Burning Atlanta

It seems to me that nobody likes sudden change. We like things evolving over a long period of time. If you are brought up in a heavily black, white, Latino, Muslim, whatever, neighborhood and within a couple of years it's 60% Asian Buddhists you might go, "Hey, what the hell?" But change is a fact of life. It's just a matter of change for the better or worse and how quickly that change occurs that causes concern.

The only things that cause me to go "Humm" about this story are how many ILLEGALS are being employed by Seaboard and why aren't there more locals working there? Gee, you think it might have to do with the MONEY? I wonder if ICE is paying attention?

Guymon

GUYMON -- Guymon is all-American, but it's redefining itself after thousands of Hispanics came to town 12 years ago for jobs at a hog-processing plant.

Stores advertise in Spanish. Authentic Mexican restaurants pepper street corners. The manager of Homeland is brushing up on his Spanish so he can talk to customers.

Guymon's population is guessed to be between 40 percent to 50 percent Hispanic -- mostly Mexican. Some are in the country legally. Many are not. Many are U.S. citizens.

The demographic shift in Guymon greatly magnifies the immigrant issue faced by other Oklahoma communities.

"It's all about the hogs," said Chris Hitch, who owns Bob's Bar off Main Street and is vice president at his family's large farming company, Hitch Enterprises Inc.

"We got hogs and the town just boomed. Everyone just moved here."

Guymon divides its history by "the hogs" -- before and after 1995, the year Seaboard, a hog processing company that employs about 4,300 people in the area, arrived.

Since Seaboard, the population of Guymon has doubled from about 7,000 to 14,000, said City Manager Mike Shannon.