Percefull elected; BA, Union bonds passed
ANDREA EGER AND JAY COOPER World Staff Writers
02/12/2003
Tulsa World (Final Home Edition), Page A15 of News

Gary Percefull for the Tulsa school board and bond issues in Union and Broken Arrow were among winners in annual statewide school elections Tuesday.

Percefull, 48, handily defeated Loyce Manning 930 votes to 310 to fill the District 1 vacancy on the Tulsa school board.

The public relations consultant and his wife, Linda Jordan, were having an election night watch party for friends and campaign volunteers at their house near downtown.

"We're all gathered together and everybody is feeling pretty good," Percefull said. "Now I'm ready to roll up my sleeves and get to work."

He attributed his victory to a well-organized campaign and his business' longtime sponsorship of one of the nearby schools in District 1, Park Elementary School.

"I think the fact that I have been visible in some of the schools might have helped out," Percefull said.

His public relations firm, the Scissortail Group, awards its Scissortail Citizenship Award and lapel pin depicting the Oklahoma state bird each month to Park students through the Partners in Education program.

Percefull also has spent an hour every Friday morning for the past two school years mentoring to a boy who is now in the fifth grade there.

Percefull will be sworn in to office at the next regular meeting of the board, at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Education Service Center.

Bond issues totaling $13.5 million for Broken Arrow and $16 million for Union passed overwhelmingly Tuesday.

Broken Arrow's bond package includes $7.5 million for construction of an elementary school, $1.5 million for roof renovation at various schools, $1 million for instructional equipment and $725,000 for renovations at Central Middle School.

A second proposal in Broken Arrow's bond package was for $500,000 to buy new buses.

Broken Arrow Superintendent Dennis Shoemaker said the new elementary school, which is expected to be open for the 2004-05 school year, is vital to the district's growth.

More than 400 students live within a mile and a half of where the new school will be, around 41st Street and 209th East Avenue.

The main item on Union's bond issue was a $6 million renovation of the Eighth Grade Center. The oldest of any of Union's secondary school buildings, it has very few windows.

Union Superintendent Cathy Burden said the renovation was long overdue.

Union's bond issue also contains $1.5 million to buy land for an additional elementary school, $1 million for textbooks, $1.5 million for bandwidth expansion for the district's computer network and $700,000 for furniture and equipment for the new activity center, among other items.

Both Burden and Shoemaker said their bond issues were more critical this year because of the statewide revenue shortfall in education.

Bond issues will not solve the funding crisis because most of a district's budget is used for salaries, and salaries cannot be funded through bond issues.

But both Broken Arrow and Union bond issues will pay for items that would have been hard to purchase out of a cash-strapped general fund.

Both superintendents said strong voter turnout and the overwhelming "yes" vote were proof that Oklahomans support public education.

"The turnout is positively correlated with the fact that people are concerned with schools taking (budget) cuts," Burden said.

Shoemaker said Broken Arrow's faculty was pleased to get such a vote of confidence from the community.

"I think it's a good morale booster for our staff to see that support come out," he said.

Tuesday's elections also included school board races in five suburban school districts.

In Broken Arrow, no candidate earned a majority vote, so incumbent Jack Copeland and Wes Smithwick will meet in a runoff election.

Smithwick grabbed the most votes, 426, followed by Copeland with 352 and Dustin Toler with 78.

In the Jenks school district, Joe Hidy defeated incumbent Jim T. Roy Barnes 1,300 votes to 574. In Owasso, Gail Ballinger defeated incumbent Bill Bush Jr. by 1,530 votes to 333.

In Skiatook, incumbent Kenneth Cooper defeated Mollyann Warr, and in Berryhill Charles Coleman defeated Jeremy Wade.

Tuesday's elections

Winner denoted: x

State Senate

DISTRICT 17
Unexpired term -- Pottawatomie plus parts of Oklahoma and Cleveland counties.
x Charlie Laster, D 5,849
Kris Steele, R 4,933

Tulsa County

TULSA
City Councilor: Dist. 2
x Chris Scott Medlock, R 1,041
Darla Dean Hall, D 937
Berl A. Hart, D 154

School Board: Office 1
x Gary Percefull 930
Loyce Jean Manning 310

BERRYHILL
School Board: Office 3
x Charles W. Coleman 276
Jeremy D. Wade 127

BROKEN ARROW
School Board: Office 3
Wes Smithwick 426
Jack Copeland 352
Dustin Toler 78

School bond: No. 1 -- $13 million for construction
Passed 3,237 to 1,154

School bond: No. 2 -- $500,000 for buses
Passed 3,222 to 1,165

JENKS
School Board: Office 3
x Joe Hidy 1,300
Jim T. Roy Barnes 574

OWASSO
School Board: Office 3
x Gail Ballinger 1,530
Bill R. Bush Jr. 333

SKIATOOK
School Board: Office 3
x Kenneth D. Cooper 351
Mollyann Warr 94

UNION
School bond -- $16 million for construction
Passed 3,316 to 948

Creek County

KIEFER
School Board: Office 3
x Lonnie Hudgins 100
Mike Smith 10

MANNFORD
School Board: Office 3
x Russell Dyer 190
Richard R. Bruner 178

PRETTY WATER
School Board: Office 1
Wesley Fisher 36
Ricky L. Seritt 28
Forrest Belcher 11

SAPULPA
School Board: Office 3
x Sam Allen 917
Mike Gibson 825

Osage County

PRUE
School Board: Office 5 (Unexpired term)
x Don Horton 98
Mike Goodman 78
Jacques D. Gray Jr. 33

School bond -- $300,000 for construction
Passed 163 to 52

Rogers County

COUNTYWIDE
Sales tax -- Levy 1 penny for county roads and bridges
Passed 3,038 to 996

INOLA
School Board: Office 3
x Mary L. Stout 471
Randall L. Watkins 166

School bond -- $1,295,000 for construction
Passed 537 to 116

OOLOGAH-TALALA
School Board: Office 3
x Jayme O'Donnell-Hancock 339
La Rue Bevel 282

SEQUOYAH
School bond -- $2,550,000 for construction
Passed 378 to 88

Wagoner County

COUNTYWIDE
Sales tax -- Extension of 1-cent for road improvements, the Sheriff's Office and the general fund
Passed 2,291 to 879