Small Town News Item

[cndrdk]

When I was 6 years old, the town I lived in had a population of about 900 people. That's a small town.

Today, I live in a COUNTY with just over 15,000 people. We have two red lights, one at the intersection of two US highways and the second in front of the county high school. The county seat has 1001 people, as of the 2020 census.

Where I grew up in New Mexico that would be considered a major metropolitan city. Our village was so small that they had "Goodbye" painted on back of the "Welcome" sign

 

[URIT]

So, a volunteer firefighter drove his tow truck to the fire scene, and the tow company got some free advertising in the paper.

 

[mtgianni]

When I was 6 years old, the town I lived in had a population of about 900 people. That's a small town.

Today, I live in a COUNTY with just over 15,000 people. We have two red lights, one at the intersection of two US highways and the second in front of the county high school. The county seat has 1001 people, as of the 2020 census.

Our County also has two red lights on the North end and a flashing light on the opposite end of the county.

 

[Retired W4]

I've been to Denton, looking for the next Miss America.

 

[Oldtimer1]

You seem to have a great local newspaper there. Here every local story is confusingly written, grammatically incorrect, and sorely lacking in details. Our local rag is owned by a group that owns several Texas newspapers.

Ours is the same. Twice we got mad aand cenceled, sat at the table every morning and just looked at each other because there was no paper to read. Turned on the TV and got mad again and renewed the newspaper. I dunno

 

[s&wchad]

Our group hunted antelope in Bill Wyoming for a number of years. They had a sign that read, "Population 11".

 

[swsig]

I've been to Denton, looking for the next Miss America.

Yep, you weren't wrong. Denton was once Miss America Central, thanks to the coeds of North Texas State University (now the University of North Texas). In 1971, a North Texas State student, Phyllis George, became Miss America. She had a long career on CBS Sports, and eventually became the First Lady of Kentucky.

Four years later, another North Texas State student, Shirley Cothran, became Miss America.

Two years later, in 1977, North Texas State student Carmen McCollum finished as second runner-up in the Miss America competition. Johnny Carson was so annoyed that Carmen hadn't won, he invited her to appear on The Tonight Show instead of the actual winner.

Johnny Carson was right. I was Carmen's undergraduate advisor at North Texas, and I can tell you that the above photo doesn't begin to do her justice. She came to my office dressed and made up just like any other female student of that time, but she was so stunning, it was difficult to concentrate on making out her degree plan. She also played a mean saxophone. She should have won!

During that period, Playboy magazine (which I only read for the articles, of course) once listed North Texas State as a Top Party School. The capsule description they used to describe a typical coed was "A divorced Miss America". That was a pretty accurate description in those days.