DUI arrest for former ORU president Richard Roberts

In case you haven't heard this morning's schadenfreude:

More info here.

He still has his daddy's hair:


I think many in Tulsa still are bitter about the way he got off the hook after leading ORU and his father's ministry into the ground. A brief synopsis:

1- ORU on the verge of financial ruin
2- It is revealed that the Robertses (Richard and wife Lindsey) were living high on the hog as ORU was sinking financially
3- Oral himself tries to rally the faculty by coming back from California retirement for a private meeting... to no avail
4- Hobby Lobby's family bails ORU out on the condition that the Roberts family GTFOs.
5- Richard Roberts gets big severance en route out... and pretty much no punishment for what seemed to be embezzlement.

Thus, this is a comeuppance in many people's eyes, methinks. Further public shaming. And, yes, "schadenfreude."

 

That "ministry" was always about the financial gain of the Roberts family, all the rest of it was a sideshow. I never could understand the sort of mentality someone would have to have in order to think that a television prayer rug did something or that if Oral doesn't get $1MM or whatever, the Lord was going to call him home. I mean... what a bunch of criminals.

And the folks who donated money so the Roberts could live a lavish lifestyle? I'm not sure that "idiot" is even close to strong enough a word.

 

While Oral did get to retire to sunny Cali off of donated money, I really think that Oral didn't abuse it to the extent that the younger generation did.

At least Oral laid the foundation for a university here in Tulsa that has benefited the community. It may never be on the academic par of TU, OU or even OSU, but it draws students from around the world to Oklahoma to be educated in a religious atmosphere and I do think that they are on the right track now with the Hobby Lobby family, a new president, etc.

The "Lord calling him home" thing I think was a desperation move to keep ORU going, because creditors were ready to shut the place down. You just can't do some of the things they were trying to pull --- a fully accredited medical school that offered free schooling in exchange for doing two years of mission work?! Oh my...

 

In the beginning of Orals ministry I really believe he was very devout and sincere. He had one of the greatest Healing ministries. Towards the end I believe HIS wants and desires got in the way
Richard was and always will be, just a dick

 

My father tells a story about him having an encounter with Roberts once... dad was General Counsel of a state department. There was a party celebrating some big going-on. Roberts was there making the rounds, mingling with the crowd. He'd stick his hands in his pockets, then try to shake someone's hands. He obviously had heating pads in his pockets because his hands were extremely warm. He came up to my father and grabbed him by the hands. Dad, who had had a few at that point said "Oh my God, my hemherroids are cured!" Roberts apparently thought that was hilarious.

 

Wasn't that all "God calling me home" an attempt to fund his medical school/hospital? And what about the 700 foot Jesus? Does anyone else remember that? The early 1980's were a loooong time ago.

BTW, my grandmother, a good Episcopalian if there ever was one, LOVED Oral Roberts. She thought that taking us out to tour the campus was quite a thrill.

 

I think it was an attempt to keep the school and possibly the ministry from going under. Keep in mind that ORU had more than $50 million in debt when Richard finally got the boot. The dated, decrepit buildings on campus were dated and decrepit for a reason.

Someone who talked to Oral Roberts a lot had an interesting take on him... apparently asked him if he knew how silly a 700-foot Jesus sounded. And he said that he did, but said that's what God told him to say.

 

Some truth to that but otherwise you're clueless.

 

I bet there's more to this than meets the eye. Think about it. He's hauling ***, over 90mph, drunk, headed home, late at night. So, which is it? Was he at his girlfriend's house, a hotel room with a hooker, or a titty bar?

 

Maybe he was hurrying home to watch The Bachelor?

 

My dad had a poster in his office of the street in front of ORU with a road sign that said "900-foot Jesus crossing."

 

I sometimes wonder if Lindsey Roberts was just naive. $50,000 a year for clothes and other expenses? Hell, that's less than $1,000 a week! It's only a few hundred if you really crunch the numbers! There are tons of embezzlers out there that take far more! I'm just trying to be a presentable first lady of the university and ministry!

This is what I've found many embezzlers' arguments to be in court ---- that they didn't realize how much the amount they were taking added up to, because it seemed to be so minor in single helpings.

 

Those who'd separate the old man (and I refer to Oral, not the retarded brother, Anal, who the family doesn't talk about), from nefarious activities are flat out wrong. There never was anything to the entire family except a powerful lust for money.
My family grazed dairy cattle for them in the 1940's and got ripped off. When it came time to be paid, Oral tried to give them a prayer blanket instead and finally danced around to the point where my G.Grandfather had to accept about $0.25 on the dollar.
They are all scoundrels and crooks. That they operate tax free is a testimony to the stupidity of our tax code and, more so, to that of their donors.

 

Funny and true story:

The day after Richard is arrested for DUI, ORU finally breaks ground on that student center they've been planning for years.

It'll be done next January.

For a long time, it was an empty lot with a sign, much like OSU's athletic village when Boone's hedge fund profits disappered.

ORU is moving forward without the Roberts family and dare I say they seem tons better off without them. Maybe they should change it to "Oklahoma Religious University." Same initials, no Roberts affiliation.

 

I went to Basketball Camp there 3 Summers. Oral would walk into Breakfast in his Gucci Shoes and say a prayer with us which was cool as far as I'm concerned. He was President of the University and we didnt deserveanything other than what they said we were to get in the camp brochure. I think it said he did a prayer breakfast with us during camp I had some good times there and really learned a lot from Coach Hale. I grew up watching Tulsa, ORU and OU Basketball. I liked all three programs. Good times.

To bad Richard didn't do as good a job at getting folks to believe.

 

What do you call two queers named Bob?


Oral Roberts.

 

:drunk:

 

Ah, so you would describe his lifestyle as spartan?

It's a religious institution based on fraud. If the hypocrisy of its foundation doesn't bother you, I guess that's fine.

If not for the religious context, (and arguably that's irrelevant) what he did here was literally criminal. He defrauded little old ladies out of their money to fund some sort of pie in the sky concept which was more about satisfying his ego than anything else.

 

A lot of stuff was built on tricky foundations, but what matters most is how they've grown from their beginnings, corrected past wrongs and what they are doing now and plan to do in the future.

They completely eradicated that university of the Roberts family, as in NO positions of power, NO faculty salary, etc.

They are turning that place around financially and the students are fun (you can see them out Friday nights with 'Jesus Loves You' signs) about 5-mile radius from campus.

There is no question in my mind that at least the younger Roberts generation did many things wrong, but they're out, and as we can see, still getting publicly shamed.

BUT, ORU has moved on without Richard and Lindsey Roberts, and without Oral (since, above all other reasons, he's dead now), and they seem to be doing much better.

 

The school needs a new name. Naming your Christian school after a TV evangelist fraudster isn't going to win you academic brownie points. Also, charging $413/credit hour for a sub-standard education which few people are going to respect isn't too much worse than selling prayer rugs or telling old ladies to give you all their money or God's going to call you home.