October 03, 2019

CPHS Gold Pride Marching Band places 6th at Bron Warren Tournament

October 03, 2019/ Scott Emigh

CPHS Drum Majors Alyssa Crutcher (left) and Kristin Shipley (right). (Photo by Shannon Crutcher).

Ada, OK - The Charles Page High School Gold Pride Marching Band competed at Tigerpalooza - The 11th Annual Bron Warren Tournament of Bands this past Saturday at East Central University. The Sandites took 3rd Place in their division and 6th overall in a field of fifteen bands.

Sand Springs scored a 1000 in the preliminaries, trailing Deer Creek (1130) and Norman (1046), but leading Midwest City and Putnam City in the Class 6A division. They improved to 1010 in the finals

The Sandites will compete at the 5th Annual Branson Marching Invitational on October 12th, 2019 at Branson High School’s Pirate Stadium. Sand Springs will be the only Oklahoma school represented at the event, which will feature high schools from Carthage, Hollister, Ozark, Sedalia, Forsyth, Seneca, Republic, Nixa, and Monnett, Missouri, as well as Van Buren and Prairie Grove, Arkansas.

Final Results
1146 Deer Creek (6A)
1107 Duncan (5A)
1073 Durant (5A)
1042 Elgin (4A)
1023 Norman (6A)
1010 Sand Springs (6A)
973 Del City (5A)
966 Putnam City (6A)
871 Ada (4A)
820 Lone Grove (3A)
819 Midwest City (6A)
799 Altus (5A)
713 Kingston (3A)
643 Ardmore (5A)

October 01, 2019

Sand Springs Police to uphold Appellate Court decision legalizing female toplessness in public places

October 01, 2019/ Scott Emigh

Public female toplessness has recently taken social media by storm following a 10th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that initially appeared to legalize it in the six states under the Court’s jurisdiction. Now the waters have been muddied regarding where exactly the laws have changed.

In 2015 the City of Fort Collins, Colorado enacted an ordinance restricting public female toplessness, leading Brittiany Hoagland and Samantha Six to sue the City on behalf of the “Free the Nipple” movement. A district court sided with the plaintiffs in 2017, and the City appealed the decision. On February 15th, 2019, the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the district court’s decision in a 2-1 vote.

In Free the Nipple v. City of Fort Collins, Circuit Judge Gregory A. Phillips states “we recognize that ours is a minority viewpoint. Most other courts, including a recent (split) Seventh Circuit panel, have rejected equal-protection challenges to female-only toplessness bans…None of these decisions binds us, though; nor does their sheer volume sway our analysis.” Judge Mary Beck Briscoe sided with Phillips.

Circuit Judge Harris L. Hartz wrote a dissenting opinion, saying the Fort Collins ordinance “does not discriminate against women on the basis of any overbroad generalization about their perceived ‘talents, capacities, or preferences.’ To the extent it distinguishes between the sexes, it is based on inherent biological morphological differences between them.”

Though the court’s opinion was rendered in February, it didn’t go viral till September when Fort Collins decided not to appeal the decision to the Supreme Court. The City had already spent more than $300,000 defending the ordinance, and did not want to spend additional public funds on a case they weren’t sure they would win.

“Free the Nipple” advocates have claimed that the ruling, and Fort Collins’s subsequent decision not to appeal it, in effect legalized public female toplessness in Oklahoma, Kansas, New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah, as well as portions of Yellowstone National Park extending into Montana and Idaho.

In reality, it’s not that cut and dry. Individual ordinances will still need to be challenged at the state and municipal levels, and local governments have the ability to continue enforcing those ordinances until they are ordered by the courts to stop.

The Oklahoma City Police Department issued a statement saying that they “will continue to enforce the law as outlined by City Ordinance and State Law as this preliminary injunction issued by the 10th Circuit Court is in reference to an appeal specific to the City of Ft. Collins in Colorado. Therefore, someone in OKC who is in violation of the law could be city and/or jailed as this is a misdemeanor crime.”

On the other hand, the Tulsa Police Department initially stated that the court decision did apply, and they would not be arresting or ticketing women who went topless in public areas. The Tulsa County Sheriffs Department also stated they would abide by the court’s ruling, even allowing toplessness at the Tulsa State Fair, since it is a public event.

On Monday, Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter released a statement saying that “the ruling does not automatically invalidate local and state laws in Oklahoma.”

"The Tenth Circuit’s preliminary decision in the Fort Collins case – a case that has now ended without a full adjudication – does not change local and state laws in Oklahoma on the subject,” Attorney General Hunter said. “The majority of courts around the country that have examined this issue have upheld traditional public decency and public nudity laws. These courts have recognized that states and political subdivisions have a legitimate interest in prohibiting public nudity as traditionally defined."

Hunter cited a May ruling by the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals that upheld a similar ordinance in Springfield, Missouri, and a 2017 ruling by the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals that upheld a similar ordinance in Chicago, Illinois.

“The 10th Circuit’s ruling made preliminary conclusions about the Fort Collins ordinance, but did not decide the law’s ultimate constitutionality. Because the Fort Collins ordinance was repealed, the 10th Circuit’s ruling likely cannot be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. In conclusion, the 10th Circuit’s ruling is not binding on Oklahoma state courts.”

Following Hunter’s statement, the Tulsa Police Department changed course, but not before dozens of women skated topless down the Riverside trail system Sunday evening. The department said, following AG Hunter’s guidance, they will continue to ticket or arrest women who go topless in public.

The Sand Springs Police Department, however, will continue to abide by the Appellate Court’s decision, according to Police Chief Mike Carter. Carter provided Sandite Pride News with the following statement Monday evening at 7:30 p.m.

“We respect the authority and jurisdiction of the 10th Circuit which covers the State of Oklahoma. If we encounter situations where the conduct crosses the line to be in a lewd and lascivious manner, we will still enforce the state statues or city ordinance. If the conduct is not done with the intent of being obscene or sexual in nature, we will not as the Court has ruled that women have an equal protection under the law. We hope that this is a passing issue as we would like to concentrate our time and effort on crimes that are worthy of our attention.”

For now, women seeking to go topless in public should reach out to their local police department to find out if local or state ordinances will be enforced. Additionally, displaying the breasts in a non-sexual manner may be protected in some areas, especially in regards to breastfeeding, but sexual activities will likely violate public lewdness laws in most jurisdictions.

There is currently a lawsuit pending before the United States Supreme Court, challenging a ban on topless women in New Hampshire. The Court has yet to announce if it will hear the case.

September 30, 2019

What's Happening This Week in Sand Springs (9/29 - 10/6/19)

September 30, 2019/ Staff Reports

Sunday

10:45 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. Camille & Haley in Concert.
- Sand Springs Church of the Nazarene
  516 North Cleveland Avenue

Monday

5:00 p.m. CPHS Softball vs. Owasso.
- Sandite Softball Complex
  408 West 55th Street
6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m. Acrylic Painting Class.
- ZegART Studios
  700 East Charles Page Boulevard

Tuesday

11:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. Art Class for Kids.
4:00 p.m. - 5:30 p.m. Art Class for Kids.
6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m. Beginners Drawing Class.
- ZegART Studios
  700 East Charles Page Boulevard
4:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. Keystone Kids Wrestling Signups.
- Charles Page High School Wrestling Room
  500 North Adams Road
5:00 p.m. CPHS Softball vs. Collinsville (Senior Night).
- Sandite Softball Complex
  408 West 55th Street
6:30 p.m. CPHS Volleyball vs. Owasso.
- Ed Dubie Field House
  600 North Adams Road

Wednesday

10:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. Build a Reader Storytime / Stay and Play.
- Charles Page Library
  551 East 4th Street
12:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m. Pop In and Paint.
4:00 p.m. - 5:30 p.m. Art Class for Kids.
- ZegART Studios
  700 East Charles Page Boulevard

Thursday

10:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. Storytime!
- Pratt Library
  3219 South 113th West Avenue
11:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. Art Class for Kids.
4:00 p.m. - 5:30 p.m. Art Class for Kids.
6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m. Drawing/Perspective Adult Class.
- ZegART Studios
  700 East Charles Page Boulevard
4:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. Keystone Kids Wrestling Signups.
- Charles Page High School Wrestling Room
  500 North Adams Road
5:00 p.m. CPHS Softball vs. Oologah.
- Oologah High School
  9500 South Highway 169
  Oologah, OK 74053
5:30 p.m. - 8:00 p.m. Thursday Night League - 2 Man Scramble.
- The Canyons at Blackjack Ridge
  1801 North McKinley Avenue
6:00 p.m. BINGO
- American Legion - Billie A. Hall Post 17
  500 North Main Street
6:30 p.m. CPHS Volleyball vs. Ponca City (Senior Night).
- Ed Dubie Field House
  600 North Adams Road

Friday

6:00 p.m. A night with Jim Barritt.
- 5 West Outpost
  5 West 41st Street
7:00 p.m. CPHS Football vs. Muskogee.
- Indian Bowl
  402 North S Street
  Muskogee, OK 74403

Saturday

8:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. Open Hike Day.
- Keystone Ancient Forest
  160 Ancient Forest Drive
3:00 P.M. - 8:00 P.M. Webco’s 50th Anniversary Celebration & 5K.
4:00 p.m. Webco’s “Forever” Fun Run.
4:30 p.m. Webco’s “Forever” 5K.
7:30 p.m. Fireworks.
- Case Community Park
  2500 South River City Park Road
6:00 p.m. Inaugural Sandite Wrestling Cornhole Tournament.
- Cost $40 per team. 1st Place team wins custom Sandite Wrestling cornhole boards.
- CPHS Memorial Stadium
  600 North Adams Road
6:00 p.m. Mark Staggs, Halo Jordan, the Hargers - live in concert.
- 5 West Outpost
  5 West 41st Street
6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m. Paint Night - Family Punkin’ Truck.
- ZegART Studios
  700 East Charles Page Boulevard

On The Horizon

10/27 - Boo at Case Park.

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September 24, 2019