Staff photo by Wendy Smith
A Whitefield home decorated for the season.

Precinct changes mean registration changes

By Doug Russell
News Editor
With four scheduled elections in 2012, it might be wise for Haskell County voters to double-check their voter registration information. After all, the Oklahoma State Election Board required all county election boards to make a 10 percent cut in precincts, which means that some voters may not be able to vote in the same place they used to.
Besides that, the law now requires voters to show identification before casting their ballots.
Precinct boundary lines cannot cross the boundaries for county commissioners, senators, representatives or members of congress, but can sometimes cross county lines. That was the case when the state was redistricted following the census of 2000, when Precinct 33 was established as a new precinct and two new sub-precincts were also established, according to Haskell County Election Board Secretary Marcia Goff.  (more on this story in this week's Stigler News Sentinel)

New (mobile) homes a possibility in Stigler

By Doug Russell
News Editor
The ordinance says no new mobile homes are allowed in the city limits of Stigler without approval of the city council. Monday afternoon, the Stigler Planning Commission took the first steps toward possible approval for one property owner, who wants to move out some old mobile homes and replace them with more modern ones.
The Commission voted Monday to recommend that the Stigler City Council grant a variance to the city's current ordinance, which doesn't allow for any mobile home in the city limits without special approval.
City Manager James Smith told Commission members that although he wasn't the city manager at the time the ordinance was passed, his understanding of the council's decision to pass it was, "They weren't necessarily opposed (to mobile homes), but they wanted a say so on where they were going."
Joe Hatfield owns property between Seventh and Eighth streets along E Street. At present, the property has three old mobile homes on it, even though it has everything that's needed to hold four. Hatfield says he wants to move the old mobile homes out and to replace them with new ones in an effort to provide housing for medium- to low-income families.
"The reason I'd rather do trailers is it's simple," Hatfield told the Planning Commission during its monthly meeting Monday afternoon. The mobile homes currently on the land are from the 1970s, Hatfield said, adding that he'd like to replace them with FEMA-style homes from 2000 or later. (more on this story in this week's Stigler News Sentinel)

Eyeing Internet sales taxes

Editor's note: this is the first of a two-part series on Internet sales taxes
By Ron J. Jackson Jr.
Oklahoma Watch
Patti Tepper-Rasmussen doesn't have to wonder whether her Oklahoma City toy store is losing business to the Internet. She knows for a fact.
"People will tell me in the store," said Tepper-Rasmussen, whose Learning Tree Toys, Books and Games Inc. has been an Oklahoma City fixture since 1985. "I'll get someone who will tell me, 'Well, I can get this online from such and such, and I don't have to pay the tax,' then I'll watch them walk out of the store."
Competition doesn't bother Tepper-Rasmussen. The lack of a level playing field does.
"Online companies aren't required to collect state and local taxes," she said. "We are. How can we compete with that?"
Voices like Tepper-Rasmussen might be finally gaining traction, as cash-strapped states dig deeper for potential revenue streams, scouring over antiquated tax credits and other exemptions. Internet taxation has been debated nationwide since the Internet's inception, but as online sales have steadily increased, more Oklahomans have started to question whether remote venders should be held to the same standards as the state's brick-and-mortar businesses.
Detractors — mostly conservatives — argue the collection of Internet taxes is simply another way of saying, "new tax." They oppose such an action as was evidenced in April when the state House defeated Senate Bill 744 — a measure that extended Oklahoma's involvement in an interstate compact that used the Streamlined Sales and Tax Agreement model to collect taxes due from direct mail.
"The Internet sales tax issue is a cut-and-dry one," said Rep. Mike Reynolds, R-Oklahoma City. "You either violate the U.S. Constitution by collecting a tax or you don't."
As for those who decry the lack of fairness in competing with tax-free, online sales, Reynolds said matter-of-factly, "Whining isn't a good reason for violating the U.S. Constitution."
Jerry Johnson, vice chairman of the state tax commission, is one person intimately familiar with the issue. Johnson served on an advisory committee for the University of Tennessee's 2009 study that estimated the amount of e-commerce sales tax dollars lost annually by each state.(more on this story in this week's Stigler News Sentinel)