The Oklahoma Daily (Norman, Okla.), Vol. 65, No. 129, Ed. 1 Monday, March 26, 1979 Page: 4 of 14
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Sampler
...in the world
Treaty a problem
'yael <AP| ~lsrael 8 peace treaty with
Egypt is just one more problem for an ecomomy
burdened with rampant inflation, high taxes and
crushing defense spending. "In the long run.
nVt % ,E,lezer Sheffer. deputy governor of the
Bank Of Israel, the major economic benefit of
peace would be to freeze or even reduce our
defense budget, which is a huge burden." But
the treaty is with Egypt alone, and Israel's other
adversaries reamin hostile. The continuing
military threat from Jordan. Syria and Iraq
precludes reduction in compulsory military ser-
vice, and Prime Minister Menachen Begin's
government is shopping for additional expensive
arms If this were the entire story of the
economic side of peace with Egypt, Israel's
economy would have a chance of at least keep-
ing its present uneasy condition
Troops close in
NAIROBI. Kenya (AP) - Invading Tanzanian
troops and Ugandan rebels were reported to
camtai AS|h1fd '° *"h'n 20 m'les °' ,he Ugandan
capital of Kampala on Sunday. President Idi
A™n * °°*®'nmen| cl®mped a curfew on the city
Tn® H°Se^ Uflanda * on|y international airport.
The Ugandan government radio admitted the
rtd ,OrCe had Pene,ra|ed deep into
Uganda The broadcast, monitored in Nairobi
said the government had shut down Entebbe Air-
port. 20 miles south of Kampala Anyone
violating Ugandan air space will be shot down
without warning, the broadcast sa.d It said a
series of directives from the Defense Council
Amin s military advisers who met in emergency
session Sunday, urged Ugandans to join the
armed forces The extreme measures were an-
u"ded one da* a,,er sports in Nairobi. Kenya,
said the invasion force was shelling Entebbe Air-
entertainment
I
sports
4,5
viewpoints
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classified
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Two Norman women who encountered "the
most terrifying experience next to homocide
rape-are establishing one of Oklahoma's first -
supportgroups aimed at helping rape victims
cope with emotional problems incurred following
physical attack. Story on page ?.
...in the daily
...in the state
Fair & cooler
Local forecast Fair and cooler Monday and Mon-
day night. Southerly winds becoming northerly 5
to 15 mph Monday. High Monday mid-60s Low
Monday night upper 30s.
...in the nation
POW comes home
CHICAGO (AP)—After more than 13 years in Viet-
nam Marine Pfc Robert Garwood came home to
e United States on Sunday to see his family
and face charges that could mean his execution.
Garwood. 33. of Greensburg. Ind., is accused of
desertion and collaborating with the Viet Cono
He arrived at 0 Hare International Airport on a
commerical flight Sunday afternoon and was
taken by car to the Great Lakes Naval Training
, " er. There- Garwood will meet with members
of his family, undergo a medical examination and
be debriefed, said Lt Col. Arthur Brill, a Marine
spokesman. Garwood has said he does not want
to meet with reporters, but the military would not
object kf he changes his mind. Brill added Gar-
wood's civilian attorney. Dermot Foley, also was
expected to meet with Garwood at Great Lakes
about 40 miles north of Chicago
Peace uncertain
NEW YORK (AP) - As the leaders of Israel and
tgypt prepare to sign a historic peace treaty
Americans are not optimistic that this success
will lead to peace agreements with Israel s other
neighbors, an Associated Press-NBC News poll
shows As a result, the public s judgement is
that peace in the Middle East is still a very
uncertain proposition. Even so. it gives high
?nm» M°nE°,yP"»n PreS'den' AnWar Sadat lsrae|i
Prime Minister Menachem Begin and President
Carter for their work in reaching this point in the
peace process. Americans are split on whether
they think Israel will be able to use this agree-
ment with Egypt as the springboard for
agreements with other Arab countries Forty-
three precent of those interviewed said they
don t think Israel will be able to reach such
agreements. 38 percent concluded such
agreements could be reached; 19 percent wer»
not sure
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By LAUREN FAIRCHILD
President Carter said it best—he’s
been to some of the most important
cities in the world in the past few
weeks, Mexico City, Cairo, Jerusalem
and now Elk City- and perhaps none
of these cities cast aside their doubts,
fears and prejudices and opened their
hearts to the degree that the small
farm town of Elk City did this
weekend.
Walking down the main street of
?m,a" wes,ern Oklahoma town
that held a President to his campaign
promise, one would expect a complex
town full of mysteries of the past.
However, that appears not to be the
case according to many of the
townspeople. Elk City is in fact simple
and that perhaps is its most unique
quality.
J he church Jimmy Carter was to at-
tend for services Sunday was original-
ly founded in l«89. Residents of Elk
C tty can remember stories told of the
land run for the five acre plots of land
soon to become their homes and the
foundation for Elk City.
Lyle Swartz, who graduated from
the OU pharmacy school in 1930 and
moved to Elk City to open Swartz
Drug store, recalls that Elk City was
originally a land of cotton, small
grainsand ranching.
C otton isn t the major factor it
once was, but farming is still a major
Part of the western Oklahoma
economic foundation. In the 40s oil
was discovered and Elk City had its
part in the oil boom. said. Blanche
4L-
r
In Elk City stores stay open till 7:30
to accommodate the farmers who still
come in to buy their supplies, see
friends and maybe take in a show.
In Elk City, teenagers still drag
Mam on Friday and Saturday nights
and the local Sonic is still the place to
find all your friends.
And in Elk City, it is not a matter of
lite and death if you don’t lock vour
doors.
But, one shouldn’t close his eyes on
Elk C ity, oil is back and Elk City still
has as much as it used to and more so
only deeper.
John Dugger, pastor of the First
Baptist Church, said EIK City has
been gaining new residents at a rate of
800 to 1,200 a year since 1974. The
P°Pulalion of the city is now
10,000 However, Dugger claims that
is misleading as many families in-
terested in moving into Elk City can’t
find housing and are forced to live in
old base housing located east of the ci-
ty-
I om Oliphant, one of two men who
shot, the photographs of the presi-
dent s trip for the scrap book
presented to Carter by the Elk City
Historical Society, of his trip to Elk
C ity moved to the city 10 months ago
and happened to find a home “with a
fluke ot luck” when he overheard so-
meone talking in church and “butted
in.
And though President Carter’s trip
will “put the town on the map",
Oliphant said, Elk City was already
on its way.
President Carter’s trip to Elk City
and all its preparations, anxiety and
jubilation goes back to a more signifi-
cant event in 1975.
A little known candidate, Jimmy
Carter visited Elk City w hile on a cam-
paign stint Nov. 11, 1975 and received
a welcome that would make any can-
didatesmile.
When Carter was in Elk City
before, Fred Saied, a city commi-
sioner, said, in little more than a week
400 citizens were gathered to attend a
uncheon for Carter in the Ramada
Inn, which happens to be Elk City's
showplace with its covered sw imming
™™n5t,T,h° .Elk C',y inCluded b0,h serious and "Qhthearted
o mee"n9 Sa,urdaY night he addressed such
questions as inflation, abortion, and the ERA
Farmers formed a tractorcade in Elk C.i
Carter’s visit in protest of low farm prices
George Ryan photo
City Saturday during Jimmy
By DAVID HUFF
ELK CITY— President Jimmy
Carter s arrival in Elk City Saturday
was not greeted by all of the people
with the same exuberance and hap-
piness network coverage made it out
lobe.
Carter returned to Elk City after a
Nov. 11, 1975 campaign promise that
it he were elected president, he would
return to this town of some 10 000
people. This time though, he was con-
fronted with a situation he didn’t have
to worry about in’75, the plight of the
American farmer.
The farmers started protesting two
years ago against what they see as the
unfair prices they have been receiving
for their products and the govern
ment s unwillingness to do anything
about it. The farmers formed an
organization called the American
Agriculture Movement (AAM) to
'oice their problems to the Congress
the president and the American peo-
ple. I hey recently took one of their
' yac t orcades across half the country to
'' ashington D.C. to protest. Thev did
thesame thing in Elk City.
Before the president' arrived, the
farmers staged a four mile parade
through dow mow n Elk City with their
tractors, traitors and farm trucks.
• Gardner- head of the AAM
in Oklahoma, said the main thing
farmers were trying to sav with the
parade was that the Carter admmstra-
I
pool surrounded by palms and used
for banquets just like the one that
honored Carter.
That’s the way Elk City does
things, they work together," Saied
said.
At that time President Carter was
presented with a replica of an oil well
and he promised if he was elected the
oil well would be put in the White
House.
"And it sits right where he said it
would," Saied said.
At the same time Carter promised
to return to the receptive Elk City
again if elected.
He seems to have kept both pro-
mises and listening to the townspeople
talk, while they wail in the cold wind
to catch a glimpse of the president as
his motorcade passes by, they never
doubted he would.
I he first evidence that something
exciting was to happen in Elk City was
apparent upon entering the town off
1-40 the interstate that has replaced
Route 66 which originally ran down
the Main Street of town.
A tractorcade of angry farmers was
making slow progress into the town,
displaying banners that said "Support
the Tarm Strike" and "Bert Lance
Didn’t Buy This Tractor" or "Trade
Wheat for Oil”. Soon to greet them
w_ould be flags, flags and more flags as
they lined the route President Carter
would take after arriving in Air Force
I ai the (. linton/Sherman Airport at
6:25 that evening.
It was II a.m. and Elk City had six
and a half hours logo.
I hough days before everyone from
school children to town leaders had
come out to participate in a city-wide
trash pickup to make the city spotless
tor the President’s visit, some people
weren t to be outdone. A local gas sta-
tion owner had employed a young boy
to help sweep the concrete in front of
his station and edge the grass alone
thecurb.
City men were helping to cover
drum barrels with bright brown gar-
bags that were to be used to rope
off the motorcade area.
(Continued on page 2)
/‘‘A ■
Creswell a resident of Elk City since
1915 when Elk City was mostly
pasture that just happened to be
located around a creek called Elk
Creek.
When things began Elk City had lit-
tle more than 300 people to its name,
but by 1948 the population had in-
creased to aroximately 5,000 and the
discovery of shallow level oil brought
an even larger increase.
Yet, esen oil brought little more
than new dollars to the little town. All
Blanche Creswell seems to recall is the
wonder that the town never once "had
a cyclone" in its history. After 1954
the population settled at 7,000 and
farming once again was relied upon
for economic grow th.
There are some things in Elk City
that just aren’t seen anymore in the
ig cities, brick streets, the local
drugstore where strangers don’t buy
cherry and chocolate cokes, only
friends and familiar faces do. There
are billboard signs as you enter town
that welcome you and caution you to
drive 55 mph to save lives, and there is
the little green sign that fights the
gusting wind to proclaim Elk City a
bird sanctuary. But most of all. and
a ) residents agree, there are the peo-
ple. The people are what make the
town different.
No doubt this is what drew Jimmy
Carter.
Only in a small town can you walk
into the local dress shop and ask
where their pastor lives and receive an
answer.
^enhaKafen !"Sey' D'" Ci,y' Swee"y asked Carter for a
kiss, he gave her not one but two kisses She was the first in a suc-
cession of women who made the same request.
Formers greet President with tractorcade
lion needs to take some positive, con-
crete action to increase farm prices for
the benefit of the American farmer
particularly the family farmer.They
also think the action would help the
consumer.
"We want to make our views
known to the American public and the
press, Gardner said. "The American
people have to know that the family
farmer is in serious trouble and that
someaclion must be taken.
"Our way of life and the family
farm industry are on the brink of ex-
tinction. All of the agricomonists say
that. The USDA people say that, and
we happen to believe them. We have a
situation that has to be addressed at
this time.”
Gardner said in 1977, 500,000
farmers produced 78 percent of the
food 200 million Americans consum-
ed. He said if people were aware of
that, they would be very concerned
about the plight of the farmers.
U e have a point to make and dog-
gone it, we feel we havea right and the
obligation to make that point. All we
are after is a fair price for a product.”
The farmers want parity, an equity
of exchange, for their products. Gard-
ner said farm prices now are essential-
ly the same as they were in 1948. The
farmers, he said, feel they should have
an equity of exchange with the rest of
the economy.
(Continued on page 2)
IMOMMioma Drily
Carter fulfills promise; visits Elk City
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Ford, Tim. The Oklahoma Daily (Norman, Okla.), Vol. 65, No. 129, Ed. 1 Monday, March 26, 1979, newspaper, March 26, 1979; Norman, Oklahoma. (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc1830125/m1/4/: accessed June 12, 2024), The Gateway to Oklahoma History, https://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Carl Albert Congressional Research and Studies Center.