The Cautionary Tale of The Chicken Ranch Should Not Be Forgotten

When Good People Do Nothing

Those that forget the past are doomed to repeat it.

That’s the philosophy that is guiding us as we embark on this summer of stories looking back at The Chicken Ranch closure 50 years ago.

Already we’ve had a handful of people (four to be exact) reach out to say they think the history of The Chicken Ranch is something that should stay buried – that is was a shameful part of our history never to be talked about again.

I think their opinion in totally valid. But I also disagree. I, in no way, think The Chicken Ranch (the brothel outside town that operated for more than a century and was made famous by television news reports, a ZZ Top song, broadway play, and popular movie) should, or is, being glamorized by this series.

It’s continued operation here was horrible – made all the worse by the way people here while it was open seemed to want to look the other way, rationalize it – or even work to keep it open for their own widespread financial gain.

For goodness sake, the editor of the now-defunct La Grange Journal newspaper was quoted in the Houston Chronicle as saying “The people are all for it. They say it has done no harm and a lot of good.”

That statement flew in the face of a radio program on KVLG in the summer of 1973 where a majority of the people – with the cover of anonymity– spoke out against The Chicken Ranch, sometimes in painful descriptions of the harm it had done to families. An organizer of that radio program said every church pastor in Fayette County was invited to speak during that radio program – and none accepted the invitation.

I’ve now heard multiple stories of La Grange High School girls of that era having corn thrown at their feet during out of town athletic events and marching band performances amidst calls of “Here, Chickie, Chickie.”

Some of the most shameful support of The Chicken Ranch came from those sworn to uphold the law – the elected officials here, including Sheriff Jim Flournoy, who helped keep it open and intimidated people who tried to speak out against it.

Someone described to me recently how Flournoy’s deputies walked around the square getting business owners to sign a petition to keep The Chicken Ranch open. As they handed over the pen to sign with one hand, they had the other hand noticeably holding onto the handgun on their holster.

The most famous incident of such intimidation came when Houston television reporter Marvin Zindler (whose stories helped pressure the state to order the closure of The Chicken Ranch) visited La Grange during his reporting.

Zindler was beaten up by Flournoy. The local reaction to the Sheriff doing that? People raised money for Flournoy’s legal defense. Afew weeks after Flournoy beat up the reporter he was named parade marshall of the Fayette County Fair.

There are those that say the madam of The Chicken Ranch, Edna Milton, was a good person, who donated money to the community and took good care of her girls.

But others have told me that the public promise of donations from The Chicken Ranch were not always followed up after the spotlight was gone.

We have in our office a four page copy of the ‘rules’ Miss Edna had for her girls.

Those rules don’t make her sound like a loving caretaker of the girls at The Chicken Ranch.

Rather she sounds like a stern task-master, who viewed those women like property – just like the men who paid to walk through the doors of The Chicken Ranch.

She had strict rules on how often the girls could see boyfriends (once a week), talk on the phone (one call per day, three minute maximum) what they could wear and where they could go (“boarders are not permitted to go into any beer place in town or any cafe in town. Listed below is a list of permissibles for boarders to go when in town ...”) No, The Chicken Ranch, and it’s aftermath are not something that should be forgotten.

I think the cultural things it spawned – in play and movie and song, can be appreciated without feeling guilty. The real people involved, however, were not as likeable as the Hollywood portrayal by Burt Reynolds and Dolly Parton.

More importantly The Chicken Ranch should be remembered as a cautionary tale of the corruptive nature of unchecked power – especially those in leadership positions.

It should be remembered for the impact investigative journalism can have.

It should be remembered for the dark shadow evil can still cast on a community, even 50 years later, when good people choose to look the other way.