YOUR BUSINESS IS OUR BUSINESS
VOL. 125 NO. 137 ■ JOURNALRECORD.COM
Experts: SCOTUS decisions
protect religious freedoms
Tom Alexander holds a cross as he prays prior to rulings outside the Supreme Court on Capitol Hill in Washington, on
July 8. AP PHOTO/PATRICK SEMANSKY
BY JANICE FRANCIS-SMITH
The Journal Record
OKLAHOMA CITY – Oklahoma employers seeking
exemptions from certain areas of employment law
based on religious or moral grounds need to clearly
communicate those beliefs, according to local employ-
ment law experts.
The U.S. Supreme Court handed down two rulings
last week that would broaden legal protections for
employers seeking relief from legal requirements that
might offend their religious or moral beliefs.
“These are both significant cases that could be, long
term, very important to religious liberty,” said Andrew
C. Spiropoulos, Robert S. Kerr Sr. Professor of Consti-
tutional Law at Oklahoma City University.
In the case of  Little Sisters of the Poor Saints Peter
and Paul Home v. Pennsylvania, the court’s ruling
broadened an existing exemption for employers with a
religious or moral objection to providing their employ-
ees with contraception.
The court had issued a similar ruling in 2014 in
favor of Oklahoma-based Hobby Lobby Stores Inc., a
INSIDE
State renegotiates hospital surge contracts
Oklahoma public health officials are finalizing new
contracts for hospital surge plans as the number of
positive cases and hospitalizations of coronavirus
patients have spiked in recent weeks.
Part of the network 2 SECTIONS ■ TUESDAY, JULY 14, 2020 ■ $1.00
Eighteen cities and counties in Oklahoma will share in
$4.2 million in federal funding to assist with costs related
to the response to the COVID-19 pandemic, including the
gear worn by medical workers.
PHOTO BY LUKE JONES VIA UNSPLASH
privately held for-profit company with ownership that
objected to providing specific types of contraception
based on religious belief. While the Affordable Care Act
requires insurers to cover contraception, the employer
CARES funding
was allowed to opt out of providing that coverage.
“What the Obama administration said, after a
bunch of fighting, was you (employers) file a form that
tells your insurance company you don’t want to do this,
won’t be enough
so your insurance company knows that they should do
it,” Spiropoulos said. “The Little Sisters’ lawyer said we
can’t even do that. Due to our religious beliefs, we can’t
even file this form with the insurance company telling
for some cities
them they have to cover it, they have to take care of BY STEVE METZER
this, because when we do that we’re taking an action The Journal Record
to give people things that we think violates our funda-
mental beliefs.” The city of McAlester will be able to gradually
The ruling would leave the matter between the bring back furloughed employees and reinstate em-
insured and the insurance company without the em- ployee benefits that had to be reduced as the CO-
ployer having to have a hand in the matter at all. VID-19 pandemic set in.
“The insurance companies are going to be giving the In Ponca City, federal funding to reimburse cities
contraception coverage to people, and that’s not going and counties for expenses related to the pandemic
will be used, among other things, to cover costs of
Turn to DECISIONS » p12 personal protective equipment and other supplies
purchased for the town’s ambulance service.
Gov. Kevin Stitt announced recently the first
Stitt’s pick to run
«2» land office led
disbursements of funds made available to city and
county governments in the state through the federal
bankrupt energy Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security
company » p3 (CARES) Act. Some $4.2 million distributed to 18
Mercurial week local governments will no doubt help in their re-
ends in upswing
except for JR
Index » p10 Turn to CARES » p12
News in Brief. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4A CRUDE OIL NATURAL GAS GASOLINE
Around Town. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6A
People on the Move. . . . . . . . . . . . 7A
Finance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8A 0.45 .066 .0097
The Index. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10A
Classifieds. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1B
Public Notices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2B Aug $40.10 Aug $1.739 Aug $1.2734
12A « July 14, 2020 « THE JOURNAL RECORD « journalrecord.com
ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGE REPORTS
LICENSES
OKLAHOMA CITY (JR) – The Oklahoma
Alcoholic Beverage Laws Enforcement
Commission licensing division issued
two beer and wine licenses, three mixed
beverage licenses, one retail spirits
license and one mixed-beverage/caterer
license from June 22 to 26.
Receiving beer and wine licenses:
Punkin’s Bar-B-Que & Catfish
Restaurant, 1911 W. Grant Ave., Pauls
Valley, Punkin’s Bar-B-Que & Catfish
Restaurant.
Farral’s Place, 24761 State Highway
31, Bokoshe, Farral Hall.
Receiving mixed-beverage licenses:
Casa Del Tequila Fine Eatery, 6000 S.
Lewis Ave., Tulsa, Casa Del Tequila Fine
DECISIONS » from p1
to change,” said Spiropoulos. “What these
rules are about is about making sure
these companies don’t have to pay for it,
don’t have to ask for it, don’t have to file
a form. They don’t have to do anything
to make sure that that coverage is given.”
The exemption is intended to provide
protections for smaller, closely held com-
panies with few owners, not large corpo-
rations, said Madalene A.B. Witterholt,
an attorney with Crowe & Dunlevy.
“If an employer wants to be able to
assert a religious exemption, a moral
exemption, a ministerial exemption,
they’ve got to put it somewhere on a
CARES » from p1
covery, but there are still concerns in
places like McAlester, where Mayor
John Browne said fiscal year 2021 is
still shaping up to be a very lean year.
With the oil and gas industry hurt-
ing and resulting in local layoffs, sales
tax revenues down and other revenues
like hotel and motel taxes also down
due to the pandemic, Browne said
McAlester’s overall budget hit for FY21
was estimated at about $4 million. The
city of about 18,300 in Pittsburg Coun-
ty received a little more than $1.25 mil-
lion after turning in a detailed applica-
tion to the state highlighting expenses
incurred related to the pandemic.
Between jobs left unfilled and city
employees furloughed during the
pandemic, McAlester has been down
about 50 workers, Browne said. Bene-
fits for all workers have been trimmed.
The city also has been burdened with
expenses of buying extra equipment
and supplies to help departments keep
functioning while also managing the
pandemic.
“(The $1.25 million) by no means
gets us back to where we were, but it
certainly helps,” Browne said.
The mayor said he would like to
see additional funding made available
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Eatery LLC.
Kai Viet Fusion, 201 W. Fifth St., Tulsa,
Kai Viet Fusion.
Sundown Saloon Bar, 820 S.
MacArthur Blvd., Bldg. A, Sundown
Saloon Bar LLC.
Receiving a mixed-beverage/
caterer license:
Honey Creek BBQ, 61991 E. 315 Road,
Grove, Honey Creek BBQ LLC.
Receiving a retail spirits license:
Gypsy Spirits Liquor Store, 603 W.
Strother Ave., Seminole, Natalie O’Dell.
INTENTS
OKLAHOMA CITY (JR) – There were nine
notices of intent published to apply
for licensing through the Oklahoma
piece of paper like in their handbook,”
Witterholt said. “They should make it
clear that this is something they will
not be providing because of their either
religious or moral belief system, and that
you can do with handbooks or handouts,
that sort of thing.”
Employers should clearly communi-
cate their position on the matter with
employees, but Spiropoulos said the
ruling does not indicate that they are
required to do so.
In  Our Lady of Guadalupe School v.
Morrissey-Berru, the court extended an
exemption provided to religious institu-
tions from certain employment laws re-
lated to discrimination. The “ministerial
exception” that prohibits ministers from
to help city and county governments
make up for sales tax revenues lost be-
cause of people not being able to shop
as much in local stores.
In Ponca City, City Manager Craig
Stephenson agreed that the federal
coronavirus relief funding made avail-
able so far will help, but towns and
counties in Oklahoma still face a lot of
financial uncertainty. Lost tax revenues
and COVID expenses may not begin to
be fully felt until later this year.
“At the end of the day, we don’t
believe we’re out of this,” Stephenson
said. “(The CARES Act funding) just
gives us a little bit more time as we
move through the process.”
Ponca City received a little more
than $2.33 million to help cover costs
of equipment and supplies and wages
associated with COVID-19 response.
“Anything we’ve had to use related
to our response has all been catego-
rized since March. As a staff we’ve been
pretty aggressive to track everything,”
the city manager said. “We’ve done ev-
erything we can to try to get everything
we can back for our residents.”
Both Browne and Stephenson said
their communities will continue to
pursue CARES Act funding. Both said
the process of applying was not espe-
cially difficult.
During the first 10 days of each
Alcoholic Beverage Laws Enforcement
Commission from June 22 to 26. There
were three notices published for a retail
beer license, three for a retail beer and
retail wine license, one for a mixed-
beverage/caterer license, one for a beer
and wine license, and one for a mixed-
beverage license.
Seeking retail beer licenses:
Blvd. Smokeshop and Beerhaus,
2601 NE Fort Sill Blvd., Lawton, Blvd.
Smokeshop and Beerhaus LLC.
ASAP General Store #104, 801 S.
Airport Rd., Weatherford, ASAP Energy
Inc.
El Ranchito LLC, 1214 N. Main St.,
Guymon, Juan Guaderrama LLC.
Seeking retail beer and retail wine
licenses:
suing religious institutions for employ-
ment discrimination was broadened to
consider teachers at a religious school
ministers. One teacher had sued her
former employer for age discrimination;
the other teacher in the lawsuit claimed
she was fired after it was revealed she
had cancer.
The court found that the teachers
provided religious instruction and that
their duties were key to the organiza-
tion’s ministry and purpose, thereby
qualifying them as ministers, although
they lacked formal religious training or
titles.
“(The  Our Lady  decision) says that
as long as the job duties assigned to a
particular employee are vital religious
remaining month in 2020, cities and
counties may submit requests for reim-
bursement on expenses directly related
to COVID-19 response, such as wages
paid to help safeguard public health,
heightened sanitation services, per-
sonal protective equipment, or modi-
fication to public services to increase
safety.
In Tonkawa, City Clerk Nancy Skip-
per said the nearly $28,000 her town of
3,200 received will help to offset losses
in a budget for FY2021 significantly
impacted by the pandemic.
“The COVID-19 crisis has caused
many businesses in our small commu-
nity to shut down,” she said, “and this
year’s new city budget was cut by 30%
to prepare for the future, if the crisis
continues.”
Mike Mazzei, budget secretary for
the governor, said he expects that re-
quests for reimbursements from cities
and counties will increase in coming
months.
“(We) completed a successful first
month of reimbursements thanks to
the partnership of cities and counties
with submitting thorough documenta-
tion and explanations of expenses,” he
said. “Every city and county that filed
reimbursement requests in June is
receiving CRF funds after a thorough
vetting process.”
Smoke Shop, 1239 W. Britton Rd.,
Oklahoma City, Rameshwaram LLC.
Members Investment LLC, 5414
Highway 70, Mead, Navdeep Dhaliwal
LLC.
Sonny’s Grocery & Market, 1024 S.
Mekusukey Ave., Wewoka, Pasquali
Stores III LLC.
Seeking a mixed-beverage/caterer
license:
La Iguana Night Club LLC, 11322 E.
21st St., Ste. A, Tulsa, La Iguana Night
Club LLC.
Seeking beer and wine license:
CJ’s Bar, 609 Main St., Quinton,
Christina Jenkins.
Seeking a mixed-beverage license:
Marina’s Bar & Grill LLC, 1620 S. Main,
Suite C, Grove, Marina’s Bar & Grill LLC.
duties, they are part of the church’s mis-
sion,” Witterholt said. “I don’t think the
groundskeeper might necessarily ap-
ply, but definitely teachers and school
personnel who had any part in teaching
and upholding the faith of a particular
institution.”
Religious institutions might have a
difficult time classifying positions other
than teachers as ministers, however,
said Spiropoulos. But religious schools
should make sure their job descriptions
in employee handbooks makes clear
what employees are exempt, Witterholt
said.
“They need to be cautious and make
sure that everybody knows what’s going
on,” Witterholt said.
Other cities and counties to receive
funding, with their funding amounts,
included: Anadarko, $38,654.62; Eak-
ly,  $2,401.19; Edmond,  $1,705.03; El
Reno, $17,954.84; Eufaula, $4,489.98;
Guthrie, $40,987.96; Marlow, $1,399.00;
Owasso, $48,738.43; Comanche Coun-
ty, $161,369.81; Okfuskee County,
$1,020.87; Payne County, $57,309.33;
Pittsburg County, $48,996.84; Ponto-
toc County, $35,773.29; and Wagoner
County, $156,546.52.
In announcing the first disburse-
ments, Stitt said the funding should
help Oklahoma to adjust to a “new
normal” as the pandemic continues.
“Until there is a cure for COVID-19,
Oklahoma is adjusting to a new nor-
mal, which includes our local govern-
ment services that are on the front
lines of keeping us safe and assisting
our must vulnerable populations,”  he
said. “Congress entrusted the state
with this critical emergency federal
aid, and I appreciate the partnership of
local leaders who are participating in
our thorough process to ensure we are
delivering the dollars on target.”
If a city or county has not yet regis-
tered with the state to apply for funds,
a designated employee or elected of-
ficial may enter contact information
at  governor.ok.gov/crfgrants  to begin
the process.