Free land in Kansas

[Droopy]

By CALVIN WOODWARD
ELLSWORTH, Kan. (AP) - Here in the heartland, the prairie homesteading tradition lives again. Land - that coveted, crowded, pricey possession in America's hot spots - can be had these days for nothing in a growing number of Great Plains communities.

Sagging populations prompted economic planners to offer juicy incentives inspired by the land giveaways to settlers in the mid- to late 1800s. And so, in the middle of Kansas, Maribel Juarez has rediscovered the town of her El Salvadoran childhood.

In Ellsworth, just as in El Salvador's Atiquizaya in the old days, church bells chime. Freight trains clatter and whistle day and night. Everyone knows everyone else - and their business - and there's no fighting with traffic.

``I found a place exactly like my hometown and it's in America,'' Juarez says with a broad smile. ``To us, this is our promised land. We don't need anything else.''

Lured by an offer of free property, Juarez, 44, and her husband, Madecadel, 46, came to Kansas from Vallejo, Calif., two months ago. They went from an apartment where they feared letting their daughter out on her bicycle to a nearly new home with a big lawn, oak floors and a sense of utter safety.

More at the link: http://cnn.netscape.cnn.com/ns/news/story.jsp?idq=/ff/story/0001%2F20050824%2F0218513282.htm&photoid=20050823ARDJ601&ewp=ewp_news_0905free_land

[Blue-Jay]

1. Yeah, but then you'd have to live in KANSAS!

:yoiks:

[DeposeTheBoyKing]

2. HEY!!!! Kansas is wonderful!

Despite the righties who live there, it's a wonderful place to live.

[Droopy]

3. That state needs an infusion of progressive thinkers

and now you can do it cheaper than you could before. :)

[sniffa]

4. wow. i couLd get used to kansas

do they need engineers/Land surveyors/prostitutes there?

[Droopy]

5. Actually

One of the people who moved to Kansas from California because of the deal found a job as a civil engineer. I think he worked as a hotel maintenance man in California.

[sniffa]

6. fucking A!!

we just gotta save up enough to move now. :bounce:

[xmas74]

7. I'm sure that they do.

[sniffa]

8. onLy if they're buiLding

doh!

i'm a mean surveyor. :D

[xmas74]

9. Depends on if you will commute.

Eastern KS is still growing (especially around the KCK area).

[Tallison]

10. A lot of serial killers at work in Kansas, no?

Dennis Rader, John Robinson, Dick Hicock, Perry Smith...

What's up w/that? :shrug:

[Droopy]

11. I have no idea

I've never heard of the people that you mentioned.

[Blue-Jay]

12. You've never heard of Dennis Rader? BTK?

[Droopy]

13. Nope

[Blue-Jay]

14. OK. He's been in the news a lot lately.

Killed all those folks in Wichita over a 30 year period of time....

[Tallison]

15. I've read a lot of true crime

:hide:

[mitchum]

25. Droopy, you really should acquaint yourself with Dick Hickock...

and Perry Smith, only because that means you would be reading Truman Capote's masterpiece "In Cold Blood" It is exquisitely written and certainly transcends the true crime genre. I can never recommend the book enough.

[xmas74]

21. John Robinson liked to cross the border.

He killed a few in MO too-a county away from me.

[Tallison]

23. The fact he went back and forth

supposedly complicated their catching and prosecuting him. :scary:

[ET Awful]

16. Couldn't they give me land in a place that has . . . contour?

I mean . . . I like hills and stuff :).

[KamaAina]

17. Ooh, face time with Phelps!

"Thank God for Katrina". "New Orleans, symbol of America, seen for what it is: a putrid, toxic, stinking cesspool of fag fecal matter."

On second thought, I'll pass on the face time. I'll put up a sign at the edge of my town that says "No Batshit Crazy Fundie Assholes Before or after Sundown".

[Droopy]

18. Phelps does not equal Kansas.

[KamaAina]

19. I know that. I was sort of thinking about being the anti-Phelps.

or one of, I hope, many anti-Phelpses.

[Droopy]

20. Ok, ok. I misunderstood you.

Go for it.

[xmas74]

22. There are more of them than you think.

I know quite a few in KS that despise the man.

[Blue_Tires]

24. i went to grad school at KU

and i'd love a chance to go back (if i were not so far in debt):cry: