The Oklahoman – Jim Stafford's BlogOKC

Museum highlights service, sacrifice of U.S. Marshals

The entrance to the U.S. Marshals Museum in Fort Smith, Ark.

If you’ve crossed the Arkansas River bridge from Oklahoma onto Garrison Ave. in Fort Smith, Ark., in the past decade, you may have noticed the unique, star-shaped building on the east side of the river bank about a half-mile north of the bridge.

The low-slung building is the U.S. Marshals Museum, which opened in July 2023 after 16 years of planning and fund-raising.

I’ve kept my eye on the Marshals Museum because I’m a Fort Smith native whose 92-year old mother still resides in the historic river city. So, I’m crossing that river bridge several times a year, and alway look to the north to check out the building.

But I had never toured the museum until this past weekend when my mom, Jean Stafford, and I spent about an hour-and-a-half working our way through the museum’s many historical exhibits, she in a wheelchair and me pushing her past the displays.

It was well worth the effort and the $13 entry it cost us as senior citizens to tour the museum. I want to share what I found most interesting, but first a little background on the 53,000 square foot museum that cost about $48 million — all from private donations — to create.

Fort Smith was selected as site for the museum in 2007 after a competitive site selection process among several hopeful locations. The museum shares the stories of the U.S. Marshals Service across its 240-year history, featuring interactive displays, photographs, videos and artifacts.

From my perspective, Fort Smith is the perfect location for the museum because of the city’s frontier history dating back to the early 1800s. It served as the HQ for many US Marshals and deputy marshals who attempted to keep the peace and track down outlaws in the Oklahoma Territory to the west.

Fort Smith also is where notorious ‘Hanging Judge’ Isaac Parker dispensed frontier justice to many outlaws brought in from the Territory. You should also visit the nearby National Historic Site that Judge Parker’s courthouse and gallows still occupy.

In fiction, Fort Smith was the starting point for True Grit and Deputy Marshal Rooster Cogburn in book and film, as well as the location where the epic Lonesome Dove saga began with a killing on Garrison Ave.

While the museum location was announced in 2007, it took far longer to build and open than anticipated because of fund-raising issues that held back its construction.

Along the way, Fort Smith city leaders made an attempt to provide funding that would ensure its completion through a temporary, 1-cent sales tax. Skeptical Fort Smith residents soundly defeated the proposal in a 2019 special election.

In fact, Fort Smith attorney Joey McCutchen declared that the Marshals Museum would be one of several ‘white elephants’ he said the city has undertaken. Check out this 2019 article from the online news site, Talk Business and Politics, that outlines the controversy over the museum and proposed sales tax.

However, the money was finally raised through donations, the building completed and museum opened. Attendance has not met original projections, but I would say that the lingering effects of COVID played a role in that.

Today, the Marshals Museum offers an impressive collection and display providing historical education that shows how the Marshals live up to their motto of “Justice, Integrity, and Service.” The museum also serves as a community gathering spot for conferences, networking events, wedding receptions and more.

So, what stood out to me as I worked my way through the museum with my mom?

Jean Stafford looks at the display of the Oklaoma City bombing at the U.S. Marshals Museum

Well, I was especially taken by one wall that described the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing of the federal building and its aftermath. The local U.S. Marshals Service office was located in the adjacent federal courthouse, and marshals provided rescue coordination and then security oversight for the trials of Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols.

My only objection to that exhibit is the decision to showcase the front page of the Dallas Morning News from the day after the bombing. I was working at The Daily Oklahoman at the time, and our staff was fully involved in the coverage, which was reflected in spectacular front page photos and stories the day after and in the following months.

Beyond the OKC bombing, there was much more to learn about the U.S. Marshals Service from the museum visit. I found out that the Marshals Service was launched by President George Washington, and for at least a few decades it was the U.S. Marshals who conducted the U.S. Census.

There were displays that outlined the Marshals’ role in providing justice throughout the Oklahoma territory, along with stories that told of shootouts that resulted in the deaths of outlaws — and Marshals — along the way.

Most impressive was a room designed as an Old West saloon in which a virtual barkeep on a screen tells stories about U.S. Marshals in action during the frontier period. You can even learn more by interacting with a nearby computerized poker table. Then you can watch and listen to robotic ‘marshals’ from different generation talking around a virtual campfire.

A virtual campfire is surrounded by U.S. Marshals from different generations of the Marshals Service.

There is room after room that carries you from the beginning of the US Marshals Service to modern day, along with displays and artifacts from incidents like Ruby Ridge and Wounded Knee, the Freedom Riders, Oxford, Miss., Selma and much more. There is even a video from a Marshal’s body cam of officers capturing a fugitive in Fort Smith.

As a sort of bonus, U.S. Marshals in movies and TV are showcased, as well as the actual badge worn by Marshal Matt Dillon in Gunsmoke.

Finally, we found our way back to the reception area, which features a large atrium-like space that is used for community and educational events. We also toured a special temporary exhibit that showcased the U.S. Marshals role in the aftermath of 9/11 attacks on NYC in 2001.

Mom told the receptionist as we were leaving that she was surprised by the depth of information that the museum provided and how much more it offered than she anticipated.

Me, too.

I didn’t realize that the history of the US Marshals Service spans most of our nation’s 250 years, or that more than 300 Marshals have lost their lives in service to our nation.

It’s a sobering, eye-opening educational exhibit that I would hope everyone would want to experience.

I’m so glad my mom and I toured the museum at long last. I shouldn’t have been such a stranger.

BONUS CONTENT: The following is perspective from my friend Ed Godfrey, who toured the U.S. Marshals Museum months before I paid a visit. Thank you, Ed, for sharing your thoughts with blogOKC.
***
By Ed Godfrey

I really liked the U.S. Marshals museum, especially the Old West exhibits and history, but all the displays from each era were visually interesting and informative. The wall of plaques listing the names of marshals who were killed in the line of duty also was impressive. So many who were killed were identified not as deputy marshals but simply “posse.” I have recommended the museum to friends and would go again. My one criticism is the use of the huge front page display of The Dallas Morning News from the morning after the Oklahoma City bombing. Why wouldn’t you use the front page from the city where the tragedy happened, especially when OKC is just down the road from Fort Smith? The Oklahoman’s front page was even better that day, in my opinion, than the Morning News. As a member of The Oklahoman’s staff at the time, I found it a little insulting. Perhaps the museum couldn’t get permission from The Oklahoman to use its front page, but unless there is a legal reason, it seems like an odd choice to me.

Statue outside the U.S. Marshals Museum depicts Bass Reeves, the first black U.S. Marshal to serve out of Fort Smith

Imposter syndrome is the real deal

In June 2025, I wrote a blog post about the Dunning-Kruger Effect and how I had experienced that across my life. You can read it here.

If you are not familiar with Dunning-Kruger Effect, it’s the condition when you overestimate your expertise on a particular subject when, in fact, you actually know very little.

In other words, you don’t know what you don’t know.

Fast forward a year to 2026. I was visiting with a former colleague from my days as a reporter and editor at The Oklahoman newspaper when she asked me about my time as the paper’s Business Editor.

I told her I didn’t really enjoy it and thought I was not prepared for the role and that I suffered from Imposter Syndrome. She said she knew what I was talking about because she also had Imposter Syndrome in some of the positions she had held.

Imposter Syndrome is that feeling that you are not capable or as deserving as other people think you are for a particular job. In my case, it was the role of Business Editor at the state’s largest daily newspaper.

Every day that I worked as Business Editor I found myself falling short of my own personal expectations for the role and assumed everyone was judging me for being so bad. Maybe it wasn’t Imposter Syndrome that I was suffering from but the Peter Principle, which is yet another condition that is well known.

You know the Peter Principle; It’s when you rise to your level of incompetence. In my case, I thrived as a reporter and was asked to step into an editor’s role, which, of course, I accepted.

It has happened to me a couple times in my life, including my first newspaper job in Fort Smith, Ark. There I worked as a sports reporter and was then asked to take over the position as Sports Editor, which I did.

Peter Principle at work!

Back to Imposter Syndrome. My Oklahoman colleague and I shared a laugh over our feelings of being an imposter in our past roles.

It’s funny now — ha ha — but wasn’t funny then.

Now my role is that of retiree, and it’s a perfect fit. I have zero feelings of Imposter Syndrome as a Geezer in 2026. I’m meeting all my expectations.

I’m the real deal.

Privileged to attend service celebrating life of long-time Oklahoman city editor Gene Triplett

Former Oklahoman managing editor Joe Hight kicks off the recent memorial service for long-time Oklahoman city editor and entertainment editor, Gene Triplett.

I was among a group of 40 or so Oklahoma Publishing Co. alums who attended a recent memorial service for Gene Triplett, The Oklahoman’s long-time city editor and entertainment editor.

Gene passed away on June 6 at the age of 77.

It was a wonderful, upbeat celebration of Gene, emceed by the paper’s former managing editor, Joe Hight. Joe is the endowed chair of journalism ethics at the University of Central Oklahoma as well as director — and member — of the Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame, which is housed at UCO.

I won’t give a play-by-play of the service, other than to say we got to hear “A Whiter Shade of Pale,” which Gene Triplett considered to be the greatest rock song of them all. That was followed by maybe six former colleagues who took the mic to tell a favorite Triplett story or what he meant to their careers as a mentor or editor.

Gene’s son, Aaron, also shared some memories and played a video about Gene when he was inducted into the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame. Watch it below.

Although I didn’t work directly with Gene on a day-to-day basis because I worked on a different desk, I still had a lot of interactions with him over the years. He had an unusually warm demeanor for a crusty old City Editor. I never saw or heard him snarl or yell at anyone.

That’s not to say that he didn’t, but I never witnessed it.

Anyway, Gene’s death tightens the circle of my fellow Oklahoman colleagues from the 1980s and ’90s who are still living. I’ve attended a growing number of funerals over the years.

Time marches on, but it’s always a reminder of my own mortality.

As we were leaving the service afterward, my friend and former Oklahoman colleague Ed Godfrey said that it’s too bad that all our newsroom reunions have to occur at funerals. I replied that I didn’t mind so much, because funerals provide the opportunity to rekindle so many lost relationships.

“Why a funeral?” he asked. “I would rather see everyone at a party,”

Well, yes, but I’m not sure how many former colleagues would drive from Tulsa, Dallas or Siloam Springs, Ark., for a party like they did for Gene’s service. They will make the effort to honor a former colleague.

It was a privilege for me to be among the group of former Oklahoman colleagues who gathered to honor the remarkable life and career of Gene Triplett.

BONUS CONTENT: My wife might tell you that “I can’t take Jim anywhere,” because of my inclination to make a social blunder along the way. I certainly committed an embarrassing faux pas at Gene Triplett’s service. As we were visiting outside UCO’s Heritage Room before the service, I noticed that people were signing a book that would be given Gene’ wife, Carol. So, I took my turn and signed it, as well. During the service Joe announced that the book had been signed for Carol by Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame members. Oops. I’m no Hall of Famer, so I can only apologize after the fact.

Myriad Memories so thick we have to brush them away from our faces

The site of the former Myriad Convention Center is empty as it awaits construction on new arena.

A few weeks ago, my friend Ed and I had an appointment in Midtown OKC when we decided to go take a look at the site of the Incomparable Myriad to see the progress made on its demolition.

As you probably know, the gigantic concrete box that opened in 1972 as the Myriad Convention Center was demolished to make way for a new billion dollar arena built for the Oklahoma City Thunder. Along its 53-year journey, the name transitioned from the Myriad to the Cox Business Center and finally to the Prairie Surf Studios.

I admit I was surprised when we approached the 2-square block site of the Myriad and there was nothing but a gigantic empty lot. The site looked even larger to me than it actually is, because now it’s a sea of dirt stretching from E.K. Gaylord Blvd. to Robinson Ave.

Ed slowed down to let me jump out to take some photos while he drove around the block(s). When I got back into the car, we shared some of the experiences we had at the old arena.

Then Ed said, “you should write a blog post about your Myriad memories.”

So, that’s the purpose of this post. I’m sharing my favorite memories of the building that date back to the late ’70s. But I’ve also asked Ed and several other Oklahomans to share their Myriad memories.

I’ve got three memories that stand out to me.

My first visit to the Myriad took place in roughly 1979 or ’80 when I accompanied a group of folks from Fort Smith, Ark., to attend the National Finals Rodeo. I was a young sports writer at the Southwest Times Record and was sent on assignment with the Fort Smith Old Fort Days Rodeo committee to experience the NFR.

What stands out in my mind is the location from which I witnessed the rodeo. They stationed me on the actual arena dirt behind the protection of metal fencing. So you might say I had an up-close-and-personal look at the National Finals Rodeo.

My second Myriad memory is attending a John (Cougar) Mellencamp concert at the venue in February 1986. I’m not a big concert goer, but I was (and am) a fan of John Mellencamp’s music, so I enjoyed being part of a full house, both on the floor and in arena seats. I was struck by how awesome the violinist (fiddler?) was who accompanied him on several songs.

Finally, my favorite Myriad memory is that of New Years Eve 1990. I took my future wife, Paula, to see the Oklahoma City Cavalry on our first date. I know, I’m a real romantic. Turns out, Paula may be a bigger basketball fan than am I, and has seen far more OKC Thunder games at Paycom Center over the years than I have.

Now I’m turning this over to 10 Oklahomans who share diverse memories from their experiences at the Myriad over the decades.

First up is Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt, who is also Dean of the Oklahoma City University School of Law and author of the book: Big League City: Oklahoma City’s Rise to the NBA

If you get a little misty-eyed about the Myriad, it’s understandable. It may not have been much to look at, but it was the center of our community’s life in a unique way that will never happen here again.

The Myriad opened in 1972. Until the opening of the Ford Center in 2002, it was the city’s primary arena. Until the opening of the Oklahoma City Convention Center in 2021, it was also the city’s primary convention center. And until the city’s explosion in growth around the time of the Thunder’s arrival in 2008, the demand on the Myriad’s schedule was mostly for community events. All of this is worth noting, because it means that for about four decades, practically every major moment we experienced as a resident of this city was at the Myriad. The Myriad occupied an emotional place in Oklahoma City life that no venue will ever occupy again. In 2026, we utilize many venues to host that which was once held at the Myriad. And increased demand for national entertainment events and conventions means that community events once held at the Myriad are less likely to occur at its successor venues.

It is probably also worth noting that the prime decades for the Myriad were some of the worst decades in the city’s overall history. From a historical perspective, we can appreciate that. But within that narrative, we were living our lives. The milestones of our individual lives were largely unencumbered by the greater challenges facing our city. And those milestones occurred at the Myriad. Any OKC resident born between 1950 and 1985 is going to have a very long list of personal experiences tied to the Myriad. For me, it will always be the place I graduated high school, took the Bar exam and delivered my first two State of the City addresses. It was where I attended countless memorable athletic events and concerts. It was the focal point of our city’s shared experience. We’ll each carry those warm feelings forward as we experience the glorious new future destined for this site in the heart of our city.

Ed Godfrey is a now-retired longtime reporter at The Oklahoman who shares an unforgettable memory of the Myriad from 26 years ago.

Memories of the Myriad? There are many. I recall a great Whitney Houston concert there in 1987 and a tremendous Reba McEntire performance the following year.

But my most vivid memory came on March 13, 1998. I was the county courthouse reporter for The Oklahoman newspaper and covering a trial when the jury went out to deliberate that afternoon.

I left my pager number with someone in the judge’s office and asked to be paged when there was a verdict. With time to kill, I made the short walk to the Myriad to meet some colleagues from work and go to an NCAA basketball tournament game between 13th-seeded Valparaiso and 4th-seeded Ole Miss.

Thankfully, the jury didn’t reach a verdict before the end of the game, because it allowed me to witness one of the greatest buzzer beaters in NCAA history.

Valparaiso trailed 69-67 with 2.5 seconds left and had to inbound the ball from under its own basket and go the length of the court. I thought the game was over, as I’m sure everybody in the Myriad did.

I mean, how would Valparaiso even get a shot up, other than a Hail Mary, with just 2.5 seconds left? Ole Miss put a defender in front of Valparaiso’s Jaime Sykes, who was inbounding the ball.

Sykes heaved the ball over the halfcourt line to a leaping Bill Jenkins, who caught the pass and tossed it to Bryce Drew, who was streaking beside him, before Jenkins’ feet even hit the floor. Drew caught it and immediately fired up a 23-foot 3-point shot to win the game.

The Myriad erupted. No one could believe what they had just seen.
I don’t remember the verdict that day in the trial I was covering. I don’t even remember who was on trial or what it was about.

But I will always remember that shot and the noise in the arena at that moment

Don Mecoy had a long tenure at The Oklahoman as both a reporter and editor, closing out his career as the newspaper’s managing editor.

The Myriad, while incomparable in name only, was a happy place for me. I attended scores of events there over the decades, including graduation ceremonies, sporting events, business conferences and concerts.

I even worked there. As a reporter, I covered a 1991 appearance at the downtown arena by the Rev. Jesse Jackson. I was posted at a table along the front of the stage, with the 12,000 attendees at the National Baptist Conference seated behind me.

At one point, Jackson asked all the men in the arena to stand. I am a man, so I stood.

“Look at all these beautiful Black faces,” Jackson implored the crowd.
I am not Black, so I eventually sat back down.

But I digress. My favorite event that I ever attended at the Myriad was a Yes concert. I was a pretty big fan of the prog-rock band. But the performance, delivered from a rotating round stage in the middle of the arena floor, was much better than I had expected.

I even looked it up to make sure my memory hadn’t been faulty. It was indeed at the Myriad on June 5, 1979.

Coincidentally, that’s my wedding anniversary – just 14 years before the fact, and about six years before I even met my wife.

Scott Munn is also an alumnus of The Oklahoman, toiling for decades on the sports desk as both a reporter and an editor.

There were a few people who suggested that I keep a cot in a closet. For a few years in the early to mid-1990s, I was at the Myriad every night of the winter, covering either the Blazers hockey team or the Cavalry basketball team.

The Blazers would play Friday night, the Cavs on Saturday, etc. I was able to see Ryan Minor’s brief stay with the Cavalry before he went on the play baseball for the Baltimore Orioles and become the answer to a trivia question — who replaced Cal Ripken Jr., after he ended the consecutive games played record?

I witnessed Smokin’ Joe Burton develop from a rookie forward into the greatest player in Central Hockey League history. Fights. 10,000 people in the stands almost every game. The atmosphere made you feel like you were at an NHL game.

The Myriad had typical arena smells. Fried onion burgers, hot popcorn and Little Caeser’s Pizza. Even the parking garage under the arena had an odd, indescribable smell, which I think was a combination of automobile fuel and mold.

I really hated to see the Myriad go down. I saw a lot of games, stood for my share of national anthems — both American and Canadian (yes, I can sing “Oh Canada”). I tried to get one of those orange folding chairs from press row, just for memory-sake. But my “connection” never got back to me, so I figure those chairs went to the landfill like the rest of the grand old place.

Larry Newman is retired from a long career in the technology industry, but also worked part time on The Oklahoman’s sports desk while an OU student in the early 1980s.

My favorite memories of the Myriad involved time spent with my dad. We had season tickets to the Oklahoma City Blazers and Stars for about seven seasons in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

We rarely missed a game and enjoyed watching many great players when Oklahoma City was the farm club of the Calgary Flames and Minnesota North Stars.

Dad went to heaven three years ago, but the cherished memories remain vivid.

Steve Buck is a longtime friend, avid sports fan and public servant who worked for two governors and now is CEO of Care Providers Oklahoma.

Growing up in Altus, going to the Myriad was a magical treat. Even as I aged, I could never call it anything but “The Myriad” (sorry Cox). I experienced so many great events from hockey matches to CBA Hoops (Go Calvary!) and NCAA tournaments to State FFA conventions.

But the concerts are the events I remember the most. I saw some great ones, but by far the most historic was the May, 1991 event dubbed as “Farm Fest ’91”. One of my good friends helped organize the event to support our state’s farmers and the line-up of Oklahoma connected country superstars was unbelievable … Garth Brooks. Vince Gill. Restless Heart. Joe Diffie. Just an incredible night of music and an extraordinary reflection of the star power that calls our state home.

Marc Anderson and his wife, Michelle, served as Den Masters to my son’s Cub Scout Pack in the late 1990s.

I moved to OKC in 1991 and as I became entrenched in the community I would attend games at the Myriad with friends. Here are some core memories of the arena:

The May 1999 tornado and being evacuated to the parking garage during the game (Blazers?).

Also, graduations! My son, Reece, graduated in May 2014, daughter Quinn in 2016 and youngest son Beck in 2017, all at the Myriad.

There are some secondary memories, as well. Blazers hockey games, Oklahoma Calvary games and the arena’s final days as the Prairie Sky Studio, because my son, Beck, worked there for two years.

Kent Taylor is another longtime friend who is retired from a career in the oil and gas industry.

As an Okie who grew up watching football, baseball, and basketball, I was introduced to hockey at the Myriad Convention Center. An older couple from our church first invited my wife, Jamie, and me to our first game. Over the years, we attended a number of Blazer games.

I also recall attending the men’s gymnastics competition during the Olympic Festival in 1988 or maybe it was 1989. The Olympic Festival provided the opportunity for Oklahoma City to showcase itself to the country. Maybe the Olympic Festival was the springboard that birthed the renewal of downtown OKC.

Steve Hill served as Chief of Staff to two Oklahoma City mayors, Mick Cornett and David Holt, and before that was a renowned newspaper columnist and cartoonist.

I saw so many great shows at the Incomparable Myriad.

I saw Queen, twice. I also saw ELO, Neil Young, Thin Lizzy, and Whitney Houston. I think tickets were $12 for most of those shows.

I interviewed UB40 in the Green Room at the Myriad. By “interviewed,” I mean recording a conversation fueled by a ridiculous amount of Heinekens.

UB40 was opening for the Police. Mickey Virtue, the band’s keyboard player, told me to come sit on top of the on-stage speaker monitors during their opening set. So I did. Stayed there for the Police, eliciting a funny look from guitarist Andy Summers. Best seats ever.

I was friends with the Cavalry ownership group when the CBA came to OKC. I wound up selecting and playing the music during games.

OKC’s Steve Burtt was checking into a game. As he waited for the ref to motion him in, he told me he liked the baseball cap I was wearing.

“You want it?” I asked.

“Yeah!” He replied.

I tossed him the hat off my head. He grabbed it and ran back to the bench to stow it before checking in.

The CBA.

Best part of the Cavs experience was lunchtime pick-up games on the Myriad court with my buddies Mick Cornett, Dean Blevins, and other media guys.

I forget the OKC Barons played at the Myriad/Cox Convention Center in its latter years — that team was insane with future NHL stars Jordan Eberle, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Taylor Hall and Justin Shultz starting for the Barons. Loved going to Barons’ games.

Russ Florence is a longtime friend, music aficionado, writer and all-around renaissance man who also serves as OKC-based partner, President and CEO of the consulting and PR firm, Schnake Turnbo Frank.

Russ wrote a story for The Oklahoman last year about a 1977 concert experience he had at the Myriad as a 13-year old. Here are some key paragraphs and a link to the entire story on The Oklahoman’s website:

Afterward, Gary and I walked out the north doors of the Myriad, into the downtown streets with thousands of long-haired fans. We were probably the only ones looking for our parents. Neither of us recalled instructions about where to meet them. Just, you know, “find us afterward, somewhere.”

Amidst the revelry and the traffic, we looked toward the corner of Sheridan and Robinson, and Gary pointed. “There they are,” he said. Indeed, there were his parents, idling in their giant Ford LTD, cigarette smoke rolling out of their windows. They didn’t have a care in the world. How did they know when the show would be over? How did they know we would find them? Where did they go while Gary and I were at the concert? I’m envisioning a couple of Crown and Cokes at a dark, wood-paneled restaurant on the city’s west side, or a little beer joint that played George Jones on the jukebox.

“How was she?” Gary’s dad asked.

“He,” Gary said. “Alice Cooper is a ‘he.’ He was good.”

Click here to read the entire story at The Oklahoman website.

Thanks to these fellow Oklahomans who shared their memories of the Myriad Convention Center built across decades of sports events, concerts, graduations and more. And thank you, Ed, for suggesting this post.

If you have your own memories of attending an event at the Myriad, please share them in comments below.

Aerial view of the brand new Myriad Convention Center in 1972.

AI impact: ‘Well, the world needs ditch diggers, too’

The Daily Oklahoman newsroom in the 1980s. Then Sports Editor Jerry McConnell is on the far right.

When I joined The Daily Oklahoman sports desk in the fall of 1983, it was a black and white world. Published photographs were all black and white. The newspaper pages themselves were black and white (and read all over!).

It’s hard to overstate the impact the newspaper had on Oklahoma City and beyond. The paper’s circulation was north of 200,000 and we circulated in every county in the state. When someone wanted a sports score or a football recruiting update, or to complain about a headline, they called the paper.

I know because I was on the receiving end of those calls a lot.

We drew our pages by hand on sheets of paper, which were sent down to the composing room to be put together by a large crew of folks. There was an often frenetic scene in composing as people rushed around at a frantic pace on deadline, shouting ‘we need a cut!’ for an editor to help them splice story that was too long as it was pasted on the page.

Some nights I acted as a copy editor on the sports desk, working to smooth the rough edges off of copy, as well as writing headlines. Other nights, I actually drew the pages, although I had such a lack of artistic vision that my pages usually looked as if they were part of a third-grade art project.

Anyway, desktop publishing was introduced in the newsroom in 1987. Our jobs dramatically changed, as we ‘drew’ our pages on a computer screen and they came out of the printers as one compete sheet instead of having to be pasted down by hand. There were far fewer people needed in the composing room.

Desktop publishing required more people to work on the sports desk to lay out individual pages. We were a little community that endured the stressful race to make three deadlines a night, often remaking much of the sports section for each deadline.

As desktop publishing became more sophisticated, one of my co-workers on the sports desk saw what was coming. He predicted that technology would advance so far that copy editors would all be replaced some day by ‘automatic headline writers.’

Doug Simpson, you saw where things were headed 30 years before it became reality. In fact, a recent Google search revealed dozens of sites offering AI headline writing, including the popular “Grammarly” site that offers a ‘free headline generator.’

There has been ongoing controversy over news sites that use AI to write their actual copy, including a disturbing story from 2023 about some Sports Illustrated copy generated by AI. Sports Illustrated was once considered the Gold Standard of sports writing.

Today, we’re seeing predictions every day about how AI will replace millions of jobs worldwide. We’ve seen some of it become reality locally when Paycom cut 500 jobs and attributed it to artificial intelligence.

So where will it all end? Will artificial intelligence really displace millions of white collar jobs, including the software coding jobs that created AI in the first place?

Call me a skeptic, but I can’t see AI replacing airline pilots, health care professionals or school teachers, among many other professions.

But then, I think back to what my newspaper colleague Doug predicted more than three decades ago. There ARE automatic headline writers in 2026.

So, I’ll close this with a quote from one of my favorite movies, Caddyshack, which reflects the attitude of our AI overlords. It’s a scene where caddy Danny Noonan confesses to Judge Smalls during a round of golf that he might not be able to go to college because his parents don’t have enough money.

“Well, the world needs ditch diggers, too,” the judge tells Danny as he walks away.

Ouch.

The old Double-Reverse Jinx does it again

OU receiver Isaiah Sategna races toward goal line in victory over LSU.

When OU wide receiver Isaiah Sategna blew past LSU defensive backs in busted coverage last week to catch a game-sealing 58-yard TD pass, I missed the moment.

I could say that I was out back on our patio grilling or answering an unexpected knock at the door, but it would not be true.

The truth is that because it was late in a really tight game and I was invested in the outcome as someone who has bought into OU, I found something else to do at that moment.

Why?

Well, turning my back on a close game in which I have a rooting interest goes back many decades. I’m not even sure what to call it. Lack of courage? Can’t face reality?

Call it what you will, but I prefer to call it my double-reverse jinx.

As a pre-teen in the early 1960s, the Arkansas Razorbacks were my team. I lived and died with the Hogs. In those days, you mostly had only radio broadcasts on which to follow college football games.

So, when the Hogs were playing on an autumn afternoon I was tuned in — until I wasn’t. I specifically remember, when, in the second half of a really close game with the Razorbacks in a precarious position, I abandoned the radio, ran out into the back yard and started throwing a football around.

A few minutes later, I went back in and caught a couple minutes of the broadcast, but the outcome was still pending. I went back outside.

When the Hogs won that game with me not listening, I decided that all their success hinged on me not ever listening again when the outcome was on the line. Somehow, I controlled their fate.

My double-reverse jinx helped the Hogs have a great decade of success in the ’60s.

Fast forward to the late ’80s when I worked on the sports desk as a copy editor at The Daily Oklahoman. That meant that my daily working hours were from roughly 3-4 pm until midnight or 1 am.

Those working hours afforded the opportunity to drive out to the then-new Remington Park race track in the early afternoon on almost a daily basis to watch and wager on the horse races.

You know where this is going.

Yep, if I had $2 on a horse and it was among the leaders as they came off the final turn and into the stretch, I would turn my back and only listen to the track announcer’s call. One afternoon, I had maybe $5 on a horse and spent the entire race in the men’s room, safe from ruining the outcome by actually watching my horse.

I took a lot of grief from my newsroom colleagues for not being able to watch the outcome of races on which I had wagered. But that’s how I rolled.

Fast forward to 2025. It’s still how I roll when watching the Sooners, the Razorbacks, even the Thunder. When the game gets tough and the outcome precarious, I bail on the game.

And then it happens. Shai Gilgious-Alexander hits a game clinching 3. Isaiah Sategna makes a game winning catch.

The old double-reverse jinx does it again.

BONUS CONTENT: Don Mecoy, a friend and past contributor to BlogOKC, shared some of his own experience in not jinxing his favorite teams:

“Super Bowl V. Cowboys-Colts. I got on my bike during the game and rode and rode. Didn’t help.

“National Championship game in 2000. Sat in the same spot on the couch throughout the first and second half. Really had to pee by the end of the game. And I was hungry too. Literally didn’t get up once.”

Thanks for this perspective, Don. I am not alone!

Frank Day’s labor of love honors the ‘dying art’ of quilting

Frank Day works on a hand-stitched quilt, accompanied by one of his favorite pets.

Let me tell you about my friend Frank Day of Roland, OK, whom I have known since approximately 1971 when we both worked for Hunt’s Department Store in Fort Smith, Ark.

Frank was a recent graduate of Northeastern State University in Tahlequah and I was a senior at Southside High School.

Over the years, we drank gallons of coffee together, ran trot lines at 2 am in the Arkansas River and stalked raccoons in the middle of the night in the Paw Paw Bottoms, among other adventures.

But life took me to Oklahoma City in 1983 for a job with The Daily Oklahoman newspaper, so we haven’t seen a lot of each other in the intervening years.

Today Frank is 75 years old and retired after more than two decades as fleet sales manager for Fort Smith’s Randall Ford. I think he can best be described in 2025 as a one-man quilting bee.

What?

That’s right. Frank Day began hand-stitching beautiful quilts over two decades ago, and continues his quilting avocation today.

Frank, I thought I knew you.

There goes my image of the typical quilter as someone’s grandmother.

Turns out that quilting is something Frank learned as a child from his mother, Dortha Day and turned it into an ongoing hobby many decades later.

“When I grew up, Mother was quilting all the time,” Frank told me. “She belonged to a quilting club, a bunch of women who got together at someone’s house and could finish a quilt in one day. I grew up watching her, and she showed me how to do it.”

Frank’s wife of more than 50 years, Vicki, added her perspective.

“Frank’s mother Dortha always had a quilt rack on the ceiling,” Vicki said. “I remember Granny, everyone called her Granny, quilting on the old quilting frames and singing hymns. When the grandchildren came along they would all play under the quilt frame.”

However, Frank had never made a quilt until his first grandchild was born more than 20 years ago. He produced his first quilt for grandson, Trevor, and has continued quilting through the years.

“I said I’m going to get some material and make a quilt,” Frank said of that first attempt. “Vicki said ‘you don’t know how.’ I said, ‘you watch me.’ I got the material and sat down and started sewing. And I got it done.”

That first quilt led into one for each grandchild, then special quilts for relatives and friends. Sometimes he makes them for folks who’ve had a stretch of bad health or difficult life situation, like a former coworker at Randall Ford to whom he presented a quilt.

“She started crying, but it was because she was happy to get it,” Frank said.

A quilt is not made in a day. Or a week. It might require more than a month of work for a solo quilter like Frank Day.

“From start to finish, if it’s a king-sized quilt, you have about 250 hours in it,” he said. “That’s cutting the material out — I hand sew everything, nothing is made on a machine. I hand stitch it, get the backing for it, get the lining for it and put the blocks on top.”

Did you catch that … 250 hours for a single quilt. That’s 6-1/4 40-hour working weeks of quietly sitting alone stitching blocks of material together into what can be a beautiful pattern.

My own grandmother was a quilter, and I recall she had a large wooden frame that she let down from the ceiling that helped her make her quilts.

Frank uses a ‘hoop’ that he holds in his lap as he quilts. Usually, one of his favorite dogs is sitting nearby or even on his lap as he quietly works.

Although he hasn’t made quilts to sell, Frank told me that comparable hand-made quilts can be priced at $1,800-$2,500 because of all the time required to produce one.

“It’s very time consuming, and most people don’t have the patience for it,” he said.

I learned that Frank was a quilter after Vicki posted some pictures of beautiful quilts on Facebook and I complimented her on her quilting talent. She corrected me and said it was all Frank.

“When Frank made his first quilt before Trevor, our first grandchild, was born, we had been married for 30 years and he never made one before,” Vicki said. “I asked him why he never made one before and his answer was “I never had a reason to make one.”

“Frank’s quilting has bloomed over the years. He made one for our son, Paul, as a wedding gift and then for our daughter Jenny. He made one out of cancer warrior scarves that Ford gave to dealerships for Breast Cancer Awareness.”

Each quilt is made with a purpose.

“Frank had a good friend, Dudley Sparkman, who was the best man and friend you could ask for,” Vicki said. “Sadly, he had a massive heart attack on his 50th birthday and passed around two weeks later. Tina Sparkman, Dudley’s wife, asked Frank if he would make a lap quilt out of some of his shirts. That was probably one of the hardest quilts he ever made because on the friendship they shared.”

Quilters like Frank Day who make the time to sit and hand-stitch a beautiful design are a rarity in 2025. Today, most quilts are machine stitched.

Frank calls hand-made quilting a “dying art” that he’s keeping alive in his corner of the world. Currently, he’s working on a quilt for Vicki as he recovers from a recent knee-replacement surgery.

“It’s helped me keep my sanity when I’ve had to sit for long stretches as I recovered from knee surgery that put me down,” he said. “I’ve finished one and got close to half of another one put together.”

It’s one stitch after another after another for a quilter like Frank Day. That translates into hundreds of hours to produce just one quilt.
It’s a marathon, not a sprint.

Frank has run that marathon for more than two decades.

And that’s why I describe him as the ultimate one-man quilting bee.

BONUS CONTENT:

I asked ChatGPT to explain the concept of a “Quilting Bee” to me. Here’s what it told me:

A quilting bee is a social gathering where a group of people—traditionally women—come together to work on quilting projects, usually a large quilt, while also enjoying conversation and community.

Key Features:

– Collaboration: Multiple people contribute to making one quilt. Often, the quilt top is pieced together ahead of time, and the bee focuses on quilting (stitching the layers together).
– Social aspect: It’s as much about socializing and bonding as it is about the sewing. These gatherings were historically important social events, especially in rural communities.
– Tradition: Quilting bees have roots in 18th and 19th century America, when they served as a practical and communal way to create bedding before mass production.
– Modern bees: Today, quilting bees still exist, though they might be less formal or might happen in quilting guilds, workshops, or even online.
Think of a quilting bee as a mix of a sewing circle, a social event, and a creative collaboration.

Friends, colleagues honor Michael McNutt in NonDoc retirement celebration

Michael McNutt tells a story as he addresses the audience at his Nondoc retirement ceremony

Michael McNutt’s retirement celebration from the NonDoc online news organization was under way earlier this week when he shared a story with me from almost 30 years ago and said I played a role.

A story for which I had no recollection.

Michael is a friend and former colleague at The Oklahoman who served as the newspaper’s Enid correspondent for probably a decade before moving to the Oklahoma City newsroom.

McNutt’s retirement ceremony, organized as a fund raiser for NonDoc, was outstanding. I’ll come back to it.

As for the memory that he shared with me, McNutt recalled that I was assigned to help him conduct a focus group for The Oklahoman in northwest Oklahoma in advance of the 1996 presidential election. Michael said that I called him on the day of the focus group and alerted him that I was going to be a no-show because my wife and I were having a baby — in Abilene, Texas.

I don’t recall the focus group assignment, but I do recall that on June 18, 1996, Paula and I received a call that the baby we hoped to adopt was to be born that very day in Abilene. We jumped into the car, drove 330 miles and arrived at Abilene’s Hendrick Medical Center in time for the birth of our son, Ryan.

Anyway, it was a story that took me back to that milestone event, and obviously was an event that stuck in McNutt’s mind over the remainder of his reporting and editing career.

A St. Louis native, McNutt worked as a reporter and editor for The Oklahoman for nearly 30 years. He had a distinguished post-newspaper career, as well, working for an Oklahoma governor and a state agency, before the recent tour with Nondoc.

NonDoc honored Michael with this week’s celebration because he is retiring as managing editor of the enterprising, not-for-profit online news organization that fills a lot of holes left behind by the decline of traditional newspapers.

McNutt’s retirement celebration brought me and about 75 others to the Will Rogers Theater events center on Monday evening.

Michael McNutt with Mick Hinton, a former colleague at The Oklahoman.

Throughout his 40-year journalism career, Michael earned the respect of his colleagues, as well as elected officials across the state and of the people he really served — readers of his reporting and editing through the years.

I didn’t work on a day-to-day basis with Michael at The Oklahoman, but I got to know him as a thoughtful, approachable, empathetic person, as well as a baseball fan who remains devoted to his St. Louis Cardinals in both good times and bad.

A University of Missouri graduate, McNutt began his journalism career for the Rolla, Mo., newspaper before taking a job at the Enid News & Eagle in the 1980s. His wife, Kathryn McNutt, is also a longtime editor/reporter and veteran of The Oklahoman who now works at OKC’s Journal Record.

McNutt told me that he left The Oklahoman’s Enid bureau position in 2000 to become an editor and reporter in the paper’s OKC newsroom. He held editing positions on the state and city desks, and also covered the state capitol for eight years.

After leaving The Oklahoman in 2013, Michael served as spokesman and communications officer for Gov. Mary Fallin, before assuming the role of communications director for Oklahoma’s Office of Juvenile Affairs. He took the Nondoc position about two years ago.

Former Gov. Mary Fallin shared the stage with Steven Buck, former administrator of the Oklahoma Office of Juvenille Affairs.

You could see evidence of the respect Michael earned in the audience at the NonDoc retirement ceremony. The room was filled with former newspaper colleagues, as well as state agency and elected officials, including former Gov. Fallin.

In fact, Fallin was a featured speaker, hailing McNutt for the work he did on her behalf, but also sharing some funny moments from his years on her staff. She was joined on stage by Steven Buck, who was OJA Administrator when Michael moved from the Governor’s office to that agency.

Buck shared his thoughts with me on the experience of working with Michael at OJA:

“When I found myself seeking a communications director for the Office of Juvenile Affairs, Michael quickly emerged as the best candidate. I had known him previously and greatly respected his work ethic but to serve as a lead advisor to me, I needed some one with great discernment, communication ability, confidence to hold me accountable and, of most importance, a commitment to mission and serving kids. There was not a single day in our work together that I regretted hiring him; he far exceeded my expectations and remains one of my most trusted colleagues.”

That’s the highest of praise.

I thought Tres Savage, NonDoc’s editor-in-chief, did a terrific job as emcee of the event, which served as a fundraiser for the Sustainable Journalism Endowment. The endowment provides funding for NonDoc to operate.

McNutt was the final speaker of the ceremony and told an intriguing story about how he was ‘almost fired’ from his job as a new reporter for the Enid newspaper just because he did his job. Michael said he received a tip that Enid city councilors met in secret at a local restaurant before each Council meeting and, along with a newspaper photographer, he “crashed” the meeting.

Michael McNutt speaking as Tres Savage, Nondoc’s Editor-in-Chief, looks on.

After his story appeared in the next day’s newspaper, a group of councilors marched into the editor’s office demanding that he be fired. The editor stood behind his reporter and told the elected officials to “follow the law.”

As for me, I had a terrific time at McNutt’s sendoff, greeting lots of my former Oklahoman colleagues, sharing time with both Michael and Kathryn and laughing at some of the stories I heard.

It was like a grand reunion.

Thank you, NonDoc, for giving him such a well deserved retirement recognition and to my friend, Steve Buck, for inviting me to sit at your table.

We’re all better off because of the work that Michael McNutt did over his career.

BONUS CONTENT — While Michael told me a story about an event I didn’t recall, I also shared with him about the first — and only — time I visited his office at The Oklahonan’s Enid bureau. Since I was from the “home office” of the paper and worked in the opulent (now former) newsroom along Broadway Extension, I had visions of McNutt working out of a similar abode in Enid. However, it turned out that he worked in a tiny office in a corporate building that was like a 1960s time capsule. I’m not sure exactly what I expected, but today all I can see in my mind is the bright green shag carpet in his office.

DOUBLE BONUS CONTENT — As I was visiting with Kathryn McNutt, along with other well wishers, someone brought up Michael’s avocation of making a daily, early morning run, no matter the weather. She told us that when the weather turned cold and the terrain ice covered, she made sure he wore baseball cleats on his run. One of the speakers at the retirement event spoke of once confronting a man in his neighborhood who was running in early morning darkness and wearing a ski mask, hockey jersey and baseball cleats. It was, of course, Michael McNutt.

From left, Jim Stafford, Steven Buck, Michael McNutt

A Golden memory on Super Bowl Sunday

A screenshot of The Gold Sheet taken from a Chicago Sun Times article.

Here’s a memory that goes back to the 1980s when I worked in the downtown OKC newsroom of The Daily Oklahoman.

Every Thursday afternoon during football season, I would walk about three blocks down to Taylor’s Newsstand from the paper’s Broadway & 6th Street headquarters.

You might remember Taylor’s Newsstand. It was located in the Century Center mall attached to the Sheraton Hotel. Taylor’s offered an awesome variety of magazines and newspapers from around the country. I fact, I bought a lot of Sunday papers from Denver, Kansas City and Dallas at Taylor’s over the years.

But that’s not what drew me to the newsstand on Thursdays in the fall. It was a publication that Taylor’s sold called The Gold Sheet.

Man, I loved to get my hands on The Gold Sheet each week.

If you are unfamiliar with it, The Gold Sheet was a football handicapping publication. A tout sheet. Still is, in digital form.

It was printed on heavy gold paper that unfolded into a large single sheet that contained predictions and analysis on every Division 1 and NFL football game for the coming weekend.

I’m pretty sure that my friend ‘David’ introduced me to The Gold Sheet, and I became a loyal reader.

I wasn’t much of a gambler, but coworkers at the newspaper in that mid-1980s era connected me to a bookie here in town who would would take my tiny wagers of $10 or $20.

So, The Gold Sheet became a big part of my weekly rhythm throughout the 1980s, when I was still single and willing to wager a few dollars on football.

Yes, I know it’s shocking that gambling on football (and other sports) occurred in OKC. But it did in the ’80s, and I’m certain you wouldn’t have to work too hard to find a bookie today who would take your wagering action.

A Bold Prediction: Oklahoma will have legal, online sports wagering within the next 5 years.

As for The Gold Sheet itself, it contained a prediction on the outcome of every game along with a couple of sentences that backed up each pick. It made for great reading, if nothing else.

Maybe because today is Super Bowl Sunday– by far the No. 1 day annually for sports wagering (sorry Final Four, Kentucky Derby et al) — I stumbled across a reference online this morning to The Gold Sheet.

And that got me to wondering what became of my favorite handicapping publication.

So, I did a little online research and discovered a Chicago Sun Times article from 2022 that revealed that it is now part of an online handicapping website called WagerTalk Media.

The article also outlined the history of The Gold Sheet, which was launched in Los Angeles by the late Mort Olshan in 1956. It remained a physical publication until the end of the 2019 football season, when it morphed into a digital publication.

A wave of nostalgia washed over me when I discovered the Chicago Sun Times article, which included a picture of The Gold Sheet from back in the day.

My weekly wagering days are long gone. But The Gold Sheet remains a fond memory of that time in my life.

BONUS CONTENT: Steve Lackmeyer, my friend and former colleague at The Oklahoman, wrote about the demise of Taylor’s Newsstand when it finally closed for good in 2009. Turns out The Gold Sheet outlasted the newsstand where I first discovered the publication.

Apple draws the line on altered reality in photos

Screenshot — The Wall Street Journal’s Joanna Stern takes a selfie with Apple software chief Craig Federighi

If you’ve ever been fooled by a photo that had something added — or eliminated — you should watch this fascinating video interview by Wall Street Journal tech reporter Joanna Stern with Apple Inc.’s software chief Craig Federighi. The interview focused on Apple Intelligence, which is Apple’s version of artificial intelligence.

Near the end of the 25-minute interview, Stern raises her iPhone and takes a selfie of herself and Federighi as they are seated across from each other at the company’s Apple Park headquarters in Cupertino, Calif.

Then it got really interesting.

Stern showed the photo to Federighi and, using Apple’s most recent photo editing software, quickly edited out a water bottle and a microphone that the photo had captured.

She edited the photo with the intention of showing how easy it is to remove unwanted objects from photos, then asked Federighi about Apple’s approach to allowing users to alter reality in their photos. Or even adding in objects or people who weren’t there.

Federighi’s thoughtful answer about Apple’s decisions on limiting AI use in its photo software intrigued me.

“There were a lot of debates internally, ‘do we want to make it easy to remove that water bottle or microphone’ because that water bottle was there when you took that photo,” he said. “The demand from people to clean up what seem like extraneous details in a photo that don’t fundamentally change the meaning of what happened has been very, very high. So we were willing to take that small step.”

However, the company ensured that if a photo was altered, it was reflected in the metadata for that photo. And Federighi said Apple drew a line on further editing to alter the reality of their photos.

“We are concerned that the great history of photography and how people view photographic content as something that you can rely on, that is indicative of reality …” Federighi said. “And our products, our phones are used a lot, and it’s important to us that we help convey accurate information, not fantasy … we make sure that if you do remove a little detail in a photo, we update the metadata on the photo so you can go back and check that this is an altered photo.”

It’s clear that Apple has given this subject a lot of thought and is working to distance itself and its software from ‘deepfakes’ that seem to be showing up everywhere. Just check your Facebook feed.

Here’s a link to an article in Info Security Magazine that lists the top 10 deepfakes from 2022.

That debate over editing photos took me back to my days as a reporter and editor at The Oklahoman in the 1980s and 1990s. It was a time certainly before digital photos and software that let you easily alter the reality of a picture.

However, I recall there was quite a debate at the paper over whether drinks in the hands of people at a party should be edited out, by cropping or by being retouched by an artist.

So, editing photos has been an issue for decades.

And that led me to contact Doug Hoke, The Oklahoman’s current photo manager who worked at the paper all through the pre-digital age of the ’80s and ’90s.

Doug is one of my favorite photographers, with a long history of shooting great photos. His work was regularly featured in Sports illustrated in the pre-digital days.

I asked Doug if my memory was correct and altered photos were an issue back in the day. Here’s what he said in response to the question:

“Way back when if Gaylord (the publisher) didn’t want something in the paper, it wasn’t there,” he said. “The airbrushing of photos was originally done to help with the reproduction, as coarse screens and letter press technique left much to be desired. That evolved into the removal of items, like cocktail drinks, (or) the adding of details like clothing, lengthening hems, adding material to swimsuits, closing up v-necks, etc.

“When the digital age hit, the ease that photos could be altered called for new guidelines for photography. What is the common practice now is no pixels should be added or removed, except by cropping, and cleaning up dust spots on the chip. Toning and adjusting contrast should only be to help reproduce the image as accurately as possible.”

Doug said he supports Apple’s limits to digital editing that distorts the reality of photos.

“When Apple first announced that they would only allow small details to be removed, I applauded them,” he said. “Craig is correct that photography is based in reality, and I firmly believe that the photos should remain as untouched as possible. You may think that water bottle is in the way, but future generations will look at these details with amazement. Think of old photos you look at, you study every detail in the photo to get a better sense of history. If we remove all those details now, no one will ever see them.”

There’s a distinction between photograph and a photo illustration, Doug said. Or there once was.

“The line between photograph and illustration has been blurred and will never be the same,” he said. “Publications try to hold onto the strict guidelines of what is a photo and what is an illustration but the public probably doesn’t really care. I don’t think the general public has a strong grasp of reality anymore. Games, TikTok, IG, X, whatever they look at. If they think an image is cool they like it without giving any thought to whether it is accurate or not.

“We have had to reject several ‘photos’ that were obviously enhanced by AI, mostly portraits. Accepting photos from unknown sources will be a huge lift in the near future as AI will just continue to get better. Really glad Apple took a stand and said just because we can doesn’t mean we should.”

Did you catch what Doug said? The public is suffering from both ignorance and apathy on whether a photo has been altered.

But we should be concerned. Thank you, Apple, for taking a stand.