Posted on 02/24/2006 9:24:46 PM PST by jecIIny
February 25, 2006 1 Cafe, 1 Gas Station, 2 Roads: America's Emptiest County By RALPH BLUMENTHAL
MENTONE, Tex. — How empty is Loving County?
So empty that when Sheriff Billy Burt Hopper ran for office in 2004, he and his opponent attended each other's campaign barbecues. So empty that it cannot sustain two political parties: Republicans and Democrats all call themselves Democrats and vote in a single primary.
So empty that it has trouble seating 12 jurors who are not related to a defendant. (Not that there is much crime, although — or maybe because — Sheriff Hopper patrols in a pickup with two shotguns and an AK-47.) So empty that the jail was moved to Pecos in Reeves County, 26 miles away, in 1994.
In fact, this is the emptiest county seat of the emptiest county in the country.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
You had to drive from Carlsbad to Mentone everyday? That is a helluva commute!
The gas wells are about the only claim to fame that Mentone has. The first time that I saw it, I thought it was a Ghost Town. It is smaller than Saragosa (before the tornado).
"He partied his whole first year at UT, Austin."
Just like most of the freshmen at UT. ;-)
"Daddy had a little talk with him after that, he never went back to UT, lol."
Good on you! It is a hotbed of reds anyway.
Bill.
And I bet it gives you a sense of belonging to a place?
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I drove through Texs once. There were definitely miles of smiles.
I stayed in San Antonio for a week on a different trip. I enjoyed the rich history of The Alamo and the war for Texas independence.
I had a vivid dream once about a place that I suspect is somewhere in Texas. I may search for it one day.
Yup. I love Texas. I retired from Texas Instruments and moved to the coast of Alabama.
After the Louisiana purchase surveyors were sent out west to map the land, the straight lines and square shapes are the result of their efforts. That is why so many state lines in the west are sraight and why so many of the counties are square. The survey system in the US west is different than anywhere else in the world.
Thanks a lot for the explanation.
One learns something new every day.
Thanks.
Bet none of y'all know this, but Farwell got to be the county seat of Parmer County, TX because a few of the leading citizens actually organized and made a midnight raid on Lazbuddie.
Took all the property records under the cover of darkness and held them hostage for decades, thereby establishing Farwell as the county seat.
Lead perpetrator was a guy named Sam Aldridge,I believe.
I've been there several times, and driven through many times. The courthouse is primitive, to say the least.
no dems: 'What part of Texas is Mentone located in?'
Army Air Corps: 'It is west of Kermit in the middle of freakin' nowhere.'
As a native of Kermit, allow me to interpret AAC's answer. Mentone is in the part of Texas known as "God's Country".
Bump.
No, No, No. That's Wink! Mentone is just west of nowhere. And for the record, there's a lot of nowhere out there. Van Horn, Alpine, NOTREES.
Good Gawd, I do miss that place. I was brought up in Kermit.
Now you've done it. My eyes are all misty. That is truly God's country.
There's no sight more beautiful than coming west off the caprock on Hwy 302 between Notrees and Kermit at night (1976 grad of KHS). It's just amazing to look out that way and name all the little towns on the horizon.
The last time we were out that way I stopped the van just at the bottom of the caprock and got the family out so they could look up and see the milky-way. It's just such a beautiful sight.
I drove a roustabout crew from Kermit to Mentone daily for 3 months to work at one of the gas compression plants. I got my first speeding ticket on one of those trips. The highway patrolman and I were the only ones on that road for 10 miles in either direction. It really hacked me off that he still gave me the ticket.
"It is smaller than Saragosa (before the tornado)."
I remember being hunkered down in Kermit and listening to the police scanner and CB when that storm blew thru. The despair in the highway patrolman's voice when he said 'the whole town is gone' still haunts me during nighttime thunderstorms.
A childhood friend of mine lost his mother in the tornado. She was there visiting relatives and that was the last that my friend and his father saw her. I recall that Balmorhea's high school served as a makeshift shelter and morgue.
The story also pointed out, however, that people who are elsewhere but call the place their home vote absentee. I thought the Sheriff said that's why the extra 17 votes came in. Not sure it was anything more nefarious than that, such as dead people voting.
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