Woodwind Lakes subdivision built on oil and gas field turns on neighbor who pointed out the contamination

To say Marianne West is active in Woodwind Lakes would be a gross understatement. She has served on the homeowners association board, the supper club committee and the grounds committee, writes for the neighborhood newsletter, hosts bunco parties and "was the inspiration for" the women's club, she says.

Here is Marianne West's take on Woodwind Lakes residents who have filed lawsuits: "They hopped on the bandwagon so they could make some money."

Here she is on Paul and Cheryl Anderson: "They were pariahs in the neighborhood."

Here she is on Paul Anderson's career: "Paul Anderson's finances were discussed around here for years. He had no livelihood."

And here she is on the Andersons' relationship: "Everybody liked Cheryl and felt sorry for her to be married to Paul."

That's what Marianne West says today -- eight months after she sent a public apology via e-mail to more than 200 Woodwind Lakes residents as part of an agreement to settle a slander lawsuit brought against her by Paul and Cheryl Anderson.

The Wests and the Andersons used to be friends. Well, maybe not friends, but neighborly. They mingled at the same parties for years.

But by 2003 the gloves were off.

The Wests and many other residents of Woodwind Lakes conspired to silence Paul Anderson in an attempt to protect property values and prevent any more environmental testing, according to e-mails obtained by the Press.

Even the subdivision's property manager got in on the action.

"Is there some type of suit we can file to shut [Paul Anderson] up?" Patti Roy of Sterling Association Services, Inc. wrote in an e-mail dated March 10, 2004 to several residents. Homeowners association attorney Russel Holt e-mailed Roy back an hour later: "Maybe we should file a lawsuit against Anderson for injunctive relief...However, I hate for him to go public with the fact that we filed a lawsuit to stop environmental testing in the neighborhood -- this may fit right into his ploy."

On April 14, 2004, Marianne West sent out a mass e-mail to residents. "If you're like me," she wrote, "you're disturbed by the large number of homes for sale in our neighborhood, especially the ones that have been on the market for several months. The environmental issue is having a detrimental impact on our home values and home sales. Some realtors have decided not to show homes in WWL, and many homeowners have had to lower their prices."

One week later, West and several allies formed a new committee intended "to preserve WWL home values (especially in the context of the environmental issue)," according to minutes taken during the first meeting.

The minutes did not show, however, that Paul Anderson was the main topic of discussion. "They spent an hour slandering the crap out of Paul Anderson, saying this was all his creation, that nothing was wrong and they must stop Paul before he destroys everybody's property values," recalls homeowner Tanner Garth, a trial lawyer who serves as co-counsel in multiple pending lawsuits regarding Woodwind Lakes.

On May 8, 2004, leaders of the homeowners' committee e-mailed several northwest realtors, downplaying recent negative media attention and touting the subdivision as "an exquisite waterfront and wooded community similar to The Woodlands and close-in to most everything...Prices are steadily rising...It's easy to see why so many families choose Woodwind Lakes for their retreat and home."

But life at Woodwind Lakes was getting increasingly dark.

On October 2, 2004, Paul Anderson was heading toward his new neighbor Frank Oidtmann's house to discuss the environmental contamination issues. They had talked earlier and Oidtmann expressed some interest in learning more, Anderson says. Apparently Oidtmann had changed his mind.

"Fuck you!" Oidtmann allegedly shouted at Anderson, cocking a shotgun and aiming it at him in front of several witnesses on the cul-de-sac. According to Anderson, Oidtmann continued to point the gun at him even as he lifted his hands above his head and slowly back-pedaled into the street, an account supported by Harris County Precinct 4 deputy constable Bob Hall, who has patrolled Woodwind Lakes since its inception.

The Andersons increasingly feared for their safety. They canceled their land phone due to incessant crank calls. Every night they kept the dog inside, activated the alarm and double-checked that all windows and doors were bolted.

"You know, everybody in the neighborhood hates your husband," women at bunco parties told Cheryl Anderson. Paul Anderson would ride his mountain bike through the neighborhood and somebody he didn't even know would yell, "Anderson, you're a dickwad!"

Kent Shell has overseen development of more than a dozen Houston-area subdivisions. But the 61-year-old president of Lakeland Development Company made the unwise decision not to investigate the entire property slated to become Woodwind Lakes prior to its purchase in the early 1990s.