Petitions delivered

March 1st, 2006 at 1:14 pm (General)

I have delivered the signed petitions to the Board of Regents. I enclosed the following note and asked that it be read to all the regents preceeding the Mar. 3 meeting. I typed all names and addresses into excel in order to sort them to check for any duplications. There were NONE. I will also take a copy of the signed petitions to the City Commissioners with a similar note, in order to impress upon them the necessity of standing strong for the city and its residents.

Petition to STOP the Condemnation/Eminent Domain Property Takeovers in Stillwater, Oklahoma, for the “Athletic Village”, Oklahoma State University.

This petition in no way purports to be a legal document. We are simply petitioning you, the Oklahoma Board of Regents of Oklahoma A&M Colleges, to “do the right thing”. It is your responsibility to oversee and approve or disapprove actions of the university. You are the decision makers. We look to you for leadership and guidance.

The petition was simply posted on the website: OkStateExpansion.com, February 4, 2006, only 24 days “lead time” before petitions needed to be returned. There are 872 signatures: 699 Stillwater residents. 172 residents of the state, in cities other than Stillwater and 1 Nevada. There are NO duplicate signatures.

Obtaining signatures for the petition was not an “organized” endeavor. No meetings were held regarding the petition, or people who went to public places to stand outside and obtain signatures. Businesses were not asked to place petitions at their establishment, since it was not desired to put anyone in a position in which their business might be affected in any way. Petitions placed in a business establishment were placed at the owner’s request. Petitions were also placed on the windshields of automobiles parked at the Library on February 21, 2006, during the OSU Town Hall meeting.

Anyone who wanted to print the petition and obtain signatures, at their own initiative, could do that. Some petitions were returned with only one or two signatures and a few people made a concentrated effort to obtain signatures.

Most people do not get involved in protesting an issue unless they feel they are directly affected. We understand that fact and are amazed that so many individuals, not living in the proposed acquisition area, chose to obtain signatures and/or sign the petition.

Individuals have stated various reasons for their opposition to the proposed “Athletic Village”. Some are concerned for the loss of revenue to the City of Stillwater, closing of streets and for property owner’s rights and lack of “fair compensation”. A few feel the “segregation of Athletes” is wrong. Many are upset about OSU’s seeming focus on athletics rather than academics. And many who have loved and supported OSU for years now feel “betrayed”, have a great distrust in the leadership of the university and feel their university has become a corporation. There is also concern regarding national adversity and unfavorable “attention” due to this situation. Kindredship and support for the university, has diminished. All feel that OSU should build the “village” on property it already owns.

As initiators of the petition effort, we feel the entire presentation and handling of the proposed master plan and acquisition has been a disaster. These signatures lament the unfortunate decision by OSU to be a “bully” rather than a “partner” in what could have been an awesome undertaking for the City of Stillwater and for the University.

2 Comments

  1. Lee Agnew said,

    March 1, 2006 at 2:48 pm

    Thanks to all the petition-gatherers, and thank you Ann for all your work on this issue. Not a bad total either: I remember some City official saying at the beginning of the campaign that “500 - 1000 signatures” would at least look impressive. It seems like we’re on the high side of that point spread. Not that there’s any guarantee our efforts will do any good — but hey there never is. Sometimes people have to take a stand, no matter the outcome. At least that’s how I see it. Stick together, and look out for each other.

  2. Lindsay said,

    March 3, 2006 at 9:30 am

    http://www.foxnews.com/hannityandcolmes/

    Check out the articles about eminent domain. Maybe it would help if the national media got ahold of our story…

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New tricks

February 22nd, 2006 at 10:25 am (General)

  • BEWARE of “New Tricks”. Many property owners have had calls from Curtis Roberts appraisers and been asked to appraise their property concerning the OSU project. I called the number given on my answering machine as 918-296-0700 and they asked when I would like to schedule an appraisal. I asked who had requested the appraisal and was told that it was Cinnabar. I KNEW IT WAS NOT ME!!!!

    So, if you are NOT a “willing seller”, do NOT fall into this “trap”!
    And in answer to the question, “Do I have to sign a non-disclosure or an agreement not to sue OSU?” “NO”, it is NOT mandatory that you sign ANYTHING similar to that.
     

    • Post a Comment

    Habitat

    February 22nd, 2006 at 10:18 am (General)

    I had asked Gary last time I talked to him, about the possiblity of OSU or property owners donating to Habitat, any applicances, building materials, etc. not taken by property owners. He didn’t think Habitat was interested, but was going to get in touch with them to check. Gary said today that he still needed to talk to Habitat again, but that they may be interested. Property owners might talk with Habitat regarding a donation and have a tax deductible donation, if Habitat is interested. Might keep that in mind. I’ll try to let you know anything further. Gary is going to report back to me when he talks with them again. As of May 3, I still have not heard back from Gary regarding Habitat. June 1: Gary has not called me regarding Habitat, however, I have been told that when OSU demolishes a unit that Habitat will come and get any materials they can use.

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    Song/Poem by Lee Agnew

    January 31st, 2006 at 11:08 am (General, Life Changes, Stillwater Concern)

    Good Old Town (for Stillwater, OK)

    A Poem by Lee Agnew (Ted & Jeanne’s son)

    Listen, have you heard the news
    Oklahoma’s got the blues
    Up there in Stillwater town
    Funny things are going down

    A University needs land
    To build up their new Master Plan
    Don’t care what the neighbors say
    Four hundred homes are in the way

    They got money if you play nice
    Tell you it’s fair market price
    If you argue or complain
    They got Eminent Domain.

    Good old town a long time gone.
    Good old town a long time gone.
    Good old town a long time gone.
    Left me here to sing this song

    Ted and LeRoy they were friends
    At Oklahoma A&M
    After the War they both came down
    To teach in a land grant college town

    Jeanne taught at the college too
    She and Martha had lots to do
    Their children walked to school together
    In the Oklahoma weather

    Good old town a long time gone
    Good old town a long time gone
    Good old town a long time gone
    Left me here to sing this song

    Now fast-forward fifty years
    In the paper it appears
    T. Boone Pickens gave some dough
    And OSU has got to grow

    An Athletic Village is
    The way to be competitive
    Training rooms and tennis courts
    A practice field that’s all indoors

    President says yes it’s true
    They want Ted’s house and LeRoy’s too
    Now I like to watch a game of ball
    But this don’t make no sense at all

    Good old town a long time gone
    Good old town a long time gone
    Good old town a long time gone
    Left me here to sing this song

    Long ago the Okies sang
    Of Pretty Boy Floyd and the Dalton Gang
    I think we’ve all learned since then
    There’s lots of kinds of highwaymen

    They say we can’t stop their game
    So take the money and don’t complain
    But Woody Guthrie called it then:
    Robbery with a fountain pen

    I can’t tell you what to do
    But to yourself you must be true
    Me, I gotta take this fight
    Cause there’s some stuff that just ain’t right

    All you people on Bellis Street
    Now sing this song and sing it sweet
    And all you folks down Washington,
    Jump in with me and sing along

    Good old town a long time gone
    Good old town a long time gone
    Good old town a long time gone
    Left me here to sing this song

    (Repeat chorus)

    (This piece was inspired by the life and work of Woody Guthrie. It is not intended to infringe on any copyrighted material)

    Listen to “Good Old Town” here.

    If you have a slow Internet connection and are experiencing problms with the streaming version above you can download the entire file to your computer before playing. Download “Good Old Town. Note: This is a large file and may take 30 minutes or more to download with a dial-up connection.

    10 Comments

    1. Linda said,

      April 3, 2007 at 10:47 am

      This is to Lee and his siblings. My dad had your father as a professor. My sister and I both majored in mathematics and had your mom for Number Theory (late ’70’s and early 80’s). I stayed in touch with your mom for awhile and even got to go to an OSU football game once with your parents. I didn’t know that their house was part of OSU’s plans. I heard yesterday, from my dad, that he had heard that your dad became ill in Arizona. I just wanted to let you know that our hearts and prayers are with you.

    2. Sue Agnew said,

      April 10, 2007 at 11:36 pm

      Thank you, Linda, for sharing your story. That’s how teachers attain immortality, through those whom they’ve influenced, who carry on the good work.

      Daddy is in HealthSouth, a rehab hospital. He is becoming stronger each day, toward the goal of eventually returning to Stillwater. Rehab seems to be two steps forward/one step back, so it’s discouraging, but when we think that two weeks ago he was on a ventilator in the CCU, it’s amazing. He’s a tough 90-year-old, and he’s “fighting” with grace and dignity.

      The address of HealthSouth is 2650 N. Wyatt Dr., Tucson, AZ 85712 (his name is Ted). Cards are appreciated! And hearts and prayers are really helping — all of us!

    3. Lee Agnew said,

      April 17, 2007 at 6:14 pm

      As some of you already know, our father Dr. Theodore L. Agnew, Jr., passed away Sunday, April 15 in Tucson AZ.

      Funeral services will be held Saturday, April 21, 11:00am at First United Methodist Church in Stillwater. A complete obituary will be published in the Stillwater News-Press.

      Memorials may be directed to the Oklahoma United Methodist Foundation (Agnew Family Endowment Fund), 4201 Classen Blvd, Oklahoma City 73118, or to the First United Methodist Church, 400 West 7th Avenue, Stillwater 74074.

      Condolences may be e-mailed to the family and an online obituary may be viewed by visiting http://www.strodefh.com.

    4. Lloyd L. Wallisch II said,

      April 18, 2007 at 6:21 am

      “Back in the day”, Lee and I were tight friends politics and otherwise, then drifted apart.

      I’ve been gone from S-water a quarter century now, but the entire Agnew family … I’ve always thought the highest of all of you.

      So a terrible shock to open the Tulsa World this AM and see the death notice for Ted, esteemed historian and prince among us.

      Sorry, I don’t know if Jeanne is still with us, but, if so, my profound regrets and sorrow, and same to the entire Agnew clan.

      Time to go John Dunne: ‘Every death like this, diminishes all of us, but each of us is better, that one such as Ted sojourned so long among us.”

    5. Lee Agnew said,

      April 18, 2007 at 10:00 pm

      Thanks for the kind words, Lloyd, and it’s good to hear from you again!

      (Ah, those long conversations in the Wesley Foundation basement — we sure had the world figured out back then, didn’t we?)

      Mom passed away back in May of 2000, after a struggle with Alzheimer’s. Both she and Dad set a high standard for the rest of us, and they are both sorely missed.

      I will certainly pass your condolences on to my brothers and sisters. Thanks again.

    6. Dee Ann Sanders said,

      April 20, 2007 at 11:40 am

      Hi, Lee,

      I got to know your father well the past few years, since I returned to OSU as an engineering professor. I found your name in a family biography that Will Paine had prepared, and had a sudden flash of fond memories: you and I were in the OSU band the one year I was here as a student–working on my MS during the 1971-1972 school year. Band, especially the wonderful and wily French horn, helped me keep my sanity that year. And conversations with your dad; newspaper articles and letters to the editor by you, your dad and sister, and just being with your wonderful father, helped me keep my sanity at OSU the past few years. I shall miss him terribly, and I feel for your loss. Even 90 years isn’t enough for a man of your father’s stature.

      Take care.

      Dee Ann

    7. Lee Agnew said,

      April 29, 2007 at 10:04 pm

      Hi, Dee Ann,

      It’s good to hear from a fellow French hornist. Those were indeed some great times. And thank you so much for your kind words about Dad. He was an inspiration and example for all of us.

      Best to you and yours,

      Lee

    8. Lee Agnew said,

      November 17, 2007 at 11:40 pm

      Update from the Agnew family:

      Since our father Ted Agnew’s death this past April, my siblings and I have been hard at work dealing with all the physical, legal, and emotional matters involved with settling our parents’ estate. Those of you who have been down this road know what I’m talking about.

      We have reached some significant milestones: The house in Washington Heights is on the market, and the dates are set for the estate sale. (December 7-8-9. For information contact JLK Antiques, 377-1805.) Dad’s papers and documents related to his work with the United Methodist Church have been donated to Oklahoma City University. His papers related to his OSU career have gone to the Special Collections of the OSU Library. Mom’s papers have gone to the Archives of American Mathematics in Austin TX. It is immensely gratifying to us that so many others are interested in our parents’ lives and their work.

      The house at 701 N. Bellis Street that Dad donated to the Oklahoma United Methodist Foundation lives on through the endowment fund established by the proceeds from the house’s sale to OSU. The first year’s earnings from that endowment have gone back to our parents’ communities via the First United Methodist Church in Stillwater, and our mother’s home congregation, Trinity United Church in Thunder Bay, Ontario.

      On November 2, 2007, at the annual Friends of the OSU Library Banquet, Ted and Jeanne Agnew were honored posthumously with the Edna Mae Phelps Award for their years of support of the Library and the University. Accepting on my parents’ behalf, I quoted some of my father’s words from his valedictorian’s speech before the graduating class of 1933, Ogden (IL) Community High School. (The handwritten draft of that speech was among the boxes of papers we had been sorting through the week before.):

      “Have we learned … that courtesy ranks with courage? Do we know how to be good losers? Do we know the power of kindness, the joy of work? Do we appreciate the influence of example, the worth of character?”

      Dad wrote that speech when he was 16 years old, but he lived the values expressed in it throughout his 90 years. As the year of his death draws to a close, we are grateful, not only to the example that he and Mom set for us, but for all our Stillwater and OSU friends who have shared our grief with us.

      We would like to wish everyone who reads this a Blessed and Joyous Holiday Season, and a New Year filled with new and happy memories.

      Sincerely,

      Lee Agnew

    9. Tamara Colbert Maschino said,

      December 5, 2007 at 12:25 pm

      Lee, our thoughts are with you and your family, it is so hard to finalize a family members estate, the jewels of wisdom you found from your father are priceless.

    10. Kim Cox said,

      January 3, 2008 at 2:35 pm

      Lee & Susan:

      You probably do not remember me but I will always remember you two. You befriended a frshman bassoonist who had never been to a large university and made him feel like he was pasrt of the band. I will never forget that. I am sorry to hear about Dr. Agnew. Although I never had him for a professor, I always heard a lot of good about him.

      Actualy, I was googling for Lloyd Wallisch and happen to come across your name, Lee. Nice poem.

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    Selling to OSU?

    December 20th, 2005 at 10:11 pm (General)

    I understand that now since appraisals have been done on some properties, offers should start being made today or tomorrow.

    I would suggest that, before you complete your transaction with OSU, you read the letter of information sent to this website by Doug Emde. Doug is an appraiser in Stillwater and does own property in the acquistion area. His information may be helpful to you. You can find his posting under the topic “We Are Still Fighting”.

    I question signing a “disclosure statement” (gag order) unless ordered to do so by a judge. Most sales of real estate are a matter of public record, disclosing the price of sale.

    However, OSU does not have to disclose that information publically. My question is why do they care? If it is a fair transaction why do they care if you tell others?

    In real estate transactions, comparable values or “comps” in the area are weighted heavily (especially, when it comes to determing a competitive price).

    OSU would like for you to believe that the reason they don’t want you to tell others about your experience in the transaction, or the price, is because they have given you “special” treatment. This, likely, is not the case….as per Craig Buchanon’s and others experience.

    Keep in mind that most of the above is simply MY Opinion, take it for what it’s worth…its free:-)

    4 Comments

    1. blaine said,

      December 22, 2005 at 11:09 am

      bring it up with the supreme court is what i say!

    2. Colleen & Elvis said,

      December 24, 2005 at 3:18 pm

      OSU should pay for all expenses for the purchase of our property as well as any expenses in aquiring another property. This would include all moving expenses, appraisals, closing costs and any increase in mortgage interest as a result of this land grab. Homeowners should not be out a dime for any of this. Remember, if it’s not in writing, it doesn’t exist. (Even then they might use dissappearing ink). All contact with OSU or their representatives should be well documented or recorded and, witnessed.

    3. Amy said,

      January 10, 2006 at 3:26 pm

      I have 2 degrees from OSU, Psych (’89) and Counseling (’93) and have been a longtime supporter of both the athletic programs and academics. However, I have to say I am appalled at what is happening to my dear alma mater. I live in Texas now, and have for the past 9 years. I have also worked in higher education student affairs and can say they are lying through their teeth if they say that academics will benefit from good athletics. I thought that Schmidly was supposed to bring the quality of academics up, not the athletic programs. I am also familiar with Schmidly, as I worked at a former employer of his (before Tech). I was appalled that OSU actually hired him as well. Here’s a study about the inverse relationship of athletic dept. budgets and academic performance http://teep.tamu.edu/reports/report008.pdf. This just all makes me sick. I was sick that they changed the name of the football stadium to Boone Pickens Stadium - why couldn’t they have kept Lewis Field and added Boone Pickens Stadium? I am so sad that OSU is becoming Boone University. I wish I could do more. If I do give money to the school, it will be to my academic departments directly, and not to the alumni association. Please keep up the fight!!

    4. Amy said,

      January 10, 2006 at 3:52 pm

      Here’s an article about how big $$ athletic programs tend to have a rather small return in alumni donations/support. Just fyi. Please keep up your good work!! I am an alum, living in Texas, who is just crying over this!! http://www.webs.uidaho.edu/facultycouncil/2004-2005%20Council/Athletics/KCIA_Frank_report_2004.pdf

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