Does anyone know who bush purchased his ranch from?

[panader0]

Did enron have a hand in it? Did Kenny boy fix it up as a stage backdrop for shrub?

[Lindacooks]

1. Both the pig farm and town of Crawford are fake.

http://www.fourwinds10.com/news/05-government/C-fraud/03-bush/2004/05C3-12-19-04-bush-ranch-a%20pig-farm-and-political-prop.html

[nicknameless]

5. Interesting! Thanks for posting that. (n/t)

[annabanana]

8. great stuff... (must read)

Phoney ranch & phoney pres... same day!

[theHandpuppet]

11. Bush's ranch is most certainly fake; the town of Crawford is not

Why would you even suggest such a thing? Do you think those of us who went to Camp Casey participated in a protest in a fake town?

[Lindacooks]

14. Read the article before you comment, please.

"Not only was the "ranch" created in 2000 - so, essentially, was the "town" of Crawford! Before then only about 400 people lived in the area. The Crawford Chamber of Commerce and Agriculture were formed shortly after the ranch was finished."

And why are you so upset at that allegation? That's ridiculous.

[Freddie Stubbs]

20. The city was incorporated in 1897

http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/CC/hlc58.html

Perhaps Bush used a time machine to to pull off this elaborate hoax.

[theHandpuppet]

21. I DID read the article

I've BEEN to Crawford and it's still the size of a postage stamp, and I surely didn't see any housing boom there. There's only one corner store that even sells cheap Bush souvenirs.

I get upset when I read slanted reporting, no matter who writes it. As for the contention that Crawford only had "about 400" people before Bush arrived, well that's just flat out wrong. The population was around 425 IN THE 1950's but in 2000 the town had a total population of 705. The 2005 census estimate shows a population of 789. That's some boom, huh?

Look, I hate the pig farm as much as the next person, but inaccurate reporting such as this makes it way too easy to dismiss other parts of the article which are factual. It is also unfair to the folks of Crawford, the town, the vast majority of whom appeared to be working class folks and who, from my impression, mostly just wanted to be left in peace. The article paints them as folks who are "cashing in" and I didn't see that at all. Frankly, I think a lot of them would be just as glad to see Bush in their rear view mirror as he heads off to his post-Presidential residence in Dallas.

I wasn't pissed at you, Lindacooks, so I'm sorry if that's how I came off. I was more upset at the article which I felt was unfair to the people of Crawford and riddled with inaccuracies.

[mrbill]

23. another slight nit-pick with the article.........

In closing the author says, "And in Texas, it is too small to be considered a ranch anyway -- go look up how many 100 thousand acres LBJ had or how big the King Ranch is."

Ranches come in all sizes in Texas. A 600 acre ranch in a nice green spot of the state will feed as many cows as a 6000 acre ranch in the stinking deserts of west Texas. Ranchers call it "cows per acre."

So size of a "ranch" in Texas might be a bit relative.

In my little rural county in North Central Texas 600 acres is definately considered a traditional "ranch". In a normal weather pattern about 200 cows can have plenty of grindage to munch on.

My rule of thumb is that if there is enough acreage to be the third largest county in the world, you can call it whatever you want to.

If memory serves me right, the LBJ ranch ranch was not a mega-ranch with 100 of thousands of acres, but a nice little place on the Perdenales river. Best guess 700-1200 acres. But the LBJ Ranch was for real. Real cows, real hay, real crops. A few horses, maybe some chickens.

Anything compared to the King Ranch is wimpy.

[havocmom]

2. Land title search coupled with some investigation of any front companies

which may have been involved ought to tell.

[MoseyWalker]

3. Probably the same people

who bailed him out of his dry hole adventures, and loaned him the money to purchase his share of the Rangers. It's a very small world he lives in.

[Cleita]

16. Wasn't it the royal House of Saud who did that?

eom

[Bozita]

4. In '01, the property tax data was available online

Taxes were under $2000/year.

[mrbill]

6. the property tax data is still online...................

The chimp purchased the "ranch" from Kenneth Engelbrecht who was a hog farmer. Mr Englebrecht stayed on as ranch foreman for a few years and ran some cattle. Englebrecht quit last year and the cattle went with him.

The property tax data is on the internets at mclennancad.org.

If you type bush into the search function you won't find the ranch. Try Lone Star Trust and voila.

Wonder how they keep that agricultural exemption with no cows?

[Name removed]

9. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[mrbill]

13. yes, baling hay counts for an ag exemption in Texas...

where's the hay on rancho de chimp?

is he baling that native pasture or the improved pasture?

do fake hay bales for phoney tv sets count?

farming counts, where's the wheat?

[qwertyMike]

7. Wasn't Bush

an Eastern Frat boy, like Kerry?

Gimme-a-Y

[riona]

10. Rancho Boguso!

Looks like the msm let this one slip by.

[datasuspect]

12. el rancho de los whackos

[Cleita]

15. Supposedly he bought it from the person who is his caretaker

today. Here in California, a search in the Hall of Records and the County Clerk's office would reveal all the names and terms of the transaction. I don't know if Texas has the same law that all these records are public and anyone can see them like we do here in California.

[warrens]

17. It still is a pig farm, as far as I'm concerned

I wonder what his life is going to be like out of office, despised, unable to appear in public, maybe forced to go hunting with Cheney.

[Cleita]

19. If he brings the whole criminal cabal down in disgrace, he may

be the prey Cheney hunts.

[slackmaster]

18. Someone post the street address OR the parcel number

And I will do a title search.

[Lisa]

22. the Engelbrecht family (in 1999)

More details here.

http://www.cowboysindians.com/articles/archives/1202/bush.html
http://www.texnews.com/1998/1999/texas/ranch0730.html

Their son Ken is now the caretaker. (The cattle on the ranch actually belong to him -- except for a longhorn or two, which were gifts from Bush's Texas staff.)