Have you ever felt like things around you were just running a bit "too smooth"? I get that feeling every now and then…and sure enough...there seems to be a storm brewing just over the horizon each time I get that feeling.

Around 4pm the other day, a man drove through my front gate (it was latched and he didn’t latch it back even though I have mini horses running all over the place..which told me right off that he either didn't care about my animals getting loose...or that he must have been thinking pretty hard about something to talk to me about)…he drove straight on down to my house as if he knew who I was and as if we had been friends for many years. I had no idea who this man was.(If you live in the city and are reading that...it might not make any sense to you. If you live in the country...you know exactly what I just meant!)

He introduced himself as the man that "just purchased the 40 acres that runs down the south side" of my property for about half a mile. He began, "Well I wanted to let you know what I intend on doing with the land I bought from the Rattan school district. I am going to divide it up into 4 acres lots and sale the land and let Little Dixie build houses on it. I am going to have a road built down your fence line too", he continued…"Of course I came out here to let you know about all of this and to offer...that...if you give me a couple thousand dollars over what I paid for it…you know…for my trouble…then I will sell it to you and you will not have to worry about me building houses next to you".

My wife, replied, "If that is a bribe…it is a pretty poor one. And if that is an offer…it is just as poor". She walked off. (Which, in hind site, might have been in his best interest..since things like that get her native Choctaw temper up to a full boil)

I said, "Ya know…you don’t live around here. You own that land where they are digging up what looks like half a mountain. I understand that you have more money than God. But let me tell you the reason we moved here. It is because this is a relaxed, retirement community. We moved here to get away from housing construction and development and road construction and development. And honestly, people in this small community are happy with it the way it is. They will tell you to your face that they don't want this town to expand."

You can always tell when somebody really doesn’t care about what you are talking about…especially when they check out the time on their watch several times while you are talking to them. He did this repeatedly…checked out his watch...while I was trying to talk to him. 

He didn’t seem to care that the land he had purchased was actually in the city limits of Rattan and that he couldn’t just divide up a property and start building houses. Yes, it is his land. But "his land" resides within a community. And as such...is bound by the regulations set by that community and by the state of Oklahoma.

Seems though...in his mind...that the only "standards" that exist are...what he plans on doing with the land.

"Oh sure I can," he continued, "I will just sell two acres at a time on the four-acre lots…that way the Indians can buy the two acres and qualify for their Little Dixie homes. And little Dixie will have to deal with the utilities…not me. The trick is to do it one lot at a time….you know…start next to Joe Hill road and sell the first lot…and then move down the road another four acres, etc".

You know what folks….I really don’t like people like this guy.

I understand his desire to build and make money. But it is nothing about the community where he wants to build…since he doesn’t live here to begin with. And…he apparently is not aware of the fact that Rattan Oklahoma is a Title 11 community and his land is within those community borders and as such…he will have to follow all of the rules relating to Title 11 when it comes to developing the land for residential use.

He thinks, for example that since the land more than likely will not perk (septic issue)...that he will just build sewage lagoons on each property. Hmm…seems he has not checked things out with the city regarding that issue. He will, as the developer have to (1) build a roadway for residential usage that follows the new (less than one year old) guidelines for drainage and width (50 feet wide) with concrete curbs and proper drainage and proper easement and proper road base. That is a new, state of Oklahoma requirement. The city of Rattan now requires new homes to be tied into their city sewage system…at the builder’s cost. There are permits to be had...and drawings to be presented and posted and utility engineering reports, etc.

Hey...it ain't like it used to be bubba!

He might not actually be aware of any of this since he seemed to be truly surprised when I told him that his 40 acres was in fact inside the city borders and was not county land.

He will have to provide a full schematic from a licensed engineer and architect to the city council for their approval regarding the development of the forty acres since it is to be used as residential development. Also under title 11, he will be required to acquire a land impact study on the effect of water run-off regarding the construction of a road and a housing community being built next to a working ranch that relies on the water in its ponds and creeks and such.

When all of this was brought up to this "gentleman’s attention"…his response was (in summary), "Oh I have done this before…Little Dixie will deal with all of that. I am not worried about the city of Rattan. Besides (and folks I kid you not)…if you are worried about me developing 40 acres next to you…then the school superintendent is going to sell one acre lots on the corner there and build upwards to 100 homes using kids from the school to build the houses. At least that is what he told me just the other night. I just told him that such a plan would take a hundred years to complete."

By the way…I have not talked to the school superintendent of Rattan (but I will).

So here we are again folks. What is this all about anyway?

It is about people that don’t live in this community (this man who will remain nameless at this point for legal reasons)…this man who bought forty acres inside the city limits of Rattan that doesn’t live here…who has decided he is going to develop the land whether anybody in this community wants it or not. (Or if you offer him what amounts to $55,000 for the forty acres…"a couple of thousand for his trouble"…then he will just move on his way and everybody can just forget about the land turning into a sub-division. Where I grew up…we had a word for that…and it isn’t bribery. Which is curious at best since...if he is selling the land for Little Dixie to build houses on...then he can not sell the land for more than what he paid for it. Maybe that is where he is asking "a couple of thousand extra for his trouble")

And, the school superintendent (who I happen to like on a personal level…but our politics are obviously different) does not live in Rattan and would not have to live next to a new residential community of 100 houses...or fifty houses…or forty new houses…nor the traffic and the noise and the crime that comes along with all of that. And knowing him…I am pretty certain that he would not want to live next to a new housing development himself. In fact, when not at work…he values his solitude and he values the woods and silent openness that surrounds his home and his "get away" cabin.

At some point in time…you have to consider why a community is…well…a community. People that grew up in a small community will argue that those of us that were not born and raised here…have no business in the business of the city.

I would argue just the opposite.

I would argue that those of us that moved here did so because we liked the people here and the community and have a special outlook on Rattan that "life long locals" might not have. It is that we see this community for what it truly is…special. We were not born here…we were attracted to and drawn to this place…to this community…to these people…to this land…to live here…to retire here.

We enjoy sitting on our porches and watching deer as they cross across our yards. We enjoy the feel of small town America as people gather up at the new Pizza restaurant.

We enjoy the fact that it always take much longer than normal to go and pick up mail at the post office because we are always "running into somebody and wind up spending fifteen minutes talking because we had to catch up on things".

We enjoy the simple wave from our city "police chief" as he drives up and down the streets of our community…knowing the names of most of the homeowners he passes by during his daily routes.

We are not about a community of expansion and subdivisions and road construction, sewage trenches and utilities being dug and hung.

We are a community that enjoys hunting and fishing and the sound of the wind as it blows through the pine trees. Of being able to drive an ATV through the woods for ten minutes and feel like you have traveled hundreds of miles into the wilderness.

We are about that "smell in the air that tells you fall is just around the corner as you sit in the bleachers munching on a hot dog and dealing with cotton candy…in September…as you cheer on the local youth rodeo.

We are about sitting down at Howard’s Café’, knowing everything on the menu or the daily special (that never changes and we like it like that) and knowing everybody that comes in to sit down and eat…everybody!

We are about taking a moment and sitting on the bench in front of Hoods…and taking a deep breath…as we slurp down a Peach Nehi and watch the logging trucks roll past.

We are about being able to go into Arpealers and know that we can ask Billie for just about any widget on the planet…and he will have it…and he will know what cranny in the store the widget is located.

We know what days Tammy is in town giving haircuts and styles...and what days she is out of town doing the same.

So I say to this man that bought those 40 acres from the Rattan school district…build your houses someplace else. Build your subdivision and fifty-foot wide concrete roads and concrete curbs and state required and city required sewage and drainage someplace else.

Maybe there is still room on the side of that mountain…the mountain you sold to be strip mined…close to Hugo Lake…close to your house. Maybe there is room for your subdivision there.