Military News - Military Times

Vet says he faces eviction from colony

TULSA, Okla. — A Vietnam veteran says he’s still facing eviction from a tiny veterans’ colony in southeastern Oklahoma after a meeting Wednesday with Rep. Dan Boren, a Democrat, intended to mediate a long-running dispute there.

The veteran also threatened to make a last stand on his property.

“I’m right back to where I was yesterday,” said Paul Skaggs, who has until Monday to leave the United Spanish War Veterans Colony in the rural town of Wilburton, about 125 miles south of Tulsa. “There was nothing they could actually do to help me.”

Skaggs is among nearly two dozen residents of the colony who have accused its leaders of mismanagement. He says he’s paying the price for questioning the improprieties.

But colony leaders say Skaggs must go because he falsified his military discharge paperwork — which he denies — and say the other vets have not formally brought their accusations of mismanagement to the board.

Boren had the closed-door meeting in McAlester to give both sides the chance to vent. Local lawmakers, some of the colony’s governing board and Skaggs attended.

“We’re going to continue to monitor the situation and keep working with all the local officials,” Boren said. “The main thing is for everything to be safe and hopefully resolved.”

Wednesday afternoon, Skaggs appeared intent on staying put, even planning a sit-in on his land.

“You got to make your stand. If you don’t, they run you into the ground,” he said. “Where I’m from, you don’t call the police, you take care of it yourself.”

James Baldwin, chairman of the colony’s governing board, said residents there are “trying for a peaceful resolution” to the situation.

“We have gone completely out of our way to help the man, but he has done nothing to help himself,” Baldwin said. “He has turned the entire colony against him.”

Baldwin said if Skaggs didn’t leave the colony Monday, they would most likely take the matter to a local judge.

He doubted things would escalate to violence, however.

“He’s standing there saying he’s going to fight,” he said. “I don’t believe he’s going to be standing out there with his machine gun. It’s mostly just verbiage, but we’ll have to be careful.”

The long-simmering dispute is the biggest news to come out of this enclave of 110 residents in decades.

For 75 years, the place has operated largely unnoticed in the foothills of the Winding Stair Mountains. It’s so off the beaten path that soldiers from across the country typically learn about the colony from online chat rooms or friends of friends.

Its major selling point: vets can buy an acre of tax-free land for only a couple hundred dollars and are allowed to build whatever they wish on it and live out their days in peace.

To be admitted, honorably discharged wartime vets must be members of a service organization such as the Veterans of Foreign Wars or American Legion. They pay a $200 deposit and $50 more for a background check.

The fees, along with interest from long-term certificates of deposit, provide the bulk of income to operate the colony, which also gets revenue from timber and mineral rights on the land.

The vets say the trouble here started after some of them, including Skaggs, questioned the finances of the colony, which reported having more than $450,000 in the bank in 2006.

Among their allegations: money unaccounted for on annual financial reports, monthly beginning and ending balances that didn’t match up and some questionable purchases.

Colony leaders called the alleged discrepancies minor and welcomed an outside review of their books — one of the veterans’ requests.

For most of the summer, colony leaders and the disgruntled veterans have been at stalemate. Things have gotten so bad, some vets have threatened to take up arms to defend themselves.

Wednesday, Skaggs said he was tired of having to argue why he deserves to stay.

“These people push people around and do illegal things to them and ruin their lives,” he said. “And if I can stop it, I will.”