Sheridan

Put a lid on it

athensjw@yahoo.com — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 20:27:00 GMT

Is anybody else out there cynical about the all the roofs being replaced in Lawton? We get a hailstorm and everybody and his brother is now a roofer. People are coming out of the hills (er, the Plains?) to reroof our houses, all at the expense of the insurance company (and by the way, if you put a yard sign out, we'll pay the deductable and call it "advertising"). It's times like these that actually make me feel sorry for mega insurance companies.

By the way, it's pronounced "euro"

athensjw@yahoo.com — Sat, 23 May 2009 03:59:00 GMT

Kudos to the staff of Luigi's for their new Greek-Italian eatery on Cache Road. El Greco was a fine Greek restaurant, but never had a decent location. Luigi's To Go , however, is in the midst of restaurant row and has been jam packed in the two weeks since it's been opened. Seeing the lamb cuts on large skewers is a nice touch.

Dodging raindrops at Arts for All

athensjw@yahoo.com — Tue, 12 May 2009 18:33:00 GMT

The weather mercifully held off for another nice installment of Arts for All. Considering all the rain we've had recently, it certainly could have been worse. No full-blown storms interfered this weekend. But while I was about sampling the wines, it occured to me that, while we all love the dance troupes and barbershop choruses, isn't this festival big enough to pay for at least one name band? While the focus of the festival isn't on the music, it would be nice to have an act sure to draw music lovers from Wichita Falls, Ardmore and points beyond. And no, I'm not talking about country acts of the sort we often see at the Polo Field. I like country music as much as the next guy, but if we're having an arts festival, should we have an artsy band? Someone like Neko Case or a group like Los Lonely Boys?

Press the gas pedal Ethyl

athensjw@yahoo.com — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 22:44:00 GMT

Lawton must have America's most law-abiding citizens. We seem to obey traffic laws even when they are not in force. Take our numerous school zones, which on the arterials are posted with flashing light signals. For a precious few minutes at midmorning and midafternoon the insanely low speed limits (usually 20 mph) are not in force and you are allowed to go 40 mph. But inevitably one person in each lane will still go 20, not realizing the lights are not flashing. This is also a problem on holidays when school is out and even during summer vacation. People will still go 20. Another symptom of this disorder is stopping at four-way stops and waiting for everyone else, including people who arrived at the intersection long after you have, to go through. I hope these people never drive the 820 in DFW. They would be massacred.

mansell's folly

athensjw@yahoo.com — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 04:29:00 GMT

Every Lawtonian should feel a little twinge of satisfaction in seeing the bulldozers dismantle the erstwhile Midtown Square shopping. This building's unburied corpse has been let molder before our eyes because its owner, Bob Mansell, seems to have little regard for anyone aside from himself. In this passion play, lo and behold, the Lawton City Government comes out the hero, engaging in a pitched battle with Mansell for years before, finally, a judge with backbone gives Mansell an ultimatum. Mansell, as he has done throughout this ordeal, did next to nothing. And so down the buildings come. It's going to be strange to see an empty lot there. Mansell still owns the land. I wouldn't put it past him to build the ugliest building possible (perhaps something as ugly as the county courthouse) as the ultimate vulgar gesture to Lawton.

It's getting crowded in here

athensjw@yahoo.com — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 19:04:00 GMT

Does anyone else notice Lawton getting traffickier? (I'm sure that's a word, or it should be) It used to be I could get down Gore at just about any time of day and hit all the light in synch, not counting having to slow down for Eisenhower. Now morning noon and evening it seems that the congestion, especially around the hospital and Cameron preclude a non-stop drive west to east. There is no doubt that some of the inflow from Fort Bliss has begun. More is slated for 2010 and 2011, and, to hear the experts tell it, the impact cannot be overestimated. It will have a real and profound impact on economy and infrastructure. So, as a practical matter, how will Lawtonians, who are completely unused to urban-style traffic jams, handle what the Germans call a Verkehrsmarmalade? With no new arteries on the drawing board, we'll all have to fit through the connectors we currently have. And with city fathers obsessed with keeping retail downtown, all that traffic will increasingly be forced into the center city.

Elite sleet

athensjw@yahoo.com — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 05:29:00 GMT

Got photos of Lawton's ice storm? Share them with the city by emailing them to sheridan@lawtoninfo.net.

Here's mine

A spot of blue in a red city

athensjw@yahoo.com — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 01:17:00 GMT

When NPR announced last month that it was canceling "Day to Day," which aired on 89.3 FM KCCU at noon weekdays, the Cameron public radio station decided to stop running the news magazine almost immediately. That was not an odd decision. Quite often canceled programs loose their verve quickly. What was odd was its choice of a replacement. Democracy Now! is a little leftish to say the least. It's refreshing to hear controversial opinion on the Lawton airwaves, but it is also somewhat startling. It originates from KPFA in Berkeley, Calif. Need I say more? Listening to Democracy Now! in Lawton gives me the same feeling I once got listening to Rush Limbaugh in San Francisco. I'd be interested in seeing how long this lasts.

News and notes

athensjw@yahoo.com — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 05:01:00 GMT

So, the Sooners bite the dust again. At least this time the game was at issue well into the fourth quarter, but the game was actaully lost in the second quarter when, with the ball at the Gator 1-yard-line on third and goal, Sam Bradford and the entire team had to look to the sidelines to get the play (a run, duh), instead of quick snapping the ball before the Gators could get set.

Lawton Cablevision finally made a deal with KAUZ for no interruption. Guess who knuckled under? The same folks who cannot manage to reach a deal to broadcast Oklahoma's only (purportedly) big league professional team, the OKC Thunder. It is strange watching the pregame on FSN Oklahoma, then switching to poker.

Under siege again

athensjw@yahoo.com — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 20:16:00 GMT

As you go to the Holiday in the Park enjoying the festive cheer of holiday lights, don't mind me. I'll just be dying at your side. If you read today's (Friday's) paper, you've seen that the City of Lawton has embarked upon another round of its War on Prairie Dogs. (and you thought the War on Terror would never end). This time instead of turning our tunnels into gas chambers, this time the preferred method of execution is poison bait. "Oh look, a tasty, chewy confection of unknown origin... gack"
The one saving grace is that, in the past the goal seemed to be eradication (and you've noticed how successful that was. This time the powers that be seem to be satisfied to shew us to the periphery of the park, so we don't get in the way of their blessed festivals.
I've said it a thousand times and I'll say it again. If the city would commission a nice large statue as an homage to the prairie dog, they might actually make it into a few travel guides. We could christen Lawton as THE Prairie Dog Town. It would make Elmer Thomas Park truly unique, as opposed to the generic bare field it would be without us.
But, no, the city prefers the killing fields to continue.
Maybe we could get a statue and call it The Tomb of the Unknown Prairie Dog.