I grew up in Picher
It is very sad to see what has happend to Picher. Even though my sister died on property that should never have been left "accessable" by humans and I was actually buried alive on a "Chat Pile" and could have easily died if it wasn't for my brother seeing the heel of my shoe sticking out and pulled me to saftey... after all of that, I still love the town. The Chat piles were my playground, the left over mine derricks, the ponds and creeks is where my friends and I spent all of our time. It's a wonder there were not more tragedies.
With all of the millions of dollars that was spent by the EPA to try to clean up the town they could have almost built a replica of the town in a safer area and let the people that want to live there keep the town's name, the schools and all of the history(football was huge in Picher!) and a possible ressurgance of a once great town. Now, it's just a memory for all of us that lived and/or grew up there. I moved away in the early 80's and have been back to visit from time to time, I have not been back since the F4 Tornado but am planning a trip really soon. The south end of town was damaged the most, my childhood home was leveled. Hoppy's Pool Hall was not damaged. That was another favorite place of mine. I learned how to play pool there and a great card game called "Pich" or "Pitch ?
I recently found this fascinating link. I hope everyone enjoys it as much as I did. Picher's 12th Birthday Program. [URL="http://www.cardinkids.com/OTHERS/Program1.htm"]Program1[/URL]
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