Editing Free State Project (section)

=== Free Town Project ===
{{Main|Grafton, New Hampshire#Free Town Project}}
In 2005, members of the Free Town Project were also briefly involved with [[Mentone, Texas]]. Mentone is in [[Loving County, Texas|Loving County]], at the time the [[County statistics of the United States#Nationwide population extremes|least populous county]] in the United States.<ref name="nytimes_mentone">{{cite news|last1=Blumenthal |first1=Ralph |title=1 Cafe, 1 Gas Station, 2 Roads: America's Emptiest County|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/25/us/1-cafe-1-gas-station-2-roads-americas-emptiest-county.html |access-date=June 16, 2021 |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=February 25, 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160904161123/https://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/25/us/1-cafe-1-gas-station-2-roads-americas-emptiest-county.html |archive-date=September 4, 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref> Three men, Lawrence Pendarvis, Bobby Emory, and Don Duncan, claimed to have bought 126 acres (51 ha) of land and registered to vote there,<ref name="freetownproject">{{Cite web|url=http://freetownproject.com/ |title=FreeTownProject.com|access-date=February 9, 2021 |archive-date=August 6, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180806025906/http://freetownproject.com/ |url-status=bot: unknown }}</ref> although the sheriff determined that the land was not sold to the group, as no deed had been filed at the county courthouse. He contacted the sellers, who said that the land had been sold to other buyers, after which the sheriff filed misdemeanor charges against the three men and threatened to arrest them if they returned.<ref name="nytimes_mentone"/>

On February 3, 2016, the Free State Project announced via social media that 20,000 people had signed the Statement of Intent.<ref>{{cite web|title=Free State Project|publisher=[[Twitter]]|date=February 2, 2016|url=https://twitter.com/FreeStateNH/status/694763068010713088 }}</ref> In a press conference later that day, then FSP president [[Carla Gericke]] officially announced that the move had been triggered and that signers were expected to follow up on their pledge.<ref name="presscon">{{cite web|url=https://freestateproject.org/blogs/free-state-project-officially-announces-20000-signers-100-reached |website=Freestateproject.org|date=February 3, 2016|title=Official press conference announcing success in reaching 20,000 members|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161208051605/https://freestateproject.org/blogs/free-state-project-officially-announces-20000-signers-100-reached |archive-date=December 8, 2016}}</ref> This concluded the Free Town Project,<ref name="vox"/><ref name="book">{{cite book|last=Hongoltz-Hetling|first=Matthew|author-link=Matt Hongoltz-Hetling|date=September 15, 2020|title=A Libertarian Walks Into a Bear: The Utopian Plot to Liberate an American Town (And Some Bears)|url=https://www.publicaffairsbooks.com/titles/matthew-hongoltz-hetling/a-libertarian-walks-into-a-bear/9781541788510/ |publisher=[[PublicAffairs]]|isbn=978-1541788510|chapter=Book 3, Chapter 9: An Experiment Ends|quote="The same Trigger that birthed the Free State was a death knell for the Free Town... After years in which Grafton was the most visible and important landing point in the world for those who wanted to create a libertarian utopia, in the post-Trigger era, it became just another town in a state with many options."}}</ref> and the Free State Project organization changed focus from recruiting signers to encouraging them to move to New Hampshire, stating "we want 20,000 movers".<ref name="presscon" />