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Sunday, August 27, 2006 Picher Mayor's Land Purchases Under Scrutiny By OMER GILLHAM
World Staff Writer
PICHER -- Sam Freeman is either in trouble or one of the shrewdest men in town.
Freeman, 61, is the mayor of Picher, a small mining town at the center of the Tar Creek Superfund site in Ottawa County. He is being investigated by the state auditor and inspector for purchasing devalued land that could be sold to the government as part of a federal buyout in Tar Creek.
State Auditor and Inspector Jeff McMahan wants to know whether Freeman used his position as the mayor to buy Superfund land cheap in hope of selling it for a profit.
Freeman and dozens of other Tar Creek residents benefited from the authority's sale of about 400 lots of abandoned mining land, primarily in Picher, records show. The average lot is 25 feet by 120 feet with a sale price of 3 cents a square foot, or $90 per lot.
Freeman's son, Harold G. Freeman, bought three lots from the development authority, records show. Read more...
Posted at 8/27/2006 11:42:00 AM  
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