Vet not fighting eviction from veterans colony
By Justin Juozapavicius - The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Sep 10, 2008 7:06:26 EDT

TULSA, Okla. — A man facing eviction from a tiny veterans colony in southeastern Oklahoma says he’s in too poor health to put up a fight to stay on his land.

Vietnam veteran Paul Skaggs had until Monday to leave the United Spanish War Veterans Colony in the rural town of Wilburton, about 125 miles south of Tulsa.

He asked colony leaders Tuesday for a little more time to pack up and leave, perhaps one more week, and they are considering the request.

In past weeks, he’s threatened to make a last stand on his property. On Friday, he planned to go to court to get an injunction that would keep him on his land until he could have a hearing on the eviction before a judge, but now says he can’t afford an attorney.

“My health’s not going to let me fight them,” Skaggs said Tuesday. “I’m usually not a quitter, but I just can’t keep this up anymore.”

He’s among several residents of the colony who have accused its leaders of mismanagement in past months, and says he’s paying the price for questioning the improprieties.

The long-simmering dispute is the biggest news to come out of the sleepy enclave of 110 residents in decades. In past months, several residents have threatened to arm themselves and planned a sit-in on Skaggs’ land.

Colony leaders say Skaggs must leave because he doesn’t have the proper military discharge paperwork — which he denies — and say the other vets have not formally brought their accusations of mismanagement to the board.

“We have tried to help Paul as much as possible,” said James Baldwin, chairman of the colony’s governing board. “I didn’t think there was anything to the sit-in, it was just rhetoric on Paul’s part. I also didn’t believe the posturing.”

Baldwin said other residents’ “minds will be at ease when (Paul) is gone.”

Last week, U.S. Rep. Dan Boren held a closed-door meeting in McAlester in an attempt to mediate the dispute, but Skaggs said he would still be forced off his property.

“This is my life’s dream here, to have a garden and a greenhouse and grow tomatoes in the wintertime,” Skaggs said of his land. “I’ve got everything here, and now I’m just going to end up being a vagabond with nothing.”

Skaggs, who lives in a motor home, says he’ll most likely head to Montana or Kansas.

Vets say the dustup 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. Baldwin said Tuesday the colony has hired an outside firm to conduct annual audits.

For 75 years, the colony 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.

Ellie