When Oprah Took Amarillo By Storm

How Oprah got lassoed into this Texas circus

“I am in this courtroom to defend my name. I feel in my heart I’ve never done a malicious act against any human being.” ~Oprah Winfrey

If you had to guess who the biggest celebrity in the world is, my money would be on Oprah. What is celebrity anyway? To me, it's name recognition. You could also try to rank it based on followers on various social media. That still wouldn't be a true measure. And it's certainly not based on money alone. Plenty of people don't think highly of Jeff Bezos.

No, Oprah was just a frequent guest in our living rooms, and that's how we became so comfortable with her. She was perceived as being honest, and in addition to her own beliefs, she would invite guests who could vouch for those beliefs. So in Oprah, we had answers.

Here's the Beef

Most episodes revolved around issues of the day. One such issue brewing in the mid-1990s was mad cow disease, an incurable and fatal bovine disease. It is fact that cattle were infected after being fed meat-and-bone meal made from cows sickened with the disease. U.K. beef producers made it a habit to feed this to their cattle. It peaked in 1993, and four million cows were killed during the eradication.

Enter Oprah. Always one to confront controversial subjects, an episode in April 1996 focused on food safety. A guest on the show, Howard Lyman, a vegetarian and animal rights activist, predicted the mad cow disease would come to plague the U.S. beef industry. At the end of the episode, Oprah proclaimed "she'd never eat another hamburger again”.

As soon as that episode aired, beef prices decreased precipitously, and Oprah's segment was seen as a significant contributor. Members of the beef industry were furious and sought help from Rick Perry, who at the time was the Texas Agricultural Commissioner. It was found that the State of Texas couldn't pursue legal action under the law, so the Texas cattle industry stepped up to the plate with their own lawsuit against Winfrey and others, alleging $12 million in damages. When it became clear Winfrey would not settle, pandemonium in Amarillo began.

About Amarillo

Amarillo is about equidistant from Albuquerque and Oklahoma City. So in that isolation it’s kind of a big deal in the Panhandle. Nearly 200,000 residents call it home, and it was a major tourist stop on Route 66.

The city lies smack dab in the middle of the Panhandle. Some of the flattest land you'll ever see. As such, it is prone to tornadoes, dust storms, and even blizzards. Half of the city was demolished in 1949 by a devastating F4 tornado. Amarillo is the windiest city in the U.S., according to the Weather Channel. (Chicago doesn't even come close!)

Perhaps the most famous icon of Amarillo, the Cadillac Ranch, lies west of the city on old 66. Ten Cadillacs were buried nose-first into a wheat field owned by local entrepreneur Stanley Marsh 3. There is no deep meaning here. It was simply an idea dreamed up by three artists, one of which loved the tail fins of Cadillacs.

About one-quarter of the nation's beef supply is processed in the area. Annually, that’s about six million head of cattle being fattened for slaughter within 150 of the city. A fitting place for a courtroom brawl about the safety of beef.

Can’t believe I got four paragraphs out of Amarillo!

Amarillo by Morning

In January 1998, in the bone-chilling Texas Panhandle wind, Oprah arrived to take up residence in Amarillo. Residents clamored at the airport just to get a glance at her. Rather than go on hiatus, she decided to"film her show from there in the evenings because her presence was required at the Federal Courthouse during daytime hours. The show was temporarily renamed, “Oprah Winfrey in Texas “— BUT, a gag order was in place, so she couldn’t say a thing about the trial. Instead, she would say:

“We’re down here in Amarillo — y’all know why.”

Initially, she was despised by many, as everyone knows someone in the cattle industry in Amarillo. But you know how Oprah can win over an audience. One thing she did to earn their trust was to promote Texas and its people, and she would always point out how friendly people in Texas are.

This is not what the city leaders wanted. No star treatment, no key to the city. Nope, she did it on her terms. When she announced tickets for her tapings in Amarillo, 215,000 calls came in within 30 minutes. She became best friends with Nancy Seliger, the mayor’s wife, and invited Oprah to her own book club one evening.

Amarillo Loves Oprah…Maybe More than Beef

Marsh, the multi-millionaire gentlemen on whose land the Cadillac Ranch stands, said, “We’re all getting Oprah-itis — I can feel it in my bones”.

In a word, citizens were starstruck. In addition to Oprah, several celebrities who were guests on the show were spotted around town.The city became a three-ring circus.

Still, there remained the diehards. Many a pick-up truck was seen trolling through town bearing a bumper sticker that said, “The Only Mad Cow in Amarillo is Oprah”. Nasty.

An early survey sponsored by the Amarillo Globe-News asked respondents who they thought would win the case. The survey’s results: 1,284 said Oprah would prevail, while 280 went for the beef.

Oprah Takes the Stand

On the day Oprah took the witness stand, she was accompanied to the courthouse by Maya Angelou, no doubt as a source of strength. Even Oprah needs a little help sometimes.

Oprah was being tried under the “False Disparagment of Perishable Foods Act”, an obsure law that, believe it or not, is the law of the land in 13 states. Paul Engler brought the case to court. He came to the Panhandle in 1960 with a vision of a place where he could make cattle fatter, faster. (If you ever want to see miles and miles and miles of nothing but stinky feedlots, go to Dalhart.)

After an exhausting line of questioning, Oprah stood up and said:

“Mr. Coyne, (the opposing attorney), I provide a forum for people to express their opinions…this IS the United States of America.”

Not much later, on February 26, 1998, the jury voted unanimously in Oprah’s favor.

Another tall Texas tale goes down in the recordbooks.

Sources for this story include: * Texastribune.org, 1/10/1998 * Thebullamarillo.com (101.9 FM), 3/25/2019 * Texasmonthly.com, March 1998 * Supermarketnews.com, 2/16/1998

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