Understanding El Dorado

Before I came to work at the El Dorado News-Times this January, people told me to expect something different. By that they meant the people who live in this town of more than 25,000 and the way things work here.

To appreciate the city, you have to immerse yourself in the culture, meet the people and have an open mind. This is the kind of town where you are just as likely to see a bum redneck who hasn’t shaved in three weeks as you are an oil tycoon in a bright red 2006 Porsche. I see both every day. And the closer you get to Murphy Oil’s headquarters, the nicer the town gets, too.

For those who don’t know, Murphy is a multi-million dollar oil company with oil interests across the globe. They, along with the Lion Oil refinery, are one of the largest corporations in the region.

I expected their headquarters to look a little different, though. I figured it would be a glass office tower, much like the Stephen's building in Little Rock, but smaller. It looks more like a Hilton Hotel, with a round driveway that lets you drive right up to the front door and park under a large awning.

I guess this is so the big guys can roll up in their super-strech Benz limos. Who knows?

El Dorado is so heavily steeped in its oil and money culture that the town has become two separate towns in one. There is the high society end, with stately homes larger than the White House (trust me on this) that would put all the Mc-Mansions in Little Rock’s Chenal Valley to shame. And inside these modern day plantations there are Picassos, Monets and all sorts of valuable art — it’s truly a hidden mecca.

But on the other side of town, away from the glitz of Mercedes-laden garages and jeweled fingers of rich oil heiresses, is the real story of this city. The people who make this part of our state run live here. They have modest, and sometimes rundown, dilapidated homes, and a mountain of debt they used to secure their automobiles and send their children to college.

And if you aren’t from here, everyone wants to know why you came. See, these people are proud to be from El Dorado, but they can’t imagine why anyone would want to come here to live or work. The truth is, the newspaper is the only reason I’m here. In the newspaper industry, it doesn’t matter what town you're in as long as the publication you're working for is respectable.

As they say in the business, “I’m in it for the clips.” But I do enjoy it here, and everyone has been really nice so far. I’ll make it a little while longer, I think.