Bell's Blues Roundup

Thought it might be a good idea to post links to other web commentary on the Bell's Amusement Park situation. The comments we've received are overwhelmingly pro-Bell's (and not unsurprisingly paranoid the Tulsa Fair Board and the one surviving county commissioner who may have instigated this entire mess, according to some).

Michael Bates posts information that invites community help for the Bell's, including this plea from Sally Bell:

To our Tulsa and Oklahoma friends: As you may know we were served with eviction papers for the park on Wednesday. They have given us 120 days to remove everything and return the land to its original state (bare dirt). If you want to help us we would appreciate e-mails to all of the poeple on this list, any friends, you have who might like to help and perhaps calls to the Fairgrounds. Thank you in advance should you choose to speak out in our behalf. Signed Sally Bell (Bell's Amusement Park)

Bates, ever a student of Tulsa insider politics, says, "There are so many things wrong with this, it's hard to know where to begin ..." but manages to do a pretty good job of explaining what is wrong, and why it might be happening. His money quote:

... of course this is Tulsa County and, for about six more weeks anyway, it's dominated by County Commissioners who love making insider, exclusive, non-competitive deals with their pals for the use of public land.

I suspect the eviction of Bell's is part of such an insider deal. You'll recall that a Loretta Murphy gave $5,000 to the Randi Miller for Mayor campaign. Loretta Murphy owns Big Splash water park, another Expo Square tenant. Her husband Jerry Murphy owns Murphy Brothers. Shortly after Loretta's donation to Miller, the Fair Board awarded Murphy Brothers a non-competitive 10-year contract to provide the Tulsa State Fair's midway. Murphy Brothers might be happy just to have Bell's gone, so that all the State Fair-goers will have to ride their midway rides. Miller and the other Fair Board members need to disclose every contact with Murphy Brothers or any other private entity concerning plans for Bell's location.

There's a lot more.

Techievampire over at Explicitly Ambiguous registers disapproval of the Bell's situation.

We'll add more when we find 'em.