Koonsmans appear to have won the battle of The Big Tree

Jon Koonsman is breathing a cautious sigh of relief.

For now, it appears the electric transmission line that threatened to uproot a piece of his family's heritage - a massive oak tree believed to be at least 200 years old - has been rerouted.

An embattled Koonsman said he was surprised to learn Monday a proposal that was pulled from the table in early March, may be the final route of the 300-mile line that will cut across 11 counties including Erath and about 100 local properties.

"I believe we have an agreement," Koonsman said Tuesday. "But no contracts have been signed. It would be nice to have it in writing, but I don't know if we ever will. It makes me nervous, but I am obviously enormously relieved."

And the agreement may have come just in time.

"They told us a while back (site preparation and construction) would begin May 18," he said. "That's why the fight took on such an urgency."

The battle started in June 2011 when Lone Star Transmission began acquiring easements and rights of access from local landowners.

For Koonsman, an Empire-Tribune columnist, the battle has been spelled out through a series of columns chronicling efforts to protect the 'big tree."

"Heritage is not a house on a cul-de-sac and moving every few years," he said, adding his family has called the Duffau area ranch home for 140 years. "The tree means everything to us, it's one place my family, even extended family, wanted to protect. When we talk about 'our place,' we aren't talking about the ranch. That spot - and that tree - is our place and it wouldn't be the same without it."

For now, Koonsman said the fight is over.

"I told my kids and the rest of the family we were just going to fight like hell," he said. "But I think it is over, I have no agenda past this and would like to think it is over."

Update

The route that was given to Paul Koonsman to go around The Big Tree was unacceptable. It went north of the tree, which took out hundreds of other trees. There are talks in the works for another acceptable route.

Update from Amy Koonsman Smith: 4/26/12

UPDATE: Apparently, a map with a new route to go AROUND "The Big Tree" is being delivered to my father right now. It will involve having a neighbor give permission to slightly alter the placement of one of the poles on his property. It is not over yet but we have reason to be cautiously optimistic. I want to thank you you all so, so much for all of your support, letters, phone calls and most of all your prayers. I woke up yesterday morning madder than hell. I told Jon, "we are going to make it "RAIN FIRE" today." I know he thought I had lost my mind...and I had. :) Jon, I think it did!!!!!

The Big Tree

Lee Anne Roberts LTE

Dear Editor,

I am an ex-Koonsman, so I suppose if someone were going to complain about the family, it might be a person like me. I support Jon Koonsman and all members of his family one hundred per cent. They are some of the finest people on the face of this planet.

I've been doing a little reading of my own regarding Lone Star Transmission and NextEra. I decided to see what kind of companies they are and how their employees feel about their jobs. What I found was almost heartbreaking. Their employees are stressed out and depressed. Many of them have been living on unfulfilled promises for years. These companies are understaffed, their employees overworked and underpaid; well, except for the big wigs. The employees opinion of their company is not good. Many of them don't like what they're doing, but they need to keep their jobs. This is not difficult to find..just get online and start typing their corporate names. You'll find more than you bargained for.

 So, Mr. Shiny Penny, you've been demoted to a two-bit liar. Your company is lame, your people are miserable, and you're letter is little more than a fairytale.

 You're going up against people like you've never encountered before. Good luck with that. You're going to need it.

 Amy Koonsman is right; these good folks are sitting in a boat with a big hole in it. Good thing for them their boss walks on water.

Lee Anne Roberts

Longmont, Colorado

(817) 584-1063

4/25/12 - Update

UPDATE: We have movement! Supposedly, PUCT and LST are talking about "The Big Tree" issue. (Yes, we are officially a thorn in someone's side.) This is by no means a resolution. But, whatever you are doing....keep doing it. We need to keep the heat on them until we have something in writing. We thank you all so much for all of the phone calls, emails and FB messages. Time to git'r done!

Paul Koonsman LTE

I retired almost two years ago as Director of Alumni Relations at Tarleton State University and have

since tried to remain free of those controversies or conflicts which were once a part of my daily life. I

spent more than fifteen years simply making things work, helping bring individuals or organizations

together to arrive at a workable solution to almost any issue. I was good at it; I thought that no problem

was too big or small that I couldn’t get people to cooperate at some level. Well, Lone Star Transmission

has finally burst my bubble. I have tried to be understanding, I have tried to be flexible, and I have

tried to believe that they have the best interest of our citizens in mind, but I have never found an

organization as difficult to work with. If they had kept their word, you wouldn’t be hearing from me and

you wouldn’t be enduring all of those missiles from Jon Koonsman. Lone Star is like the governor in “The

Best Little Whorehouse in Texas”, they’re a song and dance man. You can never speak to anyone who has

the authority to make a decision. What’s true today is not true tomorrow, what they giveth today is gone

two weeks from now; the easement location is here today and fifty feet to the south next week. Now

you tell me that the line will carry power from other generating sources when you persisted in claiming

that it was only from wind generation.

Jon Koonsman is my son. He is brilliant, he is opinionated, he is hardheaded, and he even wears on his old

dad occasionally, but he is dead right about Lone Star Transmissions. They are showing us the dark side

of capitalism; they are the poster child for the erosion of business ethics in corporate America. I have

been personally involved in the negotiations for the utility easement across our land but have tried to

stay out of the more public part of the controversy; however, the recent letter to the editor from Lone

Star stirred me to write. It seems like a simple thing, but really, signing a letter “Lone Star

Transmission”… are we dealing with real people or have we finally reached the point where a non-human

is in control? Until I reached the bottom of the letter, I thought that I might have finally found

someone in authority to talk to.

You may be tiring of “The Big Tree” but to my family, friends, and neighbors it has become a rallying

point. It may be us today but it may be you tomorrow. Unfortunately we have become so comfortable and

complacent that someone else’s problem is simply … “someone else’s problem”. I am thankful for those

other landowners who have had the backbone to stand up and fight what is simply a perversion of the

concept of Imminent Domain. This is not for the “common good”. When you choose to destroy a gift that

probably witnessed the birth of this nation, you simply subvert the notion that this nation was founded

on the basis of the “common good”.

I have tried to avoid being too cynical about this issue. It will have a positive outcome, my children have

learned what it means to support a cause, to have to defend something that you really belief in, to have

to make personal sacrifices because something is just not right. These are things that cannot be

taught… you have to simply learn them.

A man once said that “technology is what we use to bring back what we had before technology”. I am not

sure that I understand all of the implications of that statement but I don’t think that any amount of

technology will bring back the “The Big Tree”; instead technology seems determined to destroy her. I

guess being born before anyone perceived the whole concept of technology doesn’t really mean anything.

I am a patient man, but I have had enough. Lone Star Transmission, you have refused to keep your word

to me, you have prolonged a situation that could have been resolved months ago, and you have destroyed

my belief that you will eventually do what’s right. So, if you’re still determined to grind “The Big Tree”,

you may just get to grind me with it.

Paul Koonsman