Adjutant General Explains Mansion Purchase

By Jerry Bohnen, KTOK Radio News ~ State Adjutant General Bud Wyatt, head of the Oklahoma National Guard, says there was nothing wrong with the state's purchase of a $670,000 3-story mansion surrounded by national guard operations.

KTOK first reported the purchase this week as documents indicated the nearly 7,000 home, built in 1935, was bought by the National Guard in early August.

"It always bothered me that we had, right in the middle of our operations and our instruction centers, this property that had private access that we had no control over what was going on," said General Wyatt in an interview with KTOK's Peter J. Rudy. He said no state money was used in the purchase and the money came from what the general called '
"non-appropriated funds...those funds came from years and years of energy management and streamlining."

Wyatt also responded to those who scoffed at the idea of "force protection" needed around the National Guard Training center, saying, "A lot of people thought that before April 15th, 1995 as to the Murrah building. We live in dangerous times. The measure was primarily taken, the acquisition was primarily, taken for force protection."

Share |