A Kind of Witch Hunt: Seamy scandal in Oklahoma City

Sex and psychology in Oklahoma City

The ornate lobby of the Skirvin Plaza Hotel is jammed with ranchers wearing sweat-stained Stetsons, scuffed boots and $500 pinstripe suits. On the lawn of the nearby state capitol, black rocker arms pump oil from deep within the earth.

This is Oklahoma City (pop. 378,000), an amalgam of cowboys and oilmen, of good-ole-boy morality and Bible-thumping religion. Adultery and homosexuality are still on the statute books as illegal; so too is public drinking.

But for several years, Oklahoma City's residents have been both horrified and titillated by a...

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