Reports: Iglesia ni Cristo buys town in South Dakota
The Iglesia ni Cristo (INC), a religious group founded in the Philippines, now owns the nearly abandoned town of Scenic, South Dakota, for $700,000 or roughly P30,000,000, a local newspaper in the United States has reported. A report on September 26 by the Rapid City Journal, a South Dakota newspaper, cited records from Pennington County showing INC has bought 59 parcels of land in Scenic. âWhat the church plans to do with the nearly empty Old West town on the edge of the Badlands remains a mystery. The church hasnât said anything about its plans for the property, and calls seeking comment from church offices were not returned," Rapid City Journal said on its website. Another story on Fox News verifies this story. INC has not released a statement on the matter, said INC minister Bien Santiago when GMA News Online called the groupâs Central Temple in Quezon City on Sunday. Bought from rodeo legend A CNBC report on Sunday named the seller as 74-year-old Twila Merrill, a rodeo legend whose health began to fail about two years ago when she was stricken with cancer. She originally put up the town for sale with a $3 million price tag, but in July dropped the selling price to $799,000, or roughly 41 cents per square foot.