The neighborhood in Edmond Oklahoma

We celebrate Litter Day every week

The trash truck in our naberhood regularly disperses trash on the street as the robotic arms lift the green bins, turn them over, and hope the contents make it into the truck opening on the roof. But, the Oklahoma wind rarely cooperates with that intent. So, we have embraced it by renaming Trash Day as Litter Day.

From a recent study of Happiest States by National Geographic Explorer, based on these 5 criteria: Daily life, Physical health, Location, Finances, Companionship

Oklahoma Values
"Oklahomans have known for a long time that the state is a great place to raise a family, grow a business and live your dreams." stated by the President and CEO of the State Chamber. Similar comments were made following the 2008 presidential election - the one in which Oklahoma was the only state to have 100% of its counties vote for John McCain. Okies wrote in to the newspaper and stated how proud they were that Okies held to their values. Okie values. Just what are those values? Lets look at some categories.

Rates of violent crime (per 1,000 people, in selected cities)
89.30 Oklahoma City
87.92 Dallas
86.25 Los Angeles
85.52 New York City

Areas in which Oklahoma ranks in the top 10
Incarceration of women.
Household hunger.
Pain killer/Opiod abuse.
Divorce.
Methamphetamine laboratories.
Youngest age to get married.
Women killed by men.
Overall incarceration.
Teen births.
Fatal drug overdoses.

Areas in which Oklahoma ranks in the bottom 10
Well-being and happiness.
Most livable state.
Peacefulness and non-violence.
Women’s progress economically, socially, and politically.
Teacher pay.
Population covered by health insurance.
Overall health.
Fruit and vegetable consumption (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention).
Life expectancy rate in USA.
Amount of walking that its citizens do and is rated as one of the most sedentary.
Prevalence of smoking - 1 in 4 Oklahomans smoke.
Prevalence of obesity - since 1990, increased from 12% to 29% of the population, increase of 148%.
Poor mental health days.
Cardiovascular deaths.
Premature deaths.
Overall health rank.

American Fitness Index: Oklahoma City ranks last
The annual Index is based on a number of health factors, including percentage of residents who smoke, obesity rates, percentage of people who exercise and availability of parks, walking trails and farmers' markets. Oklahoma City is at the bottom of the list because of the residents' personal health habits such as smoking, not exercising enough, and not eating enough fruits and vegetables. "It takes a healthy community to produce a healthy population."
  1. Minneapolis-St. Paul
  2. Washington DC
  3. Boston
  4. Portland OR
  5. Denver
  6. San Francisco
50. Oklahoma City
Source: American Fitness Index from the American College of Sports Medicine, designed by health and medical experts and funded by the non-profit WellPoint Foundation. Reported in USA Today, May 23, 2011. More info.

Rural Oklahoma counties have highest per capita rate of female inmates
From The Oklahoman, March 2009. Oklahoma leads the nation in the per capita number of women in prison - Oklahoma imprisons 131 women per 100,000 women. The national average is 69, according to US Department of Justice statistics. "While we can’t change these figures internally, we can make changes by making sure that women who leave our system are more prepared and returning at a lower rate,” Pitman said. In the past three years, the number of women in prison has grown steadily by at least 10 percent each year, according to the report. Without significant changes, the female prison population could grow to as high as 3,028 by 2013, according to the report. In 2008, there were 2,721 women in prison, DOC records show.

Cities with the most faith
November 10, 2010. Men's Health magazine's Metrogrades survey is based on these criteria: places of worship per capita (from the US Census and Yellow.com); number of religious organizations (US Census); number of volunteers who support these groups (VolunteeringinAmerica.gov); amount of money donated to religious organizations (Bureau of Labor Statistics); and amount of money spent on religious books (Mediamark Research).
    1. Colorado Springs CO
    2. Greensboro NC
    3. Oklahoma City OK
    4. Wichita KS
  10. Little Rock AR
  11. Fort Worth TX
  17. Dallas TX
  96. Portland ME
  97. Hartford CT
  98. Boston MA
  99. Providence RI
100. Burlington VT

Some selected area cities. Oklahoma City was #2 of all cities over 250,000 people (Mesa Arizona was #1).

Oklahoma in bottom 10 of US states in peacefulness
April, 2011. Oklahoma ranked No. 43 in a study by the Institute for Economics and Peace that measured US states in peacefulness, defined by the absence of violence. The United States Peace Index defines peace as the absence of violence and uses measurements of homicide, violent crime, jailed population, number of police officers and availability of small arms. New England states generally were ranked as the most peaceful (those states have the lowest percentage of religious people). States in the South (most religious) ranked in the bottom 10 of states in peacefulness.

Mixed emotions about the spending by the Federal Government
According to the Washington Post, April 2011, analysts say that skepticism toward the federal government in Oklahoma - where Obama won no counties in 2008 - is deep. According to an OU political scientist, "there is a lot of sentiment that the federal government is too large, too intrusive and probably too wasteful." Oklahoma's congressional delegation is known as the most conservative in the nation. In the last election, Republicans swept nearly 70 percent of the state legislative seats.
But the federal government in central Oklahoma not only keeps more than 20,000 civilians employed but also is helping to nurture the area's increasingly prosperous and diverse economy. The federally fueled economic mix has helped the city withstand the recession better than most places. Overall, Oklahoma City has a 6.2 percent unemployment rate, the second lowest among the nation's metropolitan areas with populations over 1 million, behind only Washington DC.
The state of Oklahoma gets back $1.35 for every dollar its residents and businesses pay in federal taxes, according to the Tax Foundation, a nonpartisan tax research group. That's the 15th most generous return among the 50 states.
• About 7 percent of the workers in Oklahoma City are federal employees, more than double the US average.
• A fast growing sector of the local economy is the aviation industry, which economists call an outgrowth of the work done at two large federal outposts: Tinker Air Force Base, which employees 14,400 civilians, and the Mike Monroney Aeronautical Center which employs more than 7,000 people.
• The city is a crossroads for three major interstate highways which were built with federal money. Currently, the city is rerouting a section of Interstate 40, opening up 750 acres of land for new development and a planned park - work being done with federal help.
• The state's booming energy sector as well as many of its farmers benefit mightily from federal subsidies.

So, just what are Okie values?
Why is Oklahoma such a great place to raise a family? The statistics above just do not paint a very family-friendly picture. I suspect what they mean is that Oklahoma is full of conservative Christian Republicans - are these the true 'Oklahoma values'?

There are many great things about Oklahoma: convenient location for traveling to other parts of the country, close to Dallas/Ft. Worth and Kansas City, beautiful diverse terrain for hiking, water sports, etc, a growing creative and arts community, many fine restaurants, and live music entertainment, casino gambling, and relatively minor traffic problems in the cities. But, too often, the good things about Oklahoma are overshadowed by statistics such as those above.