Most Popular Archives Shop
OKC, 85°F, Partly Cloudy, Radar Loop | More Weather






View more >

Sun April 27, 2008

Harmon county: On the road to nowhere?

Related Topics

 
 
Top Jobs
AddThis Social Bookmark Button
By Ron Jackson
Staff Writer
HOLLIS Harmon County residents don't talk a lot about the future.

ADVERTISEMENT


They choose their words carefully to avoid offending friends and family. Meanwhile, the latest U.S. Census Bureau population estimates reveal what many Harmon County residents already sense.

Harmon County is disappearing.

"If you go to Hollis,” native Gary Randall said, "you either really want to be there or you're lost.”

The latest federal count showed Harmon County lost an estimated 13.6 percent (or 446 people) of its total population since the 2000 U.S. Census. The percentage drop is second statewide to Cimarron County, which lost an estimated 15.4 percent (or 484 people) of its total population during the same time.

Harmon County is currently home to about 2,837 residents — the second lowest statewide population total to Cimarron County's 2,664.

Facing challenges
Yet unlike Cimarron County, Harmon County has already been reduced to a one-school district in the county seat of Hollis, which, by all accounts, sits on the road to nowhere.

Cimarron County businesses can at least claim the occasional sales tax dollar from travelers shuttling between Denver and Oklahoma City, or to the beautiful Black Mesa State Park.

Harmon County is also lagging behind Cimarron County on annual property tax dollars collected.

In 2007, Harmon County's total property taxes amounted to nearly $1.2 million.

Cimarron County collected nearly $2.5 million last year by comparison.

No two people know the challenges facing Harmon County more than Hollis School Superintendent Wilmer Cooper and Hollis City Manager Bob Copeland.

One is in charge of keeping a school district a