Lot 176

This story of Lot 176 illustrates better than anything else what the Empty Jug means to those of us who spend time there, and what friends like we have mean to the Jug.

In the spring of 2006 Tink Wig lot #176 was put up for sale by the estate of the long time owner from New Jersey.  Lot 176 is a border lot of the Ting Wig Mountain Lake Estates development.  Consisting of 1.6 acres, lot 176 has the Empty Jug on it's northern boundary.  Lot 176 is adjacent to lot 177, and together they provide a hundred feet of buffer between the Jug racetrack and Tink Wig Drive, the main road through the development.   The Jug Corp and purchased 177 at a tax sale in the 1990's as a protection buy, for if anyone ever built on 177 they would be staring out their back window on the shooting range and racetrack, 50 yards away.  That could only lead to complaints and trouble threatening the very nature of the Jug.  We purchase 177 for $1500, and then eventually had to pay another $2,000 in back association fees owed Tink Wig by the prior owner.  Beside the purchase, lot 177 costs us nearly $600 per year in taxes and association fees, but we have no choice but to cover it to maintain the privacy of the Jug.

When lot 176 went on the market in 2006 the asking price was $16,000.  While that seems like a lot of money to us, 1.6 acre lots in developments in this area typically go for that and often much more.  In fact $16,000 can be seen as a bargain by buyers from NYC who make that in a month pushing papers around.  We knew that if the lot sold it would not be long before a house went up, and that would spell the end of racing and shooting and all the activities privacy affords us.

The Empty Jug Corp is strictly non-profit and we never have more than a couple hundred dollars in our account.  We struggle to pay the taxes and fees every year.  Vince and I had paid for Lot 177 out of our personal finances, but there was no way we were going to be able to do that for 176, especially since Vince make it clear he would not contribute anything.  So I gave up and resigned myself to letting it go.  But conversations with some of the friend so the Jug convinced me to try and save it by asking for donations.  I posted an explanation of the situation on the Jug site and ask anyone willing to help to make a pledge of whatever they were will to donate.

To make a long story short, within two months I had enough money pledged to make an offer on the lot, and by mid summer we owned it.  We being the following people proportional to the amounts they donated: George & Lindsay, $1000   Wayne & Gail $1000   Peter & Andrea  $1000  Mike Hutchinson Jr $1000  Jason $500   Ralph Davis $500   Fred Kuehl $500   Matt $500  Joe & Donna Post $500  Stan & Peggy Field $500.
and Scotty, Dave Schaffer, Paul McGinnis, Pete Stemrich, Amity & Brett Hlasny, Mike Myers &  Jessica & Brian Moran  lesser but very generous amounts.  Dian and I kicked in $1,500 and we had the money to buy the lot, pay all the fees and taxes for 2006.  Because Vince had not wanted the lot, we didn't title it as belonging to the Empty Jug Corp, but the Jug now has the privacy locked up for as long as we want it.  Should the Jug ever be sold the purchaser will undoubtedly want control of lots 176 and 177, and whatever proceed we get from lot 176 will be shared among those of us who bought it.  But most important is that enough people were willing to donate significant amounts of money for the sole purpose of keeping the Jug just as it is for a while longer.

This left edge of the photo is the boundary, and the field clearing is the buildable area of the lot.    SCROLL -------->>