Fri, Nov 20 2009
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Published November 07, 2009 09:34 pm - PICHER, Okla. — It’s like walking through a bad dream for John Frazier as he steps through the rooms of his former home in Picher and sees the damage left by vandals. Bought out or sold out? Lawsuit raises questions about trust officials with Picher buyout By Wally Kennedy
wkennedy@joplinglobe.com PICHER, Okla. — It’s like walking through a bad dream for John Frazier as he steps through the rooms of his former home in Picher and sees the damage left by vandals. It’s difficult for him to look at it and not feel frustrated by the toll that he says the buyout of Picher has taken on his life. “But we’ve got hope now,’’ he said. “The lawsuits that the people here have filed against the trust offer the first signs of hope for those who have been cheated. I think we’re going to get to the bottom of this.’’ Frazier is one of more than 100 Picher residents who are plaintiffs in a class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of the relocated residents of Picher. The lawsuit alleges he and others lost thousands of dollars when the Lead-Impacted Communities Relocation Assistance Trust and its appraisal companies low-balled the value of their properties. He said he and others complained loudly about it when it happened, but no one stepped forward to help them. “They just didn’t care. They didn’t have to care,’’ he said. “Their depositions show that.’’ Depositions collected in the lawsuit so far allege that: n The trust appropriated private insurance payments for residents following a tornado that hit Picher without allowing those residents due process. n The trust violated the state’s Open Meetings Act. n A state official who was only to be a “spectator” of trust activities in fact ran the organization. n Larry Roberts, the actual operations manager of the trust, set up a fake video camera in his office to “intimidate” Picher residents, according to the plaintiffs’ attorney. Officials with the trust who are named in the lawsuit were contacted by telephone last week but declined to comment about the ongoing legal action. However, they have said previously that they feel the majority of Picher’s relocated residents received a fair deal or they would not have accepted the buyout from the trust. Some residents have countered, however, that the decision whether to stay or leave Picher was not voluntary, but mandatory because of threatening statements by trust officials who suggested that water and sewer services in Picher would be shut off. The depositions were videotaped. Copies of the videos have been circulating among the relocated residents of Picher. Popcorn parties have been held in homes where groups of people have gathered to watch trust officials respond to questions from the plaintiffs’ attorneys, Jeff Marr and John Wiggins, both of Oklahoma City. 
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