“Don’t Mess with Texas”

This is just a little legend, but for a big state. Perhaps it reveals the Lone Star State’s gift for spawning unbelievable, up-to-the-minute stories.

The story was quoted in the November 1987 issue of Texas Monthly magazine. To understand this one, which was published under the headline “Leave Us a Loan,” you have to know that the State Highway Department of Texas has issued more than 1 million antilitter bumper stickers printed with the motto “Don’t Mess with Texas.” As many as 100,000 of them were distributed out-of-state.

In the story, a Texas businessman is canvassing Wall Street investment firms, seeking backers for a major business venture. He visits all the big companies, but every one turns him down. When at one prominent firm, the Texan asks why, the banker who has turned him down shows him where the problem lies. He takes the Texan on a tour of several executive offices in his company, all of which have the “Don’t Mess with Texas” sticker prominently displayed. Apparently, in the wake of the lower oil prices that have damaged the Texas economy, the bumper sticker took on a new meaning.

In trying to verify the story, Texas Monthly commented that it had “tracked the tale back to a Houston-based executive of a national mortgage company, but he didn’t remember where he’d heard it.” The magazine also failed to find any proof among the specific New York companies named in the story. The publication’s conclusion: “Perhaps it’s just the latest urban legend.”

I certainly won’t mess with that Texas opinion. It sure sounds true to me.