Army Corps of Engineers demands retired veteran tear down Lake Eufaula home by next week

The home has stood on the edge of the lake for more than five decades

CHECOTAH, Okla. — A veteran living out his retirement on Lake Eufaula says the Army Corps of Engineers is threatening to tear down his home that has stood for over half a century without anyone raising an issue.

The Army Corps of Engineers sent Cole Wheeler a letter in mid-November telling him the 55-year-old cabin and pergola on his property must be torn down by Dec. 15, because they partially stand on Army Corps of Engineers property.

Wheeler bought the cabin in 2009. Just seconds after a real estate agent led him inside, he knew it would be his forever home.

“It was basically abandoned. It had cobwebs off the ceiling afoot,” Wheeler said. “He opened the curtains on the main picture window, and I took one look, and I said—sold!”

The cabin sits in a subdivision atop a hill offering panoramic views of Lake Eufaula and the surrounding hills. A pergola with a swing inside sits just outside the cabin facing the shore.

“This has to be one of the best views on the lake,” Wheeler said.

In the 13 years since he bought the place, the Vietnam War veteran-turned chiropractor has spent a good chunk of his life savings getting the cabin back to its former glory.

“I probably have a good $150,000,” Wheeler said.

He says the property is his retirement paradise.

“There’s a stained-glass sign on the front of the cabin facing the road saying, swan song,” Wheeler said. “This is it, the fat lady has sung. I don’t ever plan to leave.”

Some aspects of his property never get old.

“All I want do is enjoy this gorgeous view and enjoy the peace.”

But that all changed back in August. Wheeler and his girlfriend had just returned from a trip out of town.

“Took a look out the window, and there was this huge dock,” he said.

To his surprise, one of his neighbors had put up a dock directly next to his property, blocking about a third of his view. He asked the neighbor, ‘why there?’

“‘The Corps of Engineers allowed me to put this dock here because it had to be 300 feet from a boat ramp,’” Wheeler said his neighbor told him.

FOX23 observed Wheeler measuring the distance between the new dock and the nearest boat ramp, finding it actually stands approximately 280 feet from the ramp—within the 300 foot buffer.

Wheeler says he decided the best way to prevent any more docks from popping up along his property would be to apply with the Army Corps of Engineers for a dock permit on his remaining shoreline, and build a small, low-to-the-ground dock of his own.

In November, the Army Corps of Engineers sent Wheeler a letter in response to his dock permit application. It told him not only were they denying his dock permit, but they also determined his cabin and pergola were actually built on land belonging to the Army Corps of Engineers. It went on to say they had to be torn down by Dec. 15.

Wheeler said he was confused why his application for a dock permit would be denied, because the remains of a previous dock along his property seem to indicate the Corps had no issues with his property’s previous owners putting in a dock.

He said a uniformed Army Corps of Engineers official visited his house, telling him if he didn’t tear it down, they would, and they’d send him the bill.

“Shocked, I mean absolutely shocked,” Wheeler said. “I developed an instant headache, stomach ache and chest pains.”

Since FOX23 visited wheeler’s property on Dec. 1, the Army Corps of Engineers has put up ‘no trespassing’ and ‘private property’ signs outside Wheeler’s cabin.

“You’re dealing with an organization that is all powerful,” Wheeler said. “There is no accountability.”

FOX23 tried calling the number listed on the letter for Natural Resource Specialist Mark Limestall to try get answers as to why the Army Corps of Engineers waited until now—more than five decades after the cabin was built—to notify anyone it was apparently standing on Corps property.

Nobody picked up when FOX23 called, and FOX23 was not given an option to leave a voicemail.

Wheeler is now spending thousands of dollars to get the land surveyed to try to prove to the Corps they’ve made a mistake, so he can save his retirement paradise.

“I feel like it’s a David and Goliath situation,” Wheeler said. “I’ve worked my whole life for something like this to retire to ... And it’s being threatened. Taken away, possibly.”