MA S INDEPENDENT INDEP STUDENT VOICE

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news Still texting behind the wheel? Legislators are aiming to ban the dangerous activity sooner rather than later. PAGE 3A OUDAILY.COM »

Want to know what’s happening in Norman this weekend? Check out the Weekend Update in today’s Life & Arts section. PAGE 8B

OU football must battle through a tough schedule this year. See which opponents will be the biggest test this year. PAGE 7A

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TV4OU TAKES STEPS TO BROADEN ITS BASE Gaylord College reaches deal to broadcast in more homes MATTHEW MOZEK The Oklahoma Daily

TV4OU, the student-produced television station at the Gaylord College of Journalism, is now available to all Cox digital cable subscribers in Oklahoma, on its new home on Channel 124.

“While other institutions across the state of Oklahoma may be broadcasted on-air, the University of Oklahoma will be the only one to have its own dedicated public access channel,” said John Hockett, assistant dean of Gaylord College. All programming produced by the Gaylord College will transition from its current spot on Cox’s Channel 4 to 124, and is now available to 180,000 homes in Oklahoma, Hockett stated in an e-mail. TV4OU’s programming, except for OU Nightly, was previously available

to only 30,000 homes in the Norman area. OU Nightly, Gaylord College’s MondayFriday news broadcast, will air on Cox’s Channel 7 at 4:30 p.m. Cox will also purchase 12 episodes of Gaylord College’s production, “The Set,” for their On DEMAND feature. “It means a lot for our students,” Hockett said. “Whether you’re a major in advertising, journalism, broadcasting, professional writing, or public relations, it’s pretty impressive to be exposed to such a wide range of

viewers.” For some Gaylord College students, the transfer signals an opportunity to establish a larger presence on and off campus. “It’s a great proposition,” said Zach Blocker, broadcasting and electronic media senior and camera operator for “The Set.” “It will definitely get more people involved. The increase in publicity will lead to an increase in awareness. Hopefully that will lead to a STEPS CONTINUES ON PAGE 2A

President Boren and senators remember late Sen. Kennedy

LUKE ATKINSON/THE DAILY

A flag flies at half-staff Wednesday afternoon in the North Oval to honor the late Sen. Edward Kennedy. Kennedy, 77, passed away late Tuesday night after a 15-month battle against brain cancer.

Recently deceased senator’s political legacy honored by politicians RICKY MARANON The Oklahoma Daily

OU President and former U.S. Sen. David Boren and current Oklahoma Sens. James Inhofe and Tom Coburn remembered the late Sen. Edward (Ted) Kennedy (D-Mass.) as a charismatic colleague who always worked toward bipartisanship on tough issues. “I was saddened to learn about the death of Senator Kennedy,” Boren stated in an e-mail. Kennedy died late Tuesday night at his home in Hyannisport, Mass., of brain canEDWARD cer at the age of 77. Boren, who served from 1979 to 1994, KENNEDY said he has many fond memories of serving in the U.S. Senate with Kennedy. “He was unfailingly kind to young people,” he said. “On two occasions when children from Oklahoma with terminal

illnesses came to Washington, he took the time to visit with them and show them souvenirs from his brother, President Kennedy.” Kennedy served in the U.S. Senate from 1962 to 2009 and is the brother of former President John F. Kennedy, former U.S Attorney General and presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy. Ted Kennedy is the only one of the four Kennedy brothers to die of natural causes; his brothers John and Robert were both assassinated while in public office, while oldest Kennedy brother Joseph died during World War II in an airplane explosion. Boren, Inhofe and Coburn said even though they did not always stand with Kennedy on political issues, they always respected him, his work ethic and his legislative aspirations when he worked on tough issues. “Even when we were on opposite sides of an issue, he was always courteous and maintained a sense of humor about our differences of opinion,” Boren stated. “With each passing year, he devoted himself more and more to bringing people together to form a consensus.” Coburn said he would miss Kennedy both as a friend and an adversary. “I hope one of Ted Kennedy’s legacies is that in the age of spin, he had the courage to directly express and fight for his

ideas and principles,” Coburn said. “He worked extremely hard [and] was always in command of the issues.” Inhofe, who took Boren’s Senate seat after Boren became president of OU, said Kennedy’s personality had no political boundaries. “I recall many fond stories about the Senator that are a tribute to his charisma and personality that transcended party lines,” Inhofe said. “Senator Kennedy’s long years of service to this country were ones that saw some of America’s darkest and brightest times.” The Kennedy family immediately released a statement early Tuesday morning. “We’ve lost the irreplaceable center of our family and joyous light in our lives, but the inspiration of his faith, optimism and perseverance will live on in our hearts forever,“ the Kennedy family said in a statement. “We thank everyone who gave him care and support over this last year, and everyone who stood with him for so many years in his tireless march for progress toward justice, fairness and opportunity for all.” Sen. Kennedy will be privately buried at Arlington National Cemetery Saturday near his two brothers John and Robert after the funeral Mass at Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Boston.

Law student will run for Congressional seat Military veteran seeks to uphold conservative values RICKY MARANON The Oklahoma Daily

R.J. Harris, a second-year OU law student and veteran of military service in Iraq, will run against incumbent Republican Congressman Tom Cole in the 2010 primary election. Harris said he decided to run against Cole for the fourth district Congressional seat because he doesn’t think Cole is true to the conservative ideal. “I saw that my representative was voting for bailouts and was giving away my liberty through incremental socialism,” Harris

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said. “Tom Cole calls himself a conservative Republican, but he is not acting like one and hasn’t been acting like one since January 2008.” Cole said he is still true to his conservative values, and he also thinks about the decisions he makes before every vote. “I reject the notion that my opponent is the arbiter of what is, and what is not, conservative,” Cole said. “I would suggest that my lifetime ‘A’ rating with the National Rifle Association, my lifetime 100 [percent] rating with the National Right to Life, and my lifetime 93 [percent] rating from Americans for Tax Reform are more objective and accurate measures of where I stand on the political spectrum than the arbitrary opinions of a political opponent.” Harris’ solutions include returning the

power of many public policy decisions to the states as he said the 10th Amendment requires. “We should let the states make policy rather than expecting Congress to do everything,” Harris said. “If citizens of a state want universal health care, then they should be able to get together and raise the money and implement a universal health care policy. Congress should not be making these kinds of decisions. It is unconstitutional.” Harris also said President George W. Bush is not a real conservative. “If the Bush administration and the Republican Congress and Tom Cole were truly conservative, they would not have passed Medicare Part D reform and taken us into a war which was not authorized by Congress that costs us billions of dollars

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every year,” he said. “Those two acts alone expanded government spending and were unconstitutional. It is time we return the government back to what is written in the Constitution and nothing more and nothing less.” Cole said he understands what it means to be a conservative, and still seeks to uphold his values. “My personal view of R.J. what it means to be conservative includes a commit- HARRIS ment to small government, low taxes, minimal government interference in commerce and trade, maximum personal SEAT CONTINUES ON PAGE 2A

VOL. 95, NO. 7


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