COUNTY SELLS DELINQUENT-TAX PROPERTIES

JACKSON -- Danny Stratton figured it was worth the gamble.

The Oak Ridge man Monday morning bought seven properties totaling about 5.5 acres at Cape Girardeau County's annual land auction designed to recover back taxes.

None of the property is prime real estate. But that doesn't bother Stratton, whose feelings were reflected on his T-shirt.

"One man's junk is another man's treasure," read the message on the T-shirt, which was accompanied by a drawing of a junk vehicle waiting to be refurbished.

Cape Girardeau County Collector Harold Kuehle auctioned off a dozen parcels on the courthouse steps in Jackson. Another 34 were up for sale, but the county received no bids.

Still, Kuehle viewed the sale successful.

The county earlier this summer had advertised 139 tracts of land for sale. But the threat of selling the land on the courthouse steps prompted most of the property owners to pay their delinquent taxes, he said.

Many of the tracts for sale Monday were small parcels unsuitable for development. Some had liens against them.

But that didn't deter Stratton, one of about 15 people who showed up at the auction.

Stratton grabbed up several properties in Cape Girardeau, including a nearly five-acre tract near Ranney Street on the city's south side.

He paid $154 for the five acres. He also picked up a nearly half-acre tract along the Mississippi River in northern Cape Girardeau County for $36.

In all, he paid $1,774.76 for his various land purchases, outbidding several other buyers for some of the tracts. A handful of other buyers paid a total of $3,200 for five properties.

Stratton has been a regular buyer at the delinquent tax sales over the past four years. He lives in part of a former Oak Ridge store. He bought the building for $1,100 at one of the previous delinquent tax sales.

Stratton doesn't expect to get rich from his land buys. "This is just kind of a hobby," he said.