Mary Lynn Chess, the "Okie girl" of the newly famous Okie Girl restaurant in California, said it was an honor that ranked right under getting an American Legion citizenship award in eighth grade.

She drove to her mailbox recently and found a proclamation naming her an honorary citizen of Oklahoma City's Ward 3. "I cried. I couldn't even read it," Chess said Thursday. "I brought it right back and took it in the kitchen and let everybody read it. I couldn't even read it to them. " Ward 3 Councilman Jack Cornett doesn't often get that reaction from people who actually live in southwest Oklahoma City.

"I darn near felt like crying myself," Cornett said. "To me, she's just common folks, and it was just kind of a fun thing. I like to help people who need help. " Cornett sent Chess the proclamation about two months ago. It was a token of support in her fight against the California Department of Transportation, which had claimed the name "Okie Girl" was offensive to former and present Oklahomans.

The department had refused to post the restaurant's name, or its trademark, a picture of an "Okie Girl" clad in shorts and a halter top, on a highway exit sign.