At the most recent public meeting with the Oregon State Board of Education on the Mulholland firing, an apparently little known fact was presented to the state officials which apparently set them back just a bit.
It was revealed that the property for the Oregon School for the Blind was DONATED, and that a condition of that donation was that it remain a school for the blind. According to the source at the meeting, should an attempt be made to sell the property for any other purpose, the property was to be given back to the original family estate which donated it in the first place.
Things should be REALLY interesting if this claim is true, no doubt the state lawyers are staying up late mulling over that revelation!
Wow, that's quite a revealing claim. If this information turns out to be true then some state officials must be red with embarrassment. When this claim is verified, the land must go back to the original family estate, no matter what the state lawyers try to do. If they are going to force this school to shut down, they have to do the right thing and that's giving the land back to its rightfully owners even if the original owners are long dead, their family still are entitled to it.
It just keep unfolding more and more. It's definitely getting more interesting as we go along. So far, this isn’t looking good for the people responsible for the firing of Jane Mulholland.
Something to do with including the blind with the deaf I gather.. and some deaf didn't want this ?
ReplyDeleteIt is a time for ODE Board of the Education to open an investigation on the top ODE administrators!!
ReplyDeleteOSD is a fastincating issue even though I have no connection with that school.
Assuming that this provision is still valid, there is nothing that could prevent the heirs of the family estate from selling the property and taking a windfall. What is their position on the situation?
ReplyDeleteBanjo,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the digging profoundly.
I wonder if the state school for the blind should have mentioned the Trust property. Oregon deafies need to inquire the lawyers practicing in Oregon. Moreover, they need to contact the current families of the original family who donated their property.
The members of the Oregon School for the Deaf must contact their state legislators, ethic attorneys, governor and watch groups. I wonder if the building of school for the blind ages over 100 years, please contact the (state) office of National Historic Landmarks.
It is never too late to fight back…
Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trust_(property)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_National_Historic_Landmarks_by_state#Oregon
First of all, if this is true, then it is a significant setback to Oregon's 'landlust' ambitions. However, in the end, creative solutions proffered by the Oregon lawyers probably can get around this deed restriction, if the state does go down on this path.
ReplyDeleteMoreover, even if the deed restriction was upheld, it would only mean that the State of Oregon will lose out on the property sale proceeds; those would go to the heirs of the estate. But, on the back end, the State of Oregon will win out eventually, by having an increased property tax base as the property is developed, rezoned, and subdivided accordingly.
Lastly, the frigid housing market may well kill any landlust ambitions and render the point moot. At any rate, it does appear the ODE has botched the Jane Mulholland issue, to the detriment of its Deaf community.
Wow, I didn't expect all these responses. I'm glad to see that people are taking an interest in this situation.
ReplyDeleteDianrez,
"Assuming that this provision is still valid, there is nothing that could prevent the heirs of the family estate from selling the property and taking a windfall. What is their position on the situation?"
That's a good question, I was wondering about that last night. Hope something will be said on this subject shortly.
Todd, you're right. The lawyers can get creative when it come to this kind of situation. However, if it's true; let's just hope that the state will do the right thing and that is by giving the land back to the heirs of the estate.
The family is Asahel Bush family, the park across street from the Blind is named Bush's Pasture Park. It is quite big. The home is now a museum.
ReplyDeleteThe property where the Blind school is located is right next to the Salem Memorial Hospital, south of the hospital. This hospital is one of several wanting the property.
Asahel Bush owned Salem's Statesman-Journal. Don't know if the great-great grandchildren are still very much involved with the newspaper. The newspaper has been printing editorial opinions in support of Mulholland
The Bush family could be in position to sell the property. BEtcha ODE was in for a nasty surprise that the could not gain directly from moving OSB to OSD except for saving some bucks on maintenance, faculty/staff/adminstrative jobs and etc. Other than that, ODE won't financially gain from that property. Hope that will prompt ODE drop the whole idea of trying to move OSB to OSD. THere is not much to gain from it.
ReplyDeleteI entered this topic in my blog titled "Fail Once, Try Again." OSB& OSD vs ODE.
Link: http://deaf-tea-time.blogspot.com/2007/01/when-you-fail-try-again-ode-versus-osb.html
ON Deafread: page 4.
Provided are pictures of OSB to help better understand why the land is in high demand.
Cy and David, thank you for the information on the family. Cy, I did read your blog the other day, an excellent read I'll say.
ReplyDeleteCy said:
ReplyDeleteBEtcha ODE was in for a nasty surprise that the could not gain directly from moving OSB to OSD except for saving some bucks on maintenance, faculty/staff/adminstrative jobs and etc. Other than that, ODE won't financially gain from that property. Hope that will prompt ODE drop the whole idea of trying to move OSB to OSD. THere is not much to gain from it.
I disagree. The State of Oregon can still collect a bounty's worth of property taxes should this OSB property be 'privatized'. Thus, the OSB/OSD communities need to be ever-vigilant and contest the state authorities when it comes to preserving their state institutions. Don't assume the State of Oregon has benign plans for either school.
There's alot of guessing and assuming going on here. Could the problem simply be that Jane Muholland did alot of things wrong and was rightly fired?
ReplyDeleteSome of these information came from public meetings. Not really trying to assume anything, we're just looking into it and seeing that there's more to the story.
ReplyDeleteYou could be right, she could had simply been fired because of her performance, but we'll know more soon or later.
NOW they are blaming "sexual misconduct".
ReplyDeleteThis goes on in hearing schools, too, we all know that. So what else is new?
Give the mews media something to chew on and they eat it up, until something more interesting comes along. :((