Top stories in Oklahoma in 2005

Thursday, December 29th 2005, 6:11 am

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- At 5:05 AM on Oct. 12, Oklahoma joined a majority of states across the nation and began offering a statewide lottery. Scratch off tickets went on sale at more than a thousand locations and even Gov. Brad Henry spent $10 on tickets, which he promptly gave to teacher of the year Robyn Hilger.

The startup of the lottery was voted by AP members as the biggest story of 2005, the second year running that the statewide game earned top billing. The No. 1 story in 2004 was voter approval of a measure establishing the lottery.

On Nov. 10, the lottery began offering a "Pick 3" online game. Participation in the multistate Powerball game was slated for January.

Lottery ticket sales in the first three days topped $5 million. But there were also problems. Pawn shops and payday loan businesses wanted to sell lottery tickets, but a negative reaction by government officials and the public caused the Lottery Commission to reverse its vote and exclude these types of businesses from selling tickets.

A Christmas tree decorated with used lottery tickets by elementary students was removed from the state Capitol after Rep. Randy Terrill, R-Oklahoma City, said the tree was "inappropriate and distasteful."

Oklahoma's lottery law requires that at least 30 percent of the proceeds of lottery sales go to education the first two years, increasing to 35 percent in subsequent years.

The 22 respondents to the survey voted high gas prices as the No. 2 story.

Prices at the pump moved steadily up after Memorial Day and by Aug. 31 motorists were paying as much as $3 a gallon. Chuck Mai, spokesman for AAA, said the high cost of gas was due in part to damage Hurricane Katrina did to refineries and pipelines.

The top 10 stores of 2005 as ranked by AP members:

1. LOTTERY BEGINS: The long-awaited start of the Oklahoma lottery generally went smoothly in October as did the start of the lottery's first online game the next month. Jackpots worth tens of millions of dollars will be in play when Oklahoma joins the multistate Powerball game on Jan. 12.

Through its first nine weeks, the lottery generated $52.4 million in total sales, with $15.7 million going to the state.

2. GAS PRICES TOP $3: The price of gasoline exceeded $3 a gallon after Hurricane Katrina as gas inventories decreased and refining capacity dropped. Gas prices had dropped to about $2 a gallon by year's end, but the high cost of gas over the summer strained consumer and governmental budgets

3. GENERAL MOTORS ANNOUNCES OKC PLANT CLOSING: On Nov. 22, GM Chairman Rick Wagoner announced the company, faced with declining sales and rising costs, would lay off 30,000 people and close 12 facilities, including an Oklahoma City plant employing 2,200 workers. Thousands more workers were expected to lose jobs locally with companies that supply the plant with parts or provide goods and services to GM employees.

The plant was rebuilt in 2003 after it was extensively damaged by a tornado. It produces the Chevrolet Trailblazer EXT, GMC Envoy XL and the GMC Envoy Denali XL. Demand for these vehicles have declined as gas prices have increased.

4. OKLAHOMA MILITARY FACILITIES ESCAPE BRAC: Since 1988, hundreds of military bases and smaller installations across the country were shut down or consolidated through the Base Realignment and Closure process. In 2005, Oklahoma escaped the latest round of cutbacks with its five major military installations intact.

In fact, officials said Fort Sill would gain an estimated 3,600 military and civilian jobs when the Army Air Defense Artillery School, located at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas, is moved to Lawton.

5. CAMP GRUBER OPENS FOR HURRICANE SURVIVORS: On September 3, at least 34 buses brought 1,500 evacuees from the storm ravaged Gulf Coast region to Camp Gruber in northeast Oklahoma. They had been turned away from sites in Houston that were already full. The evacuees were housed in dormitory style barracks.

A month later, the shelter was closed. Cash payments and housing vouchers from the federal government enabled evacuees to find alternative housing.

6. OU STUDENT KILLED WHEN AN EXPLOSIVE DEVICE IS DETONATED: Joel Hinrichs III, 21, a University of Oklahoma student, died when a bomb he had constructed detonated right before halftime of an Oklahoma-Kansas State football game. He was sitting on a bench less than 100 yards from a stadium filled with 80,000 fans. Nobody else was hurt.

FBI officials said they did not find any links between Hinrichs and terrorist organizations and officials said the death was a suicide.

7. CARRIE UNDERWOOD WINS AMERICAN IDOL COMPETITION: Carrie Underwood, a 22-year-old from Checotah, with a sweet smile and a bent for country music won the top spot in the fourth season of American Idol, a television show on the Fox Network.

Along with the win came a recording contract and various endorsement opportunities for the senior, who was three credits shy of a degree from Northeastern State University in Tahlequah.

8. NEW ORLEANS HORNETS MAKE OKC HOME FOR AT LEAST A YEAR: Less than a month after Hurricane Katrina severely damaged the New Orleans Arena, the owner of the Hornets announced the team would play 35 home games in Oklahoma City with an option to stay for an extra year. Oklahoma City embraced the team and fans packed the Ford Center for Hornets' games.

9. RANDOLPH DIAL, A CONVICTED MURDER, FOUND IN TEXAS ALONG WITH FORMER ASSISTANT WARDEN'S WIFE: Randolph Dial, a convicted killer, and Bobbi Parker, an assistant warden's wife, were found in Campti, Texas, almost 11 years after they disappeared from the Oklahoma State Reformatory in Granite.

Parker told FBI agents she had stayed with Dial out of fear for her family.

10. MICHAEL BROWN RESIGNS AS HEAD OF FEMA: After an 8-year career with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Guymon native Mike Brown resigned as FEMA director after becoming a lightning rod for criticism over the way the agency responded to Hurricane Katrina.

Brown said that supplies and equipment FEMA had prepared for hurricane relief were overwhelmed after the catastrophic storm. Critics said the agency was slow in responding to the needs of hurricane victims.