Courthouses of the West: Oklahoma County Courthouse, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

Courthouses of the West: Oklahoma County Courthouse, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.: 

Oklahoma County Courthouse, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

This impressive art deco courthouse was built in 1937 and serves Oklahoma County, Oklahoma.  Apparently it was loosely inspired by Mayan temples, which is unusual.

It was a Great Depression works project.

Painted Bricks: Bricktown, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Painted Bricks: Bricktown, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma: 

Bricktown, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

These are all bad photographs from my hotel window of the Bricktown district of Oklahoma City.  I didn't have time to tour it, so this is what I have

I've been to Oklahoma City quite a few times over the years, but several of my visits predate the period at which I packed around an iPhone for photographs.  I'm sure the first time I was there I didn't take any photos at all, and I probably didn't have a cell phone.

Bricktown is the name that's been attached to the old downtown section of the city.  Oklahoma City has done a really nice job of making this old section of what's now a fairly old Midwestern city pretty hip and cool.

Airborne

I flew this week for the first time since COVID hit.

Before that, I used to travel a lot for work.  

I'm not a natural traveler, so it's never been something that I really enjoyed, even though I usually enjoy seeing any place that I go to.  That is, I don't enjoy the process of traveling much, and I don't enjoy thinking about traveling.  My father was the same way, and nearly all of the long distance traveling he'd done had been due to the Air Force.

Occupational traveling, so to speak.

Most of my traveling has been that way as well.

This is 2022, and to be accurate, the last time I flew somewhere was in 2019.  I can't really recall the last time I flew anywhere, or to where, but the mostly likely spot would be Denver, as I used to fly to Denver and back in a day routinely.  COVID ended that as when COVID hit, it dropped air travel down to nothing for obvious reasons, and when it came back, the number of flights in and out of here locally were cut significantly.  The red eye to Denver was a casualty of that. The one to Salt Lake also went away, although I think that was even prior to that.

I used to also fly a lot to Texas for depositions.  I'm not sure of when I last did that, but it was before COVID.   Zoom took over most of that, so it's rarely done now.

One major thing I worked on should have had trips to South Carolina, Arizona and Illinois, but did not.  All of those were done via Zoom.  It worked out okay, I guess, but I can't say that I'm a fan even now.  It's good enough, however, that you acclimate yourself to it and begin to believe that it's good enough

Anyhow, some travel is slowly coming back, and earlier this week I flew to Oklahoma City.

Oklahoma City.

I've been to OKC before, the first time in 1982 when an airliner discharged me there after having taken off from Cheyenne.  Their terminal was much more primitive, by my recollection, at the time, and we did the classic old-fashioned walk down airliner stairs, which is seemingly a rarity now, across the tarmac and into the terminal, and then on to a bus, which went to Ft. Sill.

More recently, and in different circumstances, I've flown to Denver and boarded a large Boeing airliner.  Based upon another one of our blogs, the last time I was there was in 2014.  On that trip I went with two other lawyers, one of whom I knew really well, and it was a fun trip. We flew from OKC to Houston after that, that time on a small commuter jet.  Since that time, he's passed away, having only been retired for a year or so when he became very ill and died.

As noted, we flew from Denver to OKC in a big airliner on that occasion.

Not this time.  

Locally I boarded a Bombardier CRJ200 and then, to my surprise, in Denver boarded a second CRJ200.

Boarding the CRJ200 in Denver.

I'm not a huge fan of the CRJ200, although it's better than boarding a twin-engined turboprop.  Looking it up, I see where production of the CRJ200 ceased in 2006 and that may partially explain it.  I've never been on one that was really new, and they show it.   Back in 06, locally, you probably boarded a turboprop.

On the ground, the stewardess assured us the plane had been thoroughly cleaned, but we were given wipes.  I didn't use mine.  I'm getting pretty fatalistic about COVID 19, although I'm zealous on the vaccines and boosters.  Some folks did use them, and I can't blame them. The plane smelled vaguely antiseptic.

The stewardess in Denver, upon taking off, warned us the flight was going to be turbulent.  The last times I flew, in 2019, they were doing that too, with the same result.  It wasn't at all.  I'm okay with that, but I wonder what brought about the hypersensitivity to warning of turbulence.  

She was also pretty blunt and somewhat familiar in her tone, which is a change from what had been the norm.

It was a smooth ride all the way to OKC.

Getting off the plane was hot.  That was the same as it was in 1982.

So the first change noted.

I never would have expected a flight from Denver to OKC on a CRJ200.  Are they trying to run smaller planes now as fewer people are flying?  I wasn't the only one surprised, the guy sitting next to me remarked, "I thought for Oklahoma City they would have used a bigger plane".

The trip back was more remarkable, but not in good ways.

First of all, I'd moved my flight up by two days, due to a big change in what I was doing there.  I didn't pay that much attention to the closeness of the connection in Denver.  I used to always do that.  It was extremely right.

Concluding my business in OKC I had to rush, by foot, back to the hotel and turned my right ankle something fierce.  As a high school student, I turned it severely, and it's never really been the same, although it rarely causes me problems.  I injured it very severely a second time, probably about fifteen years ago or so.  So it'll turn.

It's still really hurting.

Added to that, some weeks ago, I somehow injured my right elbow.  I haven't gone in for attention to it, but it really hurts.  

I've never flown injured before, but it's miserable.

When I got on the plane in OKC, an elderly woman was seated next to me.  I rarely pay any attention to the passengers seated next to me, but she was hard not to notice right from the onset.  For one thing, she was extremely nervous getting seated.  She even remarked to me, "you'd think I'd never flown before".

Once on the plane, she was absolutely convinced that there was some trouble with the airplane, as the pilots were not in the cabin.  As luck would have it, a pilot from another airline was seated in the set in front of her, and hence nearly me, flying back to his home in Denver.  That meant he was subject to continual questions, including "can you fly the plane if they don't come?"

She wasn't kidding, and actually assumed that he could.

The pilots weren't in the cabin as the airplane, we learned, had been on the ground in Denver all day and the interior was very hot.  They were outside as there's a way that the plants can be hooked up to external air conditioning, and they were working on that project.  The plane never did get cool, but it was tolerable.

The same type of plane on the way down was fine, I thought, but two colleagues who also traveled down, at different times, both indicated that their planes were hot.  One volunteered the opinion that CRJ200s were simply a hot aircraft.  I'm not sure.

At any rate, we got rolling on the tarmac and the stewardess announced we'd lost some time, but would try to make it up, particularly as there were afternoon thundershowers expected in Denver.  As it was, we left twenty minutes late, and then again announced that there were afternoon thundershowers expected, and it might be rough.

The lady next to me was really now worried about her plane being late in Denver.  In spite of the instructions of the crew to turn off cell phones, she didn't, and texted the entire flight and took placed a phone call using the hands-free option, making those of us near her unwilling eavesdroppers.  From time to time, she leaned up to the traveling pilot and asked if we'd make it to Denver on time.  He always assured her that we would.  In the row behind me, in the meantime, there were two gentlemen from a foreign land speaking in their native language so loudly that I'm sure it could have been heard back home, wherever that was.

I don't know if we landed on time or not, but we were delayed on the tarmac as they looked for stairs and then had a hard time hooking them up.  By the time they opened the cabin door, I had 20 minutes to make it to my next flight, on a different concourse.  When they opened up the doors, the stewardess, as they now do, asked if anyone had a "tight" connection, and the lady next to me said she did. The pilot immediately said "two hours, you do not".  

I did, and stated that I did. They let me go.

I sped walked through the terminal, concourse A to B with the train in between, on my injured ankle, making it just as they were boarding my plane.  Amazingly, they were loading my baggage as I got on.

That's pretty impressive, really.

The final plane was a CRJ700.  They made them up until 2020, and they're a little bigger. Better yet, the exit row actually has legroom.

Overall observations?  I don't like the smaller planes for longer trips, but who would?  I guess I can't blame them for switching to them.  I suspect fewer people are traveling for any reason.  

And it's easy to forget the manners and habits of traveling, even after just a short couple of years break.  I mean that for myself as much as anyone else.

Friday August 29, 1941. Shifting sands

On this day in 1941, Charles Lindbergh at a rally of the American First Committee in Oklahoma City warned the audience that the United Kingdom might turn against the US "as she had turned against France and Finland". 

Senator Burton K. Wheeler of Montana.

Lindbergh was backed up by Montana Senator Burton K. Wheeler who counseled that "If our interventionist want to free a country from the domination of another country, we ought to declare war on Great Britain and free India.  I have never seen such slavery as I saw in India a few years ago".

Wheeler was an outspoken left wing Democrat who had at one time crossed over to the Progressive Party and then back.  He opposed entry to the war right up until December 7, 1941 and was instrumental in the leaking of US plans to aid the British prior to the war, which went to press on December 4, 1941.  His isolationist stances caused him to suffer defeat in the first Montana election in which he was up after December 7, and he never returned to politics. A lawyer by training, he returned to practicing law and defended Max Lowenthal in front of the House Committee On Un American Affairs in the 1950s.  He's an example of how opposition to entry into the war was not, as sometimes imagined, politically uniform.

The rally itself was not well received by the public, and polls started increasingly swinging towards the Administration's interventionist policies.

Speaking of Finland, the Finns retook Viipuri.  Not forever of course, its Vyborg, Russia.

Flag for the city of Vybork, in the Leningrad Oblast.

The city did have a Finnish population at the time, but its entire population was evacuated in 1944 with the collapse of the Eastern Front.  It is, therefore, an example today of the massive population disruption brought on by the Second World War.

Finnish victory parade, August 31, 1941.

In Serbia, the puppet collaborationist Government of National Salvation commenced control of the country.

Vichy authorities arrested American journalist Varian Fry.  Fry was running an underground railroad effort helping Jews escape from France and to the United States, using Spain and Portugal as conduits.  He'd be expelled from the country.

Arthur McFadden became Australian Prime Minister in a coalition government.  He was a member of the minority Country Party.  The National Country Party, the "Nats" is a center right party that's strongest in rural areas and which has a focus on agrarian issues.

Blog Mirror: Lonesome Land

Too many boys reside in Lonesome Land,
  And seem to dwell estranged from persons grown,
Because of those who do not understand
  The point of view which boyhood holds its own.

From The Oklahoma City Times, June 7, 1919.

Sunday Morning Scene: Churches of the West: First Church, Oklahoma City

Churches of the West: First Church, Oklahoma City:

The First Church in Oklahoma City is so called as it was the first church established in Oklahoma City. The original wooden structure, very much added to and changed over the years, was first set out in 1889.  The Church is a United Methodist Church, and was directly across from the site of the Murrah Federal Building bombing, in which it was heavily damaged.

Sunday Morning Scene: Churches of the West: St. Josephs Old Cathedral, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

Churches of the West: St. Josephs Old Cathedral, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma...:  

 

This is St. Joseph's Old Cathedral in Oklahoma City, a Catholic parish church at the present time, having gone to parish status in 1931 after a new cathedral was built.  The church was built in 1905.  Like the First Church, a block away, it was heavily damaged in the Murrah Federal Office bombing.

Sunday Morning Scene: Churches of the West: First Church, Oklahoma City

Churches of the West: First Church, Oklahoma City:

The First Church in Oklahoma City is so called as it was the first church established in Oklahoma City. The original wooden structure, very much added to and changed over the years, was first set out in 1889.  The Church is a United Methodist Church, and was directly across from the site of the Murrah Federal Building bombing, in which it was heavily damaged.

Working in the ice cream cone bakery.

John Myers, 14 years old, Oklahoma City. An after school job.  April 3, 1917.

And a 12 year old, who was working there full time.

Bicycle Delivery Boy, aged 13, Oklahoma City.

$5.00/week.  On this day, in 1917.  Again, note the surprisingly high standard of dress.

Teenage blacksmiths, March 15, 1917

Another one from Oklahoma City.

The bicycle messenger

Manley Creasson, age 13 or 14.  $15.00 every two weeks.  Oklahoma City, on this day, in 1917.

The Child Newsies of Oklahoma City, March 15, 1917

Western Union Messenger No. 38. March 14, 1917

Fourteen years old.

Oklahoma City newsies. March 4, 1917

Teenage Machinist. March 15, 1917

Teenage machinist, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.  An after school job in this case.  Note that he appears to be wearing a tie, which would be regarded as a terrible safety violation in the present age.

Monday at the Bar: Courthouses of the West: Oklahoma City U.S. Federal Building & Courthouse, ...

Courthouses of the West: Oklahoma City U.S. Federal Building & Courthouse, ...:

Monday at the Bar: Courthouses of the West: United States Post Office and Courthouse, Oklahoma...

Courthouses of the West: United States Post Office and Courthouse, Oklahoma...:

This is the 1912 vintage Federal courthouse and post office in Oklahoma City.  This classic courthouse is no longer used for civil or criminal ntrials, having been replaced by a new courthouse nearby, but it is still used for bankruptcy proceedings.  I've been told that the most famous trial to have been held here was the criminal trial of Machine Gun Kelly.

The courthouse was a courthouse of the Western District of Oklahoma, and for a time was used by the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals prior to Oklahoma being reassigned to the 10th Circuit.