You can't go home again, says the old adage.
On the other hand, if you have enough money, you can just pay someone to carve it up and bring it to you. Ask T. Boone Pickens.
The Oklahoma-born oilman billionaire did just that when he ordered a piece of concrete into which he wrote his name in 1946 (when it was wet, and he was wet behind the ears) carved out of a driveway in Holdenville and carted back to his out-of-state hacienda, according to a recent story.
The deal went down like this, according to The Oklahoman: The moniker was inscribed by the young Pickens into a slab of concrete in front of what used to be his grandmother's house. The now-older Pickens, who returns from time to time to inspect the family plot in the little town, just off Highway 270, visited the site because, well, for the reason that billionaires have sentimental ties to concrete in which they've inscribed their John Hancocks.
Anyway, Pickens said he saw the current state repairs, or lack thereof, at the house. So "¦
"I was sad, and felt a desire to protect what cherished memories I could, most notably the cement that I etched my name into the sidewalk as a youth," Pickens said in a statement printed in The Oke. "The crew leading the repairs at the cemetery offered to cut it out, and I authorized the removal. (The hole was immediately filled and repaired, not weeks later as has been suggested and reported). I knew it was city property and, in hindsight, regret that I did not work with the appropriate city officials to seek their permission."
Yep, he took it. Just like that.
The owner of the property, David McCart, said he was shocked when he showed up to mow the lawn at the vacant house and saw a gaping hole where the name had once been inscribed.
"I was in shock and started talking to my neighbors," McCart said. "I couldn't imagine who would actually come and cut my driveway out or when it had happened."
Pickens spokesman Jay Rosser said they are working to try and smooth this whole thing (or hole thing?) over, according to The Oke.
"There is no one prouder of his Holdenville heritage than Boone. He carved his name in that cement 70 years ago, in his grandmother's driveway.
"It means a lot to him, and is now with his childhood home, which has been carefully restored and relocated to his ranch in the Texas Panhandle to help commemorate his Oklahoma roots.
"He's pleased to learn that the neighborhood he grew up in and the cement markings were so popular in Holdenville."
Well, that's one way of putting it. But what kind of manners did his grandmother instill in him?
