[EarthBound?]

Originally Posted by Synopsis

MK, I'm still scratching my head over trying to figure out what you just said...

Ah, now come on Synopsis,

Get on the same sheet of music as the rest of us. Haven't you ever seen them jack a whole house up, put it on a bunch of hydraulic actuated axles and wheels and move it to another location, Sheeeesh ! LOL

I guess I expected more out of Tahlequah as a whole, being thats it a college town I didn't expect to see so many run down parts of the town. The college its self was nice and it seemed to be getting a lot of updates. But for the most part, the town its self needed alot of work. I know that times are a little hard, but it still doesn't take money to get out from infront of the TV and clean up your yard and have the broke down clunker in your front yard thats on blocks, hauled away.

[mkfarnam]

Originally Posted by Synopsis

MK, I'm still scratching my head over trying to figure out what you just said...

They move businesses to a different part of town and leave the old building abandond.

[LadyRobyn]

Originally Posted by mkfarnam

They move businesses to a different part of town and leave the old building abandond.

Ah! *whew* When you said Duncan was a ghost-town, I thought I'd been seeing dead people!

[Jammie]

Originally Posted by SeabeeBolt

We folks, the wife and I got a good look at Tahlequah. And I hate to say it, but it wasn't what I had hoped for, lots of run down buildings and most of the neighborhoods needed a large amount of TLC. It doesn't take money to pick-up the yards and clean around the houses ie some weeding and a little bit of paint goes along way and can cover a multitude of sins on a house. I'm not sure what the job status is like there, but it did seem to have lots of empty buildings. Tahlequah was on out list of towns to look at for possibly moving to in the future, but saddly to say we removed it .

Muskogee was a little better, but I think for now we're going to keep looking. Next time we'll have to see how Poteau, Wagoner and Sallisaw measure up. Oklahoma is still No.1 on our list, especially for me, I still love Oklahoma and her people.

Now we did run into a little town called "Medicine Park" . quite charming and it had loads of character with a wonderful back drop of the Wichita Mountains. Very lovely, with lots of possibilities.

Thank you for the evaluation. Now I don't feel so bad that we went right near it and didn't stop.

We were in Poteau though. The town itself is a bit rundown~buildings and stuff. BUT a lot of people had their houses in the hilly part of the city and we drove around for a long time admiring it all. The people were friendly~I chatted with a gal in a liquor store for a while and she was so nice. (No, I didn't buy booze~just went in to chat. So I'm weird.) It didn't sound like there were a lot of employment opportunities there and that a lot of people who lived there went into Ark. to work. Can't remember the name of the town that most of them worked in though.

We were in Muskogee, too. It was ok, but it's not Grove or Tulsa.

[Bass&Catfish2008]

Originally Posted by SeabeeBolt

We folks, the wife and I got a good look at Tahlequah. And I hate to say it, but it wasn't what I had hoped for, lots of run down buildings and most of the neighborhoods needed a large amount of TLC. It doesn't take money to pick-up the yards and clean around the houses ie some weeding and a little bit of paint goes along way and can cover a multitude of sins on a house. I'm not sure what the job status is like there, but it did seem to have lots of empty buildings. Tahlequah was on out list of towns to look at for possibly moving to in the future, but saddly to say we removed it .

Muskogee was a little better, but I think for now we're going to keep looking. Next time we'll have to see how Poteau, Wagoner and Sallisaw measure up. Oklahoma is still No.1 on our list, especially for me, I still love Oklahoma and her people.

Now we did run into a little town called "Medicine Park" . quite charming and it had loads of character with a wonderful back drop of the Wichita Mountains. Very lovely, with lots of possibilities.

I find it interesting that you think you're going to get something better (than Muskogee and Talequah) in Poteau, Wagoner, and Sallisaw. If I'm understanding you correctly you're wanting something less run down, etc......you'll have to look closer to communities surrounding OK City and Tulsa.....more like the "burbs" so to speak.

[Mattie Jo]

I have to admit, while I love Tahlequah, I really don't spend the time looking at the poor sections. I see the beauty here. I understand what Seabeebolt mean though. My DH and I were talking about your post Seabee. He said that you have to realize that small towns have little to offer most people, but that if you want country you forego alot of other things. I would say if you really want to live in Oklahoma then check out Guthrie. It is not a real small city, but it is beautiful through and through except to say that it is in tornado alley, and I am sure they have poor sections. If you want more beauty check out Eureka Springs, AR. Fayetteville is not so bad either. Thing is, if a town is beautiful everyone wants to live there. If a town has a lot of great restaurants and shopping people want to live there too, but with that comes traffic and people congestion.

Me, I have always loved Berkeley, CA but it is too expensive and too congested. Next I love Eureka Springs, AR, but it is becoming congested and expensive.

I missed the good restaurants when we moved here but found some good ones in town, and when we go to other larger places I often shop or find a good restaurant. Now I often shop online. I got into the small town life by doing volunteer work and making new friends, and I love running into people I know when I go to town. I grew up in a small town and loved how my parents knew everyone and have always missed that when I lived in a large city, which I had lived in since high school. I remember how my parents used to take us to town and park downtown and call out to people that they knew who were walking down the street and they would come over and talk to my dad. Here we have Wallie World and so you can't stop and watch people. Of course you could do that downtown, but due to the way we have to park (parallel) it isn't the same. So I run into people at affairs in town. The Catholics are not having their wonderful Fish Fries and so I meet with people I know and we have lunch, and then other people in town stop by to eat, and I go say hello to them, and the Mason's have their monthly breakfasts where many go to help support children who need help. Wonderful meals by the way, even at the Catholic church, where the fish is wonderful and the desserts even better. And then there are always functions that we all attend and run into each other. The college has wonderful programs and does the Friends of the Library.

But yes, it has its poor sections, but there are also nice neighborhoods without trash, and a nice downtown, and then some very large wealthy homes that I don't care for, but I am a small town girl who prefers old farm houses when kept up nice.

By the way Grove is not even better than Tahlequah, but they have a wonderful lake. I have not seen many towns that I liked better than Tahlequah. Oklahoma is a poor state, which is why it is so cheap to live here.

[EarthBound?]

I'm a country boy by birth and by heart and not much for big cities. But when it comes to my home I take a lot of pride in the way it looks, inside and out. Remember what I said , "that it doesn't take alot of money and a little hard work to make a home look good, and a little paint goes a long way".
I find it funny how people will sit there and complain about not havin any money, but as they are complaining they're smokin a cig and drinking a beer. And probibly blowing money on the slots or the lottery. Most of what we saw was just signs of laziness, not lack of money. Patch a gate here, slap a little paint there, pick up the garbage in the yard, make the kids put thier toys away or throw them away yourself, just simple stuf.
Where my DW and I use to live for a short time, it was like living between Sanford and Son. They had so much junk in thier yards they started to stack it against our privacy fence. That was until I walked around the fence and threw thier junk back into thier yards and got it off MY fence. And I complained to the city that unless they gave them a junkyard permit, they had better do something about it. They obviously said something to them, because the junk was removed.
So most of what I saw was the fault of the cities for not taking a stronger stand to make them clean it up. A nice little college town like Tahlequah would draw lots of people if they would only help each other out a little more by cleaning up THERE HOME TOWN. Those little town are thier homes, not a Waste Management or BFI work site.

[StillwaterTownie]

Originally Posted by Jammie

Thank you for the evaluation. Now I don't feel so bad that we went right near it and didn't stop.

We were in Poteau though. The town itself is a bit rundown~buildings and stuff. BUT a lot of people had their houses in the hilly part of the city and we drove around for a long time admiring it all. The people were friendly~I chatted with a gal in a liquor store for a while and she was so nice. (No, I didn't buy booze~just went in to chat. So I'm weird.) It didn't sound like there were a lot of employment opportunities there and that a lot of people who lived there went into Ark. to work. Can't remember the name of the town that most of them worked in though.

You mean Ft. Smith. I've been there once. It's a fairly pretty place with the Arkansas River running through it. I wouldn't want to live in an Oklahoma town that is so close to the border of the neighboring state that it finds itself often having to relate and identify with the neighboring state.

[Synopsis]

People in smaller towns do tend to treat their lawns and homes as you've said Seabee. I think it has to do with a little bit of laziness and city policies. I was a "Grass and Weeds" Inspector for the city of Ada (OKlahoma) between my Junior and Senior year in high school (summer job).

It was my job to drive around the city and note the addresses of people who let their lawns grow too high or had trash in their yard, and send them notice to clean up their act or receive a fine by the city manager.

I think a responsible city will do that, while an irresponsible city government will just let things get out of control.

Rural areas are different because people aren't living in close proximity to each other - in short, to each their own.

All in all, I'm with you. I don't want my neighbors trashing my neighbor "hood."

[Synopsis]

Originally Posted by mkfarnam

They move businesses to a different part of town and leave the old building abandond.

That explains the whole "moving towns" statement quite well. Thanks MK.