FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                                    February 21, 2007

WEB SITE BENEFITS FROM NORTHWESTERN INSTRUCTOR’S LOVE OF OKLAHOMA

            A love of Oklahoma and its history has led a Northwestern Oklahoma State University adjunct instructor to test the knowledge of others.

            Larry Justice, who teaches humanities and communication classes at the university and has served as the director of the Baptist Student Union since 1978, recently found the web site www.ibelieveinoklahoma.com. After visiting this site a few times and finding the same trivia questions at the “Test Your Okie Knowledge” link, he made a few contacts that led him to April Murelio and Beth Schmidt with the Oklahoma Department of Commerce. Murelio has been his principle contact regarding the quiz.

            Following those conversations, he was invited to submit a list of questions for possible use on the site. So, he soon began the process of researching what information he’d like to include in his 20 questions.

            “I have accumulated quite a few volumes dealing with Oklahoma and her history,” the Ponca City native said. “As a native Oklahoman, I am proud of our state, and I really want the people I meet to realize what a great place this is.

            He added that there are so many things out there about this state and Northwestern that people don’t know about. He’s hoping that the questions he’s providing for this site will help in remedying that fact.

The 20 questions currently on the site, or Quiz 2, are the result of his research and submission.

Through taking the quiz, people will see a couple of questions directly related to Northwestern including: Northwestern Oklahoma State University is celebrating its 110^th birthday this year. What was the school’s name when it opened in 1897?

Justice said he recently submitted 20 more questions for the site that could be used in late March or early April. The new questions are mainly about communities within Oklahoma.

Nearing 60 years, Justice has lived nearly all his life in Oklahoma and because of his love for this state, this project has been more fun than work. He explained that he’s been able to use the many books he’s purchased through the years for various projects, including many with Oklahoma themes.

            “I own and continue to purchase books centered on three principle themes: Oklahoma and the development of our state and nation historically, golf and selected writers of ‘good’ devotional material,” Justice said.

            He has used these publications to produce a number of radio devotionals in the past, and in many of those he used Oklahoma trivia to establish the point of his presentations.

            Another project he completed several years ago that benefitted Oklahoma was a travel guide he produced for the Wichita A’s Model A Club for a trip they were taking from Wichita, Kan., to the Dallas-Ft. Worth area to attend a convention.

            “They wanted to avoid driving their 1929-31 Model A's on I-35,” Justice said. “So, I designed a travel guide following U.S. 81 (Chisholm Trail) to Dallas and following U.S. 77 from the Red River north through Shawnee and Stillwater and on to Ponca City then to Kansas. Because the A's travel at roughly 40-50 miles per hour and stay in touch by CB Radio, the travel guide noted points of interest all along the trip.”

            Because that guide was so well accepted, he’s been toying with the idea of creating another travel guide with various trips across Oklahoma. He said he loves to stop and read the Oklahoma Historical Society signs along the highways in Oklahoma, and that these signs are a source of inspiration for him to begin the research for this new project this summer.

This travel guide would feature U.S. 81, U.S. 77, U.S. 270 and other paths that would take travelers across Oklahoma to see what this state has to offer, from ancient mountains to sand dunes to rich forests to great plains.

“For example, U.S. 270 and OK3 traverse the state from north of Boise City, all the way to the Arkansas line in the far southeastern corner of the state,” Justice said. “It will take several years to put together, but if I am going to write it, I need to start soon.”

            Besides the love of the state, his interests in trivia and producing his list of questions can be traced back to 1957 when he was 10 years old. He said he and his grandfather had quite an interest in the semi-centennial of Oklahoma, particularly with the burying of a 1957 Plymouth in Tulsa. He said that he believes this June, that vehicle, or “the rust that once was the 1957 Plymouth,” will be removed from its 50-year old vault at the Tulsa County Courthouse.

He also said he grew up almost literally in the shadow of the Pioneer Woman Statue in Ponca City.

“I could look out my bedroom window and see this magnificent tribute to the brave women who helped establish our state,” he said. “Our home was located on land that E.W. Marland (former Oklahoma governor) set aside as a public golf course where the average person could play golf for 25 cents. My grandfather installed the plumbing in the Wentz Pool, and my mom and second cousin were the first to swim in this landmark northeast of Ponca City.

“As I was growing up, I always thought it would be exciting to be in Oklahoma for the Centennial Celebration when I would turn 60,” he said. “Well, I am five months from my 60^th, and we are in the midst of our Centennial year.”

Justice has an opportunity to do more than just celebrate Oklahoma’s Centennial; he is helping to plan various activities for it at Northwestern through May 2008. He is a member of the Publicity and Promotions sub-committee that is helping to produce memorabilia in honor of the state’s 100^th birthday, but also for Northwestern’s 110^th.

-NW-

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