By Edward Snook
Investigative Journalist
Cimarron County, Oklahoma – In Boise City, Oklahoma, Samuel Parker, manager of Cimarron River Ranch L.L.C. (CRR), and then ranch manager Roy Young, successfully bid on 24,000 acres of cattle grazing land managed by OK Commissioners of the Land Office (CLO) and agreed to pay $273,600.00 per year for the grazing rights.
These grazing leases were taken from local ranchers whose families had held them for generations at historically low rental rates of $1.50- $2.50 per-acre per-year range, while Parker paid in the $9.00 per-acre range, an indication that an artificially low rental rate was being perpetuated by the CLO, allowing several large local area ranchers to lease public land for amounts well below market rates.
The Parkers were reportedly threatened by local ranchers and told by Keith Kuhlman, then director of real estate management for the CLO, “we will be watching you through a magnifying glass.”
Kuhlman then proceeded to reconfigure large portions of Parker’s leases, trading much of the bottomland that had water on it to neighboring ranchers whose leases had been taken by Parker, leaving hundreds of other acres landlocked that Parker could not access for grazing.
Parker opted to return those leases at the end of the year, which was within his rights under the lease terms if they were reconfigured. The CLO refused to take the leases back; Parker refused to pay rent and sued the CLO for violation of the leases.
With CRR’s appeal pending, the CLO directed Cimarron County Sheriff Keith Borth to execute the judgment and seize possession of the CRR ranch, which they reportedly did without warning. According to witnesses, they evicted ranch manager Roy Young from the premises without notice, on threat of jail, and seized all his guns.
Young was not able to round up all his cattle within the short time given him. Sheriff Borth and Randy Schriener, field representative for the CLO, reportedly assured him strays would be gathered up and held for him to pick up. They were allegedly gathered up and penned without food or water and left to starve to death. When Young filed a complaint with Borth for cruelty to animals, Borth allegedly refused to investigate or prosecute those responsible, which allegedly included CLO field representative Randy Schriener and himself. The Humane Society in OK City, after initially committing to investigate and prosecute, would not return any phone calls, and the district attorney for Cimarron County, Michael Boring, didn’t return any of Young’s many phone calls concerning the matter.
CRR’s ranch was sold at auction on April 14, despite CRR’s request to await the pending appeal, which is customary. Personal items of the Parker family were also reportedly seized, including dishes, clothing, and other keepsakes, and put in an open field and auctioned off, despite affidavits signed by the Parkers stating they were personal and not owned by CRR. Judge Twyla Gray allowed the auction to go forward. Some of the items auctioned were irreplaceable.
Notes filed against the ranch property by Parker’s father, James Parker, in excess of one million dollars, lent for development of the ranch, legally prohibited Whitten from acquiring clear title, according to US~Observer legal experts.
On October 15, the OK Court of Civil Appeals found that District Judge Twyla Gray erred in granting CLO’s summary judgment and reversed that ruling. The OK Supreme Court denied a CLO petition for certiorari, and a mandate was issued on June 7. Since the reversal of the CLO’s counterclaim, CRR has repeatedly requested that the proceeds from the Sheriff’s sale be returned and that full and complete possession of CRR’s ranch be restored, which,, to date,, the CLO has refused.
When CRR discovered in late June that Whitten had reportedly moved into the ranch house on CRR’s ranch, turned on the electricity, and begun structural renovations of the property, CRR sued Whitten and his brother-in-law, Robert Newman, for trespass and damages. Whitten reportedly answered, by sworn affidavit, that he was given permission by the CLO and Sheriff Borth to enter CRR property and take possession of it.
On July 28, 2011, after being sued for trespass, Whitten reportedly paid the CLO $420,000.00 — the balance of the purchase price for the ranch at auction — and asked for title to CRR’s ranch on the now-overturned invalid judgment. The CLO reportedly accepted Whitten’s payment on the overturned judgment and issued a Sheriff’s deed to Whitten on July 28, 2011, signed by Sheriff Keith Borth. Whitten reportedly continues to occupy CRR’s ranch.
CRR, however, had given a deed in lieu of foreclosure to Belize Land and Development Ltd., Belize, Central America (B.L.&D.) on July 13, for nonpayment of its one-million-plus loan to B.L.&D., which CRR could not repay.
When CRR discovered alleged large-scale damage to structures on its property in the fall of 2011, CRR appealed to Judge Kincannon to stop Whitten until the judge made his decision. Kincannon reportedly told Whitten that no work was to be done on the property until he made his decision. This reportedly occurred in a verbal restraining order between the CRR’s attorney and Whitten’s attorney in November of 2011.
US~Observer sources have informed us that CRR’s attorney subsequently conducted an on-site inspection to confirm Judge Kincannon’s order of restraint against Whitten and found large-scale renovation of the property continuing. Kincannon has reportedly refused CRR’s attorney’s repeated requests for a conference call with Whitten’s attorney and refuses to put his restraining order in writing so that it can be enforced.
In August, the CLO canceled leases held by Roy Young and his business partner, Leroy Durham, contiguous to CRR ranch, for overgrazing and has refused to refund the unused portion of the annual rent of $41,000.00. Incidentally, the leases had reportedly not been grazed since February of 2010, when the CLO seized the ranch, and the grass was high enough to constitute a fire hazard.
Young and Durham filed suit in fall 2011 over their canceled leases against the CLO.
R.S.J. Investments L.L.C., another Parker family company, filed suit against CLO in January 2011 over these same leases. When the CLO discovered that R.S.J. was Parker-owned, they refused to grant the leases, even after R.S.J. was the successful bidder at auction in October of 2010.
This ongoing war between CRR and the CLO was featured on the front page of The Oklahoman newspaper in OK City on Sunday March 20, 2011 and again on the front page of the Oklahoman on March 27, 2011 – written by corruption watchdog reporter Randy Ellis: rellis@opubco.com.
As we go to press with this edition, we have been informed that CRR continues to wait on Kincannon’s embarrassingly long delay in ruling on their summary judgment motion filed with his court in August 2011 in this case.
The US~Observer is currently digging into this case. Reggie Whitten has refused to return our phone calls, which tells us plenty about this “behind-the-scenes” attorney from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
Anyone with information on this case is urged to contact the US~Observer by calling 541-474-7885 or via email at editor@usobserver.com.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Oklahoma County District Judge Twyla Mason Gray died Monday, Oct. 3, 2011, but her failed rulings and the prison sentences she imposed on innocent individuals live on and continue to inflict damage.
