Tulsa restaurant now serving 'Freedom Fries'

Wednesday, March 5th 2003, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

A recent Gallop poll shows one in three of us here in America have a negative opinion of France and the French. News on 6 reporter Rick Wells shows us some of that negativity is showing up on the plate next to our hamburger.

The Russians, the Germans but particularly the French continue to threaten to block UN approval of a resolution to OK war in Iraq. Every now and then you'll hear someone say something negative. Some restaurants like one in North Carolina stopped selling French wine.

At Ranch Acres they say a couple of customers have asked if they are going to discontinue French or German wine and of course the answer is no. Down in Mississippi a liquor storeowner is just giving away his French wine. Nobody's doing that here. Theyâ€™re not that crazy.

But at Brownie's Hamburgers they've stopped serving French fries. Gary Hahn: "It's Freedom Fries you threw me off when you said French." Customers seem to be playing along. â€œI love the Freedom fries idea.â€ "I prefer calling them Freedom fries." Gary Hahn:â€ They notice the change and they think it's good." One man is eating Freedom fries but says he prefers cottage cheese even to French fries. What other lifestyle changes are folks prepared to make. "My husband speaks French, and he's gonna stop doing it, I'm serious or else. No more French kissing."

Ooohhh. After all the French did rescue us in the revolution, we paid them back. They gave us the Statue of Liberty. "We'd like to keep our relationship with them, they need to be nice."