Talk:Tahlequah, Oklahoma

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Origin of name[edit]

I'd be interesting in learning where the tracing of the word Tahlequah to tel-i-quah, or "plains", comes from. I think that is the basic meaning of Hiwassee, but I hadn't heard it for Tellico. Can someone enlighten me? Thanks! Pfly 20:17, 10 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I need to know some facts about Tahlequah,Oklahoma fast.Like now!!! - signed by an anon IP

—Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.102.53.48 (talk) 06:13, 5 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Edits[edit]

Who in the world removed my otherwise important edit? I have it copied/pasted here for examination. If my entry violated the WP:POV rule, I apologized. Tahlequah is a hub of American Indian cultural identity, but my point is the majority of residents aren't full-blooded Cherokee nor other American Indians.

<<Tahlequah was long considered a place with a high percentage of residents with Native American ancestry, but the 2000 US Census statistics found only a quarter (25-30%) are classified as Native American. It's not exactly sure if the majority of white residents are also of Cherokee and other tribal ancestry, but many are undoubtedly exploring their Cherokee heritage. >>

In recent years, Tahlequah has developed a large Hispanic/Latino population (farm laborers) and are in close contact with Native Americans but some resentment took place between Hispanic and Native American residents. There's a sizable Black/African American section (the East end), the legacy of the practice of slavery by the Cherokees whom adopted the practice from Southern US whites in the early 19th century. + 71.102.53.48 (talk) 16:47, 27 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I removed your edits because we already have that information in the "Demographics" section and without a source I saw it as point of view.--CPacker (talk) 18:07, 27 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

It's just like everybody to deny the facts. I don't know who removed my fun facts section, but I'll have you know that just because it sounds crazy doesn't mean it's not true. I live in Tahlequah right now and have for nearly 4 decades, I think I know what's going on around here. I'd like the manager to respond so that I might have a word with him. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 192.173.35.242 (talk) 01:34, 6 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Adding tall tales and urban legends seems like fun, but aren't suitable for an online encyclopediac web site meant for serious academic research. The site admins. are enforcing rules on the article edits must be accurate, correct and based on fact, not questionable stuff and unsourced trivia to dilute the article. The American Indian Revolution of 1933 was a small but historic group of American Indians in Oklahoma organized a rebellion to mark the beginning of the American Indian rights movement, but may have influenced President Franklin D. Roosevelt to sign the 1934 Tribal Reorganization Act to restore tribal sovereignity. The part on Walt Disney's illegitimate son coming by to the city in 1956 (or 1965) is very dubious, as well the mythology on a Cherokee-Chilean community coincedes with the rising number of persons around the world claimed to have Cherokee ancestry, and exaggerated details on the other events happened in Tahlequah.+ 71.102.11.193 (talk) 07:20, 22 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

The "the capital of the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians and the Cherokee Nation" sentence is stated in two paragraphs in the article. I think one should be removed. --Travis Northrup (talk) 22:49, 8 December 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I was always told that the name was a combination between Ta-li and e-li-quu meaning "two" and "enough" in Cherokee. Sounds about right, though the frist "Emperor" of the Cherokees according to King George was Motoy Tellico, so I suppose that makes sense, too... — Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.187.147.228 (talk) 01:19, 12 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

East end, Tahlequah is outside the city limits, it does have many Blacks, Latinos, Japanese and Samoans as a result of Eastern Oklahoma's and Northwest Arkansas' factories, like Wal-mart and Tyson Foods. 67.49.89.214 (talk) 06:51, 17 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Mayor information?[edit]

Right now, the Ken Purdy that the info bar thing on the right links to is dead; he died in, like, 1979 from a gunshot wound, but it still says this guy is their mayor. I used to live in Tahlequah. I remember Hugh Purdy was a good friend of mine, and I remember that his father, Ken Purdy, had, in fact, become mayor, but, uhh... I met the guy not 10 years ago. He's definitely not dead yet. Should probably make another page for the town's current mayor, or at least get rid of the association between this Ken Purdy and THAT Ken Purdy. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.48.61.43 (talk) 08:15, 8 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Fun Facts (removed)[edit]

Here is the well mentioned but removed section on the article, about a mayor getting shot and other trivia. Wikipedian Uysudi treated it as his favorite act of wiki-vandalism, due to its' dubious yet "properly sourced" nature. A few parts are evidently invented or made up, others are misquoted and flawed, and the rest is up to personal judgement but doesn't make them actual or correct. + 71.102.11.193 (talk) 07:29, 22 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Some of the lesser known fun facts of Tahlequah[1] are actually quite relevant to U.S. history. In 1956 (Walt Disney died in 1965 or 66) the frozen head of Walt Disney [2] joined the white veterans of the American Indian Revolution of 1933 in town square for "Squashin' Squalls Day" where Disney's illegitimate Chilean son (Walter?) Sanchez de Sanchez gave the famous "No hole too small for this little Disney" speech, which led to A.I.R. II (in 1934, but the numeral title is silly), the lesser known of the Indian revolutions.

In 1999 the then Mayor of Tahlequah, Rev. Joe Bean (On Google search, it came up with nothing), declared himself Supreme Chancellor[3] of All Things Soft and Squishy. Rev. Bean refused to step down from his position when pressured by the U.S. government saying quote, "If you Washington fat-cats want me, then jiggle your fat asses down here and get me!", which led to the first declaration of marshal law on U.S. soil in over two decades and would ultimately lead to the Oklahoma legislature passing Joe's law, which expressly states that "All mayors declaring dictatorship on Oklahoma soil be put to death by stoning." Rev. Joe, as he is lovingly known to this day by all Tahlequahnites, will be sorely missed.

In 2001, Tahlequah mistakenly elected Brad Pitt[4] )(the actor but I cannot say if this fan-fic tale really happened in life) instead of the then campaigning Chad Schitt (alias, probably related to Cherokee Nation principal chief Chad Smith, since they are directly elected by the tribal citizen voters) as the new secretary of the treasury due to a typo on the ballots. Ballots with the typo were distributed to local polling booths, and most citizens were ecstatic at the prospect of Brad Pitt[5] having anything to do with town politics. When it was revealed that the name was a typo, a riot broke out claiming (or most likely, no one killed but injured) the lives of twenty-five people.

In 2005 the townspeople voted for the creation of "OU Day"[6] in honor of the local favorite college football team. Problems arose when fans of the OSU[7] football program, the other major contender in the running for "Let's Make a Useless Holliday Day Extravaganza!"[8] stormed city hall with torches and pitchforks. When the carnage was over, several were dead with many more injured, leading to a cancellation of "OU Day" in favor of "Carrie please call me, my name is Joe and we met at Ned's three years ago, your fame isn't important, it's you I want, I haven't forgotten the promises we made to each other that night Day" the following year.

In 2008, the Tahlequah Citizen (the local daily paper) found itself in the national spotlight when it became the first in the country to legalize abortion for fetuses over 15 months, earning the town praise from pro-choicers everywhere and nays from the far Christian right lobbies. When asked for comment by reporter Dan Jojohnson of the Muskogee Times, the mayor was quoted as saying, "Look, the last thing we need right now is more damn children!" Apparently he was distressed by the local children "always walking on the grass instead of the damn sidewalk," to "sell those god-forsaken sugar cookies!" He then added, "When was the last time any of you f---ing people won anything in an elementary school raffle?" It was at that time that the reporter asked about the mayors alleged town run militant religious commune. Soon after, the mayor opened fire on reporters, putting Tahlequah in the national spotlight for the second time that year, earning Tahlequah the nickname of "Lil' Waco."[9]''

David Letterman?[edit]

I can't find any reference at the moment, but no mention of David Letterman's choice of Tehlequah as the Home Office of the Top Ten List for a year or two a while back? I can't imagine any other single event brought more publicity on this relatively small town. I think it ought to be added, presuming a proper citation can be made. The only mention I can find is Wikipedia itself, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Late_Show_Top_Ten_List#Home_offices JZelazny (talk) 06:14, 3 September 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I found the following two references:

http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/1992-04-07/news/9204070719_1_tahlequah-lebanon-home-office
http://www.tvacres.com/cities_david.htm --Travis Northrup (talk) 22:20, 8 December 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Origin of Name[edit]

The origin currently stated is a popular myth and not factual. --Travis Northrup (talk) 00:55, 9 December 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Then request a citation for that statement. -Uyvsdi (talk) 01:24, 9 December 2010 (UTC)Uyvsdi[reply]

Thanks for the updates. I'm still getting used to the "how to". --Travis Northrup (talk) 01:43, 9 December 2010 (UTC)[reply]

"The Cherokee Nation lexicon shows the word ‘two’ as ‘ta li’ and the word ‘enough’ as ‘ye li quu.’ At a minimum, the word would be ‘ta li ye li quu.’" is incorrect and I've removed it. The postfix "-gwu" means "just" or "only." This gives Taligwu as "Just two" 70.185.213.134 (talk) 00:01, 21 August 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Words are contracted all the time, especially in the Overhill dialect. But any uncited theories on the name original should be removed anyway. -Uyvsdi (talk) 16:16, 22 August 2011 (UTC)Uyvsdi[reply]

Article class[edit]

This article meets the criteria for Class C. Bruin2 (talk) 01:21, 13 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]

External links modified[edit]

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Removed from Notable people[edit]

Turnpike Troubadors has no citation and nothing in its Wikipedia article shows a tie to Talequah. Therefore, I have removed this group from the list of notable people.

Bill Keith (Louisiana politician) needs either a citation or a Wikipedia article showing why he belongs on this list. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Bruin2 (talk • contribs) 04:29, 9 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Cherokee National History Museum[edit]

@Fettlemap: Yes, the museum, Supreme Court building and National Capitol building are the same.--Tsistunagiska (talk) 13:36, 13 October 2020 (UTC)[reply]