Finally, a Dome: The Oklahoma State Capitol will soon have a dome, and a senator who has served there for 20 years is the artist creating the sculpture that will stand on the top.

• Author: Bennett, Malia K.

Oklahoma will soon lose its dubious distinction of being home to the only Capitol that is supposed to have a dome, but doesn't.

And Senator Enoch Kelly Haney will gain the distinction of being the only lawmaker in the country to create the work of art that will stand atop of his Capitol's brand new dome.

Like many other states, Oklahoma has a citizen legislature, with lawmakers returning to their chosen vocations when they aren't in session. Besides being the Senate Appropriations chairman, Haney is an artist and sculptor whose works have been shown nationally and internationally.

Now, more than 20 years after first being elected, his work as a lawmaker and as an artist has come full circle with the creation of a sculpture that will crown the building where Haney has devoted a third of his life to public service.

Work began on the Capitol in Oklahoma City more than 80 years ago. The original neoclassical architectural plans called for a dome, but when the building was completed in 1917, there was no dome. For years people there have wondered why. Some theories are more colorful than others. There were stories that someone embezzled the funds or that the architect actually despised buildings with domes (in spite of the fact that the original blueprints called for one). One version is that the fledgling state ran out of money before the Capitol was finished. It's more likely that some of the funds were simply transferred to another project. That, too, is only conjecture, however, because no historical record exists to indicate exactly why the dome wasn't built.

The builders installed a circular stained glass piece in the central ceiling of the rotunda that gave the illusion of a dome from the inside. But from outside, the omission was obvious, Although seven state capitols across the nation are domeless, Oklahoma was the only one that was designed to have a dome, but didn't. While some citizens thought the missing dome detracted from the grandeur of the structure, others believed it looked just fine.

And so it stayed. In the late 1980s a group called The Capitol Domers tried to raise private funds to complete the dome. Although their initial enthusiasm was high, the group eventually ran out of steam long before enough money was raised. When Frank Keating was elected governor in 1994 he brought a renewed effort to raising money for the dome, a particular interest of his since he served in the Legislature some 25 years before.

Today most of the $21 million needed to complete the project has been raised. Construction is under way on a 157-foot dome that should be finished in time for an official dedication on Statehood Day, Nov. 16, 2002.

It will be an especially proud day for Senate Leader Enoch Kelly Haney. A full-blood Seminole Indian and master artist of the Five Civilized Tribes of Oklahoma, Haney is creating the 17-foot statue of a young native warrior called "The...