oklahoma news update

this man is insane and sadly has made it this far in pursuit of a statewide post. hmmmm...what can you say really?


Candidate suggests Kevlar for kids' books
A GOP hopeful for state school superintendent offers ideas for school safety.
By ANGEL RIGGS World Capitol Bureau
Tulsa World
10/21/2006

OKLAHOMA CITY -- A candidate for Oklahoma public school superintendent, who suggested using schoolbooks as shields, said Friday that textbook manufacturers should consider making book covers out of the same material used by the military for body armor.

Bill Crozier, R-Union City, first made headlines this week when he released a video demonstrating how thick textbooks could stop bullets fired from certain weapons.

Crozier's video shows him and others shooting at textbooks with weapons including an assault rifle and pistol.

"I think we need to start the dialogue, and help protect the children and help them defend themselves," Crozier said in a telephone interview.

He referred to several recent school shootings, saying that while the instances are rare, "it sparks fear in everyone's minds."

He said that textbooks could be designed or made in such a way that they could be used for self-defense.

Though it would be more costly, he suggested that companies consider making book covers out of Kevlar, a material used in body armor.

A 13-year military veteran, Crozier said he wanted to "spark the discussion and debate on what can be done" to protect children at school.

"There's no reason why we can't come up immediately with a simple policy until we come up with a better one," he said.

Crozier is running against Democratic incumbent Sandy Garrett.

Garrett's campaign had no comment on Crozier's suggestions.

However, the video also includes controversial remarks made near the end by one of the group's members.

"We're out on the Texas border, between Mexico and Texas," an unidentified person said.

"That's right, on the Mexican side," another person said.

Crozier said the person wasn't being serious, and that if they had edited the video, "we would have taken that out."

However, Giovanni Perry, vice president of the Governor's Advisory Council on Latin American and Hispanic Affairs, questioned why Crozier didn't chastise the person who made the remarks.

"I think it's a bad deal for this person who is running for public office, especially an office that takes care of children, to not care about the fastest growing minority group," she said.

Juanita Sykes, also a council member and president of the Oklahoma City League of United Latin American Citizens chapter, said that she would give Crozier "the benefit of the doubt" because he didn't personally make the remarks.

However, she questioned why the experiment wasn't done more scientifically and why children in the video aren't wearing safety equipment.