Okies KO Caltrans in Fight Over Freeway Sign

State highways officials were ordered Friday to install freeway “motorist services” signs that will direct Golden State Freeway travelers to the Okie Girl barbecue restaurant 75 miles north of Los Angeles.

Caltrans administrators had twice turned down Oklahoma-born restaurant owner Mary Lynn Rasmussen’s request for the four signs at the freeway’s Frazier Park off-ramp because of dissatisfaction with the restaurant’s name and its logo.

Officials initially ruled that the word “Okie” might be offensive to residents of the nearby San Joaquin Valley who fled the Dust Bowl drought of the 1930s. But they changed their minds after Oklahomans--including Oklahoma Gov. David Walters--came to Rasmussen’s defense. Later, Caltrans administrators objected to a drawing of a reclining farm girl in the restaurant logo on grounds that it violated a policy against depictions of “human forms” on the small freeway signs.

But Bakersfield Superior Court Judge Clarence Westra Jr. granted a preliminary injunction overturning the sign ban after Caltrans was unable Friday to show that Rasmussen’s sign violated state guidelines.

Caltrans spokesman George Hartwell said the signs could be erected as soon as Rasmussen supplies them to freeway crews.

“This is a victory for middle-class America,” an elated Rasmussen said. “Okies are strong and determined. This proves it.”