Land Giveaway a Bust for Small Town

Lefors is having trouble even giving its land away. There were 14 winners in a giveaway put together by the Texas Panhandle town of 600 residents in hopes of boosting the tax base and school population, but only Vera Rodriguez responded. Rodriguez, a 70-year-old Bakersfield, Calif., retiree, has yet to see her 50-by-125-foot parcel, and is “still wondering if it’s good land.” Surrounded by prairie, the town 70 miles east of Amarillo has declined since a devastating tornado 20 years ago and the 1980s oil bust. The Lefors giveaway requires winners to agree to build a house or move a mobile home onto the land within six months. “This really is disappointing,” City Secretary Virginia Maples said.