Small towns. Better think it over! (Ponca City, Tahlequah: homes, theater, schools)
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Sameold, guess I'm kind of the voice of dissent here. I agree with a lot of things you're saying. I grew up on a farm near a very small town. Now that town is practically non-existent. It was a good life for back then. We were fortunate enough to have a movie theatre some of the time. We also had a dance hall/rollerskating rink. There was a bowling alley. Now a lot of the smaller towns have none of that because no one can afford to stay in business. It didn't matter that much then because we had so much work to do, we rarely got out anyway. But things have changed.
Several years ago we moved to our "big town". It's kind of a joke because our population has now grown to 17,000 people so that tells you how small our little town was. (about 500 now)There is so much more here for families. There are softball teams and volleyball teams and show choir and plays and tae-kwondo and dance, etc. We even have a theatre with live performances here. Those things really don't keep everyone out of trouble, but there's just much more opportunity then in the smaller communities.
So in a way, I really do understand what you're saying. There are also a few small communities that I wouldn't live in if someone paid me~just too clicky and backward.
I need to clarify a few things. My children are grown. And I don't feel like kids have to be "entertained" in the way I made it sound. Sorry 'bout that. We lived in the country for a long time when my kids were young. My kids grew up riding three wheelers and running through the woods in Louisiana. They did chores and we went to church. They camped out in the back yard and we had cookouts and weenie roasts. My family hunted and fished. It was small town life. That being said, they STILL enjoyed going the local theater and the library. We did go to the mall in a town 30 miles away.
We enjoyed those outings very much. It was not for entertainment. I'm just pointing out that people often have a misconception that small town life won't have the same problems as a larger town or city. The drug problem in this little town I live in is "horrendous". We did not know that until we moved here. When we had the deputy out here he told us, "we just can't keep up with the meth labs in these rural areas". My friend is a nurse at the prison not far from here and she said the majority of prisoners there, are from a two county area here in Oklahoma. One of those counties is where we live. What I would like for people to understand is this...do your homework. We just thought that because so many people retired here, that it must be okay. Its OUR fault we did not check things out better. My daughter worked in the lab at the local hospital here and was shocked at how much HIV is in this small town. Less than 3,000 people! The majority of it was from drug use. And yes, you can raise your kids right. But, there are always those kids who will rebel and do the opposite of what you teach them. Fortunately, my kids were either too scared or had enough good common sense not try drugs. Even when we moved to the city, they liked the same things as when they lived in the country. We just dove up to the mountains and carried on with our outdoor fun. Just check out the small town as best you can. Thats all I'm saying.
Sameold, guess I'm kind of the voice of dissent here. I agree with a lot of things you're saying. I grew up on a farm near a very small town. Now that town is practically non-existent. It was a good life for back then. We were fortunate enough to have a movie theatre some of the time. We also had a dance hall/rollerskating rink. There was a bowling alley. Now a lot of the smaller towns have none of that because no one can afford to stay in business. It didn't matter that much then because we had so much work to do, we rarely got out anyway. But things have changed.
Several years ago we moved to our "big town". It's kind of a joke because our population has now grown to 17,000 people so that tells you how small our little town was. (about 500 now)There is so much more here for families. There are softball teams and volleyball teams and show choir and plays and tae-kwondo and dance, etc. We even have a theatre with live performances here. Those things really don't keep everyone out of trouble, but there's just much more opportunity then in the smaller communities.
So in a way, I really do understand what you're saying. There are also a few small communities that I wouldn't live in if someone paid me~just too clicky and backward.
Having said that, I still think Grove is cool!!!
YOU "got" what I was trying to say!! WHEW! Have a good day and thanks for the input.
When I was a teen I visited a family friend in a very small Oklahoma town (which will go unnamed) a number of times, each time staying for about a month. I was between 14 and 16 years old at the time, I have lived my whole life in NYC and these visits were quite revealing of what small town life was really like. The girl that I stayed with was my age and had many friends. We spent the time doing nothing except hanging around her house until dark when all her friends met in the woods and drank, got drunk and staggered home. We went to her friends house one night where I sat in the living room with the girls parents watching TV while my friend and her gang of friends disppeared into her bedroom, after an hour or so I got up and walked into the bedroom and found my friend and all her friends on the floor in what appeared to be an orgy!!! apparently this was a nightly ritual,Needless to say I spent my last visit to Oklahoma sitting at her parents house while she was out. Let me say that this was something that I never had experienced in NY. When she came to visit me in NY she ended up chasing my brother,his friends and my friends boyfriends... guess this is life in a small town. Perhaps if there were shopping malls, movie theatres, restaurants etc there minds would be on other things besides sex ,alcohol and drugs.
I agree with Sameoldsonganddance, I have lived here in the "big city" my whole life and never had anything stolen and no I do not have a fence and the things in my yard are NOT tied down. I have never had to deal with a "meth head" or saw drinking,drugs or unprotected sex in the movies or the shopping mall !!!
My children know how to cook,clean, maybe not "damn up a creek", but they did not drop out of school, OH, and by the way Child labor laws do not allow children to work at the age of 8, maybe if they were at home studying instead of working they would have finished school and not been on there own at 14 !!!
Kids in the big city are more well adjusted,( seems like the worst criminals and worst crimes have been committed in small towns around the country, where are most serial killers from?).
Send your kids to the big city let them get some culture and class!
I have lived my whole life in NYC and these visits were quite revealing of what small town life was really like.
Actually, what small towns are REALLY like depends on the individual. And each individual has their own perception. Obviously, you picked the wrong friend to stay with in Oklahoma. There are just as many young people in small towns who don't do alcohol or drugs, or ORGIES!
Although, I think some people might want to know who your little friend, the ORGY GIRL, is so they can come to Oklahoma and visit her too!
Quote:
Originally Posted by HeatherDawn
StillwaterTownie, I think you are grossly overestimating the effectiveness of one law or grossly underestimating the resourcefulness of meth heads.
You got that right. Although we are seeing a LOT more massive quantities of meth being muled in from south of the border. I work with a lot of meth heads and even they are amazed at how much meth there is coming in from Mexico.
But I also talked to a man who does training for the Federal prison system and the state prisons, and he laughed and said EVERY single state he has visited, someone has uttered the words, "We are the meth capitol of America."
Quote:
Originally Posted by briansgi
There was drugs around me, even growing up in the 60's, even in the remote area I grew up, yet I knew enough to stay away from those things.
Good point, briansgi. But you can't convince some people when their minds are made up. For some teens, substance abuse is a rite of passage regardless of the environment one grows up in.
I don't think anyone said people in small towns walk around with angel wings on and strum harps. Let's get real.
Where do I begin? So many different issues are coming up in this thread. This is my take on some of them.
What makes people think that kids don't like a little peace and quiet in their lives? I grew up in a city of 180,000 people and lived in low-income housing. Back then I could go into the woods around the complex without being in danger but it's much different now. People living there now can't let their kids go into those same woods because there have been rapes and violent assaults there. I also loved going to my grandfathers farm but 3 McMansions sit on the property now.
When I was in my early teens some people in my town opened up a youth center. They didn't have a lot of money so it wasn't real fancy but we liked it anyway. That was before computers, DVD movies, video games, cable TV, etc. All it had were a couple pool and ping pong tables and the board games that WE donated to the center. There was a little deli in the building so we could buy food and drinks to eat in the youth center. For a while someone came in and gave group guitar lessons for about $5.00 per child. Many of my friends were in the explorer scouts. It was an outstanding group because of the support and guidance of two people that we all referred to as Uncle Rodney and Aunt Beverly. We especially enjoyed embarrassing them in public and at large scouting events with those names. I bet there were some people that envied them when 20 teens would give them that title of honor.
With the support and guidance of a few good adults we entertained ourselves in very constructive ways. There were plenty of shopping malls and theaters in the area but we spent more time at their house.
Many people moving from cities to small towns are used to having a large police force to protect them. The city I live in has 120 full-time sworn Police Officers, 10 Reserve Officers, and numerous support staff. The small towns may only have 2-3 cops covering a much larger area. Most small towns can't afford larger police departments because they don't have the large businesses and wealthy people to pay taxes to have more police on the city payroll. This makes small towns easier targets for criminals. As the economy gets worse the crime is going to get worse unless more people in the small towns get more active in stopping the criminals.
Small towns can be great places or terrible places to live but in small towns it really matters how much effort people are willing to put into making it great.
A gun in the hand is worth more than a cop on the phone...
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I agree with a lot of things you're saying. I grew up on a farm near a very small town. Now that town is practically non-existent. It was a good life for back then. We were fortunate enough to have a movie theatre some of the time. We also had a dance hall/rollerskating rink. There was a bowling alley. Now a lot of the smaller towns have none of that because no one can afford to stay in business. It didn't matter that much then because we had so much work to do, we rarely got out anyway. But things have changed.
(about 500 now)There is so much more here for families. There are softball teams and volleyball teams and show choir and plays and tae-kwondo and dance, etc. We even have a theatre with live performances here. Those things really don't keep everyone out of trouble, but there's just much more opportunity then in the smaller communities.
ORGIES!
