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Jonny’s Gifts
When I met Jonny Skye , the Peoria tribal citizen, she allowed LEAD to choose one of her paintings to visually represent this year’s Tar Creek Conference, only to discover the title “It is in the Water” would also serve as our theme. The other paintings needed to be seen and I was pleased when she agreed to allowing us to host an art show for the public. Downtown Miami came to life one night this week at the time most towns close up. LEAD Agency held space open to the public
leadagency
Oct 293 min read
Reflecting on the 27th Tar Creek Conference
Earlier this month, LEAD Agency held our 27th National Environmental Tar Creek Conference on Oct. 7, 8 and 9 at Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College in Miami.
To kick off this year’s conference, on October 4 we co-hosted an inaugural disc golf tournament, the Tar Creek Open, at the Veterans Memorial Disc Golf Course, located near Tar Creek in what used to be a residential neighborhood before residents were forced to move due to repeated flooding. It’s been our dream for many
Kim Barker
Oct 223 min read
The Project: What’s in the Air in Your House
The investigation of what’s in the air inside homes in Miami, OK in the far NE corner of Oklahoma is based on a discovery made 28 years ago.
A family moved into a home in a nice neighborhood, moving from a state that required childhood blood lead testing, both testing negative. After living in their home only 6 months 2 of the children tested positive. Upon investigating the playroom, the air vent cover was lifted and the HVAC duct had deteriorated and what seemed like gr
Rebecca Jim
Oct 123 min read
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Feed the Birds
When we think about the winter settling in and the trees going dormant, the limbs, with the branches revealed suddenly the winged ones...
Rebecca Jim
Dec 1, 20233 min read
That’s Nuts!
The freezing nights were followed by the sudden drop of the walnut leaves, not singles, but frons laid out as if they had ended the poker...
Rebecca Jim
Nov 27, 20233 min read
Summing up the Summit
EPA’s Region 6 2-Day Environmental Justice Summit was held by zoom and I was invited to present during the first afternoon session. All...
Rebecca Jim
Nov 24, 20233 min read
It’s a Picher Perfect Day
What’s that mean? How could it translate into a Thriller, Horror, or a Musical? There is a great deal of interest in Picher. What it was....
Rebecca Jim
Nov 21, 20233 min read
We Start as Water
No other words would have been appropriate for starting the 25th National Environmental Tar Creek Conference. The words begin the poem by...
Rebecca Jim
Oct 18, 20233 min read
Be There for Tar Creek
For over 25 years children have been creating Tar Creek Fish. What? Yes, on one side was a wounded, perhaps sick or deformed, oddly...
Rebecca Jim
Sep 27, 20233 min read
Walking Wake
When a dear friend called to ask me to come honor her husband’s life after his long struggle to live, I said, “yes.” But the ask was for...
Rebecca Jim
Aug 25, 20233 min read
Work and Play
New friends see this place with new eyes. They pose the questions we no longer ask, having received only silence decades before. I made...
Rebecca Jim
Aug 4, 20233 min read
I Get It
When the rain storm had passed it was time to meet one of this year’s Billy Mills Dreamstarters: Loren Waters. I was to join her and...
Rebecca Jim
Jul 26, 20233 min read
Grandmas’ Letters
Morning came and I went looking for a letter one of my grandmothers had written me. It was easy. There in the closet on the shelf in the...
Rebecca Jim
Jul 24, 20233 min read
A Random Photograph
The 1968 photograph showed me standing on the edge of a roadway somewhere in west Texas. I had caught a ride overnight in a semi owned by...
Rebecca Jim
Jul 7, 20233 min read
It will Kill You
Sometimes people say, “It will kill you,” and, hey, it doesn’t, won’t, hasn’t, so we tend to downplay the warning. I have been guilty of...
Rebecca Jim
Jul 5, 20233 min read
Something’s Wrong
Those words woke me at 4 this morning. I rose to find nothing wrong. The clarity of the voice bridged the chasm of the place between...
Rebecca Jim
Jun 29, 20233 min read
Flooded by Memories
I want to swim in Tar Creek ~ I want to fish in Tar Creek ~ I want to play in Tar Creek ~ Maybe someday Tar Creek is my creek ~~ EPA...
Rebecca Jim
Jun 5, 20233 min read
Another Big Week
I like to say it starts with water. But actually, it started in New Jersey. NEW JERSEY? Yes, the Picher Project was going to be...
Rebecca Jim
May 24, 20233 min read
I Drove Home
I drove home facing the sun again. All these years coming and going to work the Sun greets me each day and leads me home again. Tonight,...
Rebecca Jim
May 24, 20233 min read
I deferred
The image in my head is of the me standing up midst and among the rows of Waterkeepers and yelling the words that 20 years ago Earl...
Rebecca Jim
May 4, 20234 min read
Someone Cared
After all these years, the effort has worked. The Miami Police Department got the call, and they turned on their lights and approached...
Rebecca Jim
Apr 25, 20233 min read
Table Talk
The dining table Tony Booth donated to LEAD Agency has been with us since we moved into the ROCK House and later when we brought it to...
Rebecca Jim
Apr 25, 20233 min read
Start Dreaming
Without a dream, with no hope, with no plan for change, we will have no change. Billy Mills, began his Dreamstarter program on the 50th...
Rebecca Jim
Apr 5, 20233 min read
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