Loretta Murphy’s Rotting Wood

Bell’s Amusement Park planned major improvements before its eviction, while Big Splash Water Park can’t replace rotting boards on its slides. 

If that had been Bell’s, Tulsa County Commissioner, Randi Miller would have responded immediately.

Where is Miller during this public relations crisis?  Staying away from the story.

It has been a few months since Miller was in any controversy.

I believe this is part of her campaign to win the Republican nomination against Sally Bell, wife of Bob Bell, founder of Bell’s Amusement Park

Win on a familiar name and not on job ability, and by familiar, I mean vaguely familiar.  The name Randi Miller is political poison.  Unless she changes her name to Sally Keith to confuse voters, I don’t see her winning.

The last thing Miller needs is bad publicity, especially from a supporter or fairground tenant.

Uh-oh.  Loretta Murphy is a Miller supporter and fairground tenant, and in the midst of bad publicity.

             Loretta is the owner of Big Splash, wife of Tulsa State Fair monopoly-holder Jerry Murphy and the mommy of Big Splash’s manager, Amber Beck.  According to Tulsa World, Beck had no comment on the water slide story and said the owner, mommy, would address the issue when she got home.

Loretta addressed the issue the same way she manages her park, by ignoring the problem.  Instead of explaining why rides opened after they failed state inspections, she chose to jump on KOTV’s Web site to comment on another issue, public opinion:

“Most of the negative things that have been posted in this forum have been for political gain or are people that support the Bell family.  It was no ones fault that Bell’s contract was not renewed except for Bell’s themselves. Imagine how the county would be run if Sally Bell is elected County Commissioner.” 

Most of her comments defended her husband and the difficulty of her business.  What she didn’t do, besides replace rotten wood, was answer the question we want answered.  Why were the repairs not completed?

Loretta is correct about one statement; those comments are from Bell family supporters.  You may know them as Tulsans, your customer base.

A good manager would know not to run off their customer base.  A good manager would also know to repair damage that failed inspection before the ride opened.

Bell’s contract was not renewed out of personal gain, not public interest.

As for your comment on Sally Bell, I imagine the county would run better.  At this point I’d vote for a monkey in a tutu that picks lice off a baboon’s ass before I’d vote for the Miller-Murphy ticket.

More than rotting wood needs replaced.
 

(Update:  Loretta Murphy has apologized for the rotten boards and said it was “an honest mistake.”  No word yet on if her comments on KOTV’s Web site were also an honest mistake.)

(Update #2:  Loretta told Tulsa World, “I don’t feel in my mind that [rotting beams] were a danger, but they need to be corrected.”  This officially negates her apology.) 

(Update #3:  Bjorklund fired.  Murphy on a Roll.