Desert town's dire puzzle

On a cool, crisp morning, Scott Kemp's battered white pickup truck was the only vehicle in sight along a long, narrow lane lined with desert daisies and curious cows on the eastern flanks of jagged, gray Mt. Whitney. The road streaked across the historic Lubken Ranch, a spread that Kemp and his three sisters inherited from their father, Sandy Kemp, after he died in 2004. Against a backdrop of rippling meadows and sagebrush rising up to the Sierra Nevada, the tall, lean cowboy shook his head and said, "It won't be easy leaving this ranch." The 759-acre spread, which has been in operation for more than a century, is for sale for $6.5 million, down from the original asking price of $20 million. The property has entertained inquiries from Google and the Coachella Music and Arts Festival, according to Beverly Hills real estate broker Crosby Doe, who likes to say "it would be like owning your own national park." ocals are wondering how development of the largest chunk of private property to be offered for sale in Inyo County in 50 years might affect this Eastern Sierra community of 2,200 people straddling California 395. Though Lone Pine is surrounded by open range, almost none is privately owned...more