Fellow Oklahoma Genealogists, Last week we mailed out the message reprinted below. Thanks to your good response the leadership is now looking at the issue of FULL FUNDING for the Oklahoma History Center, but the money is not yet there, especially in the House. Now would be a very good time to reinforce last week's show of interest. If you called last week, please write an email or letter this week to add emphasis. If you wrote last week, please call this week. If you have not done either, please take the time today to contact our elected leaders to tell them how important the Oklahoma History Center funding is. The decisions about money issues are being made this week. We especially need voters from Tulsa, Sand Springs and Sapulpa and Creek and Tulsa Counties to contact Speaker Todd Hiett and Representative Chris Benge. If you know anyone who lives in those areas, please ask them to contact these gentlemen in support of the Oklahoma History Center. Senator Morgan is from Stillwater and represents Payne, Logan and Lincoln counties and Senator Crutchfield is from Ardmore and represents Carter, Love, Garvin and Murray counties. Any contact from folks in those areas would also help. Thanks for your help. Let's get this done! Billie Fogarty, President Oklahoma Genealogical Society Reprint of last week's notice: We need your help! Despite strong support in both the House and Senate for funding operations at the Oklahoma History Center, there is a chance that the Historical Society's budget request may be cut by $615,000. All of this cut would come from staffing needs to open the building as planned and then maintain a seven-day-a-week schedule. If the funding is not provided, the opening may be delayed and the schedule could be cut to five days a week. You can help now by calling the leadership of the House and Senate and expressing your desire that the Oklahoma History Center receive FULL FUNDING. You may also email these gentlemen. There will not be time for the US mail service to reach these leaders before the decisions are made. Please take the time to contact these 4 elected leaders. Senator Mike Morgan, President Pro Tempore phone 524-0126 or 521-5565 email bard@oksenate.gov Senator Johnnie Crutchfield, Chairman of Senate Appropriations Committee phone 524-0126 or 521-5607 email bigger@oksenate.gov Representative Todd Hiett, Speaker of the House phone 521-2711 or 557-7353 email toddhiett@okhouse.gov Representative Chris Benge, Chairman of House Appropriations Committee phone 521-2711 or 557-7340 email chrisbenge@okhouse.gov (Your own Senator and Representative can be found at the Oklahoma Legislature website: http://www.lsb.state.ok.us/ if you wish to notify them, although the decisions will most likely be made in subcommittees by leadership.) It is difficult for our elected representatives to know how important the Research Library is to us unless we tell them. They do not realize that librarians and staff are required for the facility to remain open and accessible to Oklahoma researchers. Thank you for taking the time to educate them and for being exceptionally polite in the process! On behalf of the Board of Directors of the Oklahoma Genealogical Society Billie Fogarty, President Frederick M. Dittmar, Diggin' Deep Genealogy Research Service PO Box 2601 Norman, Oklahoma  73026  http://frederick.dittmar.org   Member: Association of Professional Genealogy http://www.apgen.org  Mail List Administrator: 21 Mail Lists   Board Member & Genealogical Assistant Oklahoma Genealogy Society http://www.rootsweb.com/~okgs