Page A8. Talk about odd.

Some of you are familiar with the background on this. But for those who don't know, a Bryan/College Station resident and member of the Stark family wrote a tell all book which is kind of turning into a mini (or maybe not so mini) phenomenon generating much interest and buzz in Southeast and South Central Texas.

You would think the multimillion dollar benefactor of the Stark estate (the Foundation) would simply blow this off, issue a short statement when the book was released two months ago, and then be done with it. Instead, it looks like the foundation is getting all caught up in the whirlwind and instead of stoically brushing this thing off they are doing what amounts to throwing gasoline on the fire in my opinion.

It's clear the ad in today's Eagle is reaching out to discredit the author Rebecca Stark. One wonders, however, how many local folks would not even know this story exists had the foundation simply not placed the ad. It also seems curious to me that the foundation would go to such great lengths and use a full page of text to defend themselves. Every additional word they write gives the appearance of more guilt. You'd think if the story was just outright sensational they would just flippantly brush it off instead.

On top of this, the foundation has hired a private investigator to torpedo any credibility the author and the story may have, and this investigator is openly posting on the book's Facebook page.

This thing is getting crazy.....

I should have said this involves the Stark family of Orange, Texas for those of you wondering what the heck I'm talking about (and I don't blame you for wondering).

The name of the book is entitled If The Devil Had a Wife.

Apparently they've run it in several newspapers... Beaumont, Jasper that I know of for sure.... Rumors about larger market ones too.

She was giving two presentations on the book in Bridge City today and both have been pretty well attended, according to friends on Facebook. I think you are totally right in this being a PR SNAFU on the part of the Stark Foundation. It's amazing what a full page ad will do for book sales.

I've also heard from friends who've been helping to promote the book that they've been getting threatening letters from Stark Foundation lawyers. It's freaky.

The 120+ point rebuttal that they put out also makes a lot of claims, and they use vague phrases like "those around so and so knew" and "people who knew so and so said" but they make no effort at backing up their version with actual names or citations... Yet their main criticism of the book is that Becky uses information that she got from family servants and such. It's funny in a sad way too because they imply that they all knew her father and grandfather better than she did.

I've known the story for years and its a good one. If the ad has stirred your curiosity at all, get the book. It isn't expensive and its worth the read.



[This message has been edited by TxElsie (edited 5/12/2010 9:39p).]

If you grew up in the Beaumont/Orange area, you probably had some passing knowledge/interest in the Stark family.

Today's ad will surely generate more sales for author Becky Nugent's book. The whole situation sounds like it could sustain a soap opera plot line for many years.

From what I can tell, a central issue is that the author's father was adopted into the Stark family, but not privy to the family fortune. Someone who has read the book can correct me if I'm wrong.

For those wondering why this is on mybcs, Ms. Nugent is a former City of College Station PIO.

Can someone summarize what this "story" is about or point me towards a link that can? I've never even heard of the Stark family.

http://www.ifthedevilhadawife.com/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XoLaz6fdbxY

And I can't say I'm totally unbiased. My name is on the acknowledgments page.


[This message has been edited by TxElsie (edited 5/12/2010 10:39p).]

Who are these Starks of which you speak? Tony Stark's relatives? Does the book reveal the secrets of how to build the Iron Man suit?

BTW: Does this have anything at all to do with live in BCS?

Speaking of being unbiased, I may be in a decent position in that regard since I'm an outsider. I know folks from Orange who favor one side of the story and others who favor the other side. All of them personally know or knew one or more people mentioned in the book, and they have no trouble making direct comments about them.

At first I had no personal leanings to one side or the other, I simply found the story interesting and felt it best to be neutral. But after seeing things like the full page ad today, I'm definitely leaning toward Becky Stark Nugent's side.

Maybe the craziest thing to me is the Stark Foundation's private eye posting relentlessly on the book's Facebook page and trading blows with the rest of the 1,400 "fans" on that page...you just don't see that kind of stuff very often.

If the foundation's lawyers are writing threatening letters I'm guessing that's as far as they will go. If they filed a lawsuit would that be exactly what the defendant wanted...would the discovery process be like handing over a key to Pandora's box?

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BTW: Does this have anything at all to do with live in BCS?

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There was a full page ad in The Eagle today. That makes it relevant, whether it's relevant or not.

I had not heard of the book until the ad ran today. Don't know what the Stark Foundation lawyers are threatening or on whose behalf they are making threats but legally, you cannot libel or slander a dead person.

Sounds like an interesting read.

You are absolutely right, AgDotCom. My bad.

That said; did these Stark ever live in or even drive through BCS? In other words, is there any reason we should care? (I haven't lived here all my life so I don't know these people or thier history.)

Villager, first of all as I re-read my post I can see where I might come off as a little condescending so I apologize for that if so. I could have worded my response a little better.

As for your question, the author of the book lives in Bryan now. Her father attended A&M and was close friends with R.C. Slocum who is also from Orange. Her grandfather, the husband of the central character of the book, was a chairman of the UT Board of Regents and personally hired former A&M coach Dana X. Bible to coach the Longhorns.

Ok - i looked at both of the links and still dont understand the story. Can anyone summarize it?

Any publicity is good publicity!

My take on this issue both party's are looking for a TV mini-series (which I think would be good). Folks, it's all about $$'s for both sides.

As far as scandalous books, is Becky interested in writing one about PDR & the arts council? It would be a combination of "The Music Man", "The Manchurian Candidate" and "Rent".

Fortunately for the Stark family they ran it in the Eagle. Not to much visibility there..

Now i am gonna have to read this book.

"the author's father was adopted into the Stark family, but not privy to the family fortune"

nuf said.... I don't need to read the book now... this happens all the time. Locals in Sur de Tejas came out of the woodwork to claim King Ranch stole the land they have.. Of course they only came out of the woodwork 80 years later when oil was discovered on the property... LOL

Since a full page ad was run in the Eagle, can we expect a recommendation from Donnis Baggett in his farewell column? Just wondering...

Okay . . . so what's the story/scandal? Why should we care?

I think its local because the Stark Foundation has affiliations and dealings with the University.

But the Stark Foundation seem s to have had run-ins with the Stark Family itself.

The author of the book used to work for the city of CS.

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nuf said.... I don't need to read the book now... this happens all the time. Locals in Sur de Tejas came out of the woodwork to claim King Ranch stole the land they have.. Of course they only came out of the woodwork 80 years later when oil was discovered on the property.

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No one's coming out of the woodwork claiming to be related and demanding money. The book (among other things) just points out how money was not given to Mr. Stark's two boys and shares the private side of an otherwise public family...great read!

No worries, AgDotCom. I just didn't know anything about any of them. Since it sounded like a story about people from Orange, I was struggling to understand why anyone in BCS should care, why the Foundation would run an ad here, etc. (It seems like the Foundation is actually going to cause book sales to INCREASE because they are giving it so much publicity by running the ads. That seems like a dumb move to me.)

AgDotCom,

I read that ad yesterday and was wondering what it was about. I'd never heard of the Starks nor anyone else involved. Thanks to you and the others for shedding some light on it.

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"the author's father was adopted into the Stark family, but not privy to the family fortune"

nuf said.... I don't need to read the book now...

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Well, that in and of itself is an interesting twist in the book. The twins were adopted by Lutcher and his first wife Nita. Rumor in Orange for years was that the boys were his natural children by his secretary, Ruby.

When Nita died, Ruby became his second wife, and stepmother to the children many believed to be her own natural children.

Then Ruby died, and Lutcher married her sister Nelda, who would have been the boys second stepmother and COULD have been their aunt as well. Although the Foundation has taken pains to point out the boys were adopted, Becky has told me herself that her step-grandmother had commented that she saw a resemblance between herself and Becky.

[This message has been edited by TxElsie (edited 5/13/2010 3:15p).]

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I think its local because the Stark Foundation has affiliations and dealings with the University.

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As far as I know, the Starks that support A&M aren't the same Starks. These have a bunch of affiliations with UT but not with A&M, IIRC.

I just returned from Bridge City and Orange where I attended both of the presentations made by Becky. I went as a friend of Becky's and I was curious about Orange.

Becky spoke about her book and family history at an Exploring History Lunch Lecture here in March, sponsored by Heritage Programs at the City of CS. I had no problems with sponsoring this lecture. Becky has been a resident of B-CS for 17 years. She worked for BISD and COCS. That alone makes her history important to us. In addition, the Stark Foundation has contributed to A&M in many ways over the years. Homer, Becky's dad, attended A&M. Recently, I found a full page ad in "The Longhorn" from 1930 paid for by the Stark Foundation.(The A&M yearbook was known as "The Longhorn" long before it was "The Aggieland."

The city supported my choice to host the program. As a result, the Stark Foundation hired a private investigator who sent threatening emails and letters to the city and to me making false accusations about my involvement with promoting this lecture and the book. Simple responses from the city and my own private attorney seem to have taken care of this ridiculous issue.

I have followed Becky's progress on the book and have witnessed the depth and extent of her research. I feel very secure in saying that there is nothing in the book that is not backed up with any one of 450,000 pages of legal documents generated by the Stark Foundation and made available to the public as a result of a court case some years ago. Becky has been very thorough and stories told to her were included only if they were substantiated by several sources.

This Stark family is not the same as the Stark Gallery family.

The book is doing very well having sold well over 5,000 copies since mid-February. Becky was very clear in her presentation that it is not her intent to go after money from the Stark Foundation. She wants her family's story recorded. She makes a very clear distinction between the Stark Foundation and the leadership of the Stark Foundation in her presentations and in the book. She believes that there is room for improvement in both.

Becky was my supervisor for a time at City Hall. I found her to be honest, ethical, trustworthy and gracious. I suggest you read the book and draw your own conclusions. After all, that is what freedom of speech is all about.

How can you say this was not about money when the family sued the foundation for just that? I don't know any of these people but I've read the book and was initially blown away. But after looking at the website www.thestarktruth.org it's clear much of what is written was made up. There are a lot of inconsistency in the book and knowing someone for years doesn't mean they are telling the truth.

When you talk about the Stark Foundation, don't forget it was their lawyers who burned at least six truckloads of documents during the discovery phase of a lawsuit. Not the best role model for delivering the truth.

Aggiebaggie - You are certainly entitled to your opinion. I happen to disagree with your assumptions. The book has certainly caused a stir. As a result, folks will be watching the foundation very closely from here on out. I think that is a very good thing.

Have a great day!

Mr. Klein,
What a pleasure.... was wondering when you'd join this conversation. Welcome to TexAgs.... Bored with Facebook already? We're a small group here, why don't you introduce yourself, since this is your first post? Good plug for your website. It's a pity that rookies can't post links.


[This message has been edited by TxElsie (edited 5/14/2010 9:15a).]

Txcow, Are you clairvoyant? And know everyone from their posts. Wow. Beautiful day in BCS.

Please come up with something more original than the Elsie/Cow thing.... It's been done to death already...