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The Water Cooler
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Lawton, OK getting to be a tuff city.
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<blockquote data-quote="aestus" data-source="post: 1799723" data-attributes="member: 2989"><p>Hehe, I'm a little hard on Lawton because I lived there for 22 years of my life. I grew up there and remembered going crawdad fishing in the creek in the SW part of Lawton near 67th street and going fishing in the creekbeds near Eisenhower Jr. High School. I remember how devastated I was when the city came in and paved that creek into a concrete ditch. One of my childhood friend's family owned the farm that's right next to the Jr High school there. When I was younger, I thought I could change thing there. Many of us did. </p><p></p><p>In college, I directed a student documentary on Lawton. In many of the interviews, it was kind of shocking just how disconnected the local politicians there were. It was also revealing just how strong the local chamber of commerce actively pushed businesses away from Lawton because they felt that any outside businesses that moved in threatened their stranglehold over Lawton. Had a few of the established business owners/families who have been there for 40+ years comment off record some of the things the local government and chamber have done to royally screw new businesses or outsiders who try to do something good and bring more opportunities there. There's a reason why Lawton has more fast food restaurants and pawn shops there (used to hold the record for most fast food restaurants per capita in the world) and only just recently got their first Olive Garden. It's not due to lack of market demand or population. Lawton swaps with Norman as the third biggest city in the Oklahoma from time to time. Other businesses would flat out refuse to answer and/or cut the interview if I even mention some of these things to them. Some out of fear and others out of annoyance because they may be part of the problem. </p><p></p><p>Lawton has some real problems in terms of quality employment opportunities, city infrastructure, and vision for the future. I haven't lived in Lawton since 2004, but I see things getting worse there in terms of crime. The only Denny's restaurant closed down due to drive by shootings and beside bowling, it was one of the only places for kids to hand out at nights. If you were 18, you're choices were to get drunk at someones house, do drugs, drink coffee at denny's, bowling, or play pool and hang out at the strip club. Guess what most 18 year old boys and girls did <img src="/images/smilies/smile.png" class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" data-shortname=":)" /> Heck, I knew tons of underaged girls who stripped and some of them were even in my Sunday school class, rofl. I don't blame them, why slave for a crap job when they can make $2000 a weekend AND have the option to sign a contract with the club to either have their college tuition paid for at the Cameron University or get a boob job paid for... Flix had to close for a little while and adjust their their business hours due to multiple shootings, Gertlestone's was ********* central, filled with obnoxious and overly aggressive drunk off duty army privates looking for an excuse to punch a "local" in the face and pound their sisters/wives/GF's. Even my Dad, who's lived there since the 70's, says that Lawton is at it's worst right now and wants to move after living over 30 years there.</p><p></p><p>Every city has problems and there's worst cities than Lawton. Heck even OKC has some major issues (South side, East Side and parts of NW come to mind.) OKC has their own issues in terms of the politicians and city council. I even have some few choice words to say about the OKC Chamber of Commerce, but atleast they are actively trying to bring more businesses in and bring more money into the city. Really, I just rag on Lawton because I'm just a little bitter about the city because growing up, I loved that little hellhole... and a few of us thought we could actively promote changes. Some of us even thought about running for local city council / gov positions. Lawton had the potential to do really well.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="aestus, post: 1799723, member: 2989"] Hehe, I'm a little hard on Lawton because I lived there for 22 years of my life. I grew up there and remembered going crawdad fishing in the creek in the SW part of Lawton near 67th street and going fishing in the creekbeds near Eisenhower Jr. High School. I remember how devastated I was when the city came in and paved that creek into a concrete ditch. One of my childhood friend's family owned the farm that's right next to the Jr High school there. When I was younger, I thought I could change thing there. Many of us did. In college, I directed a student documentary on Lawton. In many of the interviews, it was kind of shocking just how disconnected the local politicians there were. It was also revealing just how strong the local chamber of commerce actively pushed businesses away from Lawton because they felt that any outside businesses that moved in threatened their stranglehold over Lawton. Had a few of the established business owners/families who have been there for 40+ years comment off record some of the things the local government and chamber have done to royally screw new businesses or outsiders who try to do something good and bring more opportunities there. There's a reason why Lawton has more fast food restaurants and pawn shops there (used to hold the record for most fast food restaurants per capita in the world) and only just recently got their first Olive Garden. It's not due to lack of market demand or population. Lawton swaps with Norman as the third biggest city in the Oklahoma from time to time. Other businesses would flat out refuse to answer and/or cut the interview if I even mention some of these things to them. Some out of fear and others out of annoyance because they may be part of the problem. Lawton has some real problems in terms of quality employment opportunities, city infrastructure, and vision for the future. I haven't lived in Lawton since 2004, but I see things getting worse there in terms of crime. The only Denny's restaurant closed down due to drive by shootings and beside bowling, it was one of the only places for kids to hand out at nights. If you were 18, you're choices were to get drunk at someones house, do drugs, drink coffee at denny's, bowling, or play pool and hang out at the strip club. Guess what most 18 year old boys and girls did :) Heck, I knew tons of underaged girls who stripped and some of them were even in my Sunday school class, rofl. I don't blame them, why slave for a crap job when they can make $2000 a weekend AND have the option to sign a contract with the club to either have their college tuition paid for at the Cameron University or get a boob job paid for... Flix had to close for a little while and adjust their their business hours due to multiple shootings, Gertlestone's was ********* central, filled with obnoxious and overly aggressive drunk off duty army privates looking for an excuse to punch a "local" in the face and pound their sisters/wives/GF's. Even my Dad, who's lived there since the 70's, says that Lawton is at it's worst right now and wants to move after living over 30 years there. Every city has problems and there's worst cities than Lawton. Heck even OKC has some major issues (South side, East Side and parts of NW come to mind.) OKC has their own issues in terms of the politicians and city council. I even have some few choice words to say about the OKC Chamber of Commerce, but atleast they are actively trying to bring more businesses in and bring more money into the city. Really, I just rag on Lawton because I'm just a little bitter about the city because growing up, I loved that little hellhole... and a few of us thought we could actively promote changes. Some of us even thought about running for local city council / gov positions. Lawton had the potential to do really well. [/QUOTE]
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