Editing Whitney, Texas (section)

=== Battle of the Benches ===
In 1922, D. ("Doctor Dee") Scarborough, the druggist of Whitney installed a bench outside of his store. Within a short period of time, the bench became home to the local old men seeking refuge from the sun and women; comfortably installed on its well-worn planks, they whittled, spat tobacco juice on the sidewalks, studied the weather and damned the modern world with lordliness and venom.<ref name=":0">{{Cite magazine |date=1949-08-08 |title=TEXAS: The Battle of the Bench |language=en-US |magazine=Time |url=https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,800504,00.html |access-date=2022-08-05 |issn=0040-781X}}</ref>

In the following years after [[World War II]], Whitney began to modernize. The town's [[Housewife|housewives]] absorbed the spirit of change and called on the young Mayor Fred Basham to remove the bench, complaining about the spitting and language of the old men. The [[mayor]] complied and had the [[chief of police]] move the bench into an alley nearby. Upon the discovery their sanctuary was ignominiously lugged into a nearby alley, the old men of the town angrily threw a petition to asking for the bench to be placed back.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Battle of the Benches |url=http://www.heartoftexastales.com/battle-of-the-benches.html |access-date=2022-08-05 |website=www.heartoftexastales.com}}</ref>

When the town ignored the old men, they dragged nail kegs to the spot where the bench had originally reposed. The chief of police threatened to confiscate the nail kegs. That was more than the old men could take. They demanded, and finally received a [[Municipal election|special municipal election]] to decide whether the bench should be restored.<ref name=":0" />

On July 30, 1949, the women and mayor were defeated by a vote of 124 to 67 in favor of returning the bench.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2EkEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA28 |title=LIFE |date=1949-08-15 |publisher=Time Inc |language=en}}</ref>