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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Email received from web visitor

January 28th, 2006 at 4:41 pm (Owner Concern)

We are hearing back on some of the appraisals that have been done and it seems as if OSU is getting even tighter with proper funding of these properties. One property appraisal is approximately 45% below current Payne County Tax Assessments and over 55% below what the homeowner could have sold the home for if in a natural market. It appears as if the appraisers are using the old tax assessments and not considering what the homes real market value would have been. This is almost like stealing properties. This is unconscionable, OSU has the funds available, why are they treating homeowners in such a disrespectful manner. They are not acting as promised, and that needs to change. If they want the land so desperately then they need to do the proper thing and pay for it properly and keep the homeowner or property owner whole and intact.

These mainly senior citizens will be unable to purchase another property at the amount of cash funded without obtaining a mortgage. Or worse yet, they will be forced to move into an apartment and pay rent for the first time in years. We calculated in one instance that the funds received would be gone in less than seven years if the senior had to pay rent or mortgage. These are folks that have not had a mortgage in years, this was not in their budgetary plans for retirement. Why do they have to give up a comfortable, paid for home, to move into a lesser situation and then have to pay monthly for the privilege of losing their homes.

This situation must be addressed immediately, these people will be in dire situations and we cannot sit by and let it happen. OSU must be held accountable for their actions, we need an impartial advocate ,not connected to the university in any way, to look out for these people. This project is creating suffering in those who need the most help , and they need that help now.

I honestly do not know how these people can sleep at night knowing what they are doing to these good people who have worked hard all their lives for their homes and have paid taxes all those years. This is not the OSU I grew up, I don’t recognize this OSU. The loyalty that was cultivated so carefully throughout the years is being demolished so casually and without thought, along with these peoples homes.

4 Comments

  1. Doris Friedle Stokes said,

    February 13, 2006 at 12:14 am

    I would encourage you to take a look at this link:

    http://msnbc.msn.com/id/11280106/

    The article is concerning a 93 year old woman in Georgia. A hospital near her condemned her property so they could expand their Child Development Center used for their employees. A jury ruled that the hospital had to pay the owner 5 times the approximate $50,000 appraised value in addition to $51,000 for moving expenses.

    The article also states that 40 states are in the process of re-examining their laws with regard to eminent doman. Interesting reading.

  2. Tamara Colbert Maschino said,

    February 13, 2006 at 3:54 pm

    Hi Doris, how are you and your family doing ? It is nice to touch base but wish it was under more pleasant circumstances. It is time to re-examine this issue and how this is affecting homeowners everywhere. It is an unfair situation that is never really cured even after buyouts, especially with long term homeowners.

  3. Doris Friedle Stokes said,

    February 16, 2006 at 11:05 pm

    Just a lot of upheaval. It’s quite a task to sort through 50 years of memories. I just don’t believe this is happening in America. Sad, sad situation when the university who relies on the citizens of Stillwater to support it, are now trying to take advantage of them. My parents and my sisters and I worked for the university. I am constantly getting solicitations from the Alumni association for money. I can tell you right now, they aren’t getting any of my money if this is how it is going to be spent.

  4. Tamara Colbert Maschino said,

    February 17, 2006 at 9:25 pm

    Hi Doris,
    It is heartbeaking and I cant believe it is happening here either. I dont think I will ever get over how it is impacting our family and yours and everybody who lives in this area or owns property here. It is like a nightmare you dont wake up from. Mom said your parents were here as long as she has been, that is incredible because you do not see long time neighborhoods in other towns like this. The strain on our folks is the worse part of it all, they dont deserve this at this time in their lives.

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Scheduled meetings with OSU

January 28th, 2006 at 3:54 pm (Calendar)

These are all public meetings and you may want to attend.

Feb. 2: Faculty Council Forum, Click Hall, Alumni Center 4:00-5:30pm

Feb. 6: Stw. Residents’ Forum, Stillwater Public Library 4:00-5:30pm
also: Student Forum, Click Hall, Alumni Center 7:00-8:30

Feb. 9: City and County Leaders Forum, Stw. Public Lib. 5:00-6:30pm

Feb. 13: Staff Forum, Click Hall, Alumni Center 4:00-5:30pm

Feb. 21: Town Hall Meeting, Stillwater Public Libray 5:00-6:30pm

4 Comments

  1. Marion Agnew said,

    January 29, 2006 at 1:20 pm

    If someone could go to these meetings and get just ONE point across, I would suggest this:

    To improve OSU’s chances of long-term success, move the athletics village. Move the athletics village, and the Master Plan represents exactly what OSU has been saying it is — an unprecedented growth opportunity. It will still require visionary leadership, work on many high-priority projects concurrently, and constant attention to the core needs of the students. It’s still a marathon challenge, but OSU could rise to it. HOWEVER, leave the athletics village where it is, and OSU shoots itself in the foot on the starting line.

    It’s that simple.

    I wish I could be there to be more active in person.

  2. Joanne Hamilton said,

    January 29, 2006 at 1:48 pm

    Hi, Marion–
    I want to say how proud of you I am. This project is damaging to citizens of Stillwater, and is seriously damaging the reputation of OSU everywhere. Let’s hope the University soon realizes this and changes direction.
    Meg’s mom

  3. Marion Agnew said,

    January 30, 2006 at 6:37 pm

    Hi, Meg’s Mom! Thank you for your kindness. I’m sure your support, and that of other residents, is appreciated during this challenging time.

    Everyone wants OSU to succeed, both athletically and academically — but OSU’s best chance of success depends on its ethical and responsible behavior now. Moving the athletics village is a chance for OSU to show some creative leadership. Moving the village sets up a win-win-win-win-win situation:
    * Homeowners can keep their property
    * The OSU administration can keep its friends
    * OSU alumni can keep holding their heads up proudly
    * Businesses can keep developing new real estate and new ventures
    * The OSU Family can keep teaching and learning, performing research, and reaching out to Oklahoma’s citizens

    The more that the people of Stillwater can point out this fact to OSU, the more likely it is that someone in the administration or on the Board of Regents will actually hear it.

  4. Brian Kahn said,

    February 3, 2006 at 7:24 am

    I presented these comments during the Feb. 2 Faculty Forum at OSU.
    - Brian Kahn, Professor of Horticulture (OSU faculty member since 1982)

    I believe the trouble with the campus Master Plan began when it turned into a “campus and surrounding city” Master Plan. OSU was to get new physical facilities as a result of the recent bond issue, and it was logical to discuss where they should be sited. When I attended an on-campus charrette in 2005, that was the scope of the plan. Issues such as employee parking were discussed, but there was absolutely no mention of an athletic village requiring acquisition of 100 acres of private land.

    What has now been presented to us amounts to city planning without the consent of the city’s citizens. The scope of the current Master Plan extends beyond the OSU campus and its contiguous areas - even beyond the northern area being targeted for the athletic village. For example, what does a waterway in the middle of Washington Street have to do with campus planning? If these changes were being proposed by the city, citizens would have meaningful input, up to and including the remedy of an initiative petition and a vote of the people. When these changes are proposed by OSU, we are threatened with their enforcement under eminent domain. There were votes on the MAPS project and on Vision 2025; indeed, an earlier proposal called “It’s Tulsa’s Time” was defeated at the polls. One man did not tell those people, “It’s all going to happen and it’s going to happen pretty darn quick” whether they liked it or not. You should not be surprised when the citizens of Stillwater ask just how broad an influence OSU is trying to exert, or where it will end.

    There is a fundamental question that must be examined : Does OSU really need to consider physically expanding the Stillwater campus in the next 20 years in order to fulfill its academic mission? Demographics would suggest that it does not. The university is so desperate for new students and their tuition dollars that it has opened a recruiting office in Dallas, Texas. President Schmidly also seems to have forgotten his “one university, multiple campuses” philosophy. OSU-Tulsa has set a goal of 20,000 students by 2020. So, another location in the OSU system is planning to accommodate about 15,000 additional students in the next 15 years.

    Finally, there is the moral dimension. Quite simply, eviction in the name of athletics is immoral. No amount of administrative spin can alter this fact. By displacing private citizens for an ultimately trivial athletic village, OSU is not achieving greatness, it is only gaining notoriety.

    No, any reason that might remotely justify the legitimate use of eminent domain by OSU for expansion of the Stillwater campus is lacking. We as citizens are not willing to sacrifice local control of private property, public thoroughfares, and urban development to remedy an alleged lack of athletic competitiveness by our land-grant university. We, who are people of conscience, will not remain silent in the face of social and political injustice. The Master Plan must be rejected in its present form, and the mad rush to implementation must cease. Professor Radford may have the right idea - divide the question. Rethink the concept and location of the athletic village, and shift the focus of the Master Plan back where it belongs - to the campus itself, and to the pursuit and enhancement of academic excellence.

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Board of Regents Mtg. 1/27/06

January 27th, 2006 at 10:30 am (Calendar, Meetings Summaries)

The URL below summarizes the meeting. I will also add that, being the 5th anniversary of the OSU Basketball “family” plane crash, Dr. Schmidly presented a memorial to our “10 Not Fogotten”. It was very nice and appreciated. (There was also a dedication of the memorial at University, as well as at the crash site in Colorado.

I did ask which dairy building was being razed. It is the dairy building on Monroe across from the Ag building (for us “oldies”, where they used to sell ice cream, cheese, etc.). When I asked the location, the regents turned to Dr. Bosserman to answer the question, but I requested the answer from the Regents. Mr. Helm asked why I did that and I told him I wanted to know if they knew exactly what they were voting to approve. He stated that I did answer his question & I replied that I understood, as we all like to get “straight answers”. I give the regents credit. They DID know what they were approving.

I also give credit to Dr. Schmidly in keeping his word to wait until the Mar. meeting to present the master plan and surrounding issues. He withdrew the 2 items regarding the approval to accept gift for West end of stadium and approval to raze aquired real property and accept the gift of related facilities.

I read a part of the Foundations’ policy regarding acceptance of gifts, as a reminder to the regents.

To read the Stillwater NewsPress summary you can go to:
http://www.stwnewspress.com/story.php?id=6618&type=osunews

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As Others see us

January 27th, 2006 at 7:35 am (Letters)

Friends,

I got this passed to me by friends in the Pacific Northwest. It is from the paper in Eugene, Oregon, where the University of Oregon resides. Corvalis, where Oregon’s OSU is located is right down the road…. even closer than Norman and Stillwater. The Phil Knight mentioned in the story is the founding genius of Nike, headquartered in Portland. He is U of O’s major “benefactor.” It is interesting and kinda heartwarming to see how others find us here in Stillwater, America.
——————————————————————————–
Bob Welch: This OSU is a far cry from Oregon’s

By Bob Welch
Columnist, The Register-Guard
Published: Tuesday, January 24, 2006

STILLWATER, Okla. - Amid Oregon’s more liquefied version of Rossetti’s “bleak midwinter,” I escape for two days to speak at Oklahoma State University. And to be reminded that it’s not only not raining everywhere, it’s not Oregon everywhere.

In Oregon, we’re fearing rain-triggered floods. Oklahomans are fearing drought-triggered fires, the kind that swept across nearly a half-million acres of grasslands in late December and early January.

It’s Dust Bowl Lite. East-central Oklahoma is experiencing its driest winter since 1921. In the Stillwater area, it has rained 1.49 inches in the past 90 days.

“Goodness,” I told my audience, nurses from around the state, “it rained more than that while we were waiting for takeoff in Eugene.”

In Stillwater, people are watering their lawns in hopes their grass won’t die.

But what strikes you as different about this place isn’t only the rock-hard grass the color of Parmesan cheese and matted down like a bad comb-over. It’s all sorts of nuances that remind you you’re not in Kan - er, Oregon anymore.

It’s brick - an entire campus virtually made of brick, the hard edges often softened by modified Georgian architecture that give it an almost Southern feel. (And, at 692 acres, more than twice the size of UO’s campus.)

It’s the giant freeway billboards touting this church and that. It’s a morning paper headlined by - well, of course - Oklahoma winning the Miss America pageant.

It’s fans at Saturday’s Oklahoma State-Colorado basketball game not booing the visitors when they came on the court. And coach Eddie Sutton appearing in “Charlie’s Chicken” TV commercials.

It’s 91 out of the 100 people I counted putting a hand over their hearts for the singing of “The Star-Spangled Banner.” And, following that, most everyone putting their arms around each other and singing OSU’s school song, swaying back and forth to create what looks like wind tickling a field of bright orange wheat.

It’s not sitting until the Cowboys make their first basket. It’s 7 a.m.-to-7 p.m. bank teller hours. And something I’m ashamed we don’t have here: “Duck Street.”

People might think of Stillwater as a sort of supersized Monmouth; and, yes, it’s flat and in the middle of nowhere. But the university pumps life into the city of 60,000-plus people - nearly one out of three residents are students and, judging from the turnout at Eskimo Joe’s on Saturday night, they’re not all studying for Future Farmers of America midterms.

Eugene has nothing to rival Joe’s, the nation’s third-ranked college postgame hangout, according to The Sporting News. One of its summer street parties is said to have drawn 65,000 - and I’ll personally vouch for the cheese fries.

In another departure from my Oregon norm, I stayed in a student-run hotel - The Atherton. It’s attached to the OSU Student Union and operated largely by undergrads in the School of Hotel and Restaurant Administration program, who are astute enough to offer Oregon wines.

Of course, I found plenty of similarities between here and there: OSU has its own “Westmoreland” on its hands; more than 300 houses, apartments and duplexes will be bulldozed for a new “sports village.”

It has its own Phil Knight: T. Boone Pickens, the gas and oil tycoon - and Time magazine coverboy - who recently dumped an NCAA-record $165 million into OSU’s athletic program. (Yep, that would be Pickens Stadium getting new skyboxes, some of which will allow deep-pocketed patrons to watch football from one side of their suites and basketball from the other.)

And it has friendly people, including a woman who gave me a $30 ticket outside Gallagher-Iba Arena on Saturday. I offered to pay. She wouldn’t have it.

So I’m going to send her a nice thank-you present this week: a bottle of Oregon rain.

It’s not like we’ll miss it.

1 Comment

  1. Vera Long said,

    February 11, 2006 at 12:34 am

    After Oklahoma being called a waste land on national TV last night, reading this letter was very inspiring. Despite the big controversy, the people of Stillwater are good people, believe in doing what is right. Only a group of Johnny-Come-Latelys who puts the dollar sign above people’s rights and have blackened the image so proudly displayed by our citizens for a century.
    Keep up the good work with your excellent writing. Vera Long.

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OU puts OSU to shame

January 26th, 2006 at 5:55 pm (Letters)

*note: see article link on this site under news/articles, “OU aims to increase endowment to o$1 billion.”

I read the article in the Tulsa World regarding Dr. Boren’s meeting with the OU board of regents. Dr. Boren told them he wanted an increase in OU endowment to $1 billion within 3 yrs. It became obvious that OU was, without saying it, showing a significant difference between OSU and OU in their leadership, area of emphasis and even their donors.

The article pointed out, without actually stating it, the difference in the arena of priorities between OU and OSU (academics rather than athletics…and yes, we’re all aware of their excellence in athletics as well).

It was stated that only 14 public universities in the nation have such a large endowment. Dr. Boren wants OU to raise money for 20 more endowed faculty positions by the end of 2006, and a $50 million student scholarship campaign. Since ‘94, endowed faculty positions has risen to 403 from 101. Seven more to be announced in the coming days. This, Boren said, indicates the faculty’s excellence and helps OU attract and retain top scholars from around the world.

The Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education matches private money donated for endowed faculty positions and the Oklahoma Supreme Court has approved a bond issue that pays the backlog of some of the matching money.

When some tried and true OSU alums are singing, “proud and IMMORAL”, rather than “proud and Immortal” and saying OSU stands for “Our Shamed University”, it is a sad day. Leadership! Where are you?

As Trude Naff pointed out a couple months ago, the OSU Foundation’s “Gift Acceptance Policy” states, among other things:

Gifts that may expose the Foundation or University to adverse publicity, require expenditures beyond their resources, or involve them in unexpected responsibilities because of their source, conditions or purposes will be referred to the President and CEO of the OSU Foundation. This individual may withhold approval of acceptance, pending a review. Where is our leadership?

Apparently there is a large telephone campaign to raise funding for our continued debt on the stadium. Could $165 million be used to ease this situation? Could our leadership direct reasonable options for contributions? Even the last $3 million donated as academic, is to go to helping the athletes graduate. Where is our leadership?

I know, “Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth”, be grateful for the gift, etc., but I have always thought of a “gift” as something given with no strings attached. I think of a “gift” with strings attached more akin to a “bribe.” Where is our leadership?

3 Comments

  1. Chris said,

    February 3, 2006 at 12:41 pm

    YOU THINK OUR OSU LEADERS DON’T HAVE PLANS TO INCREASE OUR FOUNDATION ENDOWMENTS for ACADEMICS?! You’ve got to be kidding me. It’s all part of the same plan. I guarantee you the plans are for the University to increase the financial endowments of academics to proportions matching or even beating OU’s and many other public universities around the nation. Our leaders just do a horrible job of communicating their goals and really need to invest in a new public relations director.

  2. Marion Agnew said,

    February 3, 2006 at 4:44 pm

    OSU’s leaders certainly do a fine job of PR when it comes to communicating athletics goals. If their PR is lacking for academic goals, what does that tell you about the relative priority of athletics and academics?

    And anyway, it’s inaccurate to blame this situation on faulty PR. Dressing up a bad idea in pretty clothing doesn’t make it a good idea. No athletics village is worth displacing property owners and seriously damaging OSU’s relationships with the very people OSU will be tapping for that increased academic endowment.

    OSU’s actions are speaking louder than any words can. OSU is abusing power to pursue a project that has a questionable possibility of success. If the OSU administration were sincerely committed to its academic future, its actions would be different.

    There’s no PR spin for that.

  3. Trude Coonrad Naff said,

    February 3, 2006 at 6:19 pm

    Chris–

    Your source of information is?????????????????????????? And the PLAN to increase financial endowments of academics to “proportions matching or even beating OU’s…” would be WHAT?????????????????????????

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ML Chapal said

January 26th, 2006 at 10:32 am (Eminent Domain)

January 22 Sunday’s Oklahoman page 4 What’s the Legislature planning? SBl066 by Sen. Earl Garrison, D. Muskogee, would prohibit state and local governments from taking people’s private property for private use. The measure indicates a public entity would not have the power to acquire property by eminent domain for a purpose that is soley economic development.

I cannot get a link to the website from the Oklahoman because I am not a subscriber. Sorry.

2 Comments

  1. Lee Agnew said,

    January 26, 2006 at 11:34 am

    The text of the bill is available on line at:

    http://webserver1.lsb.state.ok.us/2005-06SB/SB1066_int.rtf

  2. Leonard G. Herron III said,

    January 27, 2006 at 10:22 am

    SB1066 deals largely with changes to O.S. Title 11 which is Municipalities (Cities and Towns) it may or may not apply to OSU and schools. A search of the Oklahoma Legislative Service Bureau’s web site for text of measures yields about 39 measures. To view the text of these go to http://www.lsb.state.ok.us then go down to the center column, LEGISLATIVE INFORMATION SYSTEM, then down to Search Text of Measures and click on it, then type in eminent domain and do a search. You can then click on the individual measures and open, read or print. There is a lot more in the Senate than in the House.

    Leonard G. Herron III

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Off campus student meeting

January 23rd, 2006 at 6:00 pm (Calendar)

Off campus housing students meet Monday, Jan. 23 @ 6pm in the Student Union, fourth floor in the Case Study 2 room.

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OSU’S MASTER PLAN: STRATEGIC ISSUES

January 23rd, 2006 at 12:29 pm (Newspapers/Media/Regents)

The Oklahoma State University System is a multimillion-dollar organization. Recently, it received a gift of $165 million, cash, earmarked for athletics facilities. The OSU Administration is still seeking approval from the Board of Regents for a Master Plan that shows those athletics facilities located in the middle of Stillwater.

Wise use of this gift requires considering many strategic issues. An organization’s vision may start with wishes and dreams, but that vision must be translated into realistic, responsible action, and that action must be supported by facts. Some of the questions to consider in OSU’s transition from dreams to actions fall into these six categories: location, eminent domain, ongoing support, leadership, public relations, and data.

Excerpt from “OSU’S MASTER PLAN: STRATEGIC ISSUES,” Marion Agnew. January 2006.

Download entire document as pdf.

8 Comments

  1. Marion Agnew said,

    January 23, 2006 at 4:07 pm

    In the document itself, I refer to the current athletics village location as “north of McElroy” when, of course, I meant to include everything north of Hall of Fame. I’m concerned about the entire site OSU is currently trying to buy, not just the part of nearer Will Rogers Elementary School (though I’m concerned about that, too).

    I’m sorry I wasn’t more accurate in this document.

  2. Tamara Colbert Maschino said,

    January 24, 2006 at 8:00 pm

    Tonight we received a “Cowboy Calling” phone call from the OSU Foundation seeking money, they are persistent, they also phoned last night but did not leave a message on the answering machine. Tonight I picked up the phone and informed them that I was not interested in their request since the foundation wanted to take my mother’s home. The foundation must have a campaign in progress for funds, I urge all alumni to not contribute a single cent to the Foundation.

  3. Dr. Ted Douglas said,

    January 26, 2006 at 9:07 am

    I’ve not seen on the master plan, but since Mike Holder became AD, the University has purchased the 160 acres at the southeast corner of 6th & Sangre to build a state of the art equestrian facility. Funny that they would want a prime piece of commercial property to run horses on, especially when they’ve already got the old swine farm where they could run the horses. This also frees up several hundred acres at McElroy and Western. Could they build some athletic facilities there? No, it would be a hardship on our athletes to have to ride the Big Orange Bus to a practice facility. Knowing Holder and Pickens, we will probably be seeing a development at 6th and Sangre because apparently OSU doesn’t have to abide by Flood Hazard restrictions like normal developers would have to.

    * Moderator’s note: Ted, the 160 acres at the SE corner of 6th and Sangre has NOT been
    purchased by OSU as yet. OSU is in the process of purchasing 1/2 interest in the property. The remaining 1/2 interest is owned by an individual who is NOT a willing seller at this point.

  4. Tamara Colbert Maschino said,

    January 30, 2006 at 1:25 pm

    Yesterday Channel 9 interviewed my mother Hazel Colbert , the topic was the fact that the 20 year plan for her area is being fast forwarded with the 165 million dollar gift from Pickens. The only inkling we had of this happening was a OSU press release from Jan 10 that I found online that had new timelines with project completions. This press release had a finish date on the tennis courts in front of Mom’s house of 2009. My mom had to learn of the time line changes from a reporter and that Press Release.

    This is a far reach from the vague 20 year promise that OSU insinuated at, the reporter told my mother that OSU said they have acquired land North of McElroy, (the empty field where the tennis courts will be on Ramsey) and that it would be 4 to 6 years. What I dont understand is the changing plan, and the fact that residents are not being notified of changes to timeline. We had to read about it in a obscure press release to find out about the new Tennis Court Timeline. Why doesnt OSU do the decent thing and notify residents?

    Instead, OSU is offering appraisals based on old County Assessments, ignoring true market values, intimidating the elderly, ignoring discussion on alternate locations, failing to pay homeowners and property owners properly to keep them in a position to buy new property to replace what they have. This does not sound like what was promised, that OSU would have their appraisers aim for the high end of market, that North of McElroy would be on a 20 year timeline, and the list goes on. Broken Promises, they are telling the public these things and then quietly ignoring the promises.

  5. Leonard G. Herron III said,

    January 30, 2006 at 4:34 pm

    Tarama, my mother Juanita Herron, 1110 N. Bellis got a call from the Great Cinnabar a few days or so ago. They have not seen the written offer yet but the phone amount was about 70% of the new Payne County fair market value. This is a real up and down deal for people in their late 80s.

    I believe that the Bonds owned the property across the street from your mother. Your bothers and the rest of the neighborhood kids played football with me there on many occasions. We have heard that OSU was going to cut down all the big trees west of Bellis for parking. Leonard G. Herron III

  6. Tamara Colbert Maschino said,

    January 30, 2006 at 7:15 pm

    That Payne County retail value needs to have at least 10 percent or more added for true value of what would sell. That means Cinnabar and OSU is offering even less, what is wrong with OSU. We knew of a elderly person that sold to OSU that had no idea of the change in market values and is now upset and feels they sold too soon. Why OSU is playing Cut Throat Real Estate and cheating people out of equity is beyond me. The $300 per year is also insulting, that figure needs to be adjusted, these homeowners are losing everything, they are giving up their cherished , paid for homes, making hard decisions, not being able to replace their homes without incurring a mortgage or having to pay rent for the first time in years. What is OSU bringing to the table? Nothing. Trying to pay way below market for homes and giving nothing but stress to these longtime homeowners. It is a disgrace.

    Yes, didnt we enjoy playing in that field and climbing those trees, what a shame they will tear them down, they are fine old trees. It was an idyllic place to grow up in. I remember watching you guys out there having so much fun , and not wanting to come in for supper.

  7. Lee Agnew said,

    January 31, 2006 at 8:22 am

    Tamara, I missed the original Channel 9 broadcast, but I found it on line at http://www.newsok.com/video/1747265/. (Folks may need to log in to view it.) I noticed that they talked about the Athletic Village while showing construction at the stadium… as if the Village were a done deal. I also noticed that Gary Shutt has shifty eyes.

  8. Tamara Colbert Maschino said,

    January 31, 2006 at 3:28 pm

    Thanks Lee,
    They didnt talk about the low compensation they are giving these vulnerable senior citizens, mom talked about that with the reporter but it didnt get covered, that was her main concern, that they are using the old Payne County Appraisals and not telling these seniors the values have increased and not really using data on what a house could sell for. She feels they are taking advantage of the elderly for a project that does not make any sense economically or morally.

    He seems shifty to me too, changing the time line from a Jan 10 OSU news wire release with a Timeline of 3years for the Tennis Courts in 2009 and what he said on this interview of 4 to 8 years. Well, which is it. Notice he never discusses alternatives for this area either north or south of McElroy.

    Thanks for posting it, I wanted to see it. Mom says the next morning they ran a longer story at 7 am with her discussing the timeline but it looks like it isnt on the web site.

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Before Selling to OSU

January 16th, 2006 at 5:15 pm (Important Notices)

Before you sell your property to OSU, you might want to go to the County Administration building at 6th and Duck and ask the County Assessor to print out information regarding the updated, 2006, assessed value of your property. You might also be wise to ask about the property around you.

Last summer an individual of the firm, hired by OSU to gather information, went to the County Assessor to get the appraisals for all properties in the proposed acquisition area. It is possible they are making offers according, not only according to the appraisals of Cinnabar, but also from the list provided them last summer giving 2002 valuations.

Properties are assessed in a 4 yr. cycle. This year is the year in the cycle for properties in the proposed acquisition area were scheduled to be revalued. Therefore, it makes sense that property values have increased in the last four years.

An official of OSU stated to me that the County Assessor was “playing games with the assessments” and assesssing the properties much higher than they should be.

However, in a letter to the editor, Stillwater Newspress published on 1/15/06, Cheri Hall, retired Payne County Assessor (12/31/04 and 26 years of serving in that office) said: “In order for the assessor to establish a market value, she must maintain a sales file and verify if the sales are arm’s length transactions between a WILLING seller and a WILLING buyer without duress. Only these sales can be used in establishing market value. To insure that every county in this state is in compliance with the law, the Ad Valorem Division performs several studies in each county every year, including their own sales study.

Cheri assured that valuations in the assessor’s office are based on market value. The assessor is required by law to appraise property at market value. using a recognized procedure for mass appraisal. That procedure is establised in the Rules and Regulations of the Ad Valorem Division of the Oklahoma Tax Commission according to the Oklahoma Statutes and based on the standards of the International Association of Assessing Officers.

Cheri also suggests that everyone in the affected area should ask for a copy of the complete OSU appraisal when OSU makes an offer, to look it over and talk to a local appraiser familiar with the Stillwater market.

A friend of mine who has been a real estate agent in the City of Stillwater for many years, told me that when a house is placed on the market, it is rarely listed at the assessed value. Instead, she said, it is nearly always listed at least 10% higher than the assessed value.

I’m only passing on information that may be of help to you, things I have learned since Nov. 5, 2005. I do not claim to be an expert!

2 Comments

  1. Dr. Ted Douglas said,

    January 18, 2006 at 9:39 pm

    Was down at the assessor’s office today and yes the 06 valuations are up significantly, yet on several of the properties I looked, the assessor was still under true market value. I understand someone from OSU, not sure who, met with Jackie and accused her of just raising the evaluations because of OSU’s announcement. He provided her with comp sales he felt were appropriate. She gave him stacks of sales that the assessor used. One of OSU’s comps was the sale of a property from one man to his brother in law, not an arm’s length transaction at all. I did see one appraisal where the appraiser from Tulsa used a house on Ramsey as a comp sale. His opinion was that the house on Ramsey sold for $65000, he drove by and it’s a nice house. What he didn’t take into account was that since it was purchased for 65K, the owner has spent $15000 on exterior siding and paint, not to mention the complete remodel on the interior. Contact a local appraiser before you sell!

  2. Tamara Colbert Maschino said,

    January 19, 2006 at 12:40 pm

    I am disgusted that OSU would question the Assessor comps, they have struck a new low. My mom’s house is in immaculate condition, has around 2000 sq feet and has had tons of upgrades including $25000 spent in the past couple of years on a new roof, carpet, etc. Is it any wonder people are concerned about having an OSU appraisal after hearing about these war stories on what they have done?

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