kolanuraven said:
Maybe he would personally invest in areas ( towns, etc) if he wasn't met with such animosity every turn. Why should he bother when he's slammed at very turn and bad mouthed.
Granted part of his problem is that he has built this sort of 'mystic' around himself that he's untouchable. But when you are met with suspicion right out of the gate, why bother?
Ya give as good as ya get.
Why didn't a group of rancher's get together and buy up those large parcels as a co-op deal that way no one particular person would bear the full cost? It could have been done...happens a lot.
I know I'm gonna get ripped for the above, but won't be the first attack!!
Oldtimer has it about right in my opinion. Many years ago neighboring ranchers would have gotten together and divided it up. These days the price per acre/animal unit has pushed ordinary ranchers out of the market, especially on these large ranches. Small places can be absorbed and undoubtedly there were a few neighbors willing to buy part of it, but none that I know of have that kind of money when it must pencil out at least a little bit.
I don't think any so called animosity towards Ted Turner has anything to do with it. He knows what he wants to do with his money and it doesn't matter to him what anyone else thinks about it. It would be comforting to me if he actually did care about what the locals think.