The Oklahoman, 1 September 1989

Bellmon Declines to Take Stand on Corporal Punishment

Despite two months of lobbying by an aide, Gov. Henry Bellmon declined Thursday to take a position on corporal punishment.

"We'll probably deal with that issue along with educational reform when the time comes, but I don't at the moment have enough information on either side to come down hard and fast on it," he said.

Bellmon said an aide, Linda Sponsler, "has been lobbying me for two months for me to come out and take a position on corporal punishment."

He said Sponsler is opposed to it.

Asked what position he took when his three daughters were growing up, he said, "I don't know that we were ever called upon to pass judgment. As far as I know they never got into trouble. They were like their father."

Asked whether there were better ways to discipline children than by spanking, he said, "Well, there are different kinds of kids. Some respond to one kind of discipline; some to others."

The governor declined to expand on his previous comments that some merchants in southern Oklahoma think the marijuana trade is good for their business.

Business and civic leaders in several southeastern Oklahoma communites were upset by Bellmon's remarks.

"I don't have any more to say about it. I said what I had to say," he said.

Bellmon also was cautious in responding to questions about Ku Klux Klan answering machine messages which encourage whites to unite against other races and against homosexuals in Tulsa and Oklahoma City.

The governor said he "hadn't heard about this."

"I think everyone of us around here ... believes in freedom of speech," he said. "And I don't know where you draw the line on what's inciting to riots and what is just the exercise of free speech. I think all of us need to opt for freedom of speech as long as we possibly can."

Bellmon said he did not know whether the KKK messages "go too far."

"It's the same problem when you're talking about various kinds of obscene messages," he said. "Those certainly are distasteful to most of us, but as long as people involved are making those calls voluntarily, I'm not sure there's a place for government to involve itself."

Asked to explain the difference between the KKK messages and his position that burning the American flag should be unlawful, he said, "I believe most of us feel the flag is the symbol of our nation and it shouldn't be treated disrespectfully.

"I think most people would never think of calling the KKK and if they did they'd probably be terribly offended by this kind of message."