OKLA. CITY —
In the early 1900s the presence of coal in the red soil of McAlester transformed that Southeastern Oklahoma community into a boom town, and people from across the world came there to work in the coal mines. At the time of Oklahoma Statehood in 1907 McAlester ranked only behind Oklahoma City in the size of its population.
Congressman Carl Albert of McAlester, who served as Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives in the early 1970s, would write in his memoirs that McAlester had communities of Italians, Russians, Mexicans, Syrians and Bulgarians when he was growing up there. Albert detailed that the largest immigrant group in McAlester was the Italians, and he wrote of them and their cultural and culinary traditions with affection. Pulitzer Prize winning New York Times reporter and Oklahoma City native Anthony Shadid would write in his book “House of Stone” of how his ancestors had emigrated from Lebanon in the 1920s to the McAlester area to operate stores that sold goods to the miners and their families.
But when oil became the nation’s chief source of energy most of the mines closed, and McAlester is perhaps best known today as the home of the state’s maximum security prison where executions are conducted. But in recent years McAlester has made efforts to encourage economic development. That effort has been spearheaded by several civic groups there, including the MPower organization.
The executive director of that entity, Shari Cooper, has a master’s degree in urban planning from the University of Oklahoma, and previously had worked as an urban planner in London, England, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Oklahoma City. Cooper recently explained that her organization has begun to use social media as a way to promote McAlester and Pittsburg County as both a business site and a tourist destination.
Those efforts include a video that is on the MPower website that was made by Cooper Ross of Insight Visual Media of Edmond that details how McAlester is home to a military installation and several plants that produce equipment used by the U.S. military. It also describes how McAlester is close to the urban areas of Oklahoma City, Tulsa and Dallas, and is connected to those cities with interstate highways and enjoys a low cost of living and a trained workforce. The video describes the waterways, including Lake Eufaula and woods that are located in the McAlester area, and reports that McAlester is a vacation destination as well. Cooper reports that her company recently commissioned a study by a national marketing organization on how to obtain the best return on the tax revenues that are generated by the motel room tax that is imposed in McAlester. The Italians that Albert remembered with fondness have left a legacy of Italian restaurants and stores and an annual Italian festival in McAlester, and the report received by Mpower concluded that McAlester should publicize them and other attractions in efforts to bring visitors to it. The report suggested that McAlester should advertise in print and Internet publications in Dallas, Oklahoma City and Tulsa, as well as conventions held in places such as Fort Worth and New Orleans.
Many communities create social media websites that allow visitors and residents to upload photos and stories to it, and it was suggested by the report’s authors that McAlester should create a similar site. Some communities in Oklahoma, including Ardmore, Edmond and Enid, have Convention and Visitors Bureaus that work to bring people in to tour their towns. The report also recommended that McAlester use 22 percent of the revenues generated by the motel room tax to create such an entity.
While McAlester may not become a boomtown again, it is possible that it will experience growth and economic development as a result of the work done by Mpower and other civic organizations located there.
WILLIAM F. O’BRIEN is an Oklahoma City attorney.
Opinion
AGAINST THE GRAIN: McAlester hearkens back to its boomtown status
- Opinion
-
-
Americans deserve the truth on Benghazi
Lately, the media has been consumed by the controversies surrounding the White House. Among these controversies is the horrific terrorist attack on the United States’ diplomatic compound in Benghazi that took place Sept. 11, 2012. As more people come forward with additional information regarding the attack on the consulate, many Americans, including myself, are still asking for the truth.
The Obama Administration and the State Department have been less than forthcoming with key information on Benghazi and recent information points toward a major cover-up. -
Seizure of AP phone records insult to independent press
Distrust of government secrecy has been elevated to an exceptional level with the disclosure the Justice Department covertly examined two months of Associated Press phone records to determine who leaked details to the AP about a foiled terrorist plot.
-
HEY HINK: Some people just are not cut out for command
Recent headlines cause me to remember an incident that occurred on an army base some years ago. Warning here: I’m taking some liberties with names and details, but the basic outline of events is accurate.
A certain company commander, let’s call him Captain Duntz, had command of a motor pool on a large army base in the continental U.S. -
We’ve become our own worst enemies
The past couple months have been marked by a seeming unprecedented number of man-made tragedies, as distinct from those caused by violent outbursts of the natural world, such as earthquakes, hurricanes and tsunamis.
You don’t want to dwell too long on the negative, but we do have to take notice of horrific human events and we owe it to ourselves to respond to them in some way. We don’t always agree on those responses, however, and that usually exacerbates the problem. -
Let’s reimburse higher ed for remediation costs
The good news: Oklahoma schools are teaching phonics. The bad news: It’s in college.
Students at Tulsa Community College, for example, can take a college English course called “Spelling and Phonics,” which “helps students master basic spelling literacy, principles of phonics and decoding skills.”
This sort of higher education brings to mind former Boston University president John Silber’s quip: “Higher than what?” -
AGAINST THE GRAIN: Department of Commerce highlights Main Street successes
The 24th annual Oklahoma Main Street Awards Banquet was at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum last week. Oklahoma Department of Commerce Secretary Dave Lopez addressed the gathering, and spoke of how the Commerce Department works with Main Street organizations throughout the state that are working to improve their downtown areas. Lopez pointed out that the partnership between his department and those local organizations has brought new life to those communities and that the attendees would see some of that revitalization in a video presentation. Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin also addressed the gathering, and said the Main Street program has resulted in more than $1 billion in investments in the state and more than 1 million volunteer hours in its 24 years of operation.
-
OUR VIEW: Be Edmond needs your help
BMX star and local legend Mat Hoffman knows what’s it like to fall from great heights and find yourself at one of the worst low points in life. He also knows how to climb back up and tackle life’s problems head on.
-
No Americans forgotten in Benghazi
More than eight months ago on Sept. 11, the nation was shaken by the attack on our consulate in Benghazi, Libya. Claiming the lives of four innocent Americans, including Ambassador Christopher Stevens, that horrific night still demands further investigation before it can be laid to rest. Due to an uncooperative administration and State Department who attempted to downplay the terrorist attack just eight weeks before the presidential election, we still don’t know the truth.
-
Saying goodbye to the earmark
When a new legislator, I worked to learn some of the more hidden and less-than-transparent aspects in the way Oklahoma politicians spent our taxpayer dollars. This wasn’t easy as even some legislators are left in the dark regarding the mechanics of how the legislative budget process is abused to the benefit of the most powerful of politicians.
-
HEY HINK: Think like a gaur before deciding on gun debate
Have you ever heard of a gaur? It’s the largest living member of the bovine family. A large gaur bull can weigh more than a ton and a half. His body may be nearly 11 feet long and he may be more than 7 feet tall at the shoulder. This is a huge, enormously powerful animal that could, no doubt, do a terrific amount of work if it would ever allow itself to be hitched to a plow. But it won’t. Man has never been able to offer the gaur a deal that would persuade it to become domesticated.
- More Opinion Headlines
-
Americans deserve the truth on Benghazi
