The first meeting of Save the Light. It was me and my next door neighbor drinking a beer in her backyard and discussing an ad she had seen that day. Oddly enough, the first time I went to Morris Island was as a teen with the previous owner, Speedy Feckel. He also owned Angel Oak until Nazi Joe Riley took it from to get a foothold onto Johns Island.
Y’all fill in blanks or correct me. The story I was told was Riley approached Speedy and Speedy refused to sell. Riley told him he would do whatever in his power to take it away to include eminent domain. Riley being the big realestate man knew the area was going to grow and property prices would skyrocket. He increased property taxes and Speedy lost Angle Oak to delinquent taxes rather than Riley’s threat and push for eminent domain, since that was getting a lot of negative response from locals.
If you do some searching it says the City of Charleston bought the property from the original owner Justice Angle and completely ignores "Speedy’s"ownership from 1964-1991. If some of you remember we had t.v. poles with 90% against City take over, but Riley said his mail showed different. I did meet Speedy once and he really seemed sincere on his love for the Tree and keeping healthy for all to see.