“Some of these people just lost their insurance. Some of them work, but don’t make very much. Some of them are self-employed,” says Copeland, a feisty 85-year-old who’s been running Pottawatomie County’s free clinic since it opened 14 years ago.

“You can usually tell by looking at them that most of them really need the help.”

Government insurance? No thanks

Health centers provide low-cost care

Responses from Fallin's office and an advocacy group

Facts about Pottawatomie County

Copeland is in charge of recruiting doctors, nurses, pharmacists and other helpers who donate their time on Thursday evenings to help Pottawatomie County residents who don't have health insurance and don’t qualify for government assistance.

Coincidentally, she’s also the aunt of Gov. Mary Fallin, who grew up in Tecumseh as Mary Copeland. In November, Fallin rejected an Obama administration offer to finance much of the cost of expanding Oklahoma’s Medicaid program. If Fallin had accepted, many of the people filing into the clinic this evening would be eligible to participate.

Pottawatomie County’s free clinic is a microcosm of the health coverage challenge facing Oklahoma policy-makers. Fallin’s decision to reject the Medicaid expansion has left an estimated 130,000 or more low-income Oklahomans in a coverage crater that offers few options for affordable health care. The problem tends to be more pronounced in smaller towns and rural areas, where incomes often are lower and employers less likely to offer benefits.

Asked to comment on the clinic operation, Fallin praised the work that Copeland and others are doing, describing her aunt as “a wonderful lady who has spent much of her career dedicated to helping other Oklahomans.”

The governor said she is looking for ways to address the coverage crater, but remains convinced that the Obama initiative is “unaffordable and unworkable.” Even with the federal government picking up much of the tab, Fallin’s office contends the expansion would increase state spending by $689 million over 10 years. Advocates of expansion counter that the cost to the state would be minimal.

Fallin said she would propose a “substantial increase” in health funding when the Legislature convenes in February. State health officials, meanwhile, have hired a Utah consultant to make recommendations for possible legislative action this year.

For several thousand uninsured people in Pottawatomie County, Copeland’s free clinic is still the best thing going.

‘Trying to Survive’

Standing at the head of the line in the clinic tonight is Brad Trice, 45. He’s divorced and lives with his father in Tecumseh.

Trice says he has been coming to the clinic for free prescriptions since his blood pressure skyrocketed to 250/170 several months ago, landing him in the hospital emergency room.

Trice says he hasn’t worked since 2010, when he lost his job as a certified nursing assistant at a Seminole nursing home. He hasn’t had health insurance since 2005, when he was working at a Walmart store.

“I’m just a human being trying to survive,” he says. “But we’re all doing that.”

On a previous visit, Trice asked the clinic for help with a badly ingrown toenail. He was referred to an outside physician, who wanted $250 to fix it. The clinic doesn’t offer surgical services.

Trice says he couldn’t afford to pay that much. “It still hurts like a son of a gun,” he says.

Expansion Plan

About 28 percent of Pottawatomie County residents between the ages of 18 and 64 had no health insurance in 2011, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. That compared to 26 percent statewide.

Many of them would be eligible for government-paid health care under the Obama initiative, which would have expanded Oklahoma’s Medicaid program to all working-age adults with incomes up to 133 percent of the poverty level. That equates to $20,123 a year for a couple and $30,656 for a family of four.

Under existing law, Oklahoma’s Medicaid program excludes adults unless they have dependent children living at home and their income falls below a relatively low level— $4,368 for two people and $6,996 for a family of four.

Pottawatomie County is not as poor as some places in Oklahoma, but it fares worse than the state as a whole in most key economic indicators. Eighteen percent of the population falls below the poverty level.

Fallin grew up in Tecumseh, a community of 6,443 just south of the county seat, Shawnee. Both her father and mother were mayors of Tecumseh, and Fallin attended Oklahoma Baptist University in Shawnee before graduating from Oklahoma State University.

In a 2011 interview with the Tecumseh Countywide newspaper, Fallin said her original career goal was to be a social worker. She said she was inspired by her mother, who worked as a district supervisor for the Oklahoma Department of Human Services.

‘I Need a Job’

Marking time about half-way down the hallway are Jason and Linda Popielarski of Tecumseh. They are here to see a doctor about Linda’s sinus infection and to get her blood pressure prescription refilled.

Jason, a 37-year-old machinist, says he recently lost his job at Aero Components in Oklahoma City. Linda, 58, lost her job at a Braum’s restaurant. The couple lives on Jason’s unemployment benefits, which add up to about $18,000 annually but will run out before long.

“We’re barely surviving,” Popielarski says. “I need a job. All I have is my motorcycle to get around. I’m working on weekends in trade for a place to live.”

Popielarski says he hasn’t had health insurance in five years. Most machine shops nowadays don’t provide it, he says. “Or if they offer it, you can’t afford it.”

Free Refills

The free clinic opens its doors at 5 p.m. every Thursday, when the Pottawatomie County Health Department’s paid staff goes home and Copeland’s volunteers take over. It’s supposed to shut down at 7 p.m., but that rarely happens.

Even though each Thursday’s two volunteer physicians are expected to take only 10 patients each, they generally wind up seeing more, and the pharmacy volunteers have their hands full dispensing drugs to 50 or so people who show up every week for refills.

Last year, clinic doctors saw 857 patients. The pharmacy team dispensed 5,362 prescriptions with a retail value of $186,000.

The clinic subsists on about $16,000 a year, of which more than $14,000 is used to buy medicine. Most of the money is donated by United Way. No government funding is involved, except for Copeland’s half-time wages at the Health Department.

Pharmacist Mike Vorndran oversees the prescription refills. Most of the medications are for chronic conditions like heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes. The clinic doesn’t dispense pain pills or antidepressants.

Vordran gets some of the pills at no cost from doctors, who give him their free samples, and from nursing homes, which donate their residents’ unused meds. He buys the remainder from distributors at heavily discounted rates.

“We see people who literally have to decide between buying groceries and buying their prescriptions,” he says. “I just felt that this was a way I could help alleviate some of that.”

They Keep Calling

As 7 p.m. approaches, Lena Garvin is still sitting in the packed waiting room, waiting patiently to get her prescriptions refilled. She says she’s glad to be sitting anywhere, after the heart attack she experienced last July.

Garvin, 51, says she was preparing food at a Burger King franchise in Yukon when her heart seized up. Her half-time job there paid $7.50 an hour. She was not eligible for health insurance.

She was rushed to Baptist Memorial Hospital in Oklahoma City, where emergency room personnel inserted a metal stent in one of her coronary arteries. A few weeks later, they inserted a second one.

Garvin was told she was in no shape to return to work. Her doctor agreed to waive his charge. But she says the hospital is demanding $36,000 for her stay there. She has no way to pay unless Social Security approves her application for disability benefits. She figures that’s a long shot.

“I still get a call every day for the hospital bill,” she says. “Literally every single day. I tell them I’ve applied for Social Security, and I’m still waiting.”

Garvin, who lives in the country near Pink, also has diabetes and neuropathy, which causes numbness in her feet. She injects a half-dozen vials of insulin every month. She takes six or seven pills a day. She estimates the drugs would cost $700 to $1,200 a month if she did not receive free refills.

The last time Garvin went to see her heart doctor, she was told she needed a stress test. When she learned it would cost her $1,000, she declined.

“I won’t be having that,” she says.

Too Many People

Copeland’s volunteer roster contains the names of about 80 doctors, nurses, pharmacists, technicians, clerks and other helpers. On any given Thursday evening, about 20 people pitch in.

But it’s not quite enough to keep up with rising demand. On this night, five people will be told they’ll need to wait at least a week to see a doctor.

“It’s getting worse all the time,” says Ty Johnson, who shows up every week to handle patient intake. She bustles about the crowded clinic with a clipboard, calling out names and handing out paperwork. “We’re getting more and more people.”

Not everyone makes the cut. To qualify, patients must be Pottawatomie County residents, must have no other form of insurance coverage, and must fall below income caps that are considerably lower than those contained in the Obama expansion plan.

“There is just more need than we can handle,” says Stephanie Scrutchins, who determines eligibility.

Copeland, for her part, doesn’t even mention her connection to the governor, acknowledging it only after a visiting reporter brings it up.

“She’s doing a good job,” Copeland says of her niece.

She also declines to discuss Fallin’s rejection of the Medicaid expansion.

“You know, I don’t get into politics,” she says. “I just run my little business here. Hopefully, we’ll do all that we can for the people that come in. Right now I’m looking at all the returns I’ve got for next Thursday night, wondering how in the world we’ll get them done.”

That’s just fine with them.

Owners of Gliori’s Italian Restaurant in Fallin’s hometown of Tecumseh, the Glioris say their household income last year was well below the $20,123 ceiling for a family of two in the Obama administration’s expansion plan.

“I just don’t want government in my life,” says Ian, 52, taking a break from preparing lasagna before the evening dinner crowd arrives. “I don’t want their help. I probably won’t take Social Security when I’m 68 either.”

The Glioris’ perspective might be a minority view among the uninsured. But it helps explain why opposition to Obama’s Medicaid expansion appears widespread, and why Fallin concluded that the state would be better off without it, even though the federal government promised to pick up most of the cost.

The Glioris have no health insurance. So far, Ian says, they’ve been lucky. They’re in good health and have had no major illnesses or injuries. Ian estimates his own medical expenses are less than $100 a year.

He went to the hospital emergency room once, about three years ago, with a bad case of poison ivy. His doctor wasn’t available, the local urgent care clinic was closed, and he wanted some ointment to relieve the itching.

“The nurses there wouldn’t give me the time of day,” he says. “So it was at that point that I thought, I am going to take care of myself. And I have. Lord willing, I haven’t been sick. I have some good home remedies. I take vitamins and try to take care of myself.”

Gliori, who grew up in Chicago, says he learned by example from his mother, who raised seven children by herself after his father moved out. The family relied on food stamps for support while his mother was training to be a nurse. But that changed as soon as she got her degree.

“She went to the food stamp office and said, ‘I’m done. I have my degree, I’ve got a job, and I don’t need these anymore.’ ”

Across the street at Zocolo’s Mexican Restaurant, owner Sherry Seaberg also does without health insurance herself and does not offer it to her employees.

She says it’s not a question of politics or philosophy, but of survival.

“We have very small margins,” Seaberg says. If she paid for full coverage, she says, “a taco is going to cost $15, my customers aren’t going to buy them, and my business is going to close.”

Seaberg says she doesn’t think her wait staff and kitchen help are particularly concerned about the lack of health coverage. Most are under the age of 35 and in relatively good health. Many are working part-time and would prefer to receive a bigger paycheck than to pay a portion of the cost of an employer-provided health plan, she says.

Seaberg said she thinks the cost of health care has spiraled out of control because patients are required to bear little of the cost and therefore seek more services than they really need.

“I believe that personal responsibility has to come into play for any health care system to work.”

The clinics play a critical role in providing basic care to the uninsured and underinsured poor.

Some clinics, like the one in Shawnee, get most of their support from private donations. Others receive significant federal funding along with payments from patients.

The Oklahoma Primary Care Association represents about 50 community health centers located in medically underserved areas—a federal designation—around the state. Eighteen nonprofits operate those centers, which charge fees on a sliding scale for patients up to 200 percent of the federal poverty level. Most are in non-urban areas.

In 2011, about 135,000 patients were treated at the clinics, and 40 percent were uninsured, said Brent Wilborn, director of public policy for the Oklahoma Primary Care Association.

Wilborn said the role of the health clinics in providing access to treatment is "absolutely critical.

"Even with insurance, people have limited choices when it comes to accessing preventive care or maintenance (treatment) of chronic illness," he said.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services operates a website where one can enter a state, county, city or address to find a nearby community health center.

Most of the attention so far on which Oklahomans will not gain access to Medicaid in 2014 under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act has been on adults without children. That group makes up most of the roughly 200,000 Oklahomans of working age who would have been covered if Gov. Mary Fallin had agreed to expand Medicaid, which provides health coverage for the poor, the disabled, children and others.

But also excluded will be as many as 50,000 Oklahoma parents with dependent children living at home, according to one study by a nonpartisan research group. That represents about a fourth of all low-income adults who would have been eligible for expanded Medicaid -- the 13th highest share in the nation, according to the study by the Urban Institute, a nonprofit group based in Washington, D.C.

Where the States Stand on Medicaid Expansion

That prospect leaves some uninsured parents on edge. Although their children may get health insurance through federal or state programs, the parents’ health remains critical to the family’s overall well-being.

Greg and Keta Rogers, of Del City, are among those parents.

The couple, who have three children at home, do not qualify now for the state’s Medicaid program, called SoonerCare, because their income is too high. They will not be eligible for Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act because of Fallin’s decision not to expand the program. Fallin said she believes the state can’t afford expansion and would become more dependent on federal money that might be unavailable in the future.

Greg Rogers says he doesn't understand the decision. “Why would someone turn down federal money that was going to help with the health of thousands upon thousands of people?” Rogers asked. “It just doesn’t make sense.”

The parents, like others, may also have no insurance options next year. That’s because they fall into a coverage “crater.” Greg’s income is too high for Medicaid now, yet also is slightly too low for the couple to qualify for buying subsidized coverage on a new federal health exchange, where people can shop for insurance online. From 130,000 to 170,000 Oklahomans are facing the same situation.

Greg, 40, said the lack of insurance causes him to avoid going to the doctor. He said private doctors won’t see him because he can’t afford the fees. Keta, 38, lost her medical coverage last year when she was laid off.

“There have been days when I felt too sick to get out of bed,” said Greg, who works for a small insulation company that doesn’t provide health insurance. “But I can’t afford to miss work. My family is counting on me. So I drag myself out of bed and do what I have to do to take care of my family.

“One day I was so sick, I finally broke down and went to the emergency room … It cost me $1,000 for a $30 prescription.”

***

Without expanded Medicaid, questions remain as to what options the uninsured poor will have.

The Affordable Care Act offers two main avenues to health insurance coverage starting on Jan. 1, 2014. One is through Medicaid expansion, encompassing those with incomes up to 133 percent of the federal poverty level. The other is through a government health-care exchange that allows individuals and small businesses to shop for health plans online. People making between 100 percent and 400 percent of the poverty level can buy subsidized insurance on the exchange using tax credits. Fallin decided not to set up a state health-care exchange for Oklahoma, so a federal one will serve the state instead.

Oklahomans who would have gotten Medicaid under expansion are a diverse group, according to the Urban Institute study. More than half are between ages 19 and 35, and more than three-fourths live at or below the federal poverty level, which is $11,170 for an individual and $23,050 for a family of four. About 60 percent are white, and most are men. An estimated 24 percent are parents, compared with 18 percent nationally.

William Noel, pastor of Grace and Glory Baptist Church in northeast Oklahoma City, which sponsors a free clinic, said many people would be surprised at the variety of uninsured Oklahomans.

“These aren’t homeless people who don’t have jobs. In our free clinic, we see people all the time from various professions – teachers, small-business owners, and a lot of truck drivers.

“In fact, I don’t have insurance,” added Noel, saying his church can’t afford to provide coverage.

Many low-income adults do not qualify for Medicaid, which is typical in most states. To qualify, they must fit a very specific category, such as being pregnant or disabled. The ineligible adults include many parents. For a family of four in Oklahoma, non-disabled parents must make $6,996 or less a year to get SoonerCare.

“Basically, for parents to qualify for SoonerCare, they have to be essentially destitute,” said Carter Kimble, a spokesman for the Oklahoma Health Care Authority.

The Urban Institute estimated that 53,000 parents in Oklahoma would have gotten Medicaid with the expansion. About 60 percent of those are in the “crater,” so they can’t buy affordable coverage on the health exchange.

***

Without Medicaid or employer insurance, uninsured parents and other adults have relatively few options:

* They can obtain coverage through Insure Oklahoma, which offers subsidized plans to individuals and workers at small businesses. But the program is now limited to about 35,000 enrollees, and a participating business must have a qualified health plan. Alex Weintz, a spokesman for Fallin, said the governor is looking at expanding Insure Oklahoma to offer more affordable care. But on Jan. 1, 2014, Insure Oklahoma will lose nearly two-thirds of its government funding when federal matching money stops, said Jo Kilgore, a spokeswoman for the state Health Care Authority. Weintz said, “We’re hoping that won’t happen, but it is true that funding for that is in jeopardy.” He said the Obama administration is being inflexible and impeding its own goal of getting more people insured. “What they’re saying is, ‘It’s my way or the highway,’” Weintz said.

* An insured worker at a business with fewer than 25 employees can seek discounted coverage through an Affordable Care Act program. But the employers must meet certain criteria and do not have to participate.

* People who earn between 100 percent and 400 percent of the poverty level can use tax credits to purchase coverage from the health exchange in 2014. The poorest of that group will pay no more than 2 percent of their income on premiums as well as get a subsidy for other health costs, such as co-payments.

* With no other options, the uninsured will continue seeking health care at hospital emergency rooms or free clinics around the state.

Weintz said recently that the governor wants to work with lawmakers, businesses and the health community to find other ways to provide affordable access to care, but it is too early to provide specifics.

“We know that we need to improve our health as a state,” Weintz said. Insuring more families is part of the answer, but sustaining economic growth and reducing preventable illnesses also are important.

Recently, the Oklahoma Health Care Authority authorized paying a consultant $500,000 to determine how much it would cost Oklahoma to develop a state-based solution to improve coverage.

Still, “is help on the way?” said Robin Rudowitz, associate director of the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured, part of the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. “No … States that turned down the money (for expanded Medicaid) have now missed a major opportunity to help those who otherwise can’t afford health insurance.”

Greg and Keta Rogers’ safety net began fraying a year ago. Keta was laid off from the Del City Housing Authority. At the time, she was six months’ pregnant, so she qualified for temporary assistance from SoonerCare. Today, the couple’s three children – Maeahja, 14; Elisha, 12, and Triumph, 10 months – are all covered by SoonerCare.

But Greg and Keta currently don’t qualify. Greg’s annual salary of $27,000 is well above the $8,184 limit for parents in a family of five to get Medicaid. His employer has only seven workers and doesn’t offer health insurance.

They will not qualify next year either and may not be able to buy subsidized coverage on the health exchange, because as of now, Greg’s salary is slightly too low. Their best hope may be to raise their income to just above the poverty level. That would move them out of the crater and into the window of 100 percent to 400 percent of poverty to be able to get discount coverage on the health exchange. This could become a goal for thousands of Oklahomans living just below the poverty level.

One risk is that the subsidies could go away if a lawsuit filed by Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt is successful. The lawsuit contends that the federal health law is worded in such a way that subsidies can only be offered through state exchanges, not the federal one that Oklahoma will have.

Greg Rogers is already trying to boost his pay. He awakens at 5 a.m. and works at his full-time job until about 3:45 p.m. He then attends classes as part of a three-year apprenticeship that will ultimately earn him a certification that can lead to higher pay. The apprenticeship costs $27,000.

“I remember one day a man (from an outside insurer) came to talk to us at work about signing us up for health insurance,” Greg said. “I knew I couldn’t afford it before he even began to talk. Right now, I have money taken out of each check to pay for the apprenticeship. We need every penny I make just to get by.

“I’ll be honest, I worry a lot about my health,” he said. “I pray nothing happens to me. If something did happen, it would be devastating to my wife and kids.”

* If the parents earn $6,996 or less: They’re eligible for Medicaid.

* If the parents earn from more than $6,996 to $23,050 (100 percent of the federal poverty level): The parents are stuck in a “crater,” earning too much to get Medicaid and too little to qualify for buying on the federal health exchange using tax credits that cover most of the cost of premiums.

* If the parents earn from more than $23,050 to $92,200 (400 percent of the federal poverty level): The parents are not eligible for Medicaid. However, they can purchase subsidized insurance on the federal exchange. Depending on their income, their cost of premiums will be capped at anywhere from 2 percent to 9.5 percent of their income. Those earning up to 250% of the poverty level will also get subsidies for other costs, such as deductibles, co-payments and coinsurance.

Sources: Oklahoma Health Care Authority, Urban Institute.

That national increase has helped trigger an effort, led by an Oklahoma congressman, to roll back benefits in the food-stamp program.

Last summer, after the state set a series of monthly food-stamp records in 2011 and national figures had soared, Oklahoma U.S. Rep. Frank Lucas, R-Cheyenne, began pushing strongly for changes that would tighten eligibility for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP.

Lucas and other conservatives say states loosened eligibility rules in recent years, and those changes need to be curtailed partly because of the growing costs.

Critics of that approach say the increase is due more to a still struggling economy.

Since Lucas introduced the provisions in the farm bill, use of food stamps has remained high.  Oklahoma set an all-time record for number of households with at least one person on food stamps in October and November. In November, 286,778 households received the benefits, according to the Oklahoma Department of Human Services. About $945 million in food stamp benefits were dispensed to more than 600,000 Oklahomans in 2011.

Although the government has not released an official estimate, fewer Oklahomans are expected to receive food stamps under the Lucas-led legislative effort. One unofficial estimate projected that 20,000 to 30,000 households could be impacted.

“The change affects the very neediest Oklahomans,” said Paul Shinn, a public policy analyst at the Community Action Project of Tulsa County, who offered the estimate.

Lucas' bill passed the House Agriculture Committee, which he chairs, in July, but has since stalled and never made it to a floor vote in that Republican-controlled chamber. A bill, with far fewer cuts in food stamps, won approval in the Senate, where Democrats hold power.

Despite those differences, signs have emerged that efforts to pass the new farm bill, including food-stamp changes, could become part of any agreement to avoid a year-end “fiscal cliff,” in which certain tax breaks end and spending cuts take effect.

However, Lucas said earlier this week that he was pessimistic about the chances of a fiscal-cliff agreement being reached by year-end.

“Will there be a big deal? I’m kind of cynical right now,” he told Oklahoma Watch.

He did say he had talks with other key House and Senate members involved in the farm bill and as a result believes quick action on a new farm bill could occur in 2013.

Oklahoma’s share of households on food stamps is higher than the national average. Recently, the Census Bureau reported that from calendar year 2010 to 2011, the state saw a 5.1-percent increase in households on food stamps, according to estimates from its American Community Survey.

Oklahoma had the 20th highest percentage of households getting food stamps, at 14.3 percent, in 2011.

By another measure - the total number of people on food stamps - usage has slipped in recent months compared to the same period last year. But numbers remain second-highest behind last year’s record figures.

State DHS officials say the upward trend in the number of SNAP cases could come from a number of factors.

Mark Beutler, spokesman for DHS, said the increase indicates " the number of households and individuals who are struggling and needing assistance."

Routinely, Beutler said, 44 percent of all Oklahomans being fed through SNAP are children.

“We take very seriously our commitment to serve our state's most vulnerable citizens, and OKDHS strives to help feed those who are hungry,” he said.

Lucas said he has not tracked the food stamp situation in Oklahoma.

“We’ve not been doing these policy judgments based on what the effect would be in Oklahoma,’’ rather from a national perspective, he said.

While not commenting on any specific state, Lucas said changes made by states in their SNAP programs appear to be gaming the system enacted under the 1996 welfare reform law in order to maximize federal dollars.

“We didn’t give states flexibility so that they could figure out how to get every last dollar from the treasury,’’ he said. "We gave them flexibility in hopes they would use it to make the programs more efficient … and meet more needs at a cheaper cost.”

Lucas wants to undo changes that states have made in recent years.

With the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s approval, Oklahoma made such a change in 2009 by eliminating a resource asset test for households. An official at the state Department of Human Services said the 2009 change broadened categorical eligibility for SNAP, but that the bad economy, not the change, is the reason for the 2011 spike.

Kathie Wright, programs manager in the DHS division that handles SNAP benefits, said her agency maintained a requirement that restricts food stamps to households with gross incomes no higher than 130 percent of the federal poverty rate. Because that test remained in place, Wright said, getting rid of the resource asset test had “little to no real impact.”

DHS spokesman Beutler said the 2009 change was made to allow the program to serve more clients. The change allows clients to help themselves, he said. For example, Beutler said a family could save money for a child’s education, ultimately allowing that child to become a more productive citizen.

Lucas has accused the Obama administration of encouraging states to take liberties with the program. He has accused some states of circumventing the system by sending a check for energy assistance for as little as $1 to residents who then qualify for higher SNAP benefits.

By ending such practices, Lucas said his bill, the Federal Agriculture Reform and Risk Management Act, would not only focus SNAP funds on those who really need such assistance, but also help implement billions of dollars in nutrition reforms and deficit reduction.

According to the House committee, the bill would cut $16.1 billion over 10 years from the $772-billion program.

“I believe most Americans will agree a 2 percent cut in food stamps is reasonable,’’ Lucas said.

He also insisted the proposed legislation would not bar those who qualify for assistance under SNAP from receiving benefits.

Others criticized the bill.

Rep. James McGovern, D-Mass., said the proposed cuts in SNAP “literally take food away from hungry people.’’

McGovern dismissed claims that the proposed cuts would merely close loopholes, adding that struggling families turn to SNAP as a last resort.

Shortly after the committee sent the bill to the full House by a 35-11 vote in early July, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said the cuts proposed for SNAP would deny much-needed food assistance to 3 million Americans, including low-income working families with children and seniors, and would also eliminate access to school meals for 280,000 children.

Asked for specific information about the impact on Oklahoma, the USDA referred to information put out by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

A spokeswoman with the center cited figures prepared previously by the administration on a Republican budget measure, saying the provisions were the same. Those figures indicated about 47,000 Oklahomans would lose access to SNAP benefits.

Shinn, of the Community Action Project of Tulsa County, said the changes championed by Lucas may not mean that Oklahoma families are automatically ineligible for SNAP assistance but forces them to apply separately.

“Many will not do so,’’ Shinn said.

Perhaps 3,000 Oklahoma children who now are automatically eligible for free school meals could lose that benefit as well, Shinn projected.

Passed several weeks ago, the Senate’s version of the farm bill, with its smaller changes to food stamps, drew a much more positive response from Vilsack.Oklahoma’s two senators – Republicans Jim Inhofe and Tom Coburn – voted against the bill.

Inhofe’s office said the senator had an amendment giving states nearly complete control of nutrition assistance programs, but that his suggestion was blocked.

Kristal Boulden and Darren Jaworski contributed to this report.

From the Panhandle city of Guymon to the Little Dixie community of Heavener, Hispanics now comprise a significant and growing portion of the population across the state.

The rapid growth reflects the continuing migration of Mexicans and other Latinos to the United States as well as a comparatively high Hispanic birthrate. It points toward a multicultural future that some Oklahomans consider invigorating, but others find unsettling.

“Historically [Hispanics] settled in California, Florida, New York, Texas and Illinois,” said Michelle Mittelstadt, director of communications at the Migration Policy Institute, a Washington, D.C., research group.

For the last 20 years, however, some Hispanic immigrants have been migrating to new destinations in interior states, Mittelstadt said. What’s happening in Oklahoma is just a piece of the overall pattern of immigration that is occurring nationwide.

Hispanics comprised 9 percent of Oklahoma’s population in 2010, compared with a U.S. average of 16 percent.

The percentages are much higher in some communities, particularly in the Panhandle region and other areas where Hispanics have found employment in farms, meat-packing plants and oil field crews.

Service occupations, management and business and construction and maintenance are the top three occupations of immigrant workers in Oklahoma, according to the Migration Policy Institute.

In Guymon, Hispanics comprised 52 percent of the city’s 11,442 residents in 2010. Other larger cities and towns with big concentrations of Hispanic residents are Watonga, 47 percent; Heavener, 41 percent; and Oakland, 40 percent.

Five cities and towns with unusually large concentrations of Hispanics are Panhandle communities located within minutes of each other: Guymon, Hooker, Optima, Hardesty and Texhoma. Guymon is home to a meat-processing plant and other agricultural production jobs that have drawn Hispanics to Texas County.

The biggest Hispanic headcounts are found in Oklahoma’s largest cities. Oklahoma City tops the list with 110,038 Hispanic residents, followed by Tulsa, 55,266; Lawton, 12,160; Norman, 7,082, and Broken Arrow, 6,378.

Some towns have smaller Hispanic populations, but they’re catching up quickly. In Sayre, the Hispanic headcount increased by 377 percent over 10 years. Other fast-growers are Watonga, up 337 percent; Warr Acres, 171 percent, and Owasso and Mustang, each 166 percent.

Even bigger growth rates are found in little communities such as Helena in Alfalfa County, where the number of Hispanics jumped from eight in 2000 to 105 in 2010, a twelvefold increase.

Former U.S. Census Bureau Director Steve Murdock said the migration of immigrants to rural areas is playing an increasingly important role in minority population growth across the country.

From 2000 to 2010, Murdock said, rural counties grew by 2.2 million people. Of those, 29 percent were non-Hispanic whites, while 54 percent were Hispanics.

Murdock, now a sociology professor at Rice University in Houston, said small-town assimilation seems to work best when the growth of immigrant populations occurs gradually over several decades, rather than within a few years’ time.

“The rapidity of the growth is the thing that gets people agitated,” Murdock said.“If you have a block of 10 houses and one person moves in, it might not mean too much. But when it’s three or four people and it happens in a short enough time, then all the resistance to change seems to boil up to the top.”

Much of Oklahoma’s Hispanic population growth has occurred in waves over several decades, reflecting an influx of Mexicans seeking higher wages and a better quality of life in America. Some came legally and others illegally.

The 1980 Census reported a total of 57,419 Hispanics living in Oklahoma, or 1.8 percent of the state population.

By 1990, the Hispanic population totaled 86,160, or 2.7 percent of the state total. It grew to 179,304, or 5.2 percent, in 2000, according to the Census Bureau.

The 2010 Hispanic headcount was 332,007, or 8.9 percent of Oklahoma’s 3,751,351 residents, according to the Census Bureau.

Hispanic migration has been affected by federal and state immigration legislation and trade agreements.

In 1986, Ronald Reagan signed into law the Immigration Reform and Control Act, which provided legal status to 2.9 million undocumented immigrants already living in the United States.

Other significant milestones include the North American Free Trade Agreement signed into law in 1995 and the Illegal Immigration and Immigration Responsibility Act in 1996, both during the Bill Clinton administration.

Passage of the Secure Defense Act during the George W. Bush administration tightened border enforcement, restricting the flow of immigrants into the United States.

State legislation also has played a part. According to the National Council of State Legislatures, 45 states introduced 1,180 bills and resolutions affecting immigrants and refugees in 2010.

In 2007, the Oklahoma Legislature passed HB 1804, which was hailed at the time as the most restrictive immigration legislation in the nation. Since then, several other states have enacted even tougher laws.

About a third of the state’s foreign-born residents are undocumented immigrants, according to MPI. The remaining two-thirds are a combination of U.S. citizens, legal residents or temporary visa holders.

The median annual personal earnings of Oklahoma’s Hispanic residents averaged $18,000 in 2010, according to the Pew Hispanic Center. The 2011 average income of an Oklahoma resident is $37,277 according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.

Hispanic births make up 23 percent of all the births in Oklahoma according to the Pew Hispanic Center. Thirteen percent of the state’s K-12 students are Hispanic.

Staff Writers Juan Sanchez and Warren Vieth contributed to this report.

The controls on the left side of the maps enable zooming and panning. Clicking on the map itself will bring up info boxes for further information.

The first map displays county wide data from the 2000 and 2010 censuses. A blue gradient shows hispanic populations from 2010 concentrated in major population centers, the panhandle, and the southwest and southeast corners of the state.

Below is a city level map highlighting 2010 census figures of the number of hispanic persons of origin displaying the major hispanic population centers distributed across the state.

Hispanic populations of 2000 by city with the same visual reference shows a significant growth in the hispanic population across the state. Compared to the 2010 census figures, growth has occurred in nearly every city, with at least 400 Oklahoma towns and cities experiencing at least a 10% increase in hispanic population over the 10 year period.

The impact of the hispanic population on the 2012 presidential election cannot be discerned from Tuesday's results. Every Oklahoma county was won by Republican Mitt Romney.

Today, a new dispute grips this southeastern Oklahoma community of 3,414 residents. Only this debate strays far from the intellectual trenches of academia, and is laced with a mixture of warmth, frustration, compassion and anger.

At its center are an estimated 1,410 Hispanic residents who account for 41% of Heavener’s total population, according to the 2010 Census. Based on an analysis by Oklahoma Watch, Heavener now has the third-highest concentration of Hispanic people in Oklahoma cities with 1,000 or more residents. Only Guymon and Watonga rank higher, with 52% and 47%, respectively.

A 10-year, immigration-fueled surge has only added to the tensions. Since 2000, Heavener’s Hispanic community has nearly doubled, jumping from 22%, or 721 people, to the present 41%. Some locals dispute the accuracy of the official numbers, arguing that the presence of uncounted illegal immigrants makes the true figure even higher.

In contrast to other Oklahoma communities where immigrants appear to be assimilating more smoothly, Heavener has been roiled by the rapid influx of newcomers. Neighbors argue openly, some locals say they’re ready to leave town, and two City of Heavener police officers resigned from the force in a dispute over immigration issues.

“I’m 100 percent against illegal immigration,” said Shawn Covert, a former part-time police officer who left the force last year. “I’m 100 percent for deportation—the wife, the kids, everybody. When they crossed the border illegally, they committed a felony and they should be punished as such.

“What bothers me the most is they have come in here and now they’re trying to de-Americanize us. I realize there are those who will call me a racist, but to me illegal immigration is not a race issue. It’s a legal issue.”

Perspective

Not everyone in Heavener shares Covert’s perspective.

“Look, they are hard-working, industrious people who are just trying to raise their families,” said Bruce Crickett, who moved to Heavener 27 years ago from California. “They rent. They buy groceries. They fix up houses. As far as I’m concerned, if it wasn’t for the Hispanics, this town would have dried up and blown away.”

Throughout Heavener’s old downtown district are signs of a new beginning. Mexican immigrants have moved businesses into four buildings on one street alone. One building—a former bar—is even being converted into a Catholic Church.

Until recently, time forgot Heavener’s aged downtown as most businesses moved less than a mile south on State Highway 128. The story is all too familiar in rural communities across Oklahoma. But in Heavener, the new arrivals have given the story a fresh twist.

“Some of the old-timers here want things to be like they were 40, 50 years ago when the downtown was thriving with businesses,” said Mike Kennerson, Heavener’s city manager since 2000. “Well, they’re not. Times have changed. So they blame the Hispanics. In fact, in some quarters, the Hispanics are blamed for all our ills. But the fact is they are making positive contributions to Heavener.

“Just look down the street.”

Oklahoma Foods

Heavener’s fate changed in 1988 when local organizers successfully recruited Oklahoma Foods. The company opened a chicken hatchery that year, bringing greatly needed jobs to an economically starved Le Flore County. In 1995, the company added a massive processing facility.

Today, Heavener is home to a plant where workers kill and de-bone chickens, as well as a neighboring feed mill and hatchery where the birds are carefully monitored from birth. Based on a 2009 report—the most recent data available to city officials—the company employs 985 workers with a payroll of $26 million.

Oklahoma Foods is by far Heavener’s largest employer, and without question, the principal magnet for Mexican immigrants.

“I remember back when we first heard news that the plant was coming to town,” recalled Martie Wisdom, a 1968 Heavener High School graduate who manages a downtown flower shop. “Everyone was so excited. Everyone was going to work there, and many did. Then a lot of them found it was hard work. So what did they do? They quit.

“Suddenly, there were these jobs and no one interested in filling them. Then the Hispanics came.”

Tabitha Silva, a lifelong Heavener resident, views the arrival of the Mexican immigrants as the ruination of her hometown. Silva is so disturbed by the large influx of Mexican residents that she is preparing to sell her house—a dwelling located in the middle of what many locals dub “Little Mexico.”

“I knew things were bad when my son (Nicholas, 5) came home from school his first day of pre-K,” said Silva, 33. “He said, ‘Mommy, no one in my class speaks English.’ Not only are they coming here illegally and taking our jobs and milking our system, but they’re not even trying to assimilate. We have kids going all the way through school who aren’t even trying to learn to speak English.

“We basically live in Mexico now. A lot of them have these bright pink and purple houses. I feel like I live in a cartoon.”

Silva, ironically, married a Brazilian immigrant 13 years ago. She said her husband, Neto Silva, first entered the United States with a student visa. Today he is an American citizen serving a 90-day tour in Afghanistan with the Air National Guard. He became a legal citizen in 2008, nine years after the couple’s wedding day.

“Yes, I’m married to an immigrant,” Tabitha Silva said. “But he did it the legal way. Even after we got married, we had to fill out an extensive amount of paperwork at a great financial expense.”

Silva seethes at the thought of others taking short-cuts. She isn’t alone.

Appeasement

Covert said he sees signs of a “cover-up.”

The former police officer said he resigned from his part-time post on July 1, 2011, when a superior told him he was required to give arrestees 30 minutes to post bail before transporting them to the Le Flore County jail 13 miles away in Poteau. Federal immigration officials are commonly notified by a county jailer if an individual can’t legally prove his or her residency after a reasonable search.

Covert interpreted this directive as “an appeasement” to illegal immigrants and an obstruction of his sworn duty as an officer of the law.

City Manager Kennerson contends Covert went out of his way to harass Hispanic residents.

“Look, if someone gets into trouble and they are proven illegal, then we let the law take its course,” Kennerson said. “Here’s the problem: We do not have federal immigration training, and therefore it is not up to our police officers—Shawn Covert or anyone else—to determine who is or isn’t a legal resident.

“What happened was ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) was being called every five minutes to come and pick up someone we had arrested, and on a couple occasions, those individuals were proven to be legal citizens. Frankly, I’m surprised no one ever slapped us with a civil rights lawsuit.”

Covert points to House Bill 1804 as his legal authority. Specifically, he cites Section 10, Subsection C:

No local government, whether acting through its governing body or by an initiative, referendum, or any other process, shall enact any ordinance or policy that limits or prohibits a law enforcement officer, local official, or local government employee from communicating or cooperating with federal officials with regard to the immigration status of any person within this state.

“The reason the illegal immigration problem has increased so dramatically in Oklahoma is because of the lack of enforcement of House Bill 1804,” Covert said. “City governments like Heavener have created policies that create and offer sanctuary to illegal aliens.”

Police Chief Ty Armstrong defends the actions of his officers, saying his department does not promote policies—verbal or otherwise—that create a sanctuary for illegal immigrants.

“That’s the furthest thing from the truth,” Armstrong said. “The fact is we receive no support from the state or federal governments on how to deal with illegal immigrants, and we’re certainly not trained in that area. I do find it ironic that we’re being accused of being soft on illegal immigrants when, in the past, we’ve been accused by some in the Hispanic community of profiling Hispanics.”

Armstrong points to an incident a couple years ago as an example.

“I was asked to come to the school to speak with one Hispanic family who had a complaint,” Armstrong recalled. “When I arrived, I was greeted by 200 people. We moved the meeting into the gym, I grabbed a couple interpreters, and we talked. I feel like things have been fairly harmonious since then.”

As for Covert, Armstrong shrugs him off as an “outspoken man” whose views “border on the simple dislike of Mexicans.”

Tranquility seems to emanate across the valley that encompasses Heavener’s city limits. The land—once part of the Choctaw Nation—is plush with greenery, bordered by the scenic Winding Stair Mountains to the south and Poteau Mountain to the north.

The land is filled with an abundance of natural resources. The logging industry has long served as a staple of the local economy, as well as the dozens of rock quarries that still checker the countryside. They, too, have become magnets for Mexican immigrants.

Heavener also has shared a long and storied history with the Kansas City Southern Railway Company, which now uses a local depot as one of its main fueling stops.

Manuel and Minerva Martinez

Heavener, in short, is the portrait of prosperity to Mexican immigrants like Manuel and Minerva Martinez. They journeyed to the United States in 1997 from the far southern Mexican state of Oaxaca, first living in Texas before hearing of opportunities in Heavener.

“Some people we knew told us of the [processing] plant,” said Manuel, whose words were interpreted by his 14-year-old son, Luis. “They told us there was work here, and so we came. I found it very tranquil.”

Violence back home in Mexico—turf wars between rival cartels—played a role in driving the family north, Manuel said. Today, he works at a local rock quarry driving a forklift, and as he notes, “paying taxes.”

Minerva, meanwhile, runs a little taqueria and store in Heavener’s old downtown district. Their four children—Luis, 14; Edward, 11; Klen, 10; and Benji, 7—attend public school and can often be seen visiting the local library down the street from the family’s business.

The couple emphasizes education. Minerva said she was forced to leave school after the eighth grade, while Manuel dropped out after the fifth grade to go to work.

“In Mexico,” Minerva explained, “you have to pay to go to school. Only the wealthy could afford to send their kids to school. If you couldn’t come up with the money, you didn’t go.

“My dream is for my children to go to college.”

Dreams

Cesar De la Rosa understands dreams.

De la Rosa arrived in Heavener in 2001, having risked his life by crossing the border illegally in a desert region. He walked for three straight days and nights across the desert before reaching safety.

Since then, De la Rosa has become a respected member of the community. For the past two years he has served the Heavener High School soccer team as an assistant coach. He has even been called upon by his Methodist Church to deliver a sermon from time to time.

In 2005, De la Rosa spearheaded the creation of a summer soccer league. Thirty children played the first year. This summer the league catered to 68 children and five teams.

“We started the program as a way to bring the Mexican children and American children together,” said De la Rosa, 42. “We noticed they were having problems getting along. But now we see almost no problems at all. Everyone seems to get along really well.

“Soccer brought them together.”

De la Rosa, who works at the hatchery, hopes to help build a new soccer complex on city-owned land behind the Oklahoma Foods processing plant. Only he may not be around to see the complex become a reality.

In May 2011, De la Rosa was arrested by local police after he failed to produce a valid driver’s license. A deportation hearing has been scheduled for him in February.

“I was stopped because the light on my tag was out,” De la Rosa said. “The police were hunting Mexicans that night. They succeeded in arresting about five of us.”

John Wilson of Heavener said he was one of the arresting officers that night. He said he never patrolled specifically in search of illegal immigrants.

“I knew Cesar was illegal when I arrested him,” said Wilson, 64. “We had problems with him before.”

Like Covert, Wilson also resigned his part-time post last July over the immigration issue. Prior to his resignation, he had served the department for 30 years.

“What would Heavener look like if all the illegals were deported? Well, it would probably be a ghost town. And that would be fine with me,” Wilson said. “They are destroying this community.”

De la Rosa doesn’t understand the anger. Nor does it matter to him these days.

“Will I be deported?” De la Rosa asked sadly. “Probably. I hope not, but if they send me back to Mexico, my dream—my passion—is to build those soccer fields for this town and for my kids. That would make me happy.”

Oklahoma Watch staff reporter Ron J. Jackson, Jr. is an award-winning journalist and author whose professional writing career spans 26 years. He spent 14 years with The Oklahoman, investigating stories statewide on topics such Mexican drug cartels, illegal immigration and unsolved homicides.

Above it all, the sound of Al Green’s silky smooth voice spills from outdoor speakers.

“Well, we’re mostly Mexican and white, so we ought to have black music,” explains Guymon Main Street Director Melyn Johnson. “You just have to have the diversity to make it better. A mutt is always stronger than a purebred.”

Across the Oklahoma landscape, an alarming number of communities are morphing into ghost towns. They are places where youngsters have fled to bigger cities, leaving farms and schools to consolidate and populations to shrink.

But not Guymon.

Situated in the center of the Panhandle, Guymon is bursting with activity. Downtown buildings are full; motels are booked; construction is constant. In recent months, the town witnessed the opening of a new fire station and animal shelter and broke ground on a 19,000-square-foot library.

An Oklahoma Watch analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data helps explain why: Guymon is the only city in Oklahoma where Hispanics have become the majority, accounting for 52% of its 11,442 official residents in 2010. Some Guymon authorities insist the percentage is actually much higher because many recent immigrants were not included in the 2010 headcount.

That’s an impressive milestone in a state where Hispanics represent less than 1 percent of the national Hispanic population and just 9% of the total state population. But there are also migrant and undocumented workers to take into account, and it’s unlikely either group was well represented in the Census Bureau, estimates. The Pew Hispanic Center estimates Oklahoma had from 65,000 to 85,000 undocumented immigrants in 2010.

Guymon city officials unsuccessfully appealed the 2010 Census results, arguing their tally fell far short of the true number. They hired a third party to conduct a study, which estimated Guymon’s population between 17,000 and 18,000, with the Hispanic share hovering around 50 percent.

Earlier this year, some Americans were startled when the Census Bureau projected that whites will become a minority population nationwide by 2023. Former Census Bureau Director Steve Murdock says that historic shift is driven by two key demographics—both present in Guymon.

“One is an aging, literally off-the-end-of-the-life-chart set of non-Hispanic whites,” Murdock said. “Their fertility has been below replacement for over 20 years. The average non-Hispanic white woman is 40-41 years of age. That population is going to increasingly disappear from occupations as they age.

“The other population is young and primarily minority. The average Hispanic woman in the U.S. is 25. What happens with that group is important to understanding the future of the country.”

Johnson, the Main Street program director, summed up what appears to be the prevailing sentiment around this Panhandle community: Workers, no matter their nationality or legal status, are bringing not only money and growth to Guymon, but also new energy and life.

“We respect people who will work hard,” she said. “We respect that a lot more than if you’re third generation and a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution.”

Boomtown

Guymon’s vibrant and heavily occupied downtown stands in stark contrast to many small cities across the state. A zapatería stocked with stylish shoes, a shop that sells quinceañera dresses and a community theater are just some of the tenants that fill nearly every storefront.

“If the building owners want to rent them, they’re full,” Johnson said. “I’m going to guess that half of those businesses are Hispanic. It’s pretty representative of our population.”

The shortage of space is being felt heavily in the housing sector.

“If you move here, you can’t get a place tomorrow,” said Ted Graham, Guymon’s city manager. “You may wait a couple months, maybe longer, just to rent.”

On any given night in Guymon, it can be difficult to find an empty motel room, as some workers get assistance from their employers to stay in motels for months on end. An estimated 600 workers commute from neighboring towns such as Optima and Hooker.

“We’ve seen some real changes here,” Graham said. “As the country went through its economic downturn, Guymon didn’t turn down as hard as everybody else.”

The future looks even brighter.

“I’m speaking with 13 developers that are looking at bringing another 300 to 500 jobs in the immediate year,” said Guymon Community and Economic Developer Vicki McCune.

With two wind farms currently under construction in Texas County and a wind-energy transmission plant under discussion, several hundred more jobs may not be too far away.

“We have students now who can graduate, go to college, and there will be a job when they come back,” said Mike Parkhurst, Guymon’s assistant superintendent of schools. “There are a lot of communities that you can’t stay in after you graduate because there’s not a job for you.”

Seaboard

On the northeast corner of town, cradled by a cluster of dilapidated trailer homes, sits a business that many credit for starting it all.

Seaboard Foods is a plant where some 2,600 employees slaughter and process 19,000 hogs daily. Work on the floor can be hard and dirty, and many in town admit it’s the type of labor some white people simply won’t do. Most employees are people of color, many of them Hispanic.

Yet the nationality of Seaboard’s employees seems of little importance to Guymon authorities. They’re more likely to note that every dollar that Seaboard earns generates seven for the local economy.

McCune, the community developer, acknowledges she probably wouldn’t have a job if Seaboard hadn’t opened its meat processing plant, citing the closure of a similar plant operated by Swift in the late 1980s.

“The population was around 6,000 and dwindling,” McCune recalled. “Main Street was nearly dried up. People just don’t understand how bad things were prior to Seaboard coming in.”

A running joke in town was that there were more boards on windows than in the local lumberyard.

Seaboard opened its plant in 1995. Several other processing plants soon followed. According to McCune, still more are considering Guymon for future expansion.

Guymon’s population began to grow in the late 1990s. Census takers calculated that Hispanics accounted for 38 percent of the town’s 10,472 residents in 2000.

Seaboard administrators declined to answer questions about their Guymon operations or allow a reporter to tour the plant. Instead, the company issued a prepared statement. “We take great pride in being part of Guymon,” it said. “Guymon’s success creates a great community for our business to operate and for our employees to live and work.”

From the plant’s parking lot, dozens of workers can be seen filing in and out of the main building. They are mainly young and old men. All but a handful are people of color.

One former Seaboard employee said all workers “on the killing floor” were ethnic minorities.

That doesn’t mean they’re all Hispanic. Some of the foreign workers who came to town looking for jobs at the plant were fleeing conflict or refugee camps in countries such as Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan and Burma.

Sources close to refugee immigrants said Seaboard’s starting pay is around $11 to $12 per hour. For many, that’s the best pay they have ever seen.

On. Sept. 19, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced it was conducting an investigation of Seaboard Foods, but declined to divulge details. Seaboard issued a statement saying the agency had “reviewed and collected documents at Seaboard Foods’ Shawnee Mission, Kan., and Guymon, Okla., properties.” It, too, declined to discuss the matter further.

Tensions

In the well-worn hallways of the former Guymon High School—a building that would have faced condemnation if it weren’t for the need for more space—class portraits from the old Guymon grace the walls. The young men and women pictured smile from behind the glass, their hairstyles reflective of past decades, the color of their skin all white.

Julie Edenborough, director of Title III and Migrant Services for Guymon Public Schools, runs the sizable English Language Learners program at the squatty, brick building. She manages the needs of the students whose native tongue is not English. Twenty-four languages or dialects are spoken in Guymon classrooms.

Sitting in the office she spent weeks refurbishing herself, Edenborough characterizes the Guymon of her youth as “Mayberry-ish.” She describes the Guymon of today as a safe, close- knit community, but she recalls the widespread uneasiness that accompanied the Hispanic population explosion.

“There were some people who said that [Mexican] students would slow ours down,” said Edenborough, who has taught for two decades. “I was told to put my children in advance placement classes to get them away from ‘those’ children. So, there was very much an us-and- them mentality.”

Tensions were high. Parents complained about curriculum changes and the growing student population. Some teachers began to express concerns. Tempers flared.

Carlos Urias, a third-generation American of Mexican ancestry, works at a Guymon automobile dealer. He recalls a conversation he had with a local farmer and longtime friend when the city of Guymon first considered bringing in Seaboard.

“He got right in my face and said, ‘Carlos, we don’t want this bad element coming into town. Those Mexicans are going to take over,’ ” Urias recalled. “I told him, ‘These folks that come and make Seaboard a success are going to bring up the price of your grain and give you a local market.’ ”

Despite the growing pains, some locals ponder what life might be like today had the Hispanics stayed away.

“We grew pretty fast,” acknowledged Doug Melton, Guymon’s superintendent of schools.

“But I also look back and wonder, if they hadn’t come, where we would be now?”

Oklahoma Watch staff reporter Graham Lee Brewer is a longtime contributor to KGOU Radio and has written for local and online publications. Follow him on Twitter @GrahamBrewer.