Lawsuit Over Eminent Domain Could Snarl Bush Library Plans

[Col. Nathan R. Jessep]

Why the hell is a Lit Atty living in Univ Gardens in the first place?

[EastStang]

So if I'd been camped out at the local police station, the local department would have issued a statement saying "hey, guess what, Cheney shot a guy...."? Can you imagine the local Andy Griffith trying to issue that statement before the Vice President's office kicked the spin control machine into gear? Not a chance.

No, but if a reporter is camped out at a local police station and has been giving Gomer Pyle donuts for a few years and tells Barney he's one of the brightest officers he's ever met, Barney will probably let slip that we got something big happening. And then Gomer will say, Yeah, the Vice President shot somebody. And then Goober comes running in and says that Ms. Armstrong had a shooting out at the farm. The Reporter goes down to the local barber shop and chats up with Floyd and Howard and soon he has the story of the day. Get the picture.

[MrMustang1965]

So if I'd been camped out at the local police station, the local department would have issued a statement saying "hey, guess what, Cheney shot a guy...."? Can you imagine the local Andy Griffith trying to issue that statement before the Vice President's office kicked the spin control machine into gear? Not a chance.

No, but if a reporter is camped out at a local police station and has been giving Gomer Pyle donuts for a few years and tells Barney he's one of the brightest officers he's ever met, Barney will probably let slip that we got something big happening. And then Gomer will say, Yeah, the Vice President shot somebody. And then Goober comes running in and says that Ms. Armstrong had a shooting out at the farm. The Reporter goes down to the local barber shop and chats up with Floyd and Howard and soon he has the story of the day. Get the picture.

...come to think of it, was a newspaper reporter/editor/publisher ever shown on The Andy Griffith Show? Did Mayberry even have a newspaper? All the news came from Clara!

[PonyPride]

So if I'd been camped out at the local police station, the local department would have issued a statement saying "hey, guess what, Cheney shot a guy...."? Can you imagine the local Andy Griffith trying to issue that statement before the Vice President's office kicked the spin control machine into gear? Not a chance.

No, but if a reporter is camped out at a local police station and has been giving Gomer Pyle donuts for a few years and tells Barney he's one of the brightest officers he's ever met, Barney will probably let slip that we got something big happening. And then Gomer will say, Yeah, the Vice President shot somebody. And then Goober comes running in and says that Ms. Armstrong had a shooting out at the farm. The Reporter goes down to the local barber shop and chats up with Floyd and Howard and soon he has the story of the day. Get the picture.

Hmmmmm .... all this time I've been building sources without donuts and haircuts? Need to get out more!

[EastStang]

I've always heard donuts are police currency. A good local reporter should be wired into the police station and if anything juicy happens, they should be right on it. After all, how did the press find out so fast that Britany got a ticket for driving with her baby on her lap. (Ya think she'll get nominated for a Darwin Award).

[abezontar]

no but her baby should

[tmustangp]

EastStang.. Great we heard your opinions of journalist..

Now, considering your Hall of Fame status, you are quite the visitor of ponyfans and I would like to bring up a point. If it wasn't for journalists, I would say 80% of the info that you read and respond to on this site comes from professional journalists..

Great we heard your opinions the first... give it up..

[EastStang]

Right, professional journalists who do their jobs instead of sitting on their duffs like the White House press corps.

[Dutch]

Why the hell is a Lit Atty living in Univ Gardens in the first place?

he's NOT. according to the county tax appraisals, he own TWO units in there, neither of which lists the owners address at the property address. he lives in Coppell with his wife Julie.

if you want to send him a letter w/ your displeasure in the situation, here's his address (webmaster - this information is of public record):

VODICKA GARY M & JULIE C
92 HEARTHWOOD DR
COPPELL, TEXAS 75019

[EastStang]

While this shouldn't need to be said, be careful to keep your letters clean and not to make any threats if you write to this bozo. We don't want him crying on WFAA that he's getting threatening and vile letters from SMU supporters when he's being kicked out of his house. He'll do it anyway, but at least if the letters are clean and unthreatening, that will make him show the letters which may call him a lying chissling sleezy money- grubbing shyster. Those are clean, but to the point.

[SMU Football Blog]

While this shouldn't need to be said, be careful to keep your letters clean and not to make any threats if you write to this bozo. We don't want him crying on WFAA that he's getting threatening and vile letters from SMU supporters when he's being kicked out of his house. He'll do it anyway, but at least if the letters are clean and unthreatening, that will make him show the letters which may call him a lying chissling sleezy money- grubbing shyster. Those are clean, but to the point.

He'll absolutely do it anyway. He clearly told the NY Sun that it was his home. Of course, if it is his home and he declared his property in coppell as his homestead, then I would think that was a violation of state law.

[MUSTANGFOREVER69]

Graduated from SMU Law School - 5/1/86
Licensed to practice in Texas - 5/1/87 (that's what his record indicates on the State Bar site - what did he do for the year after he graduated? PonyPride, maybe you can check that one out)
Received a Public Reprimand from a State Bar grievance Committee - 5/30/2003

And, here's an interesting story about another suit he participated in along with his twin brother and a bunch of investors trying to make some money: http://www.statesman.com/business/conte ... 4dobi.html
They lost.

I wonder if any of this paints a picture of what kind of person Mr. Vodicka is, and what his true motive is in connection with is suit against SMU.

[PK]

to get a license to practice law, you have to pass the State bar exam which is not easy to do without a lot of studying to prepare after you graduate from Law School...hence the time lag between graduating and being licensed.

[MUSTANGFOREVER69]

PK, don't take this wrong, but most people who graduate from law school take the Bar Exam right after they graduate - like I did. I graduated from SMU Law School in May of 1973 and took the Bar Exam in June of 1973 and I got my passing score back in September of that year and was sworn in on September 20, 1973, and I've been practicing ever since that date to today.

It's actually odd to see a one year gap from the time someone graduates from law school and when they get licensed. It usually means that the individual took the Bar Exam and flunked it the first time. I can't say that that's what happened with respect to Mr. Vodicka or not. But, I will say that the one year gap from when he graduated and got licensed jumps off of the page at me.

[MrMustang1965]

and now...this from Baylor land. This is from the Waco Tribune newspaper.

Monday, February 20, 2006

Baylor University's efforts to keep details of its bid for the George W. Bush Presidential Library from going public just got a little more complicated.

The university has received a subpoena from Dallas attorney Gary Vodicka for documents related to its library proposal, Baylor officials confirmed Monday. The subpoena is part of a lawsuit Vodicka has filed against Baylor's top rival in the library selection process, Southern Methodist University.

The suit claims SMU violated its legal obligation to residents of the neighboring University Gardens condominiums by not maintaining the property in a deliberate ploy to drive residents out of the complex so the university could locate the Bush library there. Vodicka says he is one of the few remaining complex residents who has not sold his condominium.

The first hearing on the suit takes place today in a Dallas courtroom.

Like Baylor, SMU has said little about its proposal. However, university spokesman Brad Cheeves last week told the New York Sun the effort to obtain the condominiums is unrelated to efforts to land the library.

Vodicka said he subpoenaed Baylor and the other two library hopefuls – the University of Dallas and a West Texas group headed by Texas Tech University – in an effort to pressure SMU to come clean about its intentions for the site.

"If all the other universities have proposals saying where they are going to put the Bush library, SMU can't say it doesn't," Vodicka said. "SMU has got to pony up and be forthright and honest and say, yeah, they plan on putting the library on my home."

The only problem: Baylor has been just as tight-lipped about its plan for the Bush presidential library as SMU.

Vodicka acknowledges he expects some of the universities to fight the subpoenas.

Baylor spokesman Larry Brumley said Monday that university officials are "analyzing options" and have a meeting planned for later this week to discuss how to respond to the subpoena.

"Obviously we'd prefer not to release it because we've been pretty vigilant about keeping the details of our proposal tightly held," he said.

Brumley said he doesn't know if legal squabbling related to SMU's bid will boost Baylor's chances.

"We are not looking at it in those terms," he said.

Baylor and its three competitors presented their library proposals to members of the library selection committee in Washington, D.C., in November. Don Evans, former U.S. commerce secretary and head of the selection committee, has said a decision on the library's location will come this year.

Brumley said Baylor officials have not heard of a date when the selection will be announced.

manderson@wacotrib.com