Talk:Amarillo, Texas

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This is the talk page for discussing improvements to the Amarillo, Texas article.
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Good article Amarillo, Texas has been listed as one of the Geography and places good articles under the good article criteria. If you can improve it further, please do. If it no longer meets these criteria, you can delist it, or ask for a reassessment.
To-do: edit · history · watch · refresh
  • Revamp the History Section
  • Copyedit the article to have a "brillant prose."
  • Confirming what the city flag looks like today.
  • Take another look at lead section for conciseness

Contents

[edit] Danny Elfman

This article mentions Danny Elfman as being a native of Amarillo; however, the article on him lists him as being born elsewhere. Was he raised in Amarillo? Can someone cite a source for the info.? Likeminded 16:55, 10 August 2005 (UTC)

I don't consider him as a "native" of Amarillo. According to IMDB, he was born in Amarillo but raised in LA. [1] If Danny Elfman is going to be on the list then I guess change the header "Notable natives" to "Notable people from Amarillo." --J. Nguyen 05:58, 11 August 2005 (UTC)
Also, I notice one of my additions to the "Notable natives" was born in Amarillo but raised in Tulsa so I'm changing the header. --J. Nguyen 06:01, 11 August 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Is that really the city flag of Amarillo?

Granted I have limited knowledge of the city of Amarillo but I do vaguely remember seeing a flag hovering around the City Hall in Buchanan street. It was basically the city's seal on a white background. I might be wrong. Anyways, I'm tracking down a better version of the city seal which doesn't have a JPEG source and being not blurry. --J. Nguyen 02:47, 10 January 2006 (UTC)

I wondered the same thing. I only remember seeing a flag with the city seal as well. I was planning on taking a look next time I went there. I've searched the official City of Amarillo website to find out, but haven't been successful. Lbbzman 19:23, 11 January 2006 (UTC)
Did anyone ever find out the real story on the city flag? Is what's displayed the actual flag, or is the flag simply the city seal on a white background as I remembered? Lbbzman 13:23, 6 April 2006 (UTC)
Argh, I was just too lazy to go to the city hall to finish the flag puzzle. I probably going to regret for saying this but I'm going early next week and I'm going to take a picture of it but will not recreate it if it is the blue one. --Who What Where Nguyen Why 13:50, 6 April 2006 (UTC)
I finally went inside the city hall, today. I didn't see a flag display. The display cases were empty when I went in. Again, I confirmed that the flag along with the USA and Texas flags hovering outside of the city hall is just a plain white flag with the city seal. Still not confirmed if it is the city flag. I might in the future sadly attend a commission meeting on Tuesdays afternoons and maybe ask someone who works there. However, that is not a guaranteed. --Who What Where Nguyen Why 22:33, 14 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Dairies moving into the area

I just added the requested citation that mentions dairies moving into the Amarillo area. Unfortunately, the article is specifically about Hereford, which is west of Amarillo and is consistent with what the Amarillo WP article indicates. Also, since the reference is a Wall Street Journal article, a URL cannot be provided. A better, on-line accessible source, would be preferred, but this should suffice for now. Lbbzman 03:09, 30 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Photos on to-do list

I will be traveling to Amarillo next weekend and can take some photos for the page. The to-do list currently mentions City Hall. Please list any other requested photos and I'll see what I can do. Lbbzman 03:19, 30 January 2006 (UTC)

  • City Hall - Lbbzman 03:19, 30 January 2006 (UTC)
No, it is okay. I was planning to take photos sometime this week when I have the time. About the dairies thing, I only got stories about Hereford too in the Amarillo Globe News' website which is why I put the {{fact}} template. [2] I think it is best to live it with the Wall Street Journal as the reference if Wikipedia wants to keep this info consider they're more well known publication compare to a town's local newspaper. In addition, there is too much references for Amarillo Globe-News. Lastly, I really don't consider the information part of the Amarillo article. Yes, some people consider Hereford to be part of Amarillo's "MSA" but...shouldn't be part of the Hereford, Texas article? If it stays, this line: "serves what is fast becoming a major milk producing area" should change because that is speculative in my opinion. Oh well... --J. Nguyen 19:53, 30 January 2006 (UTC)
I have taken photos of the City Hall. Amarillo's City Hall is just plain ugly so I'm changing plans on what photo should be in the "Law and government" section. Hopefully get a suitable photo for this section by the end of next week. Also, I can confirm that the flag floating around the city hall is just a white flag with a seal but still doesn't mean it is the city flag. [3] I have to go inside the city hall to figure it out. In addition, I'm currently working on making a sharper version of the city seal by redrawing it on the computer. Hopefully, I finish that before winter ends... --J. Nguyen 03:31, 8 February 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Headline-making news

I can think of a couple of times in recent history when Amarillo has been featured in American national news:

  • "Punks and Preps" case
  • Oprah Winfrey trial - this is mentioned briefly in the "Amarillo featured in entertainment" section but not sure if it should be expanded
  • The Tulia drug sting incident - the incident is covered on the Tulia page and probably belongs only there

Not sure how noteworthy these events are in the grand scheme of things and if they should be included in the article or not. Thoughts? Lbbzman 22:45, 10 February 2006 (UTC)

I don't like the idea (I changed my mind easily) because it could stray away the focus on concentrating the city in general and could lead to redundacy such as Oprah. I don't consider Brian Deneke to be notable enough to mention in the article... Yes, the Tulia drug sting should stay in the Tulia, Texas article. I'm thinking about creating a "Culture" section similar to the Seattle, Washington article in a few days/weeks which will include the dire need for an "Arts" section and the subsections of it would be the "Media and entertainment"/"Sports teams." It would replace the "Sites of interest" section because of redundacy. Maybe, we could include the "headline news" section after "installing" the "Culture" section. Heck, it could be a sister section to section that I regret on creating, "Amarillo featured in entertainment." Also, on the to-do list I cancel the idea of a "Peoples" section. The "Culture" section would do the job just fine.--J. Nguyen 02:44, 11 February 2006 (UTC)
I'm done with this article's arts sections. Feel free to expand or experiment with the headline news section. I just checked the Tulia article. Wow, it needs to expand the history section because I feel so sorry for that article. All it was mentioned was the sad event... --J. Nguyen 04:56, 12 February 2006 (UTC)
Good work as always. I'll add where I can. Lbbzman 23:33, 13 February 2006 (UTC)

Another time when Amarillo was featured in American national news was during the Cullen Davis murder trial in the late 1970s. This was a Ft. Worth-area murder case that involved a powerful millionaire, his ex-wife, and her daughter and boyfriend. The case was moved from Ft. Worth to Amarillo on a change of venue (although the Wikipedia entry for Cullen Davis does not mention Amarillo). --abl, 14:24, 25 May 2006 (UTC).

±Let's not forget the notorious Halloween billboard with the Hanging man on it. This made national news, though I don't think it quite warrants the attention it got. 167.230.104.90 (talk) 21:49, 19 November 2007 (UTC)C. Allen

[edit] Spinning off two of the subsections to seperate articles

Hi. I'm thinking about spinning off two sections into articles. The top candidates are "Amarillo featured in entertainment" and "Companies list". I will then move the "Notable natives..." to the "Culture" section. If there is no objection by a couple of days, then I will seperate them. Don't worry, the Amarillo article will still mention them just as a "See also" page. We need to condense the size and make it less "listy." Right now, it is 41 kilobytes. I think those references templates are causing the increase file size because the article doesn't look that huge. Oh well, I rather have those templates then remember/type reference styles manually. --J. Nguyen 21:31, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

I agree. Good call. Lbbzman 22:46, 16 February 2006 (UTC)
I went ahead and spun off List of Amarilloans. Going back and looking at your idea, I realized (after I was finished, of course), that this wasn't one of the lists you were going to spin off. Oh well, we can always revert back if people don't like the new format. Lbbzman 20:05, 17 February 2006 (UTC)
It's okay. Anything to decrease the file size at least one kilobytes is good enough. I spunned off the companies list. I will take my time on the "Amarillo featured in entertainment" because I fear it will probably get deleted because of Wikipedia:Listcruft which I probably going to spin-off into an article not list called "Amarillo, Texas in the mass media. The article will include Brian Deneke and more in-depth information regarding Oprah. --J. Nguyen 22:18, 17 February 2006 (UTC)
Nevermind, I was browsing through the Boston article and they have a list of devoted films, operas, plays set in Boston. I will just make a list due to laziness and need to concentrate on the main article. --J. Nguyen 17:41, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Coronado and early history

I agree that the Coronado reference felt a little out of place. I'll try to find more early history (pre-1887) about Amarillo and the area. Maybe something about Charles Goodnight, the Comanche, etc. I'd like to ultimately have more early history in here, including Coronado. Lbbzman 22:03, 20 February 2006 (UTC)

Nah, it is okay. The length of this city's article is big enough for a city's general overview article. If we're going to include Charles Goodnight and Coronado, we will probably have to make a daughter article (History of Amarillo). This article's history section just needs to tell briefly how the town grew up and why it is still have over 100,000 people in it. --J. Nguyen 03:33, 21 February 2006 (UTC)
Although this article's history section's beginning is still weak. What a beginning: "In April 1887, J. T. Berry established a site ..." zzzzz... We could add some stuff to it but not too much. --J. Nguyen 03:42, 21 February 2006 (UTC)
I was thinking about that (History of Amarillo)... it may be more appropriate for an article about things like Goodnight and Coronado to be in a History of the Texas Panhandle. I'll start researching and see if I can come up with enough to create an article. Lbbzman 13:27, 21 February 2006 (UTC)

Hi, I hope I don't offend anyone by posting this request here, but I need help with a wikipedia project to create categories and subcategories. Is this the place to ask for help? I'm going to get fired if I don't get this working. —Preceding unsigned comment added by E2mlab (talk • contribs) 18:17, 19 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Okay, will merge/redirect Amarillo, Texas featured in the mass media back to this article

If a couple of people didn't like the Amarillo, Texas featured in the mass media page that was created a couple of weeks ago then most of the info will merged back in this article and they will be in paragraph form instead of a list. Also, the info regarding Full House, Cast Away, and other minor mentions of the city will not be back. Of course, the Amarillo, Texas featured in the mass media will redirect back to here after the merger. --J. Nguyen 01:32, 16 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Reference list

Don Vito Corleone has suggested in the to-do list that the reference list be scaled back to around 30 references. Could you please provide a MoS or other style guide supporting your position? Wikipedia's motto seems to be cite sources, cite sources, cite sources. I personally think this article is one of the best referenced in the entire encyclopedia. Lbbzman 16:14, 26 March 2006 (UTC)

Hi, I can't tell a lie in-person or on the web. Don Vito Corleone is the same person as J. Nguyen. Anyways, the reason is why I came up with the conclusion is that in a couple of months I might nominate this article into feature article status after adding few more info (no more one sentence paragraphs) and cleaning up the prose. I was reading through past nominations such as the recently rejected Wikipedia:Featured article candidates/Michael Jackson the objection voters were complaining that the authors putted way too much in-line citations for information that can be easily verified. Sadly, we have to appease the voters if we wanted to be in the FA. --Don Vito Corleone 18:54, 26 March 2006 (UTC)
I just took a look at the FAC link for the Michael Jackson article. It looks to me like the argument there was against excessive in-line citations, and there was an urging of using footnotes instead. Since all of the references on the Amarillo article are footnotes, I wonder if we should leave it as is and take our chances on a FAC nomination. I know you (and others) have put a lot of work into finding the references as they stand now, and I'd hate to remove those unless absolutely necessary. But I could be wrong. Cheers, Lbbzman 16:47, 27 March 2006 (UTC)
Okay will leave all of the current references intact. We could always wait if more than 3 FA voters demand them to trim down. That is of course if we nominate this article before this decade ends or something. --Don Vito Corleone 03:25, 28 March 2006 (UTC)
The current references list looks ridiculous and really needs someone who knows the place to go through it. SuzanneKn 22:04, 9 March 2007 (UTC)
This is the same person as "The Godfather." Could you provide more details besides saying "ridiculous." We could fix your criticism (although still need to copyedit this article....) if you provide more details without using an one word that could be interpreted as insult. There are featured articles with far more references than this article i.e., Buffy the Vampire Slayer (today's featured article) and San Francisco, California. I (and another person) tried to model the references/notes lists to those type of articles. People editing this article don't know this place? Hmm... --J. Nguyen 01:07, 10 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Ambassador Bivins

Hello. I recently reverted an edit stating that Teel Bivins is currently the American ambassador to Sweden. My edit has been rereverted to state that he is still the ambassador. I do not wish to get into an edit war, but it appears from this page [4] that Bivins is no longer the ambassador, and that there is an interim officer. Further, US Presdient Bush has nominated a new fellow (Michael Wood) for that office, which further indicates to me that Bivins is no longer serving in that capacity [5]. I'd appreciate outside input. I may be interpreting the embassy's website incorrectly. Cheers, Lbbzman 17:50, 24 May 2006 (UTC)

Yes, you're correct on this, Lbbzman. I vaguely remember this story. Another source be located on the city's local newspaper. [6] If you guys don't want to register (it's "free") to view it online, just simply use BugMeNot or Google search: "Bivins explains resignation" and click on the cache version to bypass the registration process. --Who What Where Nguyen Why 18:24, 24 May 2006 (UTC)
According to the White House website [7], Mr. Wood's nomination has been sent to the Senate. Bivins is the most recent individual to be nominated for the position, have the nomination approved by Congress, and present his credentials to the King of Sweden (simply being nominated for the position by the President doesn't complete the appointment to the post). According to the State Department, Bivins is still the Ambassador [8]. But, hey, who needs facts to get in the way of opinions? --abl 10:59, 25 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Population

In the infobox only Potter County is mention as the city has an estimated 180k residents but all of Potter County only 113k residents shouldn't Randall County also be mentioned as 37% of Amarillo's population reside in that county? Regards, Signaturebrendel 22:03, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

Agree. Added the town's other county in the infobox. Thanks for the tip. --Who What Where Nguyen Why 01:21, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] City Flag

I have contacted the flag experts at Flags of the World to know more about the current city flag. Here is their first reply:

Hi xxxxxxx, All the information we have on the Amarillo flag is from 2000 or earlier, so it is quite possible it has changed its flag. This does happen a lot in US municipal flags! I did a bit of hunting around on their webpage, and it is clear the map logo is not the city shield, so I very much doubt the flag we show is correct. I will set our vexi-ferrets on to it to see what they can find.

Hopefully, we can finally "finish" (of course, there is no such thing in wikis) this article soon. I have started a new peer review session. Any suggestions to improve this article would be nice. Thanks. --Oskar Mayer Nguyener 00:36, 31 August 2006 (UTC) t

[edit] "...old US Route 66."

Last sentence in lead paragraph. Should this read former, that Route 66 has been altered and no longer takes the road the attractions are situated on, or does it mean that it is a long established route? If it is the latter, then I suggest that it be referred to as famous.LessHeard vanU 21:49, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

After briefly thinking about it, I agree with you the word should be changed. Yes, you're correct about portions of Route 66 are still being used by different highways. However, "famous" is too opinionated and sort of bias consider not everyone knows what is Route 66 especially cultures not keen to United States'. "Former" is good replacement word. Thanks for your suggestion. --J. Nguyen 22:02, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] National Register of Historic Places

Amarillo's history, art, and culture is expressed, in part through the locations listed on the National Register of Historic Places. By relegating these places to a single link under "See also", readers miss out on a significant part of what makes Amarillo unique. More importantly, most of these places lack articles, and moving these red-links out of sight also lowers their profile and thereby lowers the probability that an editor will discover these links and create worthy articles. In my view, removing these links from the article was a mistake. Rklawton 23:29, 28 December 2006 (UTC)

Howdy. I shall reply and gave you my reasons for downplaying the National Register of Historic Places. You brought an interesting points such as encourage visitors to create new articles about certain Amarillo's historical buildings which Wikipedia needs. However, I have a bias against putting a list within an "encyclopedia" city article. There was a very vague paragraph about the National Register of Historic Places in this article, so I guess we could compromise by mentioning some of the historical landmarks. Most of the historical buildings in that list are in downtown Amarillo. I just don't like putting repeating info that also can be found in a separate Wikipedia page. --J. Nguyen 04:17, 30 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Citations

This page is very nicely formatted, compared to the Houston, Texas, article that I was working on today. It looks like someome cleaned up the citations on 2007-01-25. However, the correct format should be lastname, firstname, instead of firstname, lastname, for the author citations. Deatonjr 02:24, 7 February 2007 (UTC)

Okay, thanks for the tip. It will be fix in the near future. :-) --J. Nguyen 01:30, 8 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] GA Pass

This article has been reviewed as part of Wikipedia:WikiProject Good articles/Project quality task force. I believe the article currently meets the criteria and should remain listed as a Good article. The article history has been updated to reflect this review. Regards, Epbr123 12:13, 21 September 2007 (UTC)