Sat, Jul 19 2008
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Published May 14, 2008 09:52 pm - Muskogee’s election of its youngest mayor ever on Tuesday drew a flurry of national media interest Wednesday. John Tyler Hammons, 19, got nearly 70 percent of the vote over former mayor Hershel McBride. He will be sworn into office at 4 p.m. Tuesday. Teen mayor gets national air By Liz McMahan Phoenix Staff Writer Muskogee’s election of its youngest mayor ever on Tuesday drew a flurry of national media interest Wednesday.
John Tyler Hammons, 19, got nearly 70 percent of the vote over former mayor Hershel McBride. He will be sworn into office at 4 p.m. Tuesday. But Hammons was already in the mayor’s office on the second floor of the Municipal Building on Wednesday. He got there about 9 a.m., met with officials — and fielded dozens of calls from the media, he said. They included calls from CBS News, the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, USA Today and CNN. He was a topic of discussion on The View, a national talk show on the ABC network, CBS News and National Public Radio. A headline that Muskogee had elected a 19-year-old mayor was scrolled across the bottom of the screen on ABC’s Good Morning America, along with news from the China earthquake. One of the calls he received was from a California company wanting to do at least one episode of a reality television show based on his being mayor, Hammons said. No date has been set for an appearance on the Leno show, but the show’s writers are supposed to call him and get ideas for jokes for the segment, he said. “We’re still on Cloud Nine,” Hammons said Wednesday afternoon. But he was also starting to settle into the reality of being at the helm of a city of 40,000 with an annual budget of nearly $28 million. Instead of having a leisurely Saturday morning like other college freshmen on summer break, Hammons will be attending a City Council retreat beginning at 8 a.m. City Manager Greg Buckley is expected to present his plan for Muskogee’s 2008-2009 fiscal year at that day-long session. Immediately after his swearing in, Hammons said he plans to once again thank the voters for the confidence they showed in him. “Then I will get down to business,” he said. The swearing-in will be followed with a meeting of the council’s public works and finance committees. Hammons said he learned Wednesday there are several appointments to committees and boards to be made, and he will fill those vacancies as soon as possible. Reach Liz McMahan at 684-2926 or lmcmahan @muskogeephoenix.com. 
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