Malice in Meyerland

"Some of them had an opportunity to join," she says. "Now that they found out about the sale, they're trying to get their hands on some money. It's just greed as far as I'm concerned."

"If it were just greed," responds Patrick Devine, "we would let them sell and sue after the sale."

Marcelle Henry, a voting member who stands to benefit but is opposed to the sale, says she hopes that by the time it's over, no one makes anything. After all, the club was donated to the members, and some regular members have made no greater investment in dues than some associate members. Jim Davis estimates that if the sale goes through, the regular members will not make much, and shakes his head with some bitterness.

Some older members were encouraged by regular members to drop their voting status in exchange for lower dues, says Davis, a move that also lowered the number of people to share in the sale. Davis says he and the other associate members just want a chance to raise their children in the same idyllic setting that the older members enjoyed in the '60s and '70s, when the club was in its prime.

"We're talking about people," he says, "who have sold out their neighborhood for a few thousand dollars.