'It's a scandal: Oklahoma declares watermelon a vegetable

My Lawton Constitution story on the watermelon becoming a state vegetable was seen by a reporter at UK's Guardian newspaper and he referenced it in this story. Pretty neat, eh? (Oh, and it was bill co-author Rep. Joe Dorman, D-Rush Springs, home of the annual Watermelon Festival, that was teh '94 seed-spitting champ, not Barrington.

It's a scandal: Oklahoma declares watermelon a vegetable

By Matthew Weaver and agencies
Wednesday April 18, 2007
Guardian Unlimited

Everywhere else it is considered a fruit, but in Oklahoma the watermelon has been officially declared a vegetable.
And not just any vegetable, Oklahoma's house of representatives yesterday voted to award the watermelon the honour of official state vegetable. The official state fruit is the strawberry.
A bill on the proposal was passed yesterday by 78 votes to 19.
A triumphant senator Don Barrington, who sponsored the bill, said after the vote: "The controversy on whether watermelon is a fruit or vegetable has been officially decided by the Oklahoma legislature."
He told Oklahoma's Lawton Constitution before the vote that the watermelon was a fruit, "but it's also a vegetable because it's a member of the cucumber family".
The Republican, who in 1994 won a local contest for spitting watermelon seeds the farthest, said the state vegetable status would be a boost for his watermelon-growing Rush Springs constituency.
Asked whether people shared his conviction that the watermelon was a vegetable, he replied: "It depends on who you ask."
Others were not convinced. Senator Nancy Riley said her dictionary referred to the watermelon as a fruit.
"I guess it can be both," Mr Barrington conceded.
The Oklahoma governor, Brad Henry, must now decide whether to approve the bill.
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