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 W.D.V.: It's all exempt?

 Thomas: Yeah. It's not total.

 J.B.: No, it's .

 Thomas: About a quarter an acre or .

 J.B.: It's assessed on the basis of .

 Thomas: Of agriculture.

 J.B.: Of agriculture on this land classification. Right?

 Thomas: It's certainly a rip-off. And see, it goes all over from

 Jacksonville to Pensacola, many, many counties, that's all you have is

 pine trees. And I'm not knocking that, but they ought to pay a fair

 share of the tax burden. And we ought to have pine trees, we've got to

 have paper and that's all that some of this land is good for, you know,

 is going pine trees, really. But when they get down and get waterfront

 property, good God Almighty, that shouldn't be under the Green Belt Law.

 W.D..V.: Somebody took care of them.

 Thomas: Yeah, way back. And they are fighting tdhang on to it.

 But Mr. Baugh, you.ought to interview him, if you could get an interview.

 Florida National Bank I've forgotten the well, I don't know,

 a hundred banks, something like that in the state. All the small towns

 have a Florida National Bank. All the DuPont estate in Miami, the downtown

 area, DuPont Plaza you know where DuPont Plaza is down there? All

 that land around there belongs to them. I mean, they just have billions

 of dollars. He's eighty something years old. Wouldn't give a nickel to

 see a pissant eat a bale of hay, you know. An ornery old bastard, but

 he's a pretty good old fellow at the same time, but you ought to get an

 appointment with him in Jacksonville and go talk to him. I bet that he

 would see you if you could .




From the Southern Oral History Program, #4007, Interview 4-60 in the Southern Historical Collection,
University of North Carolina Library, Chapel Hill. FOR REFERENCE ONLY: PERMISSION TO
PUBLISH MUST BE REQUESTED. WARNING: MOST MANUSCRIPTS ARE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT.