[StillwaterTownie]

I'm not at all surprised to see the bad mouthing over how southeast Oklahoma is like. One time I drove through Idabel and had never seen a town looked so runned down and in decay. A typical reason why Okahoma towns look sad is because the paint is fading away on nearly all the buildings. But in Idabel the paint has done come off buildings and now the exposed wood is weathering away.

[Synopsis]

Originally Posted by StillwaterTownie

I'm not at all surprised to see the bad mouthing over how southeast Oklahoma is like. One time I drove through Idabel and had never seen a town looked so runned down and in decay. A typical reason why Okahoma towns look sad is because the paint is fading away on nearly all the buildings. But in Idabel the paint has done come off buildings and now the exposed wood is weathering away.

Although beautiful, that's probably the poorest section of the state.

[stillkit]

Originally Posted by Synopsis

Although beautiful, that's probably the poorest section of the state.

It's among the poorest sections of the whole nation! Back in the days when the poverty of Appalachia was in the news, SE Oklahoma ranked right up there with them and it's still that way, in spite of Weyerhauser buying out Dierks back in the 60's or 70's. That was supposed be an engine of economic change, but it didn't work out that way.

[Synopsis]

It's not one of the poorest sections of the whole nation. Try driving through Mississippi, parts of Tennessee, and West Virginia. The poverty in some of those areas is downright abysmal. I'm talking shanty houses built out of pieces of scavenged wood, no running water, or electricity. Sure, you'll see houses and businesses in Idabel or Antlers with the paint peeling off and such but at least these are actual structures with foundations and electric/water hookup.

Texas has areas that are far more poverty stricken than any place in Oklahoma.

[stillkit]

Yeah, but you have to consider how they determine what areas are, or are not, "poverty" stricken.

Very often, those kind of figures are based upon total income, but they do NOT include public assistance or direct payments from the government.

[Synopsis]

Originally Posted by stillkit

Yeah, but you have to consider how they determine what areas are, or are not, "poverty" stricken.

Very often, those kind of figures are based upon total income, but they do NOT include public assistance or direct payments from the government.

You've obviously never been through those areas that I spoke of above. I'm talking people living in abject poverty. Besides, you've not offered any evidence to support your claim.

[mkfarnam]

Originally Posted by Synopsis

It's not one of the poorest sections of the whole nation. Try driving through Mississippi, parts of Tennessee, and West Virginia. The poverty in some of those areas is downright abysmal. I'm talking shanty houses built out of pieces of scavenged wood, no running water, or electricity. Sure, you'll see houses and businesses in Idabel or Antlers with the paint peeling off and such but at least these are actual structures with foundations and electric/water hookup.

Texas has areas that are far more poverty stricken than any place in Oklahoma.

I wonder what a run down, weather beaten igloo looks like...

[karibear]

Originally Posted by mkfarnam

I wonder what a run down, weather beaten igloo looks like...

Like just another snowdrift.

[stillkit]

Originally Posted by Synopsis

You've obviously never been through those areas that I spoke of above. I'm talking people living in abject poverty. Besides, you've not offered any evidence to support your claim.

Your own map shows McCurtain, Choctaw and Pushmataha counties in the next to worst category, right up there alongside the Navajo Indian counties of New Mexico, Harlan County, KY and the deep Mississippi Delta. That should be proof enough.

By the way, I have been to most of those places. In fact, I've traveled the US extensively over my lifetime of 60 years. There isn't much I haven't seen and I will still rank SE Oklahoma right up there among the worst poverty areas of the country. For every shack without electricity you can find up a West Virginia holler, I can show you one around Honobia. For every hard scrabble farm on a dirt road you can find in the Delta, I can take you to one just like it around Eagletown or Soper or Finley. Count the shuttered businesses in any town of comparable size you like, then come to Antlers and count 'em. There won't be much difference.

[Synopsis]

Originally Posted by stillkit

Your own map shows McCurtain, Choctaw and Pushmataha counties in the next to worst category, right up there alongside the Navajo Indian counties of New Mexico, Harlan County, KY and the deep Mississippi Delta. That should be proof enough.

By the way, I have been to most of those places. In fact, I've traveled the US extensively over my lifetime of 60 years. There isn't much I haven't seen and I will still rank SE Oklahoma right up there among the worst poverty areas of the country. For every shack without electricity you can find up a West Virginia holler, I can show you one around Honobia. For every hard scrabble farm on a dirt road you can find in the Delta, I can take you to one just like it around Eagletown or Soper or Finley. Count the shuttered businesses in any town of comparable size you like, then come to Antlers and count 'em. There won't be much difference.

Next to the worst is right, while Texas and Mississippi have worse. I've provided at least some evidence that this is so. The conditions in Mississippi are about 20 times as deplorable as anything I have seen in SE Oklahoma. While the conditions in SE Oklahoma are bad, the structures are at least real structures. I have yet witnessed a "shantytown" in SE Oklahoma as I have in Mississippi.

Here is a map of the poverty in Texas.

http://www.datadrivenmaps.com/myonlinemapscom/images/2007/05/06/tx_poverty_8.png (broken link)



Concentrations of poverty... Again. Texas looks rather pathetic.



Start providing something substantial please.