Working on Monday!
Crap, have to work on Monday! After having two Mondays off because of holidays, I got kind of used to the four-day workweek and would have to say I'm fond of it.
I really think this should be a permanent thing, but doubt that will happen. I guess I shouldn't complain too much as we also get next Monday off for Martin Luther King Jr. Day! I'm a bigger supporter of his every year.
Our little community got slammed in a story by the Journal Record out of Oklahoma City. Here was a story I wrote about their story. I really feel like the story missed out on several things. It basically said the Hispanics who have moved in to Heavener have rebuilt the city, especially downtown.
I am a big supporter of any business moving downtown. It also indicated that the Hispanics are doing a lot of improvements on the housing situation in Heavener, which is correct. But it also said that Heavener is already the first community in Oklahoma with a majority of Hispanics in the population, or soon will be.
Yes, we have a lot of Hispanics living in Heavener. But if you take the population as a whole, and I am going by the area that surrounds Heavener that is part of the school district, there is no way the Hispanics are a majority of the population.
The story also basically said Heavener was a run-down community that was on its last legs. Heavener does have its problems. The Hispanics are helping in many areas with the businesses downtown and buying older houses and fixing them up. But the Heavener that existed before the chicken plant came to town wasn't exactly about to shut down.
I remember that in the early 1990s, it was hard to find a building available downtown. Since that time, we have lost several long-time businesses such as Stanley Hardware, Wilson & Johnston, T&M Pharmacy because the owners passed away or retired.
Also, the story never says anything about the fire downtown that forced several businesses to relocate to the highway, along with the other growth along the highways and the merger of the two Heavener banks.
The highway running through Heavener doesn't resemble anything like it did prior to OK coming to town. There are now two branch banks, a Sonic, KP's, two Dollar Stores and the new commercial property just north of the CNB branch.
Businesses want to go where the traffic exists. That is a plain fact that the story never mentions. It also doesn't mention how the two cultures have merged. There have been some racial problems, but nothing like many people expected.
For the most part, the whites and Hispanics have learned to live and work together. It also said that all the white people are moving to Poteau, which isn't the case.
There have been a few who have moved to Poteau. But most of the people who have moved out of Heavener have moved to the outlying areas such as Timber Ridge and into the country. There has been more new construction in the last 10 years than there has been in years.
A lot of that has to do with the housing situation in Heavener. There just aren't many lots available to build on and most people would rather build some place where there aren't older homes surrounding them, many of them rental houses.
It also does not mention that Heavener has an excellent school with good facilities, or how our town compares to some other small towns in Oklahoma that do not have a Wal-Mart and aren't a county seat.
Look at some other towns in Oklahoma that are similar in size to Oklahoma and see how we compare. I've been to many of these and would rather live here. The downtowns in those other communities are worse than what we have.
Small towns like Heavener will continue to struggle. Most of our best and brightest move away and seldom come home. They have to go where the jobs are located. If you don't want to work on the railroad, teach or work in a bank, there aren't many good-paying jobs here.
We have to figure out some way to bring better jobs here and capitalize on Heavener's strength, which is tourism, the affordable housing situation, good schools, etc. Instead of harping on the negatives, like the story portrays, we need to concentrate on improving things.
At least that's the way I feel.
I really think this should be a permanent thing, but doubt that will happen. I guess I shouldn't complain too much as we also get next Monday off for Martin Luther King Jr. Day! I'm a bigger supporter of his every year.
Our little community got slammed in a story by the Journal Record out of Oklahoma City. Here was a story I wrote about their story. I really feel like the story missed out on several things. It basically said the Hispanics who have moved in to Heavener have rebuilt the city, especially downtown.
I am a big supporter of any business moving downtown. It also indicated that the Hispanics are doing a lot of improvements on the housing situation in Heavener, which is correct. But it also said that Heavener is already the first community in Oklahoma with a majority of Hispanics in the population, or soon will be.
Yes, we have a lot of Hispanics living in Heavener. But if you take the population as a whole, and I am going by the area that surrounds Heavener that is part of the school district, there is no way the Hispanics are a majority of the population.
The story also basically said Heavener was a run-down community that was on its last legs. Heavener does have its problems. The Hispanics are helping in many areas with the businesses downtown and buying older houses and fixing them up. But the Heavener that existed before the chicken plant came to town wasn't exactly about to shut down.
I remember that in the early 1990s, it was hard to find a building available downtown. Since that time, we have lost several long-time businesses such as Stanley Hardware, Wilson & Johnston, T&M Pharmacy because the owners passed away or retired.
Also, the story never says anything about the fire downtown that forced several businesses to relocate to the highway, along with the other growth along the highways and the merger of the two Heavener banks.
The highway running through Heavener doesn't resemble anything like it did prior to OK coming to town. There are now two branch banks, a Sonic, KP's, two Dollar Stores and the new commercial property just north of the CNB branch.
Businesses want to go where the traffic exists. That is a plain fact that the story never mentions. It also doesn't mention how the two cultures have merged. There have been some racial problems, but nothing like many people expected.
For the most part, the whites and Hispanics have learned to live and work together. It also said that all the white people are moving to Poteau, which isn't the case.
There have been a few who have moved to Poteau. But most of the people who have moved out of Heavener have moved to the outlying areas such as Timber Ridge and into the country. There has been more new construction in the last 10 years than there has been in years.
A lot of that has to do with the housing situation in Heavener. There just aren't many lots available to build on and most people would rather build some place where there aren't older homes surrounding them, many of them rental houses.
It also does not mention that Heavener has an excellent school with good facilities, or how our town compares to some other small towns in Oklahoma that do not have a Wal-Mart and aren't a county seat.
Look at some other towns in Oklahoma that are similar in size to Oklahoma and see how we compare. I've been to many of these and would rather live here. The downtowns in those other communities are worse than what we have.
Small towns like Heavener will continue to struggle. Most of our best and brightest move away and seldom come home. They have to go where the jobs are located. If you don't want to work on the railroad, teach or work in a bank, there aren't many good-paying jobs here.
We have to figure out some way to bring better jobs here and capitalize on Heavener's strength, which is tourism, the affordable housing situation, good schools, etc. Instead of harping on the negatives, like the story portrays, we need to concentrate on improving things.
At least that's the way I feel.
posted by Craig Hall at
8:16 AM
1 Comments:
Martin Luther King, Jr. does have a lot of supporters come a 3 day weekend and for many crafty federal and state employees, this can easily be a 4 day weekend. The editor did a magnificent job as usual defending the wonderful town of Heavener. You should be Mayor, City Manager and Assembly Representative, all at once, or whichever pays the most with the most time off. Changes are blowin' in the wind I foresee. Good things will happen yet. Heavener will arise again in newer and greater glory and be the Gotham of LeFlore County.
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