• Mcalester News-Capital Editorial Board: OPINION: OUR VIEW: Congrats on the championship
Mar. 5—THUMBS UP to McAlester High School mock trial team members on winning the first state championship in program history.
McAlester Team Black won the mock trial state finals on Tuesday night with its defense against Owasso Team Lewis with teams arguing a fictional criminal prosecution.
Title team members include Caleb Brown, Emily Collins, Maria Fassino, Olivia Harkins, Kamden McKelvey, Kirstyn Santino, Raksha Tabada and McKinsey Tighe. Olivia Harkins was named best attorney and Caleb Brown was named best witness.
The team is coached by attorney coach retired Judge James Bland and teacher coach Nicole Green.
Congratulations to the team for winning the first state championship in the 12-year history of the program.
McAlester's mock trial program has grown from less than 10 members in its first year to now having more than 30 with three teams competing — including McAlester Team White, which placed eighth at the state trials.
Other attorney coaches for MHS include Judge Tim Mills and attorneys Matt Sheets and Mike Miller.
Students were judges based on their familiarity of the case and arguments through the opening, direct and cross examinations, closing argument, in addition to how witnesses responded.
Mock trial presents students an opportunity to learn more about court proceedings and prepare them for a career.
We again congratulate everyone involved and hope the program sees continued success.
----THUMBS UP to Choctaw Nation for its continued impact on our community and state.
The Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma had $2.5 billion economic impact to the state of Oklahoma in 2019, according to a recently released report.
"The $2.5 billion economic impact makes me extremely proud because of the delivery of services that we're able to give our tribal members," Choctaw Nation Chief Gary Batton told us. "We're about the community as a whole."
Dr. Kyle Dean, an economist for the Center for Native American and Urban Studies at Oklahoma City University, prepared the report, which showed the Choctaw Nation is one of the largest contributors to southeastern Oklahoma.
Choctaw Nation provides several services in housing, health and education across our area and the state.
In education, the tribe paid more than $278 million in exclusivity fees to the state since 2005, invested more than $7.2 million in scholarships, grants, and other forms of financial support to tribal members, and $3.5 million to an after-school program serving more than 3,700 Oklahoma students in 75 schools.
The tribe's Lease-to-Purchase program helped more than 140 tribal members in home ownership, and Choctaw Nation invested $8.1 million toward housing repairs of more than 1,500 households.
Choctaw Nation also spent $259 million in 2019 to support healthcare, recorded nearly one million patient encounters, administered over 20,990 flu-shots and dispensed more than 1.5 million prescriptions.
The tribe also recently announced the Emergency Rental Assistance Program will help tribal members in a household at or below 80% of the area's median income who are unable to pay rent and certain utilities due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Eligible utility expenses include electric, water, gas, sewer, and trash removal and does not include telecommunications expenses such as telephone, internet, and cable.
Tribal members who pay a mortgage or own their home are not eligible for the ERAP program.
We appreciate Choctaw Nation giving back to the community and helping our neighbors.
