Swadley's

[rizzo]

The State should approach Clark Crew BBQ about taking over these. Oklahoma Tourism can say "come to our wonderful state parks and while here have some darn good BBQ!"

[Jersey Boss]

I am of the opinion that local operators in the area of the park sthehould be the operators.
Thunderbird had a nice option for years with the restaurant that was located at Clearbay Cove. It was flooded out in 2015 during the heavy rains in May of that year and was never rebuilt. Open on Sunday, full bar, good food, and entertainment on weekend nights.
The state owned the physical structure and in classic short term sightedness elected to tear it down.

[Bill Robertson]

The State should approach Clark Crew BBQ about taking over these. Oklahoma Tourism can say "come to our wonderful state parks and while here have some darn good BBQ!"

That would be amazing. But I doubt seriously that CC would be interested in assuring their high quality in multiple, small locations. Especially when the state says they were mostly or all shut down because they lost money.

[Dob Hooligan]

I have followed this story on the site listed upthread (plus NonDoc) for a few weeks. I think Dave Cathey at the Oklahoman has provided the most info. A whistleblower has brought the story to light and stayed after it.

The highlights as I understand from the reporting

Around 2008- Jerry Winchester and the whistleblower worked for an oil & gas company named 77 Energy. 77 Energy used Swadley's for catering on a regular basis and formed a friendship with Brent Swadley.

Around 2017- Jerry Winchester became head of the Oklahoma State Department of Tourism. The whistleblower also became employed there.

When the Tourism plan to refresh the State Parks food service was being developed, Winchester (and others) plus Swadley toured all the facilities.

It is alleged the process was tailored in such a manner that Swadley would be the only (or almost the only) entity able to bid on the contract.

It is alleged that fees, markups and revenue guarantees included in the contracts are of such high dollar amounts and markup percentages as to be considered illegal profiteering.

[catcherinthewry]

Especially when the state says they were mostly or all shut down because they lost money.

Do you really believe the state in this affair? They were behind the crooked deal. The existing restaurants were shut down so that Swadley's could take over. There was one operator in Beaver's Bend I believe who was told their lease would be automatically renewed. Then a month later they were told to vacate their restaurant and Swadley's crews were in taking measurements the next day. I hope Winchester and Swadley's are brought to justice over this.

[Pete]

I have followed this story on the site listed upthread (plus NonDoc) for a few weeks. I think Dave Cathey at the Oklahoman has provided the most info. A whistleblower has brought the story to light and stayed after it.

Again, The Frontier broke this story and was first to alert anyone -- including the Oklahoman -- about the alleged improprieties.

They published their first story on March 17th, two weeks before the Oklahoman basically reported the exact same information. It's fair to say none of this would have come out at all if not for the hard work of the writers at Frontier.

And The Frontier has continued to cover the story, with all their articles free to anyone. The Oklahoman has put most of what amounts to copy-cat stories behind a paywall.


These points are important because everyone claims they want and need high-quality local journalism but then doesn't seem to notice or care the Oklahoman is basically stealing the work of others without proper attribution (a HUGE violation of the most basic journalistic ethics).

This is a hot button to me for obvious reasons but it's also true that their practices directly hurt the local journalism for which they purport to advocate, by robbing organizations of proper credit and thus support. And by doing this sort of thing for decades, they have been the biggest contributor to the local legacy media companies all following the same practices, which is injurious to the entire community.

[Bill Robertson]

Do you really believe the state in this affair? They were behind the crooked deal. The existing restaurants were shut down so that Swadley's could take over. There was one operator in Beaver's Bend I believe who was told their lease would be automatically renewed. Then a month later they were told to vacate their restaurant and Swadley's crews were in taking measurements the next day. I hope Winchester and Swadley's are brought to justice over this.

Very good point. I'll have to further adjust the grain of salt I take any state news releases with.

[Bill Robertson]

Again, The Frontier broke this story and was first to alert anyone -- including the Oklahoman -- about the alleged improprieties.

They published their first story on March 17th, two weeks before the Oklahoman basically reported the exact same information. It's fair to say none of this would have come out at all if not for the hard work of the writers at Frontier.

And The Frontier has continued to cover the story, with all their articles free to anyone. The Oklahoman has put most of what amounts to copy-cat stories behind a paywall.


These points are important because everyone claims they want and need high-quality local journalism but then doesn't seem to notice or care the Oklahoman is basically stealing the work of others without proper attribution (a HUGE violation of the most basic journalistic ethics).

This is a hot button to me for obvious reasons but it's also true that their practices directly hurt the local journalism they purport to advocate for, by robbing organizations of proper credit and thus support. And by doing this sort of thing for decades, they have been the biggest contributor to the local legacy media companies all following the same practices, which is injurious to the entire community.

I'm guilty of only checking 4, 5 and 9 sites for local news. I try not to spend too much time searching news because I find so much of it depressing, aggravating, etc. So in a case like the Swadley's story that I find interesting I don't know where to look for the "real scoop".

[TheTravellers]

I'm guilty of only checking 4, 5 and 9 sites for local news. I try not to spend too much time searching news because I find so much of it depressing, aggravating, etc. So in a case like the Swadley's story that I find interesting I don't know where to look for the "real scoop".

The Frontier, NonDoc and OK Watch are pretty good, but as a fantastic roundup, "In The Know" from OK Policy is indispensable (https://okpolicy.org/category/in-the-know/).

[soonerguru]

If I read the article I read on KFOR correctly all these state park restaurants had operated at a loss for some time and were in various states of disrepair when the state solicited bids for refurbishment and operation. Swadley's was the only bidder. Not surprising for a pretty extensive project with questionable hope of making much profit. The construction costs didn't seem outrageous to me and the state covering expected operating losses in the contract I don't see a problem with. At least, if the story is accurate, the restaurants would be operating and Swadley's at least wouldn't lose money. Maybe there's suspicion of more going on under the table than the article covers.

Have you not read the subsequent articles? They were overcharging the state on everything from used smokers to door hinges. It was a blatant money grab and it appears there was bid-rigging involved. It also seems the governor had a relationship of sorts with the people selected. It was his "covid czar" who was involved with hiring Swadley's too. The Covid thing was a total scandal in which the state didn't even receive things it paid for after circumventing purchasing rules.

I don't know if the governor was involved in this or not but he throws his weight around and hires friends for jobs. He seems to not understand how state government operates.

I would imagine there will be people serving time for this.

[king183]

The Frontier, NonDoc and OK Watch are pretty good, but as a fantastic roundup, "In The Know" from OK Policy is indispensable (https://okpolicy.org/category/in-the-know/).

Agreed. If your goal is to be informed about what’s happening in this state, you read The Frontier, NonDoc, OK Watch, and—yes—OKCTalk because they are actually doing old fashioned journalistic leg work, investigating, verifying information, filing open records requests, digging into reams of documents, etc. You do not read The Oklahoman or rely on any of the three TV networks. The problems with The Oklahoman are obvious and have been laid out multiple times in this forum; the three TV networks are all personality-driven and give subpar 30-60 second overviews of news that has previously been covered in greater detail by the four independent outlets above.

I consider myself well-informed on current events in the state, and I haven’t read anything in The Oklahoman in a very long time and the only time I turn on any of the three TV networks is to watch developing weather events (and even then I’m closely watching the weather experts in the weather thread on this site). It blows my mind people still read The Oklahoman for news since they’ve gutted their ability to conduct basic journalistic operations.

[soonerguru]

Do you really believe the state in this affair? They were behind the crooked deal. The existing restaurants were shut down so that Swadley's could take over. There was one operator in Beaver's Bend I believe who was told their lease would be automatically renewed. Then a month later they were told to vacate their restaurant and Swadley's crews were in taking measurements the next day. I hope Winchester and Swadley's are brought to justice over this.

Yes, the operator had successfully run the Beavers Bend restaurant for five years. That doesn't sound like a failure to me. And, she was sending 3% of her gross profits back to the state. Imagine how she felt when the state cut her lose and lavished Swadley's with a bunch of inflated management fees and covered all losses. Something stinks in Denmark for sure.

[Bellaboo]

The State should approach Clark Crew BBQ about taking over these. Oklahoma Tourism can say "come to our wonderful state parks and while here have some darn good BBQ!"

We ate at the FB at Lake Altus / Lugert (Quartz Mtn) a couple of months ago. We've never thought Swadleys was anything more that just okay. But what we got at FB was way better than we expected, and I don't remember seeing BBQ on the menu..

[Pete]

It blows my mind people still read The Oklahoman for news since they’ve gutted their ability to conduct basic journalistic operations.

Old habits die hard. Almost all their readers are 55+ and grew up with it. Even still, plenty of people over 55 are happy not to have to read them, and that's not just because their newsroom has been gutted. When they had all money in the world and employed thousands they advocated for many policies that are so deeply ingrained in Oklahoma (like not properly funding education) the scars will never fully heal. Try reading some of their editorials from the recent past; you'd think they came from the 1940s.


I also want to be clear that I have never advocated for not subscribing to The Oklahoman.

But their business practices are infuriating and there is a big part of me that thinks Oklahoma would be better off if they would just hurry up and die (a sentiment often expressed by Oprah Winfrey about all the old racists in this country).

[onthestrip]

Agreed. If your goal is to be informed about what’s happening in this state, you read The Frontier, NonDoc, OK Watch, and—yes—OKCTalk because they are actually doing old fashioned journalistic leg work, investigating, verifying information, filing open records requests, digging into reams of documents, etc. You do not read The Oklahoman or rely on any of the three TV networks. The problems with The Oklahoman are obvious and have been laid out multiple times in this forum; the three TV networks are all personality-driven and give subpar 30-60 second overviews of news that has previously been covered in greater detail by the four independent outlets above.

I consider myself well-informed on current events in the state, and I haven’t read anything in The Oklahoman in a very long time and the only time I turn on any of the three TV networks is to watch developing weather events (and even then I’m closely watching the weather experts in the weather thread on this site). It blows my mind people still read The Oklahoman for news since they’ve gutted their ability to conduct basic journalistic operations.

Kind of sums up myself as well. In the last couple years, The Oklahoman has consistently been behind the reporting of those you listed above in major news events, especially politics.

As for Swadleys, adding up to 30% in fees on top of work and equipment on these restaurants is comical on how egregious it is. Not to mention the overpaying for work and equipment to begin with. Sounds like Winchester is just as guilty as Swadleys for allowing this to happen.

[Roger S]

Old habits die hard. Almost all their readers are 55+ and grew up with it.

I may end up totally throwing this thread off topic with this question but....

Wasn't there a competing newspaper in Oklahoma at one time? I seem to remember there being two daily newspapers when I moved here in 78.

[Jersey Boss]

I may end up totally throwing this thread off topic with this question but....

Wasn't there a competing newspaper in Oklahoma at one time? I seem to remember there being two daily newspapers when I moved here in 78.

Yep, it was called The Journal if I remember correctly.

[Pete]

^

Yes, the Oklahoma Journal run by a rival (business and political) of Gaylord, Bill Atkinson the man behind most of Midwest City.

Couldn't make it work in the face of the near-monopoly of the Oklahoman.


I actually have every single Journal in digital form, but the scans are poor and there is no way easy way to index them.

[baralheia]

Do you really believe the state in this affair? They were behind the crooked deal. The existing restaurants were shut down so that Swadley's could take over. There was one operator in Beaver's Bend I believe who was told their lease would be automatically renewed. Then a month later they were told to vacate their restaurant and Swadley's crews were in taking measurements the next day. I hope Winchester and Swadley's are brought to justice over this.

For what it's worth, I think the state story is very likely incomplete... but at least somewhat plausible. Restaurant facilities in recently-built lodges like Roman Nose and Lake Murray almost certainly were operating and in a state of good repair, but older lodges like the one at Sequoyah had some obvious deferred maintenance issues visible from public areas last time I visited a few years ago - so I can only imagine how the back of house/kitchen area looked. I would be not at all surprised if that was the case at most of the older lodges before the Swadley's contract.

I'm definitely not saying that everything was above-board here - simply that I think there is at least some truth to the story on the state of these facilities before they were overhauled.

[Swake]

I may end up totally throwing this thread off topic with this question but....

Wasn't there a competing newspaper in Oklahoma at one time? I seem to remember there being two daily newspapers when I moved here in 78.

OKC had The Daily Oklahoman in the mornings and the Oklahoma City Times in the afternoon, but I don't think it was actually a different paper. It was just the afternoon edition of the Oklahoman as both were owned by the Gaylords.

Tulsa had the Tulsa World in the morning and the Tulsa Tribune in the afternoons. They shared printing facilities but were completely separate papers. The Lorton family (who now run The Frontier) owned the World and the Lloyd-Jones family owned the Tribune.

Funny story. Jenkin Lloyd Jones, the first owner of the Tribune was first cousins with Frank Lloyd Wright and in the 1920s had Wright build him a mansion in the country outside of Tulsa at 24th and Lewis, today that house is called WestHope.

Wright was famously not an engineer and his houses often had problems. Jenkin called his his cousin to complain that the roof was leaking on his desk. Wright replied to Jenkin that he should just move the desk. Which was difficult because Wright had designed the desk to be built into the wall and it couldn't be moved.

[Jersey Boss]

Wayne Stafford
@WayneStaffordTV
· 1h
#Breaking: A new bombshell in the @SwadleysBBQ Foggy Bottom Kitchen scandal.

The OK State Fire Marshal reporting Swadley's never got building permits for any of the restaurants, citing numerous "life safety issues" with the buildings.
@OKCFOX #Thread ��
https://okcfox.com/news/local/new-bo...itchen-scandal
Wendy Suares
@wsuares
·
2h
Also worth noting- Oklahomans picked up the tab for those permits that were never actually secured. The cost- in the thousands.
@WayneStaffordTV
will break down all the new findings at 9 on
@okcfox


Wendy Suares
@wsuares
·
2h
NEW SWADLEY'S BOMBSHELL: Documents reveal how Swadley's skirted the permitting process at all 6 state park locations, then told agents "there are more politics at play here than you could ever understand" and that OK laws didn't apply to him, citing Stitt.
Full report at 9pm.

[Pete]

This is starting to sound like there may be more fallout than just Swadley's and Winchester.

[jn1780]

Some states have political scandals evolving large fortune 500 companies. Oklahoma has a scandal over a locally owned BBQ restaurant.

[catcherinthewry]

Brent Swadley 2018: "Wouldn't be where I'm at today if I followed by the rules"

https://nondoc.com/2022/04/20/brent-...ing-the-rules/

Doing things on the up and up isn't really his thing.

[April in the Plaza]

Brent Swadley 2018: "Wouldn't be where I'm at today if I followed by the rules"

https://nondoc.com/2022/04/20/brent-...ing-the-rules/

Doing things on the up and up isn't really his thing.

I’ve heard the same story from several folks. Hopefully they throw his a$$ in the clink.