'Athletic Village' work at OSU delayed

It's tough out there.  

No, no no... not the weather.  For once, it's perfect! 

I'm talking about the economy.  High gas prices. Unstable Wall Street.  I could go on and on, but thankfully, Oklahoma has avoided the aches and pains that most other communities  are feeling.

However, there's still some impact.

Downtown Oklahoma City developers are mumbling that their projects are being scaled down in size due to the slowing economy, and if you need more proof, just travel north to Stillwater.

I recently had to do some digging into the new athletic village being constructed at Oklahoma State University.  The work is coming to a temporary halt, according to a university spokesman who goes on to say the money in the Boone Pickens hedge fund that will pay for the new sports facilities has decreased due to the energy crisis and tough economic times.  

Work will resume when the funds are again available.

This week I tried to line up some interviews to do a more in-depth piece on this project and the funding issues, but the "no comment" storm floated my way.

That left me scratching my head.  The school didn't do anything wrong.  It's just life and a result of the tough times we're all having to embrace.  

::rusty shrugs shoulders:::

We still mentioned it in our newscasts.  I just wish we could have been given a tad bit more information on-camera. 

Oh well, let's just be thanking our lucky Oklahoma stars it's not as bad as some others.

Rusty Surette  rusty.surette@news9.net