Homestead mailing list

["Jerry W. Shepperd" <shepperd AT austincc.edu>]

An interesting item about one rural Texas county.  If you can go to the 
website, check out the picture gallery.  There is also a short video, which 
requires either Realplayer or Windows Media

Jerry S.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4486560

from National Public Radio


Male-Female Wage Gap in Cowboy Country

by <http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=2783201>Howard Berkes

<http://www.npr.org/templates/rundowns/rundown.php?prgId=2>All Things 
Considered, February 8, 2005 · In the United States, men generally earn 
more money than women -- about 25 percent more, on average. But that’s not 
the case everywhere. In 15 counties scattered across America, women working 
full time, on average, take home bigger paychecks than men.

All of those counties are rural, and most are in the Western United States, 
including King County, Texas, where this unconventional wage gap is widest. 
The average female worker in King County makes 30 percent more than her 
male counterpart -- that equals about $9,000 a year.

NPR’s Howard Berkes recently visited King County to meet some of the 
working men and women there, and examine the reasons behind the gap.

King County is true cowboy country. In fact, its rolling prairies and 
rugged cowpokes are featured in Marlboro cigarette ads running overseas. 
The county stretches over 900 square miles of range land and oil fields in 
northwestern Texas. There are less than 400 human residents, about 1,000 
horses and about 10,000 cows. No stoplights, no supermarkets, no 
restaurants, no local newspapers, no incorporated towns.

And that's part of the reason for the wage gap -- much of the work here is 
traditionally defined as "men's work." Hard, dirty, often dangerous work, 
punching cattle or tending oil rigs. Men wear spurs, and use them.

Women, on the other hand, outnumber the men at the local courthouse, and 
there are more female teachers in the schools. Those jobs generally pay 
better than work as a ranch hand, and teachers get many benefits -- free 
housing, a salary boost -- for working in such a remote location.

But men and women say the dollar amounts don't tell the full story. Some 
ranch hands, for example, also get free housing, plus health insurance, a 
pickup truck and gas, and other benefits. That, and a full year's supply of 
beef.

And regardless of the wage gap, the traditional male-female roles remain 
much the same as anywhere else. The biggest ranch in the county may be 
owned by a woman in Fort Worth, but it's managed by men. Men are the 
decision-makers at the courthouse, and both the principal and 
superintendent at the school are men.

All this talk of male-female pay gaps doesn't phase Linda Lewis, who makes 
a good living as the County Clerk, and her husband Ron Lewis, a veteran 
cowboy. "It doesn't concern us," says Ron Lewis. "God's been good to us. 
He’s provided for us really well, we've raised our family here. It's just a 
blessing."

"It's not mine and yours -- it's ours. We put it together," adds Linda 
Lewis. "So it's no big deal."
les 
> From genegerue AT ruralize.com  Wed Feb  9 12:24:10 2005
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> How do I minimize the taxes I have to pay(legally) if there are any?
> Some articles I've read claim the inherited amount is the fair market
> value at the time of inheritance and selling it for that would produce
> no additional income.

Clint, you should talk to a CPA about tax questions regarding inheritance
and sale of property. There are many issues.

When we finally move, sell our house and take the money we've made from the
house is there a way to reinvest it into the property we will
> hopefully have by then?

Taxes on profit are likely a non-issue. If you have lived in your home for
two of the last five years, you don't even have to report the sale to the
IRS. For a married couple, the first half-million dollars of profit is
tax-free. This is the greatest gift to home owners I have ever seen, and
should be taken advantage of.