Originally Posted by
ksryder
Although almost literally everything OP ever says is demonstrably false, 20 years ago when I was in AIT Lawton was not a great town. But then again, literally every Army town is kind of crappy.
I heard a few months after I completed training and left the area that they got a new mayor who ran all the strip clubs and "massage parlors" outside the city limits.
I'm sure there's not much bike infrastructure but also it's a town of 100,000 people so you probably can actually bike in it with a little fortitude. I'm guessing OP is an unreliable narrator.
It sounds like I'm being called a liar here.
People, you have to remember I was a soldier here at Fort Sill from fall 1989 through January 1991 at a Lance missile unit there. I was reassigned to Fort Ord, California that month. It was in the dawn of the Persian Gulf War era. Stormin' Norman/Bush Sr./pre-Slick Willy/Billary Clinton days. I don't what happened to Lawton between that time and May of this year when I moved back in as a civilian. I lived on post at the barracks, not in town on the local economy. Most of the business people in this town I dealt with then THEN were friendly, even the taxi drivers. I even bought a shiny new 1990 Oldsmobile here while at Sill and the dealership did me righteously. The Whataburgers then were clean inside. The stores were clean inside. Lawton was never a glamorous town but it looked modestly decent and its people were decent in 1990. Most of the people here in 1990 did not speak with southern drawls, at least not the local businesses I dealt with here including Dr. Nolan, an optometrist, the Olds dealership, pawnshops, car wash operators and local grocery stores and gas stations. The streets were even much smoother in 1990. I don't know what happened between January of 1991 through May of 2019 to make Lawton the total HOOD that it is today. My impression of the town was good in 1990. I was totally surprised coming back to see the dishevelment that has happened since. The Walmart on Sheridan is a total pigsty. They don't seem to hire janitors. I will have to telephone Walmart corporate real soon and complain about the store. The "store manager" there I spoke to looks like a total BEARDED punk. He looked at me like I was stupid for saying the men's room needed attention. I emailed the mayor's office when I moved here to complain about the crappy streets but still have gotten no reply. That's one mayor who will not be getting my vote should he be an incumbent in the next election. I will vote solid Democrat from the city level up to the state level in Oklahoma.