Oklahoma NARFE News Volume 2 Issue 3 Jan - Mar 2017 The Official Publication of the Oklahoma National Active and Retired Federal Employees Doing a little housekeeping Every once in a while you just have to do a little house cleaning, and guess that’s what is going on right now in Oklahoma NARFE. First of all, things are starting to roll out from actions taken at the National Convention last August in Reno. One member one vote, and optional chapter membership will force sev- eral changes in the National By-Laws and in our own Oklahoma Federation of Chapters By-Laws. No longer is “any” NARFE Member excluded from the ability to vote and partici- pate in the governance of NARFE. Late in November, Federation Presidents were sent a guidance letter on what to start working on as far as By-Laws changes. This is particularly important to Oklahoma since those usually occur at a State Convention and our biennial convention is held this com- ing May 11-12, 2017 in Tulsa. In addition, State By-Laws may not conflict with National By-laws, so changes are coming. This cre- ates some interesting scenarios. A member, that doesn’t belong to a Chapter, can be a Federation Officer, including District Vice-Presi- dents. I know that sounds strange but it is the course our Association chose to follow in Reno and I am determined to make it work as we all strive to make our organization stronger. Another change, for personal reasons, Ethel and James Broiles have asked to be replaced as the District IV Vice-President and As- sistant Vice-President. They will continue to be active in their Chap- ter 946 Midwest/Del City. I am happy to report that former District IV VP, Marilyn Componation, will step in to fill the unexpired term. She will serve Chapters - Great Plains, Lawton #167, Mid/Del, Mid- west City #946, Cleveland County #130, and Ada #758. Thank you to Ethel and James for your support over the last couple of years and welcome back to Marilyn! Marilyn’s contact information is: Marilyn Componation 208 E. Ridgewood Dr. Oklahoma City, OK 73110-3957 Phone: 405-317-9272 Also, new to the Federation Leadership, District I Vice-President, Jeff Vaughn, has appointed Charles Stanphill to serve in the role as District I Assistant Vice-President. Good choice Jeff; Charles “sort of” knows his way around Federation business. Ha! And Charles, thanks to you for helping us out. Another house cleaning item comes from our Region VI VP Mar- shall Richards. He says there are over 1 million retirees eligible to change to Self, Plus One coverage on their Health Insurance. This usually will result in a decrease in cost. Although Open Season is over, I have been told more than once that retirees can still make this change to their coverage. Contact your health insurance carrier for more details. And Marshall also asks Federation Presidents to insure no chapters are using member’s (Chapter President or other Chapter Officer) per- sonal bank account as the chapter bank account. This is prohibited. A chapter supposedly had over $600 and these funds were mixed in I attended a four- day National Execu- tive Board meeting in November. Normally the National Executive Board (NEB) meets just for three days. We felt that there was a need for an extra meet- ing day, due to the resolutions that were past at the National Convention that was held in Reno and decided at that time to have the four-day meeting. Specifically, discussion of the passage of One Member One Vote (OMOV) and Optional Chapter Membership (OCM) and the effects that those had on our Bylaws and Standing Rules. There were many Articles in the current Bylaws that needed to be revised. Prior to the meeting, I was supplied (via email) with draft copies of the revised Bylaws and had the opportunity to make changes and suggestions, which all the Regional Vice Presidents did, and at the NEB meeting, all that was necessary was to make very minor changes. The NEB voted unani- mously to accept the revised Bylaws. Just today, (December 3) I was notified that the new Bylaws were sent to the printers to be printed in the little booklet form as in past years. These booklets should be available as you are reading this article or in the very near future. Here are some of the items that the NEB dis- cussed and acted on at the meeting. First, we passed a budget for 2017 and NARFE will end 2017 without transferring any funds from the re- serve funds. That is good news, especially with the declining membership. Our marketing staff has been very successful in reducing the number of non- renewals and increasing our new mem- ber recruitment. Our Webinars have been a very successful tool in our recruitment efforts. Also, our non-dues revenue has increased thanks to the Marketing Department with new Affinity Partners and sponsors for our conventions and conferenc- es. The incentive to join Chapter 2363 (the E- Chapter) was cancelled as it was no longer nec- essary due to passage of OCM. These members that were assigned to 2363 are now “National Only Members” and are assigned to the federation in the state of their residence. Your Federation President has access to these members’ informa- tion and these members should be contacted on a very limited basis. The federation receives 10% of these member’s dues just as the federation re- ceives 10% of your dues and, as such, they should be entitled to all privileges and rights as all other federation members, up to and including, running for federation or national office. We had presentations from all the Senior Staff members. Bridget Boel, Marketing Director updated the NEB on membership and non-dues revenue. I mentioned that above. Jessica L Kle- ment, Legislative Director’s presentation was on pending legislation that will expire at the end of the year if no action is taken by then. She also reported that NARFE members donated over 1.4 million dollars for NARFE PAC during this elec- tion cycle (2015-2016). The NARFE Legislative Conference will be held in Alexandria VA, March 12-15, 22017. There is more information on this in the NARFE Magazine. With the results of the election, there is a good possibility that attacks of RANDY FREELAND Oklahoma Federation President Region VI Vice President report MARSHALL RICHARDS Region VI Vice President (See Region VI, page 4) with the chapter president’s personal account. He passed away, and you guessed it… the heirs have refused to return the funds to NARFE. I hope this situation does not exist in any Oklahoma Chapter, but if so, please make the correction soon. Give me a call if you have questions. And my last thought for this edition, many of you continue to say nice things about our Okla- homa NARFE News that reaches “every” Okla- homa NARFE member whether they are a chapter member or not. I ask you to help us keep this thing going, and that only will happen with articles from you! We don’t have a “Letter to the Editor” page but will create one if you wish. Sit down, right now, and write about something in NARFE. Sure- ly you have a compliment, complaint, question, or want to challenge something I have said. Let’s hear it. I have pretty tough skin after two years as Federation President. Stay Warm! More inside... State Officers / Chapter Presidents ................. pages 2- 3 How Important is NARFE Membership?....... page 5 NARFE News Update ....................................... pages 7-8 OK Federation Convention Info ...................... pages 10-11 Legislative Training Conference ...................... page 16 New NARFE Application ................................. page 21 Ten Signs of a Stroke......................................... pages 22-23 Chapter Meeting Information ......................... page 24
Transcript
OklahomaNARFE NewsVolume 2
Issue 3Jan - Mar 2017
The Official Publication of the Oklahoma National Active and Retired Federal Employees
Doing a little housekeeping
Every once in a while you just have to do a little house cleaning, and guess that’s what is going on right now in Oklahoma NARFE. First of all, things are starting to roll out from actions taken at the National Convention last August in Reno. One member one vote, and optional chapter membership will force sev-eral changes in the National By-Laws and in
our own Oklahoma Federation of Chapters By-Laws. No longer is “any” NARFE Member excluded from the ability to vote and partici-pate in the governance of NARFE.
Late in November, Federation Presidents were sent a guidance letter on what to start working on as far as By-Laws changes. This is particularly important to Oklahoma since those usually occur at a State Convention and our biennial convention is held this com-ing May 11-12, 2017 in Tulsa. In addition, State By-Laws may not conflict with National By-laws, so changes are coming. This cre-ates some interesting scenarios. A member, that doesn’t belong to a Chapter, can be a Federation Officer, including District Vice-Presi-dents. I know that sounds strange but it is the course our Association chose to follow in Reno and I am determined to make it work as we all strive to make our organization stronger.
Another change, for personal reasons, Ethel and James Broiles have asked to be replaced as the District IV Vice-President and As-sistant Vice-President. They will continue to be active in their Chap-ter 946 Midwest/Del City. I am happy to report that former District IV VP, Marilyn Componation, will step in to fill the unexpired term. She will serve Chapters - Great Plains, Lawton #167, Mid/Del, Mid-west City #946, Cleveland County #130, and Ada #758. Thank you to Ethel and James for your support over the last couple of years and welcome back to Marilyn! Marilyn’s contact information is:
Marilyn Componation 208 E. Ridgewood Dr. Oklahoma City, OK 73110-3957 Phone: 405-317-9272
Also, new to the Federation Leadership, District I Vice-President, Jeff Vaughn, has appointed Charles Stanphill to serve in the role as District I Assistant Vice-President. Good choice Jeff; Charles “sort of” knows his way around Federation business. Ha! And Charles, thanks to you for helping us out.
Another house cleaning item comes from our Region VI VP Mar-shall Richards. He says there are over 1 million retirees eligible to change to Self, Plus One coverage on their Health Insurance. This usually will result in a decrease in cost. Although Open Season is over, I have been told more than once that retirees can still make this change to their coverage. Contact your health insurance carrier for more details.
And Marshall also asks Federation Presidents to insure no chapters are using member’s (Chapter President or other Chapter Officer) per-sonal bank account as the chapter bank account. This is prohibited. A chapter supposedly had over $600 and these funds were mixed in
I attended a four-day National Execu-tive Board meeting in November. Normally the National Executive Board (NEB) meets just for three days. We felt that there was a need for an extra meet-ing day, due to the resolutions that were
past at the National Convention that was held in Reno and decided at that time to have the four-day meeting. Specifically, discussion of the passage of One Member One Vote (OMOV) and Optional Chapter Membership (OCM) and the effects that those had on our Bylaws and Standing Rules. There were many Articles in the current Bylaws that needed to be revised.
Prior to the meeting, I was supplied (via email) with draft copies of the revised Bylaws and had the opportunity to make changes and suggestions, which all the Regional Vice Presidents did, and at the NEB meeting, all that was necessary was to make very minor changes. The NEB voted unani-mously to accept the revised Bylaws. Just today, (December 3) I was notified that the new Bylaws were sent to the printers to be printed in the little booklet form as in past years. These booklets should be available as you are reading this article or in the very near future.
Here are some of the items that the NEB dis-cussed and acted on at the meeting. First, we passed a budget for 2017 and NARFE will end 2017 without transferring any funds from the re-serve funds. That is good news, especially with the declining membership. Our marketing staff has been very successful in reducing the number of non- renewals and increasing our new mem-
ber recruitment. Our Webinars have been a very successful tool in our recruitment efforts. Also, our non-dues revenue has increased thanks to the Marketing Department with new Affinity Partners and sponsors for our conventions and conferenc-es.
The incentive to join Chapter 2363 (the E-Chapter) was cancelled as it was no longer nec-essary due to passage of OCM. These members that were assigned to 2363 are now “National Only Members” and are assigned to the federation in the state of their residence. Your Federation President has access to these members’ informa-tion and these members should be contacted on a very limited basis. The federation receives 10% of these member’s dues just as the federation re-ceives 10% of your dues and, as such, they should be entitled to all privileges and rights as all other federation members, up to and including, running for federation or national office.
We had presentations from all the Senior Staff members. Bridget Boel, Marketing Director updated the NEB on membership and non-dues revenue. I mentioned that above. Jessica L Kle-ment, Legislative Director’s presentation was on pending legislation that will expire at the end of the year if no action is taken by then. She also reported that NARFE members donated over 1.4 million dollars for NARFE PAC during this elec-tion cycle (2015-2016). The NARFE Legislative Conference will be held in Alexandria VA, March 12-15, 22017. There is more information on this in the NARFE Magazine. With the results of the election, there is a good possibility that attacks of
RANDY FREELANDOklahoma Federation President
Region VI Vice President reportMARSHALL RICHARDS
Region VI Vice President
(See Region VI, page 4)
with the chapter president’s personal account. He passed away, and you guessed it… the heirs have refused to return the funds to NARFE. I hope this situation does not exist in any Oklahoma Chapter, but if so, please make the correction soon. Give me a call if you have questions.
And my last thought for this edition, many of you continue to say nice things about our Okla-homa NARFE News that reaches “every” Okla-homa NARFE member whether they are a chapter
member or not. I ask you to help us keep this thing going, and that only will happen with articles from you! We don’t have a “Letter to the Editor” page but will create one if you wish. Sit down, right now, and write about something in NARFE. Sure-ly you have a compliment, complaint, question, or want to challenge something I have said. Let’s hear it. I have pretty tough skin after two years as Federation President.
Stay Warm!
More inside...State Officers / Chapter Presidents ................. pages 2- 3How Important is NARFE Membership? ....... page 5NARFE News Update ....................................... pages 7-8OK Federation Convention Info ...................... pages 10-11
Legislative Training Conference ...................... page 16New NARFE Application ................................. page 21Ten Signs of a Stroke......................................... pages 22-23 Chapter Meeting Information ......................... page 24
Oklahoma NARFE NewsPAGE 2
OKLAHOMA FEDERATION STATE OFFICERS
EXECUTIVE OFFICERS
Oklahoma Federation Rewards Program 2016-2017
DISTRICT OFFICERS APPOINTED OFFICERS
PRESIDENTRandy Freeland (#183)5309 West Trenton CourtStillwater, OK 74074 Phone: 405-372-5799 Email: [email protected] 1ST VICE PRESIDENTJames Gillispie (#2184)1410 West 115th StreetJenks, OK 74037Phone: 918-299-9013Email: [email protected]
2ND VICE PRESIDENTCarolyn Harris (#184)5805 Saint James PlaceOklahoma City, OK 73179Phone: 405-261-6149Email: [email protected]
3RD VICE PRESIDENTJames Crowder (#946)2606 N.W. 56th StreetOklahoma City, OK 73112Phone: 405-840-5870 Email: [email protected]
SECRETARYJean McBride-Samuels (#278)114 West 114th StreetJenks, OK 74037Phone: 918-728-9828 Email: [email protected]
TREASURERJohnny Hanlon (#2184)400 West 31st Court Sand Springs, OK 74063-2923 Phone: 918-245-8881 Email: [email protected]
DISTRICT IJeff Vaughan (#2184)7440 North 420 Road Hulbert, OK 74441 Phone: 918-598-3891 Email: [email protected]
DISTRICT IIRon Vick (#730)108178 North 3818 Road Okemah, OK 74859-5214 Phone: 918-623-1693 Email: [email protected]
DISTRICT IIIJerry Walker (#749)1905 Ronald StreetYukon, OK 73099 Phone: 405-354-7816 Email: [email protected]
DISTRICT IVMarilyn Componation (#946)208 E. Ridgewood DriveOklahoma City, OK 73110-3957Phone: 405-317-9272
DISTRICT V Linda Resnick (#1722) P.O. 5202Edmond, OK 73083Phone: 405-340-3305Email: [email protected]
IMMEDIATE PAST PRES. ADVISORJames Olden (#184)817 NE 50th StreetOklahoma City, OK 73105 Phone: 405-424-3488 Email: [email protected] HISTORIANDorothy Branson (#946)4800 Michael Drive Del City, OK 73115 Phone: 405-677-0797 Email: [email protected] ALZHEIMER’S COORDINATORBetty Lowrey (#183)3107 South Saddle Rock LaneStillwater, OK 74074-2291Phone: 405-372-1835Email: [email protected]
EDITOR / WEBMASTERNancy Stanphill (#2351)6818 East 65th Place Tulsa, OK 74133-4009 Phone: 918-493-2486 Email: [email protected]
PARLIAMENTARIANNancy Vaughan (#2184)7440 North 420 RoadHulbert, OK 74441 Phone: 918-598-3891 Email: [email protected]
SERVICE OFFICERPamela Burnett (#167)733 SE Sullivan DriveLawton, OK 73501-6548Phone: 580-585-2027Email: [email protected]
Change of address: You will receive the Oklahoma NARFE News at the address on your current NARFE magazine from Na-tional Headquarters. If you change your ad-dress, please notify Member Records toll-free at 1-800-456-8410, send an email message to [email protected], or mail the notification to NARFE National Headquarters, 606 N. Washington Street, Alexandria, VA 22314, At-tention: Member Records. Neither the editor of this publication, nor the Oklahoma Federa-tion of Chapters, nor the publisher can handle such requests.
Contributor’s Instructions: The Oklahoma NARFE News, The Official Publication of the Oklahoma National Active and Retired Federal Employees will be in print ev-ery third month (tri-monthly). To ensure a quality prod-uct we need help and support from you, the members. Material may be edited for grammar, clarity and length. Because of the volume, they will not be acknowledged. Please use the following instructions as a guide for your article submissions. If you have questions please feel free to contact the Editor.
It is incumbent on all federation officers to submit ap-propriate articles and pictures of events occurring in their area of responsibility. Chapter officers and members are encouraged to submit brief articles and pictures of gen-eral interest about Chapter happenings.
Please identify the event and the individuals in the pic-ture and mark the Chapter number on the back of each photo. Photos cannot be returned, so you should not send originals. Articles related to legislative matters and recruiting techniques are especially encouraged. All mate-rials should be submitted to the Editor, Nancy Stanphill, 6818 E. 65th Place, Tulsa, OK 74133, or [email protected]. You are encouraged to use email as much as possible to submit your articles. Articles should be sub-mitted in MS WORD or WORKS (either by mail or email attachment) to the Editor. If you cannot submit in Word or Works, copy and paste the article in the text of an email. Typed, single-spaced material is also acceptable. In order to meet the publisher’s deadline, the editor must receive material no later than the date published in the Editor’s box on the next page.
Privacy: The Federation respects your privacy and will do everything to protect it in the Oklahoma NARFE News. The Federation Executive Board has adopted a policy to only print individual names and phone numbers, but not mail or email address (except the Federation Ex-ecutive Board). Contributors should be aware and comply with this policy when submitting your articles.
Federal Income Tax: Dues payments and gifts or contributions to NARFE are not deductible as charitable contributions for federal income tax purposes. Member-ship dues include subscription to this newspaper.
GUIDELINES FOR PUBLICATION
REGION VI VICE PRESIDENTMarshall Richards106 East Cedar StreetHallsville, TX 75650-6134 Phone: 903-660-2784Email: [email protected]
Reward for using Dues Withholding: (a) Each retired Federal Employee and/or spouse who joins NARFE in the Okla-homa Federation from June 1, 2016 to May 31, 2017 and uses dues withholding to pay his/her National and Chapter dues (including eNARFE Members whose address is in an Oklahoma Zip Code), will be eligible to receive a $40 reward from the Oklahoma Federation. (b) Existing retired Oklahoma Federation NARFE members who switch to dues withholding during the period from June 1, 2016 to May 31, 2017 will be eligible to receive a $40 reward from the Oklahoma Federation. (c) The Recruiter (if identified) responsible for members signing up for dues withholding will also receive $10 from the Oklahoma Federation. (d) The Chapter (except eNARFE) of a member signing up for dues withholding will also receive $10 from the Oklahoma Federation. To receive these rewards, Chapter Presidents or Vice Presidents will send the Form DW 2 (white form – current member), Form DW 3 (green Form – new member), or other approved NARFE forms to Johnny Hanlon, Federation Trea-surer, 400 W. 31st Court, Sand Springs OK 74063-2923. Johnny Hanlon will forward the Form(s) to the NARFE National Office.
www.NARFEOK.org
NARFE NATIONAL HEADQUARTERS606 North Washington St • Alexandria, VA 22314
IMPORTANT PHONE NUMBERS AND ON-LINE CONTACTS• Taxes: Annuitant Express, Change Tax Withholding: 1-800-409-6738• Federal Long Term Care: 1-800-582-3337 • www.LTCFEDS.com• Thrift Savings Plan: 1-877-968-3778 • www.tsp.gov• Social Security: 1-800-772-1213 • www.ssa.gov• NARFE Members Records (Email or Address Change): 1-800-456-8410 • [email protected]• National Headquarters NARFE Service Officers: 1-800-456-8410• NARFE Legislative Hotline: 1-877-217-8324 • Federal Legislation - White House: 1-888-225-8418 • Direct Line to Congress: 1-866-220-0044• Congressional Voting Records: www.votesmart.org • www.issues2000.org
www.NARFEOK.org
Oklahoma NARFE NewsPAGE 4
NARFE’s Legislative Program provides an extensive and specific enumeration of NARFE’s member-endorsed legislative positions.
NARFE advocacy primarily fo-cuses on the following priorities: • Protecting federal and postal retirees’ exiting retirement and health benefits from reductions and /or erosion. • Protecting federal civilian and postal employees’ pay, retirement and health benefits. • Protecting the viability, stability and standard of service of established federal government functions.
Listed below are only a few highlights from the entire NARFE’s Legislative Program for the 115th Congress (2017-2018).
RETIREMENTFederal Civil Service Annuities NARFE supports cost –of-living adjustments (COLAs) for all federal administered retirement programs on a regular annual schedule, computed on the same basis and paid at the same time, regardless of age and /or income level. NARFE oppose across the board cuts not required in all federally ad-ministered retirement programs.NARFE supports a Consumer Price Index (CPI) based on the objective analyses of Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) pro-fessionals and opposes any politically arbitrary changes in the CPI, including the Chained CPI.NARFE supports changing the CPI-W to the CPI-E as the
standard for determining the annual COLA.*NARFE supports legislation that would allow TSP partici-pants more flexible withdrawal options from their TSP ac-counts.**NARFE supports legislation to enhance deferred federal an-nuitant retirement benefits.*
Social SecurityNARFE opposes investment of the Social Security reserves in investments other than Treasury securities.NARFE supports the repeal or reform of the Social Security Government Pension Offset (GPO) and the Windfall Elimi-nation Provision (WEP).*NARFE supports raising the Social Security payroll tax cap to cover the first $250,000 in annual earnings, indexed for inflation.**NARFE supports indexing the income threshold on taxable Social Security benefits.*
HEALTH CAREFederal Employees Health Benefit ProgramNARFE supports providing incentives for enrollment in Medicare Parts A and B for those eligible, including improved coordination of benefits that would reduce out-of-pocket health care costs, and reimbursement for Part B premiums, providing premium relief for those enrolled in Part B.**NARFE supports legislation that would ensure all FEHBP enrollees receive the same level of prescription drug cover-age, by plan.*NARFE opposes reductions in government contributions to-ward FEHBP premiums.NARFE opposes adding conditions, such as a requirement to enroll in Medicare Part B to the continued receipt of FEHBP benefits for current retirees and their spouses.**
Medicare
NARFE supports applying the effects of the hold harmless provision to all Medicare beneficiaries permanently.**NARFE supports preserving the current Medicare fee-for-service program, including the ability to select the physician of your choice.NARFE supports ensuring that the Medicare drug program does not require beneficiaries who receive such coverage through other insurance to pay additional premiums.*NARFE supports reducing the penalty imposed on those who do not enroll in Medicare Part B at the time they become eligible.*
Long Term CareNARFE supports tax relief for the purchase of long term care insurance family caregiving and other long-term care expenses.*NARFE supports proposals that would help individuals who cannot afford long-term care insurance or have a need for long-term care to receive such services without impoverish-ing themselves or their spouses.*
U.S. POSTAL SERVICE REFORMNARFE supports legislation to maintain the service stan-dards in place as of July 2012, including preservation of six delivery days per week by the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) nationwide, and to the door delivery at its 2012 levels.*NARFE will join with other federal and postal organizations to seek legislation to keep small post offices open throughout the United States.*NARFE supports legislation to relieve the U.S. Postal Service of its overly burdensome requirement to prefund its future re-tiree health care obligations that are estimated to accrue over the next 75 years.*
Note: * require the introduction of legislation** new to the Legislative Program for the 115th Congress
the federal community will be coming and we, all NARFE members need to get involved. It is our benefits that we are protecting.
We had a presentation from the president of the firm that is conducting the search for an Executive Director. She told us of the mechanics that she uses to get candidates for our position. She did not mention any names but the candidates will be first interviewed by her and she will recommend sev-eral candidates to be interviewed by the National President, The Secretary/Treasurer and several RVP’s. Hopefully, we will be able to hire an Executive Director (ED) by early spring. Hiring an ED is a time-consuming procedure.
Also, giving presentations were David Snell, Director Federal Benefits and Dan Hidayat, Director IT. Dan brought
us up to date on the migrating of files from a contractor that NARFE has been using, to in-house. This will be a savings to NARFE. And Dave Snell told us that there are over a mil-lion retirees that are eligible to have “Self Plus One” instead of Self and Family. He said that an enrollee in the FEHBP can change to a lower (less expensive) plan at any time. Not only during Open Season.
President Thissen will again appoint a Strategic Plan-ning Committee (SPC) consisting of one member from each region. The RVP’s had input this time, but President This-sen is the appointing individual and will make the selection. This committee will serve until 2018. It is planned that the committee will have one three-day meeting at NARFE Na-tional Office shortly after the first of the year and conduct the other meetings online or on the phone. Members will be
encouraged to submit items for discussion to the SPC again. Jon Dowie and Bridget Boel are on the Strategic Planning Team (SPT) with two RVP’s. OMOV and OCM came about from the last SPC and a resolution was submitted by the NEB.
The minutes of the November NEB meeting with other past NEB meetings are posted on the NARFE website for your viewing and information.
I plan on attending your Federation Convention in May and I hope to see some of you at the Legislative Conference in March.
Merry Christmas to you and yours and a very healthy and prosperous New Year.
CAROLYN HARRISOK 2nd Vice President
Region VI(Continued from page 1)
NARFE’s Legislative program for the 115th Congress
Oklahoma NARFE News PAGE 5
Here is a collection of miscellaneous happenings from around the state:
Oklahoma’s Department of Corrections Director Joe Allbaugh is overseeing chronically overcrowded, rapidly deteriorating facilities. He is seeking to triple his depart-ment’s budget in hopes of reversing decades of deferred maintenance and neglect that has jeopardized a linchpin of public safety. “We’re not a listing ship. We are a sink-ing ship,” he said after the state Board of Corrections ap-proved his nearly $1.65 billion budget request for the fis-cal year that begins July 1 and sent it to state lawmakers for their review. The effects of budget cuts on Oklahoma prisons are hidden but dangerous.
Lack of accountability in Oklahoma jails leaves pris-oners vulnerable, taxpayers on the hook: When an inmate asked for a wheelchair, the Beckham County jail staff gave him an alternative option: crawling. The man’s feet were swollen, bleeding and cracked, caused by gout, a painful form of arthritis. He couldn’t walk. For days, the man crawled on the cold, concrete floor. When his family came to the jail to visit him, he crawled across the floor to meet them. When staff brought his medicine to the cell, he crawled to the cell door.
Mothers in Prison: The women’s wing of the jail here
exhales sadness. The inmates, wear-ing identical orange uniforms, ache as they undergo withdrawal from drugs, as they eye one another sus-piciously, and as they while away the days stripped of freedom, digni-ty, privacy, and, most painful of all, their children. “She’s disappointed in me,” Janay Manning, 29, a drug offender shackled to the wall for an
interview, said of her eldest daughter, a 13-year-old. Then she started crying, and the interview came to a close.
A state lawmaker has filed a bill to crack down on uninsured motorists. Sen. Ron Sharp, R-Shawnee, said he named his Senate Bill 3 in honor of the late Bob Barry Jr., a sportscaster with KFOR-TV, who died in 2015 after being struck by an uninsured motorist. Sharp said it is his intent to require insurance companies to notify the Okla-homa Department of Public Safety if drivers do not pay their insurance premiums.
Republicans plan budget hearings for state agencies. Have you ever watched a mother shopping for groceries? If you paid attention, you probably noticed two things: first, she spent time deliberating over items as she perused the aisles and, second, she invariably removed items from her cart as she added new items. This mother was making value choices about how to spend her money – choices that involve trade-offs in allocating resources. Like most
Oklahomans, she probably has a set budget and must make hard choices about how to spend her family’s money. This, says state Rep. Charles McCall, is what Oklahoma’s agencies must do in working out their budget.
DHS makes changes to address maltreatment issues: Reducing the number of children maltreated in state care has proved to be a difficult challenge for the Oklahoma Department of Human Services, but the agency is begin-ning to see progress, says Jami Ledoux, director of child welfare services. “We’re the agency that is charged with safety of kids and it’s not OK for us to remove children from biological families and then turn around and put them in an unsafe situation.”
Irresistible forces and the immovable object of the 2017 legislative session: It’s nearly impossible to predict what will happen in the 2017 Legislature. The outcome? Well, the answer could be anything from a big explosion to a simple standoff with nothing happening. If you predict an explosion, we could instead see the Legislature stroll wearily home in May having patched together a pathetic budget and having left most of the state’s challenges for a better day. Conversely, if you predict a standstill Legisla-ture, we might instead see an explosion of action bringing budget and tax reform that meets 21st century challenges in education, criminal justice, health care, mental health, energy, the environment and vulnerable children and the elderly. We will see.
JAMES CROWDEROK 3rd Vice President
Let’s see, how can I encourage you to help recruit new members for our Federation? How about this? If we do not con tinue to recruit new members into our Federation, then we will reach the point that we have no one to serve in positions of leadership and/or support. If that happens, who will we be able to blame when Con-gress begins to ‘peck away’ at our benefits?
So, what has NARFE done for me in Oklahoma? Many of you may recognize the name - James Crowder. For those who may not be familiar with his tenacious work on our behalf, let me share what he, through the NARFE
mantra, accomplished.
Until 2008 Postal and Federal retirees were liable for State taxes on their retirement. You can get much more descriptive information from Mr. Crowder, but let me just say that after years of working with the Oklahoma legis-lature, he, with the help of other NARFE members, were finally able to get a bill passed that exempted Postal and Federal retirees’ retirement income from liability for state taxes. This ‘phase in’ exemption became full exemption in 2011. So, what does that mean to you? As a retired Fed-eral or Postal employee, your retirement is now exempt from Oklahoma taxation. It results in a sizable amount of savings each year on your state taxes. So, depending on the amount of your retirement, you can thank NARFE for the extra money that used to go into paying Oklahoma taxes.
Now, what I can’t understand is why EVERY Post-al/Federal retiree is not a member of NARFE. Can you imagine the possibility, if all eligible retirees joined the rest of us, what a strong voice that would present? As of June, 2016 there were 48,262 Annuitants on the roll and our state NARFE membership stood at ONLY 2,772!!!! Less than 6%, representing retiree concerns of 94%!! Can we ‘get real’ for just a moment? The annual (yes, I said annual) dues withholding membership for NARFE averages only $46.08, and that includes Chapter member-ship which is optional. Your annual tax savings is many times more than that. Let’s get out there and speak to those retiree non-members. We need them and they need us. Let’s get-ur-done.!!
JAMES GILLISPIEOK 1st Vice President
How important is NARFE membership?
State Legislative report
Oklahoma NARFE NewsPAGE 6
(See Alzheimer’s, page 7)
Alzheimer’s Report
I would like to announce to NARFE members and Chapters in District 1 that Jeff Vaughan, District I Vice-President, has ap-pointed me the Assistant District I Vice-Pres-ident. If you need help from the District I VP, please contact either Jeff or me and we’ll assist you. The easiest way to contact/communicate with me is by email. I check my email regularly throughout the day. My e-mail address is [email protected]. My home phone number is 918-493-2486. Jeff’s contact information is located on Page 2 of this newspaper.
This month I am reporting the closing of Oklahoma Chapter 2320 (Grand Lake/Grove). Because of this action, the members desired to transfer to Chapter 1017 Tri County/Miami, Oklahoma. Chapter 2320 was formed several years ago as an expansion of Chapter 1017.
If each current NARFE member makes a resolution for the new year to recruit two new members in 2017, membership in Oklahoma
could triple. One of the many reasons to join are, NARFE is the only orga-nization solely dedicated to protecting and preserv-ing the pay and benefits of ALL Federal employees and retirees. The benefits of membership out-way
the cost of our dues.
I wish everyone a safe, prosperous and Hap-py New Year!
Change in District I leadership District II Vice President report
CHARLES STANPHILLOK 1st Vice President
RON VICKDistrict II Vice President
I realize this is a long report, but all six topics should catch your interest. REMEMBER, AL-ZHEIMER’S IS THE ONLY DIS-EASE IN THE TOP TEN LEAD-ING CAUSES OF DEATH IN THE U.S. FOR WHICH THERE IS CURRENTLY NO WAY TO PREVENT OR CURE.
(FYI, my husband Bob prepares these reports for me. Be advised that “I approved this message.”) FUNDRAISING FOR ALZHEIMER’S RESEARCH As of October 31, 2016, the NARFE Alzheimer’s re-search fundraising total since 1985 is $12,000,076.76. As reported in your fourth quarter Oklahoma NARFE News, since the $12 million was in sight, the new fundraising goal for Alzheimer’s research has been set at $13 million in 2018.
At the NARFE National Convention, the Alzheimer’s Association president and chief executive officer, Harry Johns, reported that although there is no drug yet that changes the underlying path of the disease, the National Alzheimer’s Project Act approved by Congress has the ob-jective of finding treatment and prevention of the disease by 2025.
According to my records, as of Nov.15, 2016, Okla-homa Federation Chapters contributed $5960.98 for Al-zheimer’s research since Jan.1, 2016. Congratulations and thank you for your continued support of Alzheimer’s research.
ALZHEIMER’S ASSOCIATION PRESIDENT AND
CEO LAUDS CONGRESSMAN TOM COLE OF OKLAHOMA Although the NARFE congressional scorecard for Oklahoma (Oct. NARFE Magazine, pg. 38) is not as good as hoped for, we are fortunate that the fight against Al-zheimer’s in Congress is a bipartisan effort. The Alzheimer’s Association reported that in July 2016 Representative Tom Cole (OK-4), House, Labor, Health and Human Services (HHS) Appropriations Sub-committee Chairman proposed a $300 million increase for Alzheimer’s research as requested by Alzheimer’s Associ-ation advocates. The Alzheimer’s Association applauded this significant milestone and Harry Johns, President and CEO said “In an act of true leadership, Chairman Cole and the bipartisan members of the subcommittee reached across the aisle to change the trajectory of the Alzheimer’s epidemic.” Also, he said “This bipartisan effort reflecting a more than a 50% increase in Alzheimer’s research fund-ing shows that leaders on Capitol Hill are in agreement that the burden Alzheimer’s places on families and the na-tion must be addressed.”
Whether you are in Representative Cole’s District 4 or not, I urge you to thank him for support of Alzheimer’s re-search. You can call 405-329-6500. If you write, I recom-mend addressing your letter to “The Honorable Tom Cole, 2424 Springer Drive, Suite 201, Norman, OK, 73069.” You won’t be able to e-mail Rep. Cole from his website if your zip code is outside his district. My husband Bob called late afternoon on election-day and his pleasant re-ceptionist thanked us for our message.
TWO NEW DRUGS IN THE NATIONAL NEWS In October, the national news media reported on two “game changing” drugs under development for treatment of Alzheimer’s. We have heard such reports before but we are still waiting on those “silver bullets” to become
reality. As a simplified background tutorial, the current FDA approved Alzheimer’s drugs only offer symptomatic treatment, with virtually no impact on the underlying path of the disease. Alzheimer’s researchers believe that Al-zheimer’s (AD) disease occurs when tangles and plaques degrade neurons (nerve cells) in the brain. Also, that plaques are formed by the clumping of amyloid, a type of protein fragment found in everyone’s brain. See the image accompanying this article comparing what can happen to neurons in an AD brain compared with a normal brain. The average brain has about 100 billion neurons.
NTRX-07: Dr. Naguib, MD, a Cleveland Clinic anesthesiolo-gist has discovered a drug with potential to relieve pain and treat a wide range of neurological diseases, includ-ing Alzheimer’s disease. The drug, NTRX-7, reduces neuro-inflammation, which is common in Parkinson’s dis-ease, stroke, brain injury, and Alzheimer’s disease. With his Cleveland Clinic collaborator, Dr. Foss, they have launched NeuroTherapia Inc., a biotechnology company dedicated to advancing NTRX-07. They recently received a $1.7 million investment from the Alzheimer’s Drug Dis-covery Foundation to begin safety studies and, also, re-ceived notification of a $700,000 Alzheimer’s Association award to support Phase 1 human studies which will start in 2017.
ADUCANUMAB:The company Biogen, administered a high dose of their drug, aducanumab, to a small sample of 165 patients in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease. The experimental drug dramatically reduced the toxic plaques found in pa-tients’ brains which indicates the drug may be able to slow the loss of memory and thinking. Biogen has already started two larger studies of adu-canumab that will include a total of 2,700 patients but re-
BETTY LOWREYAlzheimer’s Coordinator
Oklahoma NARFE News PAGE 7
We have been publishing the
Oklahoma NARFE News for over a year now. I have received positive comments about every issue which has gone out. I am very pleased to receive these compliments, but, of
course, it is not only me who is responsible for the existence of this publication. The paper is only as good as the articles which are contributed by the members of NARFE in Okla-homa. Each quarter I receive articles of high quality from the dedicated leaders in our Federation, and other members.
I sincerely thank those individuals who contribute faithfully. I have never had an issue which had too many articles. Usu-ally I am looking for fillers to complete the pages which are required by the publisher. So, I encourage each of you to consider contributing to this project. All of us have talents, abilities and knowledge, or comments which would be of interest to other NARFE members. Please share with us!
I cannot be responsible for issues lost in the mail. Un-fortunately, that happens from time to time. The address you have in NARFE records at headquarters is the address used for your newspaper. I renew the mailing list every quarter so that added and dropped members are updated, and any change of address is included. It is not necessary to inform me of a change of address. Just be sure your address
is updated at headquarters. That way you are sure to receive your NARFE Magazine, as well as the Oklahoma NARFE News.
I wanted to include here a reminder of the “Rules” to follow when submitting articles, and included are a couple of new suggestions. None are difficult to follow.
• Please submit your articles by email in Microsoft Word format as an attachment, or type your article in the body of the email. It needs to be in a form that I can copy and paste to the document that I send to the publisher. Send to me at [email protected]. I reserve the right to edit for spelling, grammar, punctuation, and clarity. I try to catch all errors, but there will inevitably be a few to slip through!• Please do not type in all capital letters. Certain subject
sults are still several years away. If aducanumab works in larger studies, it could settle a long-running debate about whether amyloid is the root cause of Alzheimer’s.
FIVE THINGS TO NEVER SAY TO A PERSON WITH ALZHEIEMER’S We visited family in Nevada over Halloween and pro-vided the following five recommendations to a friend who is the caregiver for his elderly mother who has very severe dementia (possibly Alzheimer’s) and she gets upset eas-ily when he talks to her. According to an internet post in August 2013, there are 5 things which shouldn’t be said to someone with dementia.
1. Don’t Tell Them They’re Wrong About Something2. Don’t Argue with The Person3. Don’t Ask if They Remember Something4. Don’t Remind the Person that a Loved One is Dead5. Don’t Bring up Other Topics That May Upset Them
RESEARCH CONTRIBUTIONS FROM NON-MEM-BER NARFE SOURCES I have recommended telling friends and family that Alzheimer’s research donations to NARFE chapters would be appreciated and to provide memorial cards to local funeral homes.
In July of 2016, a 93 year-old lady (not a NARFE member) died in Stillwater after a 13 year battle with Al-zheimer’s. I had provided a local funeral home a couple of NARFE OK Federation Alzheimer’s memorial cards. I received a phone call from a relative asking if it would be alright to include in her obituary the option of mak-ing contributions to NARFE Alzheimer’s Association. He took my name and number and the option was included in her obituary as an alternative in lieu of flowers. I received $605 as of Sept. 25, 2016 in donations from her thoughtful family and friends.
2017 BLUE CROSS/BLUE SHIELD STANDARD OP-TION FORMULARY LIST According to our Chapter 183 guest speaker for Oc-tober, Kerin Barngrover (BCBS), there are six drugs that have been removed from the FEHB 2017 standard option formulary. The FEHB formulary is a list of drug prescrip-tions covered by your insurance plan. No need to worry though because the six drugs have multiple generic equiv-alents or alternatives from both the Standard and Basic Option formulary. Ask your doctor about a substitute drug if you take any of these drugs. They are: 1. GLUMETZA;
2016 FACTS AND FIGURES AND ANNUAL REPORT The Alzheimer’s Association has posted the 2016 Facts and Figures as well as their 2016 Annual Report on the internet.
For Facts and Figures go to: https://www.alz.org/doc-uments_custom/2016-Facts-and-Figures-Fact-Sheet.pdf
For the Annual Report go to: http://alz.org/annual_report/
(See NARFE News, page 8)
Alzheimer’s (Continued from page 6)
NANCY STANPHILLOK Federation Editor
Oklahoma NARFE News updates
Oklahoma NARFE NewsPAGE 8
titles within your article for separation and emphasis, etc. are acceptable in all caps, but do not type the body of your article in all capital letters. Again, I need to be able to copy and paste your article. I cannot submit articles typed in all caps.
• Include photos with captions to accompany your article where appropriate. Photos add a great deal of interest and clarification. The publisher tells me that photos are of better quality if you do not include them in your Word document. Send them as a separate JPG attachment in your email. If you take photos with your phone, send them to me with the largest number of pixels possible. If you reduce them down to the lowest setting, they do not publish well.
• Include a head shot of the author of the article whenever
possible. A simple cell phone “selfie” against a plain back-ground will work well if you don’t have a more formal shot to send to me.
• A quick lesson in photography….be mindful of your background as you are taking photos during your chapter meetings. Taking shots with a bright window or the sun in the background result in terrible photos. All we see is the bright background; the subject is reduced to a shadow. Get as close to the subject as reasonably possible and reduce the busy background as much as possible. Of course, the pho-tos are published in black and white, but you may send them to me in color. The publisher will convert them.
• Be aware of the deadline for the next issue. The dead-line date is always published on one of the first pages of the
newspaper and appears on our website on the homepage. If your email address is listed with headquarters, you should receive a reminder from me a week or two before the dead-line. However, you may send me your article at any time for publication in the next issue. It is very helpful if I don’t get all articles on the last day before deadline. Issues are received by mail about a month after the deadline date, so be careful about any time-sensitive content. I post the new-est issue on our website about two weeks before delivery to your home, so you can read it early there.
• I will acknowledge receipt of your article so you know I have it. If you don’t get that acknowledgement, please check back with me. It is sometimes possible that your ar-ticle will get lost in cyberspace, nor do I want to overlook any article which is intended for the newspaper.
(See Chapter 2184, page 9)
NARFE News(Continued from page 7)
Last quarter report for Chapter 2184
The October meeting of Chapter 2184 is always a highlight meeting. The meeting convened at Golden Corral on 71st Street in Tulsa. We began the meeting by introducing our special guest speaker, Kerin Barngrover, BCBS Se-nior Government Account Representative. Kerin provid-ed summarized handouts of the 2017 BC/BS FEHB plans. She noted that premiums will be rising modestly for both Standard and Basic plans. Following a period of ques-tions and answers, we then attacked the buffet! After most of us had eaten too much, we drew for three cash award door prizes. During the year names of those who attend the regular monthly meeting are entered into a basket and at this meeting we drew from that container for cash door prizes. Congratulations to this year’s winners: Joyce Flinchum, Evelyn Martin and John Spencer.
We had 49 in attendance at the October meeting, in-cluding 9 guests. Another special feature of the October meeting is the cash collection for the local Food Bank. Chapter 2184 contributed $167.00 to this cause.
November meeting
Program chair, Gary Flinchum moderated a panel discussion of various FEHB Plans held by chapter 2184 members. These members: Joe Jones, George Wiland and Al Hong, each shared their experience with the specific plans they carry. There was extended discussion of pros and cons of various plans. Chair Gary Flinchum encour-aged members to review their plans since they change ev-ery year. Members were reminded that if they have not al-ready taken advantage of the “Self Plus One” option they
should make the change as it would cost less than “Self Plus Family.”
President Gillispie appointed Joyce Flinchum to as-sume the duties of ‘Sunshine Lady’ due to the resignation of long time ‘Sunshine Lady’ Ruby Anderson. Ruby was thanked for her years of service.
Nominations and voting for officers for 2017 was held at the November meeting. Current officers: Johnny Han-lon – Treasurer; Al Hong – Secretary and Doug Martin – Vice President consented to continue in their respective positions and were elected by acclamation. Gary Flinchum accepted the nomination for President for 2017, and there being no other nominations, was elected by unanimous voice vote.
Chapter members volunteered to staff tables at 8 agency Health Fairs conducted in various Tulsa offices during the month of November. Chapter 2184 wishes to take this opportunity to thank: John and Rubie Hokanson; Al Hong, James Gillispie, Johnny Hanlon, Richard Jagel and Jean Samuels from Chapter 278 for their spirit of vol-unteerism.
We had 25 members in attendance at the November meeting.
December News
Our December meeting special guest speaker was Rev. Greg Ables, Pastor of New Spring Family Church and Chaplain for Tulsa County Sheriff’s Department and Jenks Police Department. Rev. Ables provided numerous examples of his extensive experience serving as Chaplain. He shared that one of his duties as Chaplain was to deliver death notices. Obviously, this is one of the duties he does not relish. Chaplain Ables shared that there have been in-stances (again, something he does not relish) when he has
been the last one an accident victim sees before they pass away. Rev. Ables also shared that there are great people in law enforcement and that if one of them for some reason (!!!!) happens to stop you, please be understanding that if they may seem a little rigid, it may be because of some-thing awful that they have just witnessed.
Legislative Chair Joe Jones encouraged members to call and encourage their congressman to sign on as a co-sponsor of HR 6428. Program Chair Gary Flinchum announced the follow-
JAMES GILLISPIEPresident, Chapter 2184
Rev. Greg Ables spoke to Chapter 2184 in December about serving as a Chaplain for law enforcement.
Oklahoma NARFE News PAGE 9
ing upcoming speakers:
• January will feature Angela Fleming, a registered foot specialist from the Fleming Spe-cialty Shoe store in Tulsa.
• In February we will have a Tax Specialist.
• In March we welcome a Community Specialist.
• April will feature a Sleep Apnea dentist.
Since we schedule so far in advance, sometimes availability of a speaker changes and a sub-stitution becomes necessary. We meet the first Wednesday of each month at 10:30 AM, Martin East Reginal Library, 2601 S. Garnett Rd, Tulsa, OK.
President James Gillispie explained that Jeff Vaughan, District 1 VP announced that Charles Stanphill will serve as Assistant Vice President. Jeff and Nancy have been working through an extended period of health issues and Jeff felt it would be good to have Charles assist in this ca-pacity.
Service Officer George Wiland shared that he had assisted two member families following the death of the member.
Sunshine Lady, Joyce Flinchum reported that she had sent out four cards to ill members, as well as families of those who passed away recently.
In-coming President, Gary Flinchum had asked Melba Gillispie to serve with Opal Hesler on hospitality. Melba provided cookies and cheese and crackers for the meeting to help celebrate the holidays. It did not do me any good to tell those in attendance that the cookies were not good. They ate them and I didn’t get to take any back home!!!
We had 25 members and 2 guests in attendance.
Remember, next meeting, Wednesday, January 4th at 10:30, Martin Regional Library, 27th & Garnett.
We trust that you have (had) a wonderful Christmas and Happy New Year!
I met Marion Charlene Hunter shortly after she was hired by the Clerk of Court to be her Secretary. To save money I brought my lunch to work, so I did not have much contact with her, except for regular work at the office, lun-cheons, Christmas parties and other office functions. I remember her dressing as a snowman for Halloween so she could wear sweats to work.
For a common goal and purpose, Charlene became a member of NARFE. She thought serving to help us pre-serve our benefits was a cause worth fighting for. Char-lene would join me at the health fairs when the need pre-sented itself. She then became Treasurer of chapter 278, Alzheimer’s chair, and stood in as Secretary when needed, along with many other incidental jobs that I now have to remember to do by myself. After the NARFE meetings we would go to Harbor Lights dinners and enjoy the en-
tertainment there.
Because of an ailment, I of-fered to pick her up. So, we traveled to the NARFE meetings together for about 6 years. She visited my home and I hers, and we had many great conversations with each other. Sometimes I would start crying, oth-er times it would be her. We became
close through years by sharing each other’s heart.
I never heard Charlene talk evil about anyone. Char-lene was a good friend, who had a servant’s heart, ready to encourage you through whatever circumstances came up. I do miss her even now, but she will have to wait for me for our next luncheon. By the time I get there, she will be showing me around. Charlene died Saturday, November 12, 2016 around 11:30 a.m.
Chapter 2184(Continued from page 8)
DOROTHY JEAN MCBRIDE-SAMUELSPresident, Chapter 278
At the December meeting, Secretary Al Hong (on right) presented outgoing Presi-dent James Gillispie a Certificate of Appreciation for his years of service to the chapter. James has resigned effective January 1 to concentrate on his position of 1st Vice President of the Oklahoma Federation.
Chapter 278 remembers a good friend
Oklahoma NARFE NewsPAGE 10
Time seems to fly these days and we find ourselves five months away from our NARFE State Convention. It will be held on May 11th and 12th at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, 7902 S. Lewis Ave in Tulsa, directly across from Oral Roberts University. This is the same Hotel where the 2010 Convention was held. The convention is hosted by Tulsa Day-Lite Chapter 2184.
In November, Nancy and Charles Stanphill, John and I, met with our sales managers at the Crowne Plaza Ho-tel to discuss our plans and confirm our room count. It was required that we give them a sleeping room count six months before the Convention date. We can increase our blocked count by February, but cannot decrease it. We are now committed to 80% of blocked rooms. This room count is built into the contract we have with the hotel. It is very important that you book your room reserva-tions through the Hotel following the instructions giv-en below. Otherwise the host Chapter will not get credit against the rooms we have blocked and you will not get the NARFE rate ($84 plus tax) or the free breakfast buf-
fet. Each NARFE person who registers through the Hotel will receive two tickets, per room, for each night’s stay, for a free hot breakfast buffet next morning. The hotel has set up a phone number and online link for our members. Please use this phone number or website link to book your
room, and do not use any online third party hotel reserva-tion site.
Booking Instructions: Go to our state website, www.narfeok.org, and click on the link in the hotel information given there to make reservations. Scroll down the homep-age, and look along the middle of the page for convention news. Or, call 877-227-6963, select reservations, group name will be: Oklahoma Federation of NARFE Chapters. The booking system is already set up, so you can make reservations at any time. It is advised you book early in
case we need to increase the reserved room count. This NARFE rate is available three days prior to the Conven-tion and three days after. Cutoff date for making reserva-tions at the NARFE rate is: May 1, 2017. After that date, the hotel cannot guaranty that rooms will be available at our special rate.
The banquet will be on Thursday evening, May 11th, at 6:00 PM. Entertainment will be Janet Rutland and Ran-dy Wimer. They were on the program in 2010 and were so well received, we asked them back again. They are two of Tulsa’s top musicians.
(See Convention, page 11)
RUBIE HOKANSON2017 State Convention Chair
2017 Oklahoma State Convention is around the corner
Oklahoma Federation ConventionMay 11-12, 2017
Crowne Plaza, Southern Hills7902 S. Lewis Ave • Tulsa, OK 74136
The popular Janet Rutland and Randy Wimer are return-ing as featured entertainers at the Convention Banquet.
Table runner donated by Joseph Jones, Tulsa Day-Lite Chapter 2184, handmade by his late wife and NARFE member, Beulah Jones, is the additional item being raffled to benefit Alzheimer’s at the upcoming Federation Convention.
Handmade quilt, made especially for this convention, is one item being raffled to benefit Alzheimer’s. It wasdonated by Joyce Hoffman, Grand Lake Chapter 2320.
Oklahoma NARFE News PAGE 11
Please note the pictures in this issue of our quilted throw and table runner for the Alzheimer’s raffle. You will have two chances to win. First name drawn will have their choice. Second name will win the remaining item. Both are beautiful pieces. Please remember to save your articles to bring to donate for the Alzheimer’s sale table.
In January, each Chapter president will be receiving the Convention registration packet. It will include: Cov-
er information sheet, registration form, advertising and booster sheets, hotel information and tentative program. A Convention Registration form is included with this article. You may clip it out, complete, and mail it to register, or go to our website and print the registration sheet through the link there. Registration forms will be available from your chapter, too. Always refer to our website for updated in-formation as it becomes available.
When we visited the hotel in November we noted that the renovation was almost complete. All sleeping rooms were finished and the lobby and bar area only needed finish-ing touches. It will be nice and new for our Convention.
We are looking forward to seeing you at the 2017 Con-vention. If you have questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to contact me at: [email protected] or 918-492-2317.
Convention(Continued from page 10)
NATIONAL ACTIVE AND RETIRED FEDERAL EMPLOYEES ASSN.63rd ANNUAL OKLAHOMA STATE CONVENTION
Crowne Plaza Hotel • May 11 & 12, 201781st & Lewis • Tulsa, Oklahoma • Hosted by Tulsa Day-Lite Chapter 2184
PRE-REGISTRATION FORM
Name_________________________________________________________________________________ Name on Badge (if different)_______________________________________________________________ Address: ______________________________________________________________________________ City/State/ZIP: _________________________________________________________________________ Phone Number__________________________E-Mail__________________________________________ Chapter Name and Number: _______________________________________________________________ Current Chapter Officer:________________________or Federation Officer:_________________________ (Pres, VP, Sec, Treas.) (Pres, VP, Sec, Treas.) Delegate______ Alternate______ Member______ 1st Timer______ Visitor______ (Check one) I will be attending the Banquet on Thursday, May 11th , 6:00 PM _______YES_________NO
Please mail this form and your check for $70.00 (Payable to NARFE CHP. 2184 OK State Convention 2017) to: Johnny Hanlon, Convention Treasurer, 400 W. 31st Court, Sand Springs, OK 74063 • Phone/Fax: 918-245-8881
Registration due by April 25, 2017. After that date, the fee will be $75.00 per person.Refunds will be considered on an individual basis and must be requested no later than seven (7) days prior to the Convention (May 4, 2017)
You can make copies of this form as needed.
Oklahoma NARFE NewsPAGE 12
As we approach tax season, I’m adding two more worries for Okla-homa NARFE members and their families in addition to fire, flood, tornadoes, earthquakes, cyber-attacks, and hackers. The two are TAX SCAMS and IDENTITY THEFT.
Several Oklahoma NARFE members are AARP Tax-Aide volunteers (administered by AARP in cooperation with the IRS). As a volunteer myself, I receive phone calls from taxpayers who have received a phone call from someone claiming to be from the IRS and each year I re-ceive about three IRS rejects for electronic returns I filed due to a tax return already being filed earlier using the taxpayer or spouse social security number. My primary source was www.irs.gov/. I’m reporting scam alerts on that website summarized under the “Phone and Other Tax Scams” tab. Also, the IRS Dirty Dozen is compiled annually and lists a variety of common scams taxpayers may encounter any time during the year. For the 2016 Dirty Dozen go to www.irs.gov/ and type “2016 dirty dozen” in the search box. Identity theft is at the top of the list and telephone scams second. Also, you can find more information about identity theft by typing “identity theft’ in the IRS search box.
The IRS says here’s what you should do if you get a phone call from someone claiming to be from the IRS and asking for money: • Hang up. Remember that the IRS will never call to demand immediate payment over the phone, or call about taxes owed without first having mailed you a bill. Don’t give out any personal or financial information. • Contact TIGTA, Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, to report the call. Use their “IRS Imper-sonation Scam Reporting” web page at https://www.trea-sury.gov/tigta/ or call 800-366-4484. • Report it to the Federal Trade Commission by vis-iting FTC.gov and clicking on “File a Consumer Com-plaint.” Add “IRS Telephone Scam” in the notes. • If you think you might actually owe taxes, call the
IRS at 1-800-829-1040. Don’t ever wire money to some-one you don’t know.
TAX SCAMS
1) PHONE SCAMS SUMMARY: Taxpayers across the nation face a deluge of these ag-gressive phone scams. Don’t be fooled by callers pretend-ing to be from the IRS in an attempt to steal your money,” said IRS Commissioner John Koskinen. “We continue to say if you are surprised to be hearing from us, then you’re not hearing from us. There are many variations. The caller may threaten you with arrest or court action to trick you into making a payment,” Koskinen added. “Some schemes may say you’re entitled to a huge refund. These all add up to trouble. Many of these con games peak during filing season when tax returns are prepared.”
Phone Scam Footnotes:
1. In January, 2016, the TIGTA announced about 896,000 contacts have been reported since October 2013 and have become aware of over 5,000 victims who have collectively paid over $26.5 million as a result of phone scams.
2. Beware that scammers know how to show an of-ficial FBI phone number or IRS number on your caller I.D. They may sound official in part because they already have some of your personal information off the internet or elsewhere.
2) AFFORDABLE CARE ACT SCAM SUMMARY:
On Sept. 22, 2016, the IRS issued an alert to be on guard against fake emails purporting to contain an IRS tax bill related to the Affordable Care Act. The IRS has received numerous reports of scammers sending a fraudu-lent version of CP2000 notices for tax year 2015. Gen-erally, the scam involves an email that includes the fake CP2000 tax notice as an attachment. The CP2000 is a notice commonly mailed to taxpayers through the United States Postal Service. It is never sent as part of an email. The scam indicators are:
• These notices are being sent electronically, even though the IRS does not initiate contact with taxpayers by email or through social media platforms; • The CP2000 notices appear to be issued from an
Austin, Texas, address; • This scam is related to the Affordable Care Act (ACA) requesting information regarding 2014 coverage; • The payment voucher lists the letter number as 105C.
Summary of the Newest Scam (The Federal Student Tax): Scammers are taking advantage of young people, going after students for a tax that doesn’t even exist: something called the “Federal Student Tax.” In this newest scam, the IRS says impersonators are demanding payment for this bogus tax, scaring students into wiring them money. If the victim doesn’t act fast enough, the criminal threatens to report the student to the police. A 34 year- old woman who lives near Tulsa, OK, said she rushed to Walgreens to put $500 on an iTunes gift card after the caller told her she was being investigated and that she owed $7,986 for tax fraud from 2010 to 2015. The scammer finally settled for $500 to settle-up. Later, the woman said she didn’t want to be away from her children if she was in jail.A spokesman for the IRS said this scam is unusual be-cause such a tax doesn’t even exist. Fraudsters often pre-tend to be from the IRS, a tax company, or a state revenue department. They use threats to bully people into paying a non-existent tax bill. Most students aren’t familiar with the tax code and scammers take advantage of this. They threaten to arrest, deport, or revoke the driver’s license of their victim if they don’t get the money.
IDENTITY THEFTKnow the warning signs.
Be alert to possible tax-related identity theft if you are contacted by the IRS or your tax professional/provider about:
• A tax return has already been filed using your SSN. • You owe additional tax, refund offset or have had collection actions taken against you for a year you did not file a tax return. • IRS records indicate you received wages or other income from an employer for whom you did not work.
Steps to take if you become a victim.
If you are a victim of identity theft including physical theft of your identification cards and information, the Fed-
(See Tax Scams, page 13)
Tax scams and identity theft alert
Chapter 369 remembers Phillis S. May
Longtime member of Chapter 369, Phillis S. May passed away on September 12 at age 91. She served as treasurer and Service Officer for the chapter over many years, and was a faithful attendee at State and National Conventions.
Phillis joined the Navy following high school and served during World War II. After receiving her degree in accounting from Oklahoma State University, she was employed by the Department of Defense for 30 years.
Through the years, Phillis did much to improve the community of Enid where she lived. She was a lovely lady and good friend to all the many people she knew through the years. She will be missed in NARFE.
DIANE LASKYVice President, Chapter 369
ROBERT LOWERYSecretary, Chapter 183
Oklahoma NARFE News PAGE 13
Shawnee NARFE Chapter 542 meets quarterly at 11:00 A.M. on the third Wednesday of the desig-nated months of January, April, July and October (the annual business meeting which includes nomina-
tion, election and installation of chapter officers for the up-coming year). The meetings are held at the Shawnee Senior Center, 401 N. Bell ST., Shawnee. All chapter members and current U. S. federal civil service employees and potential or current U.S. federal civil service annui-tants are invited to attend. 18 January 2017 at 11:00 A.M. is the next Chapter 542 meeting. For CY2017, the Chap-ter 542 quarterly meeting dates are: 18 January 2017, 19 April 2017, 19 July 2017 and the annual business meeting on 18 October 2017.
Results of our October 19, 2016 Chapter 542 business meeting included: Chapter 542 officers were nominated, elected and installed. Immediate Past President, Nancy Greenlee, performed the officer oath of office installation ceremony. The newly elected officers are: Eleanor “Ellie” MacDonald, President; Robert “Bob” Seikel, First Vice President; George Cope, Second Vice President; Ella Mae Gallaway, Secretary-Treasurer. These elected officers plus Linda Agee, Erona Cope and Rachel Sivils consist of the new Executive Board. About two weeks after our 19 October 2016 officer elections, on November 7, 2016, our First VP, Robert E. Seikel, passed away. Subsequently, outgoing President, Nancy Greenlee, along with incoming President, Eleanor “Ellie” MacDonald, administered the
Oath of Office to Linda Agee as new First Vice-President, replacing Robert “Bob” E. Seikel. (See more information on Robert E. Seikel near the end of this article.)
In order to give her chapter members an advance no-tice that they will need to elect a new chapter president for the next year at the October 2016 chapter business meet-ing, Nancy Greenlee had announced a number of months ago that she would not be accepting, for the near future, any NARFE officer positions, including chapter presi-dent. Immediate Past President Nancy Greenlee wishes to express her appreciation to all the NARFE members Chapter, Federation and National, for all their support and helpfulness during the past years that she has been a NARFE officer. It has been very enjoyable knowing you and working with you. Sometime, in the future, she may re-appear on the NARFE scene, but for now she will be a regular chapter voting member.
Our October 19, 2016 chapter speaker was Kerin Barngrover, Blue Cross/ Blue Shield Insurance represen-tative. She discussed CY2017 changes to the FEP BC/BS programs and the new rates.
Nancy Greenlee, on October 11, 2016, received in Shawnee a “Volunteers Impacting People” (V.I.P.) Sil-ver Level Volunteer Community Service Certificate, presented by Thixie Totty, V.I.P. Director in Central Okla-homa Community Action Agency (COCAA) and Kathy Gatz, Program Coordinator. A Silver Certificate is pre-sented to V.I.P. volunteers who have performed between 500 hours to 999 volunteer hours during the past year. In addition to her NARFE roles as NARFE Chapter 542 President, NARFE Chapter 542 Membership Chair and NARFE Chapter 542 NARFE-PAC Chair, Nancy Green-lee also assisted Pottawatomie County senior citizens and
the newly established this year “Senior Citizens of Asher, Inc.”, a now independent senior center at Asher. Addition-ally, as a member of the Shawnee “Wunagisa Chapter” of the Daughters of the American Revolution (D.A.R.) and the Pottawatomie County Genealogy Club, she also per-formed genealogical research for others, with a particular interest in assisting others to qualify for the D.A.R. mem-bership.
eral Trade Commission (FTC) recommends these steps:
• File a complaint with the FTC at www.identitytheft.gov/ • Contact one of the three major credit bureaus to place a ‘fraud alert’ on your credit records: o Equifax, www.Equifax.com, 1-800-766-0008 o Experian, www.Experian.com, 1-888-397-3742 o TransUnion, www.TransUnion.com, 1-800-680-7289 • Contact your financial institutions, and close any fi-nancial or credit accounts opened without your permission or tampered with by identity thieves.
If your SSN is compromised and you know or suspect you are a victim of tax-related identity theft, the IRS rec-ommends these additional steps:
• If you receive an IRS 5071C letter, respond imme-diately; call the number provided or, if instructed, go to IDVerify.irs.gov. • Complete IRS Form 14039, Identity Theft Affidavit, if your e-filed return is rejected because of a duplicate fil-ing under your SSN or you are instructed to do so. Use a fillable form at IRS.gov, print, then attach the form to your return and mail according as instructed. The fillable form can be accessed on the IRS website by typing “form 14039” in the search box. • Continue to pay your taxes and file your tax return, even if you must do so by paper.
If you previously contacted the IRS and did not have a resolution, call the IRS identity theft toll free line at
1-800-908-4490 for assistance.
Identity Theft footnotes:
1. Identity theft is the top tax scam concern. The IRS mailed out $4 billion in refund checks to identity thieves in 2013, which represents 1.6 million victims identified through June 1, 2013. The IRS says it stopped more than $12 billion in fraudulent refunds from going to identity thieves in 2013. IRS is working hard to deter this scam.
2. A good strategy to prevent tax return I.D. theft is to file early before the criminal does. Unfortunately, this strategy isn’t practical for those who receive tax state-ments later in the tax season.
Tax Scams(Continued from page 12)
(See Chapter 542, page 14)
Shawnee Chapter 542 happeningsNANCY GREENLEE
President, Chapter 542
Nancy Greenlee, President NARFE Chapter 542, re-ceived a Volunteers Impacting People (V.I.P.) Silver level Volunteer Community Service Certificate presented by Thixie Totty, Shawnee V.I.P. Director in Central Okla-homa Community Action Agency (COCAA) and Kathy Gatz, Program Director. Silver certificates are presented to V.I.P. volunteers who have between 500 to 999 hours of volunteer community service.
Oklahoma NARFE NewsPAGE 14
Chapter 542(Continued from page 13)
Almost a year ago, NARFE Chapter 542 members Nancy and Patrick Greenlee joined the local Shaw-nee area Good Sam Club chapter, “Kickapoo Sams” of Shawnee, of which NARFE member, Janice Cooper, and her husband, Peter Cooper, were already members. Among other activities, the chapter plans organized RV trips to various RV/camping sites and places of interest in the state and nearby areas.
The Good Sam Club organization was founded with the express purpose of providing a national support net-work for fellow RV travelers. The Oklahoma Good Sam Club is the state affiliate of the national and international organization of recreational vehicle owners known as “Good Sams”. With over a million members worldwide, the Club’s primary goal is to make RVing safer and more enjoyable. Good Sam Club has over 1500 local chapters in 49 states and in nine Canadian provinces.
In the last number of months, the Kickapoo Sams Chapter of Shawnee, including NARFE members, the Coopers and the Greenlees, has hosted the South-east/Southwest Area Friendship Mini Rally, held July 6th through 9th 2016 at the Citizen Potawatomi Nation Campground in Shawnee; in August camped at Lake Mur-ray State Park and participated in The Oklahoma Annual Good Sam Rally (previously called a state-wide Good Sam RV Samboree) held at the Heart of Oklahoma Expo Center, Shawnee from 6th through 9th October 2016. The state-wide Oklahoma Good Sam Rally is held annually in Shawnee and will be held in October 2017 there again. The rally was attended by about two hundred people, including Good Sams from many other states also. The Kickapoo Sams of Shawnee new Chapter President is Ronald Carty. The state of Oklahoma Good Sam Clubs are divided into areas: Metro Area; North Central Area; Northeast Area and Southeast/Southwest Area. Kickapoo Sams of Shawnee is in the Southeast/Southwest Area. All the Good Sam members look forward to good camping, good companionship, good friends and safe trails!
More NARFE Shawnee 542 chapter members have also continued to provide community service and volun-teer hours, including:
Linda Agee, NARFE Chapter 542 new First Vice-President, Past Chapter 542 President, Past NARFE Federation District V Vice-President and Chapter 542 Newspaper editor performed many hours of community service, including: in her elected (but volunteer – no salary provided) office of City Commissioner of Shawnee, the Shawnee Economic Development Foundation, the His-toric Shawnee Alliance, Keep Oklahoma Beautiful, the Shawnee Lake Leaseholders Alliance, and the Pottawat-omie County Historical Society. In addition, Linda Agee and her husband, NARFE Chapter 542 member Elton Agee, run an event rental facility, located at 120 N. Broad-way, downtown Shawnee. The facility can be rented for special occasions, such as holiday events, birthdays, etc. Call (405) 420-2135 or visit Vintage Venue-Rental.com.
Robert “Bob” E. Seikel, our highly esteemed and loved Chapter 542 First Vice-President passed away on November 7, 2016. Bob will be sorely missed, not only by our NARFE 542 Chapter, but also by the entire Shaw-nee community. He had performed volunteer ser-vice for many organiza-tions, including officer and member of the Pot-
tawatomie County Genealogy Club, board member and officer of the Pottawatomie County Historical Society, the Advisory Board for the Shawnee Senior Citizens, the Lions Club, the Friday Forum, charter and honorary pres-ent member of the Shawnee Police Foundation, officer and member of the Dale Alumni Association, and NAR-FE duties. In addition, Robert E. Seikel is the author of many books, including a historical novel “Rush to Vic-tory” about submarine warfare in the Pacific during WW II, “About Face – Forward March” about his own U.S. Army military experience from 1952 through 1955, “The Honor Roll: A history of the Church of Central Christ in Sherman, TX”, and “My Ancestors, My Family and Me”. He worked for the Social Security Administration, starting in 1960 and worked for thirty-eight years, the last thirty years were as Manager of the Shawnee office. He truly was an outstanding American citizen in all walks of life and a shining example for others to follow.
Ella Mae Gallaway, NARFE Chapter 542 Secretary-Treasurer, provides numerous volunteer hours to organi-zations, including the Tecumseh Historical Society, Trea-surer for the Tecumseh Friends of the Library, Historian for the Tecumseh High School Alumni Association and
her NARFE Chapter 542 duties as Secretary/Treasurer. Our chapter is very thankful to her for assuming both the secretary and treasurer positions for our chapter. OUR CHAPTER THANKS ELLA MAE GALLAWAY VERY MUCH FOR THE SUPPORT THAT SHE PROVIDES US IN THIS COMBINED SECRETARY/TREASURER NARFE POSITION!
Patrick W. Greenlee: NARFE Chapter 542 mem-ber in 2016, and retired U.S. Federal Computer Scientist and Computer Software Engineer, performed about 300 volunteer hours in providing computer assistance to the NARFE Chapter 542 President, Nancy Greenlee, in order to keep her computer up and running so she could contin-ue to conduct NARFE on-line business in the past year. In addition, he provided many hours assisting senior citizens at the newly established Senior Citizens of Asher, Inc., an independent senior center in Asher.
Nancy Greenlee, Chapter 542 out-going President, along with Eleanor “Ellie” MacDonald, in-coming Chapter 542 President, administers on November 9, 2016 the Chapter 542 Oath of Office for First Vice-President to Linda Agee.
In October 2016, new Chapter 542 officers were nominated, elected and then sworn into office by Immediate Past President, Nancy Greenlee. (L to R:) Secretary/Treasurer Ella Mae Gallaway, First VP Robert “Bob” E. Seikel, President Eleanor “Ellie” MacDonald, Second VP George Cope and Immediate Past President Nancy Greenlee.
Oklahoma NARFE News PAGE 15
The Northwest Oklahoma City Chapter 1722 enjoyed a presentation by James Finch who recently retired from the FBI where he served as Special Agent in Charge, Oklahoma City. Mr. Finch described some of his experiences during his FBI career, including two years of undercover work. Mr. Finch is now a consultant to OG&E on CyberSecurity and is a member of Chapter 1722.
Chapter members staffed five Health Fairs this Fall.
Representing NARFE were: James Strickland and Jeanetta Clark at the FBI; Leeana Eversmeyer and Joan Fielding at the TSA, James Strickland at the GSA, Bob Edwards and Ruth Johnson at the VA and Marvin and Linda Resnick at Minerals Management Office. We were unable to staff the
FAA this year because it was scheduled at the same day as our Chapter meeting. Ethel and James Broiles, District IV VP, rode in on white horses and staffed the FAA which is an all- day event! Thanks to everyone for sharing their valuable time to spread the good news about NARFE.
The officers of Chapter 2351 are happy to announce to its mem-bers the reduction of chapter dues, effective November 1, 2016, to $0.00. There are sufficient funds in the treasury to take care of our expected expenses for the foreseeable future.
As you know, plans are underway for the state convention to be held in Tulsa on May 11-12, 2017. Details are posted in this publication and on the home page of our state website at www.narfeok.org. We encourage members of this chapter to consider attending the convention as a delegate. There are no difficult tasks to perform to be a delegate. We just need the bodies, and therefore the votes, to represent our chapter at this convention. We are making it economically easy for you to attend by reimbursing you the registration and hotel expenses. Delegates will receive a check from me at the convention for these costs. Please let me know that you will attend as a delegate so that I can get you on our delegate sheet, which the Federation needs. I must know ahead of time. Contact me at 918-493-2486 or [email protected].
There will be a chapter meeting held at the hotel on the evening of May 10, 2017. Con-tact me of your intention to attend the meeting and I will give you the details of where and what time, as soon as those details are available.
Thomas G. Cash passed away September 12, 2016. He was a long-time member of Chapter 749 in El Reno. He is survived by his wife, June Cash, who is the chapter vice-president and service officer.
Tom graduated from El Reno High School in 1952 and soon thereafter began working for the Rock Island Railroad. After a tour of service in the U.S. Army, he returned to the Rock Island Railroad, following in the footsteps of his father and older brother. He worked for various other railway lines and eventu-ally retired from the Union Pacific Railroad after 44 years of service.
Tom met Mary June Pearson at First Baptist Church in El Reno in Septem-ber of 1960 and they were married three months later, on December 31, 1960. They were married for 55 ½ years and enjoyed traveling all over the world. They have two daughters and five grandchildren. Tom was very active in his church and the community. He will be missed by many.
James Finch presented a program to Chapter 1722 about his career with the FBI.
Oklahoma Delegates Marvin Resnick and Pamela Burnett from Chapter 1722 listen to presentations at the recent NARFE National Convention in Reno, NV.
Oklahoma Delegates Ron Vick, Randy Freeland and James Olden are hard at work, representing Oklahoma members at the recent National Convention.
Registration is open for the 2017 Legislative Training Conference, to be held in Alexandria Virginia, at the Mark Center Hilton Hotel from March 12-15, 2017. The three-day conference includes training, na-tional speakers and the opportunity to network with fellow NARFE grass-roots activists. The conference culminates in a visit to Capitol Hill, where you will use your new skills in meeting with your legislators. You can visit www.narfe.org/legcon2017 to learn more about the conference and register online. It is quicker to book your hotel room
online, but you can also call the Hilton to book your Ho-tel room at NARFE conference rate by calling 1-703-845-1010. Be sure to mention the NARFE conference when you book your room so that you will receive the NARFE rate.
March is NARFE-PAC month. “NARFE’s political influence relies on a strong NARFE-PAC,” says Jessica Klement, NARFE legisla-tive director. “In order to elect fed-friendly members of Congress and to defeat threats to federal employees’ and retirees’ earned pay and benefits, NARFE-PAC must have the resources necessary to succeed.”
As the political arm of the Association, NARFE-PAC protects NARFE members pay and benefits by raising and
contributing money to elect members of Congress who understand and support the federal community.
Contributions to NARFE-PAC are used to elect fed-friendly lawmakers, to help build relationships with key policy makers and to help supportive lawmakers rise to leadership positions.
NARFE-PAC is a separate, segregated fund of the As-sociation financed solely through voluntary contributions by NARFE members made explicitly for political purpose. Membership dues and other general funds cannot be used by NARFE-PAC. Only direct contributions to NARFE-PAC funds the Association’s political work.
BE PREPARED TO GIVE.BECOME A SUSTAINER.
It was announced recently that the Chickasaw Nation was buying 61 acres of prime land on Lake Texoma. This land is where the Lake Texoma Lodge was located. It also includes the Lake Texoma Park and Camping grounds. It is overlooking the historic mile long Roosevelt Memorial Bridge. They plan to build a hotel, restaurant, gift shop,
swimming pool and a casino. They have plans to build several cottages and an RV Park.
You may remember that in 2006 the State of Okla-homa sold 758 acres of State Park Land and the Texoma Lodge to a group of Oklahoma City Investors. They were under contract to build a hotel, convention center and other facilities, but never built anything. Hopefully this will be the beginning of a new chapter for Lake Texoma. We have lost ten years of development. It may be too late for some
of us, but will help those in the future.
As I write this article, the year of 2016 is coming to a close. This has been a good year for us. We continue to have good health for our age, we are pretty active in the community. We still have lots of friends and we had our first great granddaughter born the day after Thanksgiving. You just can’t beat that!
We hope 2017 will be a good year for all of us.
CAROLYN HARRISOK 2nd Vice President
DOYLE BLAKELYOK NARFE Member
Legislative Training Conference & NARFE-PAC
News from Lake Texoma area
On December 8, 2016 the Okmulgee and Okfuskee Chapter 730 held its monthly chapter meeting. Officers for 2017 were installed followed by a gift exchange with the members and guests in attendance. The officers in the photo (front row) are Mrs. Lois Small-Historian, Mrs. Sue Beets-Vice President, and Mr. Ron Martin-Legislative Chair. (Back row) Ron Vick-Chapter President, Mrs. Linda Lynde-Secretary, Mr. Nick Lambeth-Treasurer, and Mr. Mark Stokes-Membership.
The next chapter meeting will be held on January 9, 2017. The guest speaker will be Ms. Elizabeth Inman, with the Federal Employee Benefit Coordinators. Other proposed topics for speakers in 2017 include long term care and benefits, updates from State and Federal Legislators, and an overview of the re-known Culi-nary Arts Program at OSU/Okmulgee Institute of Technology.
Chapter 730 Okmulgee/Okfuskee county newsRON VICKPresident, Chapter 730
Newly installed officers for Chapter 730.
Oklahoma NARFE News PAGE 17
Chapter 278 had its biannual luncheon on December 9, 2016 at the Royal Dragon on 51st Street in Tulsa, Okla-homa at 11:30 a.m. Joe Vazzo, Bo Frazier and I used the member list provided by NARFE to try to reach ev-ery member of our chapter to tell you about this meeting. While doing so, we ran into members that did not list their telephone number, and found some numbers that were not good anymore. We have luncheons, typically in May and December, and the members that attend the regular meet-ings get to vote on where and when we will have them. We do want every member that wants to attend to know about these events. So, if you did not get a call, please look inside your NARFE magazine and call membership to up-date your information. I can’t promise that we will have
members to volunteer to call every time, however if we do, it would be nice to be able to reach you and tell you when and where our luncheons are going to be. We always have a good time.
Our very own Jane Cornell of Chapter 278 hosted the National Native American Heritage Month
Gathering for 2016 which was held at the Glen Pool Con-ference Center on Saturday, November 12, 2016. Eight Native American tribes were represented with many booths of art and singing. It was a beautiful event. I am told that this may become an annual event, so if you are interested in representing your tribe, please contact 918-645-4482 or 918-906-0588.
DOROTHY JEAN MCBRIDE-SAMUELSPresident, Chapter 278
Jane Cornell of Chapter 278 hosted the National American Heritage Month gathering
FLTCIP premium increases: What you need to know
183 MULCHI JOHN D183 MCANALLY TAMARA H183 COMPTON BRYAN K278 BROWN JOHN L278 SMITH CHARLEY278 HUNTER MARIAN C730 ALEXANDER ELLANORE I749 CASH THOMAS G946 PENDLEY BESSIE W946 STANFIELD DORIS E946 WESTENBERGER GEORGE V
946 SPAHR LEROY J946 MCGEE BOBBIE JO947 THOMPSON MARJORIE947 BELT BARBARA J1722 ALEXANDER DENNIS L2184 HILL CHARLES E2184 HARTZ HAZEL R2333 BROOKS ALGERITA2351 TROUTMAN TANDY J2351 MONTGOMERY CARROLL W
The following members of NARFE from Oklahoma chapters have passed away during the period September 1, 2016 through November 30, 2016 as reported to Headquarters. If you know of a name that is missing, please call Headquarters at (703) 838-7760. Don’t assume NARFE knows.
Chapter Last Name First Name Chapter Last Name First Name
In Memory of Our Fallen Members
December 2, 2016
Long-Term Care Congressional Hearing
On November 30, NARFE President Richard G. This-sen testified before the House Subcommittee on Govern-ment Operations about the recent premium increases in the Federal Long Term Care Insurance Program (FLTCIP). Thissen joined representatives from the John Hancock
Life & Health Insurance Company, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and other insurance policy experts to detail the reasons behind the steep premium increases and to propose policy fixes to the program.
In his testimony, Thissen stated: “It is incumbent on this subcommittee to support real reforms that provide Americans with affordable, reliable options. Enrollees should not bear the risk when insurance companies and actuaries make mistakes, and they should have options available to plan for their future needs.” NARFE proposed a number of policy options to ensure price stability and
affordability and will continue to hold Congress and OPM accountable.
During the hearing, several lawmakers questioned representatives from John Hancock and OPM and ex-pressed outrage over the increases. Ranking member Ger-ald E. Connolly, D-VA, vowed to bring OPM representa-tives back before the committee to provide definitive plans to fix the program. NARFE looks forward to working with stakeholders and lawmakers to bring premium stability to FLTCIP.
NARFE NATIONALReprinted from www.narfe.org
Oklahoma NARFE NewsPAGE 18
(See Chapter 167, page 19)
Lawton Great Plains Chapter 167 had a great report from the National Convention. Pam Burnett and her husband Loy attended and Pam pro-vided the chapter with updates and information from the convention dur-ing our September 12th meeting.
On September 15th, six members and I attended “Re-tiree Open House” at Fort Sill. Numerous people stopped by our booth for information. The Chapter members who assisted and manned the booth were: Mrs. Helen Lindsay, Mrs. Dorothy Woodruff, Mrs. Pam Burnett, Mrs. Rose-mary Bazor, Mrs. Becky Skinner and Mrs. Juanita Ruiz.
The ladies were greatly appreciated. I know several of us got our flu shot and visited and talked with most of the other venders in attendance.
Kim Troy provided us with the updates and changes for Blue Cross/Blue Shield coming in 2017 on October 10th. We always appreciate that information.
Our November 14th meeting was quite busy with election of officers for our chapter. I would like to thank Ms. Jana Mietchen and Mrs. Juanita Ruiz for conduct-ing the voting and doing a great job. Our slate of officers for 2017 include: President: Jacquetta Chaney, 1st Vice President Pam Burnett, 2nd Vice President Pat Cameron, Secretary Dorothy Woodruff and Treasurer Rosemary Ba-zor. I also want to thank my Committee Chairs for their hard work: Mrs. Helen Lindsay Alzheimer’s Chair, Pam Burnett Membership Chair, Bo Fallon Legislative Chair,
Terry Chaney Calling Chair, Wyonna Alberty, Sunshine Chair. By the end of the year I will have the scrapbook up to date. I would again like to thank those who took an office and a chair for a committee. It’s mine and Mrs. Woodruff’s fifth year serving in our positions, and I know others that have served much longer than that.
Also at our November meeting, Mayor Fred Fitch signed and presented the Alzheimer’s Proclamation to Mrs. Helen Lindsay, our Alzheimer’s Chair. We then had a speaker from the Alzheimer’s Association Joy Orff who provided information on early signs of Alzheimer’s.
We will end the year with our December 12th luncheon meeting and entertainment by the “Sweet Adelines.”
“Merry Christmas” to all!
Great Plains Chapter 167 staying busyJACQUETTA CHANEYPresident, Chapter 167
Our display table at the Retiree Open House.Rosemary Bazor at Retiree Open House.
Mrs. Hellen Lindsay at Retiree Open House.
Pam Burnett and Dorothy Woodruff at Open House.
Oklahoma NARFE News PAGE 19
Chapter 167(Continued from page 18)
Mayor Fred Fitch presents an Alzheimer’s Proclamation to Helen Lindsay, Alzheimer’s Chair.Joy Orff, from Alzheimer’s Association, speaks to our chapter.
Kim Troy, Field Rep of Blue Cross speaks to Chapter 167.
Pam Burnett and Juanita Ruiz providing NARFE information. Becky Skinner telling attendee about NARFE.
Oklahoma NARFE NewsPAGE 20
In 1986, the Federal Employee Education & Assis-tance Fund (FEEA) was established to provide emergency grants and loans to federal employees affected by a natural disaster. NARFE’s involvement with FEEA began following the April 19, 1995, bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Fed-eral Building in Oklahoma City. NARFE chapters, fed-erations and individual members donated $100,000 to the FEEA’s Oklahoma City Fund. NARFE’s Oklahoma City donation helped fund full college scholarships for all 200 children who lost a federal employee parent in the bomb-ing of the Murrah Building.
In 1996, NARFE entered into a partnership with FEEA to provide emergency disaster assistance to NARFE mem-
bers who are victims of a declared natural disaster through the NARFE-FEEA Disaster Fund. The Fund is supported by tax-deductible donations from NARFE members and friends of NARFE, and is administered by FEEA. NARFE members have donated some $458,000 in aid to NARFE members who were affected by Hurricane Katrina, Super-storm Sandy and other natural disasters. NARFE became a member of FEEA’s board of directors in 1997.
Cash Grants NARFE disaster funds in the form of cash grants ($500 maximum per grant per household) are available to all NARFE members in good standing who have been in-jured, incurred property damage or have other needs dur-ing and after a declared natural disaster. To Donate NARFE contributions are kept separate from FEEA’s own emergency assistance fund and are disbursed as need-
ed to NARFE members whose applications are approved. To make a tax-deductible donation, checks should be made payable to NARFE-FEEA Disaster Fund and mailed to:
NARFE-FEEA Disaster Fundc/o FEEA3333 S. Wadsworth Blvd.Suite 300Lakewood, CO 80227 To donate by credit card, call 800-338-0755. Grant Applications
NARFE members should check out www.narfe.org for the members-only NARFE-FEEA Disaster Fund page for an application and additional information.
NARFE urges Congress to act on legislation to mitigate disproportional medicare premium increases in 2017
NARFE-FEEA Disaster FundNARFE Members Helping Each Other
Reprinted from www.narfe.org
December 5, 2016
Alexandria, VA – Richard G. This-sen, national president of the Na-tional Active and Retired Federal Employees Association (NARFE), called on Congress to pass H.R. 6428, introduced by Rep. Dina Titus, D-NV, which would extend limits on Medicare Part B premium increases in 2017 to those who do not pay premiums di-rectly from a Social Security benefit.
“How one pays their Medicare premiums should not dictate the amount of those premiums. And it certainly should not mean that they must pay more than those with the same income. This situation is grossly unfair to mil-lions of Americans,” said Thissen. “NARFE thanks Rep. Titus and the 34 original co-sponsors of H.R. 6428 for supporting a fix for this unfair situation. We urge their col-leagues in Congress to join them and pass the bill into law.”
While the so-called “hold harmless” provision of Medicare law limits Part B premium increases for most beneficiaries to the annual cost-of-living adjustment
(COLA) in their Social Security benefit – an average in-crease of $4 in 2017 – that protection does not apply to those who do not pay premiums from a Social Security benefit, new enrollees or those with higher incomes. Fur-thermore, because total Medicare premiums are designed to cover 25 percent of the cost of the program, those not held harmless are forced to pay higher premiums to cover the lost premium income resulting from application of the hold harmless provision to others.
H.R. 6428 would limit premium increases to $4 for individuals who are not held harmless, and not subject to higher premiums due to higher incomes. For those pay-ing the standard premium, their premiums would rise from $121.80 per month to $125.80 per month under the bill, instead of by 10 percent to $134 per month. The bill would not affect premiums for those already held harmless, about 70 percent of beneficiaries, whose premiums will increase in proportion to their Social Security benefit, for an aver-age of $4 per month, from $104.90 to $109 per month.
“For the second year in a row, many federal retirees, state government retirees, new enrollees and individuals who delay receipt of Social Security benefits will be pay-ing more in premiums simply because they pay those pre-miums through their federal annuity or a personal check instead of through Social Security benefits,” explained Thissen. “While premiums for most have risen, on aver-age, only $4 per month over the past two years, those who
are not held harmless will see their premiums rise nearly $30 per month.”
“The low, 0.3 percent COLA, combined with the in-crease in premiums, means many federal retirees will see a decrease in their federal annuities next year, diminish-ing their purchasing power and quality of life. But this is about more than money. It’s about fairness,” Thissen said.
“H.R. 6428 would do no more than extend the same protections the majority of beneficiaries enjoy to feder-al retirees, state government retirees, new enrollees into Medicare and those who are not yet collecting Social Se-curity. It is a common-sense solution and does not increase deficits by one cent,” noted Thissen. “Congress took steps to mitigate the increase last year when those not held harmless were facing a 52 percent increase in premiums. We urge Congress to do so again before adjourning.”
Earlier last week, NARFE joined its Federal-Postal Coalition colleagues in urging Congress to act on the is-sue, stating: “This unfair situation was created years ago, and it is time for Congress to right this unintended wrong. No beneficiary should be forced to pay more simply be-cause some beneficiaries are afforded critical protections against reductions in their Social Security checks.”
H.R. 6428 presents a common-sense solution. Con-gressional leadership must now put it up for a vote.
RICHARD THISSENNARFE National President
NARFE NATIONALReprinted from www.narfe.org
Oklahoma NARFE News PAGE 21
Visit narfe.org often. You’ll find the latest information on issues critical to the federal community.
Oklahoma NARFE NewsPAGE 22
November 17, 2016
Relevant to the cost-of-living-adjustment to civil service annuities for 2018, the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) in-creased by 0.10 percent in October 2016.
As announced in October, federal retirees will receive a 0.3 percent cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) to their civil service annuities beginning in January 2017; the same is true for Social Security benefits and military re-tirement annuities.
The new CPI-W figure for October 2016 was 235.732, 0.29 percent higher than the average CPI-W for the third quarter of 2016, which was 235.057 (1982-84 = 100).
Under current law, COLAs for federal retirement an-nuities, as well as for military retiree annuities and So-cial Security payments, are determined in reference to the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and
Clerical Workers (CPI-W), which is calculated by econo-mists and statisticians with the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The CPI-W is the current index used for measuring increases in the prices of consumer goods, including food and beverages, housing, clothing, transportation, medical care, recreation, education, communication, and more.
NARFE continues to support strong COLAs based on fair assessments of increases in consumer prices to protect the value of federal annuities from inflation. NARFE spe-cifically supports a switch to the Consumer Price Index for the Elderly (CPI-E), which would result in higher COLAs and opposes a switch to the Chained CPI, which would result in lower COLAs.
FECA COLAs
Individuals receiving insurance benefits under the Federal Employees Compensation Act (FECA) received a 0.40 percent COLA in March 2016.
Because the December 2015 CPI-W figure (230.791) was 0.4 percent higher than the December 2014 CPI-W figure (229.909), FECA benefits increased 0.4 percent in March.
FECA COLA’s are determined by a different statu-torily-set methodology than the COLA for other federal retirees. Benefits awarded under the Federal Employees Compensation Act (FECA) to individuals suffering work-related injuries or illnesses, are adjusted according to each calendar year’s percentage change in the CPI-W (rather than as measured by the change from the highest previous third quarter average).
Looking ahead to the 2017 FECA COLA, the October 2016 CPI-W figure (235.732) is 2.14 percent higher than the December 2015 CPI-W figure (230.791).
The Consumer Price Index for November 2016 is scheduled to be released on Thursday, December 15, 2016, at 8:30 a.m. (EDT).
According to stroke.org someone suffers a stroke ev-ery 40 seconds and it can happen to anyone at any time. Some 200,000 cases are diagnosed each year in the states alone, and there are projections for even higher numbers to come in the year 2017.
Everyone can think of at least one symptom of some-one who has suffered a stroke, but there are a number of others that perhaps aren’t so commonly known.
Strokes are considered medical emergencies so identi-fying the warning signs and symptoms quickly is impera-tive. When suffering from a stroke every minute counts. More brain cells are lost every minute a stroke goes un-treated because blood flow is being restricted and blocked from the brain. The quicker the victim gets medical assis-tance, the less damage their speech, memory, and move-ment will suffer. The stroke symptoms typically develop quickly but can become apparent over hours, or in rare cases, even days.
Here are the 10 signs and symptoms of a stroke:
1. Numbness in Arms or Face One of the most recognizable symptoms of a stroke is paralysis or numbness in the victim’s arm, face, or leg. Some commonly confuse this symptom of a stroke with an episode of Bell’s Palsy instead. The palsy ailment can
go away on its own, but changes in your face or limbs from a stroke can often be permanent. This type of paraly-sis typically occurs on only one side of the body during a stroke. When determining if someone is experiencing a stroke, medical experts recommend that you act F.A.S.T. This acronym’s first two stroke identifiers are a result of this paralysis. ‘F’ stands for face; ask the person to smile and if you notice one side of the face drooping, move on to step two. ‘A’ stands for Arms; ask the person to raise both of their arms and pay close attention to see if one arm drifts downwards or they struggle more to lift it.
2. Trouble Speaking When your body is trying to fight through a terrible blow to the central nervous system, it tends to have very obvious symptoms. Such as when your speech becomes slurred, stuttered, or shows challenges in forming words.
These are all common difficulties of those who have recently experienced a stroke. The ‘S’ in the program F.A.S.T. stands for speech. Identify this symptom by ask-ing the individual to repeat simple phrases after you. If their speech sounds strange, slurred, or confused and they have also failed the face and arms tests then the person is likely suffering from a stroke. At this point, move on to the ‘T’ in F.A.S.T. and recognize that it is time to call 911 im-mediately even if the person has only failed one of these
tests.
3. Changes in Vision Your eyesight is so very important to you, and when you begin to notice sudden declines in it, there is definitely cause for concern. Stroke patients can often describe one of their initial symptoms as being a decrease in their eye-sight.
If you or someone you know suddenly finds them-selves having trouble seeing, or are experiencing blurry vision in one or both eyes, then they may be suffering from a stroke. Different people experience different vision disturbances. Some examples of impaired vision include seeing double, blurred images, blackened, or darkened vi-sion. You may even experience a complete loss of vision in one eye. This sign is much less recognized than arm weakness or facial drooping, but is just as strong of an indicator that you need to seek immediate medical atten-tion.
4. Sudden Headaches Headaches are unfortunately an annoying little part of life for everyone. They can also just come and go as they please, and either be totally random, or they can be a tell-tale sign of a stroke.
(See Stroke page 23)
Consumer prices increase in October
Ten signs and symptoms of a stroke
NARFE NATIONALReprinted from www.narfe.org
Oklahoma NARFE News PAGE 23
Stroke(Continued from page 22)
A stroke may be accompanied by a sudden and ex-tremely severe headache. For many, this headache can be debilitating and can cause a variety of additional side ef-fects like dizziness, vomiting, or altered consciousness. This type of symptom can indicate the restriction of blood to the brain resulting from the stroke especially if this sudden headache has no known cause. A large amount of people describe this massive headache as the worst one they have ever experienced. Research has indicated that younger people and women, especially those with a his-tory of migraines, are more likely to have this symptom on the onset of a stroke.
5. Trouble Detecting Hot or Cold Remember being a young child and your parents con-stantly teaching you as young as possible to not touch something that was too hot? This is a sense that kicks in really quickly after feeling heat or very cold temperatures, and one that stays with you for life. That is, unless you have suffered from a stroke as you may not find this task of hot or cold very easy any longer, which can be very dangerous.
Though many people experience total numbness and paralysis any change in the sensation of touch can be a sign of stroke. Though it is not as common as numbness plenty of people report feeling a heightened sensitivity to hot and cold. Some explained feeling as if their limbs were wet or in water. These altered sensations can continue after a stroke and are usually a result of damage to the central nervous system.
6. Trouble Swallowing You most likely don’t ever pay too much attention to your swallowing habits, but they can be so very telling for many. A big sign of a stroke brewing is difficulty swallow-ing food or liquids out of the blue.
Due to the brain’s lack of oxygen sensations are dras-tically reduced especially where the tongue is concerned. This reduced feeling coupled with weakened muscles in the throat and mouth makes swallowing much harder. You may also find it very challenging to cough or coordinate your muscles. You may also have numbness in one or both
sides of the tongue. The throat’s muscle weakness can make it very easy for you to accidentally inhale food or drink into the lungs. This effect can continue even after normal blood flow has returned to the brain.
7. Difficulty Walking You don’t realize how often you take the ability to walk for granted until you no longer can with minimal ef-fort. Having trouble walking may be an indicator of stroke about to happen, or one that you’ve already had.
You may have challenges staying coordinated, as in walking and carrying something at the same time. You could also feel off-balance, stumble, or experience dizzi-ness. Some patients also report dropping items while they are carrying them as a common issue after a stroke, caus-ing them to truly concentrate on their mobility. If some-one you love has had an unexplained fall, a stroke could be the cause. If you are in public and display this dizzy loss of balance, people may mistake your behavior as an intoxicated induced stupor. Even after a stroke, your toes can catch on the ground as you walk and it makes tripping or falling much more likely. You may struggle to find bal-ance and feel very unsteady.
8. Confusion General confusion is definitely a sign that the brain is not getting enough blood, as typically in the case of a stroke. Not confusion as in you may be having a moment of brain fog, as that is totally common for healthy men and women.
This is a much more pronounced version of feeling just not quite in the present moment. A sudden and rap-id change in your mind can be frightening. Some stroke patients have reported confusion episodes that are very subtle ones at home, to ones that have them finding them-selves lost in a public place. Most stroke survivors have the ability to “come to” in a sense where they find a mo-ment of clarity in their confusion episode, and then they can go report that to their doctor. If you have been having routine confusion spells, please get some type of medical treatment for them, as you could be interfering with your personal safety living or traveling alone for instance.
9. Dizziness or Vertigo Sudden or extreme dizziness is often associated with a stroke. Over 50 percent of those who suffered from a stroke reported dizziness as the onset of their condition.Sometimes a very extreme form of dizziness called ver-tigo, can develop if the stoke occurs in the balance center of the brain. Vertigo differs from dizziness by creating the illusion that you are spinning and in motion. In some situ-ations, especially in the case of having mini strokes, a per-son may lack typical symptoms like speech impairment or face weakness, and only experience the dizziness, vision changes, and feeling of being generally unwell. Without treatment, these mini strokes will continue to get worse.
10. Loss of Consciousness Loss of consciousness is a very serious symptom of stroke. Anytime you have the fear of literally passing out you can imagine the danger you can put yourself into if this happens often.
This is where the aftermath of having lived through a stroke can often lead to requiring full time care at home to ensure the patient’s safety. The reduction of blood flow to the brain will cause this black out due to a lack of oxygen for the brain. Strokes that cause a loss of consciousness can be particularly serious and are more likely to result in long-term problems. On average about 15-20% of strokes are caused by blood vessels rupturing and are more likely to produce the symptom of partial or total loss of con-sciousness. This type of stroke, a hemorrhagic stroke, is usually sudden and severe. Every year about 800,000 people will suffer from a stroke but knowing the symp-toms and warning signs can help you save a life. Even if these signs and symptoms seem to fluctuate or disappear it is still necessary to seek immediate medical attention because every minute counts. These temporary stroke ef-fects could become permanent if you wait too long to get treated. Learning to recognize these ten warning signs and symptoms can save your life or help you save someone else’s. Don’t hesitate and wait to see if these symptoms go away, call 911 at the first sign of stroke.
Chapter 278 • Tulsa’s First• Meeting place, Kaiser Library, 5202 S. Hudson, 1st Tuesday each month at 5:00pm.
Chapter 2184 • Tulsa Day-Lite • Meeting place, Martin East Library, E. 26th St and S. Garneet Rd, 1st Wednesday each month, 10:30am.
Chapter 2333 • Tulsa Northside• Meets the 2nd Tuesday each month at Rudisill Library, 1520 N. Hartford Rd, 10:30am.
Chapter 22 • Azalea / Muskogee• Meeting place, Kiwanis Sr. Center, 2nd Thursday each month, 1:30pm. Except Christmas dinner.
Chapter 730 • Okmulgee / Okfuskee Counties• Meeting place, Cowboy Corner Restaurant, I-40 exit 237, Henryetta, OK. 11:00am, 2nd Thursday each month, May meets at OSU IT in Okmulgee.
Chapter 1017 • Tri-County / Miami, OK• Meeting place, Montana Mike’s, 840 N. Main St, Miami, OK, 3rd Monday each month, 11:30am, except June & December.
Chapter 1787 • Mayes County / Pryor• Meeting place, Mid American Grill, 3rd Thursday each month, 11:30am, Except July & August.
Chapter 183 • Payne County / Stillwater• Meeting place, New China Restaurant, 3rd Friday each month at 11:00am, except August.
Chapter 369 • Enid• Meeting place, Golden Corral, 4629 W. Owen K Garriott, Enid, 2nd Monday each month at 11:30am.
Chapter 749 • Chisholm Trail / El Reno• Meeting place, Redlands Community College, 3rd Monday each month at 11:30am, except College closing.
Chapter 909 • Altus• Meeting place varies. Contact President for meetings.
Chapter 1346 • Weatherford• Meeting place, Mark Restaurant, 601 E. Main, 2nd Monday each month at 5:30pm, except July.
Chapter 130 • Cleveland County• Meeting place, Furr’s Buffet, Moore, OK, 3rd Wednesday each month at 11:15am, except August.
Chapter 167 • Great Plains / Lawton• Meeting place, Brookridge Retirement Center, 7802 NW Quanah Parker Trailway, Lawton, 2nd Monday at 11:00am, except July.
Chapter 758 • Ada• Meeting place, Valley View Hospital Conference Room, 2nd Wednesday every other month, starting in February at 11:30am.
Chapter 946 • Mid/Del / Midwest City• Meeting place, Twin Hills Club, 3401 NE 36th, OKC, 4th Friday each month at 11:30am, except August.
Chapter 184 • Central OK / OK City• Meeting place, Gatti’s Pizza, Community Room #6, 5833 NW Ex-pressway, OKC, 3rd Thusday each month at 11:00am.
Chapter 542 • Shawnee• Meeting place, Shawnee Senior Citizen, 401 N. Bell, 3rd Wednesday each Quarter at 11:00am. January, April, July & October.
Chapter 947 • Edmond• Meeting place, OK Christian University, Memorial Dr, Edmond, OK. Helt 4th Tuesday at 11:30am, except June & July.
Chapter 1621 • Eastern OK City / Choctaw• Meeting place, Eastern OK Tech Center, 3rd Tuesday each month at 11:30am, except for August.
Chapter 1722 • Northwest / OK City• Meeting place, Incredible Pizza, 5833 N.W. Expressway, OKC, 3rd Tuesday of each month at 11:00am, except December.
Chapter 2351 • Sooner Cowboy / Statewide Chapter• Meets biennally on the day before the opening of the State Convention.
