DRT told to pack up possessions at Alamo

One of the oldest and largest chapters of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas was told recently to remove its furniture and other privately owned items from the Alamo grounds, concluding a tumultuous year for the group that included losing custodianship of the state-owned shrine and accusations of failures, oversights and improprieties.

The Texas General Land Office, after a yearlong inventory, determined the DRT's Alamo Mission Chapter “could no longer store private belongings on state property, or continue to enjoy free, exclusive, long-term use of state property for private chapter business.”

“This was a benefit not available to any other DRT chapter or private organization,” the Land Office said Friday in a release.

The move from Alamo Hall comes on the heels of a troubled year for the DRT that saw the Land Office fully assume custodianship of the shrine under a 2011 state law.

And last month, the Texas attorney general's office released a scathing report that accused the DRT of numerous oversights and improprieties, including misappropriation of state funds and failure to preserve the shrine's mission-era structures.

The chapter also came under scrutiny last month when San Antonio police investigated a reported theft of a copy of the Texas Declaration of Independence from the chapter's office in Alamo Hall.

Although a police report said the locks of a filing cabinet the document had been stored in were “tampered with,” police said they could not determine whether a crime had occurred.

Chapter President Sharon Skrobarcek said the Land Office told her the order to relocate “had to do with the attorney general's report.” The Land Office release, however, didn't mention the report.

“The decision to draw a clear line between state and chapter property is in no way a reflection of any ill will or lack of appreciation for (the DRT's) long service to the Alamo and the people of Texas,” the release stated.

The 106-year-old chapter recently removed chandeliers, crystal sconces, drapes and other furniture and décor from Alamo Hall, a building on the grounds, and will “pack up our office and the kitchen” after New Year's, Skrobarcek told members.

“We will begin meeting to decide where we will set up for now and how we will approach the future,” she wrote in an email.

Other items that the chapter stored in the hall — a former 1922 city fire station — include a baby grand piano and a painting of Clara Driscoll, one of the chapter's founders.

The Land Office also has said the DRT must reduce costs for the DRT Library at the Alamo, or begin paying the state to store items there that belong to the Daughters.

The chapter was planning to remove its items from Alamo Hall, which will serve as a temporary gift shop while the Alamo Sales Museum is renovated in January as a private vendor, Event Network, takes over operations.

However, the Land Office asked the Daughters “to permanently move from Alamo Hall,” Skrobarcek wrote. In her email, sent Thursday, Skrobarcek assured members that the chapter “will continue and prevail.”

“While this is a sad time for us, please remember who we are! We have a purpose, history, dedication and love of our grand state,” she wrote.

The chapter has an agreement “to remove all chapter property from state grounds through an orderly and organized transition,” the Land Office said.

Since the DRT provides daily operations of the Alamo complex, the chapter and others in the DRT still can use the hall for meetings at no charge. The Land Office, which pays the DRT $10,000 per month to run the site, has said it will likely renew its operations contract with the DRT next year, possibly for a five-year period.

Tammie Smith, a former member of the DRT's statewide board, said the well-funded chapter, with some 500 members, had the power to call on DRT leaders to address issues of structural preservation, financial management and self-governance.

She said the order to relocate its belongings is a price the chapter is paying for not listening to members' concerns.

“I'm sad that it happened, but I fully expected it,” Smith said. “It's a shame it came to this.”

The DRT has more than 7,000 members in 106 chapters.

shuddleston@express-news.net