latest
I probably should write more often about Allen’s rich history in Oklahoma. Last week I mentioned Allen’s role in the Green Corn Rebellion back in 1917. This rebellion fizzled out before it really got started after action taken by Pontotoc County sheriff Bob Duncan and 10 deputies. They were first on the scene after these insurrectionists burned the big Francis railroad bridge and cut the phone lines out of Ada to areas north. Then the governor sent his big “posse” down and arrested 450 locals, loaded them up in box cars and took them to prison in McAlester. I made the comment that later the governor released all these malefactors but actually 150 of them were tried and went to prison for 10 years. But a point I wanted to make is that important history occurred here.
Read more
We just observed Memorial Day — a time we honor all veterans who served our nation. In many cases these men and women paid with their lives to preserve something we Americans have always held dear. Freedom. Now we know that in some of our liberal WOKE school systems the causes and reasons these wars were fought are brought into question. The very fact that an evil man rose to power in the 1930s and captured a democracy called Germany and directed that country’s political and military power to a goal to fulfill his own sick dream of fascism has become distorted.
Read moreIt’s been decades since I’ve given this old customer of mine from long ago much thought. After all, he’s been dead 40 years. But I remember him well. One day he called in his prescription refill and I asked him if he would be in to pick it up. He said, “I would like you to bring it to me. I need to visit with you.” I was pretty darned busy but on the other hand, my home deliveries often produced the highlight of my day, so I told him OK. Later I drove out to his house. He lived in a house that is long gone now. I parked and went up to the door.
Read moreI was watching TV last week and saw that the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority had decided to sort of back off doing much of anything for the time being. This was obviously a result of the “hornets’ nest” the authority stirred up with their proposed expansion of the Kickapoo. The Kickapoo was to connect I-40 down to I-35 in the Norman area bypassing the congested Metro of downtown OKC. A popular idea for some of those who try to get through Oklahoma City to Norman or south to Dallas. Not so popular for the people who live in the path of the proposed toll road.
Read moreI like to watch old movies. Pat and I watched the 1978 production of “Grease” this past week. Paramount spent $6 million on this movie and made all their money back on the first weekend it was released. In case you forgot, it was about teenagers living in the ancient American times of the 1950’s and it is a musical. John Travolta plays the “Greaser” and his pretty little girlfriend is Olivia Newton John. The setting is in a California High School whose principal is Eve Arden and whose coach is played by Sid Caesar who hasn’t won a game in 7 years.
Read more
Old timers visiting Allen often ask me “what has happened to downtown Allen?” They are referring of course to our missing stores downtown. They are gone and I don’t think they’ll be back. I wrote an article some years ago and the lead was this: “One by one, the lights are winking out in rural America.” I was referring to the hundreds of little towns in the USA that have mostly vanished.
Read more