Mike West – Jim Stafford's BlogOKC

EDITOR’S NOTE: For the third consecutive year, I’ve gone through my year in BlogOKC and pulled the posts that were most meaningful to me as a “best of” column. My favorite may be the one written by my daughter after she saved a roommate’s life in Florida. I was proud of her for jumping in when needed and also proud of her for the way she wrote of the experience. There are also links at the end of this ‘best of’ column that take you to other special blog posts worth reading, including three written as guest posts by friends. The subhead on each favorite blog post is also a link, so you can click through to the actual blog and read it in its entirety, if you choose. WordPress tells me BlogOKC had 7,024 visitors to this point in 2023. I thank you for reading my thoughts.

How to save a life

Sarah Florida — Sarah Stafford poses in her South Florida residence

For the past year and a half, my 24-year-old daughter, Sarah, has worked as a “tech” at drug-and-alcohol rehabilitation centers in South Florida. She is trained in CPR because of the potential for relapse and overdose of recovering addicts. Sarah is a recovering addict herself, and lives in a nearby home occupied by other recovering addicts with house rules that support their road to recovery. It’s not always easy, though. Temptation sometimes leads addicts to relapse with potential deadly consequences. This is Sarah’s story about a recent incident in her home.

Cancelled: Why Dilbert had to go

Cancelled

I went back through my social media history this morning and came across a dozen or more Dilbert comic strips I have posted over the years. If you aren’t familiar with Dilbert, it’s an insightful, often hilarious syndicated comic strip that skewers corporate office life. It features Dilbert, an engineer, his co-worker Wally and the pointy-haired boss, among others. So, it hit me hard when a text over the weekend from a former co-worker at The Oklahoman delivered some devastating news. The paper is cancelling Dilbert, and for all the right reasons.

The Beatles were great storytellers in song

Beatles NY — The Beatles from an early photo as they landed in New York City.

I was introduced to the Beatles in 1964 by my uncle. I was 11 and he was 19 and had purchased the album, ‘Meet the Beatles.’ In my extended family in 1964, buying something as worldly as a secular rock-n-roll record by the Beatles was a pretty bold step. My uncle told me he didn’t care for the music, even if the Beatles were a pop culture phenomenon. So, he gave me the album. Beatlemania washed over me like it did millions of other young Americans. I couldn’t get enough. As I was listening to a Beatles playlist on my iPhone today, it occurred to me what great storytellers, they were.

Chatbot comes alive for OKC audience in demo

Dodd AI3 — Bucky Dodd, Ph.D., founder & CEO of technology firm ClearKinetic, demonstrates an AI Chatbot at a recent OKC meeting.

“If you came here today for answers, I’m sorry, you will probably leave with more questions.” That’s how Bucky Dodd, Ph.D., a long-time educator and CEO of an educational technology startup called ClearKinetic, launched his presentation on Artificial Intelligence last week to a group of association executives at the OKC Convention Center. Dodd obviously follows author Stephen Covey and his 7 habits of a highly effective person. Begin with the end in mind. But Dodd’s presentation was more of a show-and-tell to his audience from the Oklahoma Society of Association Executives. He prompted a Chatbot to actually generate some amazing content for us.

The Walkable City on my mind

Walkable3

I just read Jeff Speck’s “Walkable City: How Downtown Can Save America, One Step at a Time,” and I don’t know where to start with my reaction. Jeff Speck, you might remember, is the urban planner and author who advocates making urban areas pedestrian friendly to encourage both economic development and urban living spaces. He consulted with the City of OKC about 15 years ago that resulted in big changes downtown, especially in the elimination of most one-way streets. I worked downtown in the 1980s, and I can assure you there was little to brag about.

Class Reunion, Party of Two

yearbook ppic — A page of the 1971 Southside High School yearbook, ‘Lifestyles’

I walked into Cattlemen’s Steakhouse a few weeks ago, made my way to a back booth and was greeted by someone I had not seen in 52 years. He was an old high school chum, so it was the ultimate class reunion.

Say it ain’t so

Sellout

I’ve written all of this because, as most people know by now, both Berry and Jenni are leaving the paper. They’re joining a new online venture called The Sellout, Sellout Crowd, or something like that. It should debut later this month, from what I understand. I got wind of Berry’s impending exit about three weeks ago and immediately sent him an email with the subject line “Say It Ain’t So.” Berry responded and said it was so. He said it’s a good thing, not bad, because readers who follow him and Jenni will be able to read their work in a free online newsletter.

A life of divine coincidences

mike magazine — Mike West with magazine opened to classified that advertised Keystone Labels for sale

Was it karma or divine coincidence? I write that because of how I recently met another outstanding couple. Except this time it wasn’t in church; it was at The Joinery restaurant in Bricktown back in October on the occasion of the Sellout Crowd launch party. Sellout Crowd is a new online sports reporting service that launched September 1. As I sat down at a table to consume some complementary food I carried from the buffet line, I found myself across from a couple who were unfamiliar to me. The couple introduced themselves as Mike and Tonia West. And did they have a story of divine coincidence.

3 Old Geezers and the pleasures of podcasting disharmony

Geezers blog — The 3 Old Geezers are (from left) Steve Buck, Ed Godfrey, Jim Stafford

For me, the podcast confirmed that I’m more agile behind a keyboard than with a microphone in my face, while both Steve and Ed have shown the ability to be clever and entertaining on the run. If you haven’t listened yet, I invite you to listen to our latest episode, and then perhaps invest some time in the previous podcasts. We’re all Thunder fans, but take different approaches to our fandom and perceive the team slightly differently. In fact, one Geezer has a tendency to sleep right through some of the games.

The new BRT line is A-OK with me

BRT1 — Our driver poses outside the BRT bus at the Lake Hefner park-and-ride stop along the Northwest Expressway.

The Northwest line is one of at least three BRT routes planned by the city, with two others in the works for the south side and the Northeast corridor. MAPS 4 dollars are paying for the new BRT routes, according to this story from The Oklahoman. Anyway, the bus was clean and new with about 5 people already aboard in the back seating area. I took a seat in the middle, and we headed toward downtown OKC. So, the BRT route gets a big thumbs up from me, even though it doesn’t lend itself to my daily transportation needs.

The OKC origin story of the Dot Race

Dot Race live — The Dot Race as presented on the Texas Rangers scoreboard in the 1980s.

If you frequented the late All Sports Stadium to watch the Oklahoma City 89ers Triple A baseball team play during the 1980s, you probably were a fan of an animated scoreboard feature known as the Dot Race. A form of the Dot Race lives on in the 2020s as between-inning entertainment for the Texas Rangers and other Major League parks around the country. And as time has passed, few people recall that the Dot Race had its beginning as humble, white dots on the 89ers scoreboard in Oklahoma City.

BONUS: Other posts from 2023 to explore:

Flight delay and an airport reunion

For Ed, Cardinals baseball a lifelong addiction (guest post written by Ed Godfrey)

The Wisdom of Linus: Be nice, and always carry a blanket (guest post written by Don Mecoy)

Chicago Woes, Part 2: Cunning as a savage pitted against the wilderness (guest post written by Don Mecoy)

Best of BlogOKC - 1

One Sunday more than two decades ago a family unfamiliar to me and my wife, Paula, happened to sit next to us on our favorite pew at what was then Quail Springs Church of Christ.

Paula introduced herself and learned this was Steve and Lisa Buck, who were visiting our church. Paula invited them to our small group meeting that night, which we called ‘Connections.’

Twenty-plus years later we have grown to be great friends with the Bucks.

Was it karma or divine coincidence?

I write that because of how I recently met another outstanding couple. Except this time it wasn’t in church; it was at The Joinery restaurant in Bricktown back in October on the occasion of the Sellout Crowd launch party. Sellout Crowd is a new online sports reporting service that launched September 1.

As I sat down at a table to consume some complementary food I carried from the buffet line, I found myself across from a couple who were unfamiliar to me. The couple introduced themselves as Mike and Tonia West.

And did they have a story of divine coincidence.

You see, Mike and Tonia were at the Sellout Crowd launch party at the invitation of sportswriter Berry Tramel, with whom they go to church at Antioch Community Church in Norman. Berry is a friend of mine and long-time colleague at The Oklahoman newspaper.

“We met Berry on our first Sunday at Antioch,” Mike told me as I sat across the table.

We chatted about Berry, their business and how they got to Oklahoma for a while before I jumped up to take some photos of the festivities. I never made it back to the table, but asked Berry later for their contact info so I could apologize for seemingly abandoning them mid-party.

Berry told me about meeting the Wests for the first time and the unique way they became owners of Oklahoma’s Keystone Labels.

“Our church has a reception type thing once a month, and we went to it one day and the Wests just sat down at our table.,” Berry said. “Mike’s a big newspaper man. They sat down and he recognized me.”

Another divine coincidence.

“We struck it off and became fast friends” Berry said. “He’s just got a heart of gold, always helping people. The one thing he likes most out of his business is when he’s able to help people; that’s what he does.”

Since that coincidental meeting, Berry and Mike have shared mission trips, both local and foreign, even traveling to Mexico together on a mission for their church.

Anyway, I called Mike up to apologize for not coming back to their table at the party, and he invited me down to tour the OKC label business that the Wests have owned since 2006.

A native of Fort Scott, Kan., Mike worked in the label business in that state before spotting a tiny classified ad in the back of an industry magazine that offered an Oklahoma City label business for sale. That was Keystone Labels.

Mike answered the ad through a surrogate and eventually purchased the business. Keystone Labels makes labels for scores of businesses with products like jars of barbecue sauce, pickles, honey and other food products, audio CDs and much, much more.

Since being owned by the Wests, Keystone Labels has become a true family business, with Tonia — a surgical nurse — working two days a week, their daughter Mikala holding down the office and nephew Chris McAllister operating one of two presses that run nonstop.

The rest of the operation’s seven employees have worked there for decades, some preceding West’s ownership. I got to watch both of the presses in action as thousands of labels were produced right in front of me while a half dozen other jobs waited for press time.

I could see that all of Keystone Labels’ employees took great pride in their work, from the graphic artists in the front to press operators Chris and Lenny, who has worked for Keystone for decades and “has never taken a day off,” Mike said.

Another long-time employee, Lonnie, handles many different tasks in the process, including turning graphic designs into press-ready plates.

Back in Fort Scott as a young man, Mike started out as a sports writer himself, making $1 an inch for his work. I said that seemed like a lot of money for those days.

“Well, considering I was only getting like 7 inches for my stories, it wasn’t a lot,” Mike said.

Mike’s dad was the high school football coach in Fort Scott, and today is retired and an active farmer in his 80s. One of his high school players was future Oklahoma State University football coach Charlie Weatherbie, a fact I learned from a Sellout Crowd article written by Tramel.

So, the visit to Keystone Labels was both informative and eye-opening for me. I saw how a small label business works and how it even has its own platemaking shop. Mike showed me the actual magazine and the four-line ad that he spotted advertising the business for sale.

I heard stories from Mike about the challenges the business has faced, including a wall being destroyed when a drunk driver drove through it in the middle of the night. I learned how Mike lives out his faith by providing support both to those he loves and those he’s never met. I learned of his daughter’s miraculous healing.

mike chris — Chris McAllister and Mike West stand in front of one of Keystone Labels small offset press units.

Since this is a personal blog, I’ve got a personal note to share.

I had intended to visit Keystone Labels two weeks ago, but had to make an emergency trip to Fort Smith, Ark., to deal with a challenging family situation. I texted a note of apology to Mike, begging off because my family was “enduring the week from heck.”

As I drove over to Fort Smith my phone dinged with a message.

It was from Mike, and it contained a prayer for my family and the situation we were facing.

“He has a heart for people that is rare,” Berry said. “You can say that about a lot of people, but he is in the upper 1 percent.”

I’m so glad that Mike and Tonia West sat at Berry’s table that day, and that I sat at Mike’s table at the launch party, and that Steve and Lisa Buck sat on our pew that Sunday more than two decades ago.

Divine coincidences all the way around.

Tag: Mike West

The Best of BlogOKC from 2023

A life of divine coincidences