As a community college, OCCC is dedicated to serving members of — you guessed it — the community.

In addition to the full array of courses and amenities offered to students, OCCC also opens up certain facilities and classes to the public.

For example, community members with a valid driver’s license or other means of identification can use library computers and check out books via a guest pass.

Citizens also can use the college’s gym facilities, such as the weight room and swimming pool.

But when it comes to preferential treatment, what comes first: the community or the college?

In a sweeping show of incompetence, religious showmanship and blind lack of consideration, the Oklahoma Senate has declared life starts at conception, meaning embryos and fetuses are full people and entitled to the same constitutional rights.

Called the personhood law, this law is designed to outlaw abortion while ignoring Roe v. Wade.

It should be clearly stated at the outset that this author is not pro-abortion. Rather, this author is anti-stupidity.

There are so many things wrong with this bill.

First, there are no exceptions made for medical necessity or circumstance. If there is a serious complication and the only treatment is to terminate the pregnancy, the doctor must allow both mother and child to die, unless the child dies first.

Think of the most valuable thing you have. Money, a car or some other expensive item may come to mind.

However, one of the most valuable things everyone has is blood.

Someone could die from the lack of it or, if something gets into it, people get sick.

Thousands of people are in need of blood every day.

Last year, St. Anthony Hospital alone used 10,150 units of blood.

Transfusion Service Supervisor Cathleen Blankenship said it’s important that people donate.

“Earlier today, we had to give a type A patient type O platelets, because we don’t have compatible platelets,” she said.

I discovered an application recently for the iPhone called HandicappedFraud. Based on the website www.handicappedfraud.org, it is a fast and easy way for community members to report placard and handicapped parking abuse.

I am elated that such an app and website have been created. Even more, I am dumbfounded that there is a need to create a program and application to help reinforce pre-existing laws.

Among one of the most socially unacceptable principles, in my opinion, is illegally parking in a handicap spot.

Aside from being legally wrong to park in handicapped parking, it is also ethically wrong. It is prudent for us to adhere to these laws and moral obligations.

The impact of one of the more recent interpretations of the U. S. Constitution’s First Amendment is currently being witnessed across the nation in the 2012 presidential primary elections.

The result of two U.S. Supreme Court rulings has created what have been termed Super PACs this election season.

PAC is an acronym for political action committee.

And, although PACs have existed for quite some time, the difference now is, Congress has lifted some of the regulations that limit the amount of campaign contributions PACs can give.

Fees and taxes. They are everywhere. Seems nothing is free or without a catch anymore.

The state of Oklahoma has found a number of ways to get a few dollars from its citizens.

This year, taxpayers who opt to receive a refund from the state of Oklahoma, via the mail, will receive that refund on a debit card.

This may not seem like a big deal except that our hard-earned money is being returned to us with conditions.

Taxpayers will be charged $1.50 per month if the card isn’t used at all within the first 60 days, a $2 fee if more than one withdrawal is made on that card at a bank and 75 cents if a taxpayer personally transfers the balance to their account online as reported on KFOR, news broadcast Jan. 23.

On Monday, Jan. 23, the Associated Press reported that the European Union and Iran are escalating tensions over Iran’s nuclear program and the trade embargo placed on Iran. Iran retaliated by threatening to block the Strait of Hormuz. According to the report, “analysts doubt that Iran would maintain a blockade for long, but any supply shortages would cause world oil supplies to tighten temporarily.”

This does not look good. Once again we have countries on the world theater behaving like children on the playground. And while the European Union is not a single country, it behaves as one unit in cases of trade.

I fear that this escalation may lead to unintended consequences. Greece, an EU member, needs to be considered during these exchanges because of how desperately it depends on the low-priced Iranian oil. Such an embargo may hurt the already fragile economy for Greece.

As if lung cancer and rotted teeth weren’t enough, smokers now face another risk from their nicotine addiction: it could cost them a potential job.

Across the U.S., many employers — primarily hospitals and health departments — have implemented not only a no-smoking ban, but also a no-smokers ban. They won’t hire applicants whose urine tests positive for nicotine use.

This writer only has one question: What took so long?

Banning smokers from the workplace would not only have a significant effect on the health of employees, but also on companies themselves.

Recently, certain companies are using drug tests to determine whether prospective employees use nicotine products. Those who do aren’t hired.

Civil rights 101: regulating a legal behavior that a private individual engages in on his or her own time is discrimination.

But smokers aren’t a protected class, of course.

So discrimination is OK, because it’s for the better health of the public overall, and the health of the smoker in particular, right?

So let’s stop hiring overweight individuals. After all, being overweight carries just as many health risks as smoking.

Unfortunately the two articles in [the Jan. 13 edition of the] Pioneer have misinformation that needs to be corrected.

1. Financial Aid Title IV Regulations, pertaining to Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP), went into effect July 1, 2011, for SAP evaluations beginning with fall semester. The Financial Aid Office has made numerous attempts to inform students and our campus colleagues of these changes.

2. The Financial Aid Office staff make numerous presentations to students in the Success in College and Life courses throughout the fall semester. During these presentations, changes in the SAP policy were explained.