A determined Kentucky farmer who proudly describes herself as a “country hick” had a blunt message for an AI company seeking to turn her family land into a data center site for a multimillion-dollar payout: “Kick rocks and don’t come back.”
Delsia Bare and her mother, Ida Huddleston, had at first agreed to sell their properties in Maysville after representatives for an unnamed artificial intelligence firm offered them a combined $26.4 million, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The offer was eye-popping, but the pair reconsidered once they learned the land would be used for data centers designed to support AI bots. Bare and Huddleston, both self-described “country hicks,” ultimately decided the money was not worth losing the farm.
After successfully shutting down the sale, Bare delivered the now-viral six-word sendoff to the company’s representatives: “Kick rocks and don’t come back,” she told the Journal.
Bare said her decision was rooted in more than nostalgia. She feared she would be spiritually “held accountable” if she allowed land tied to her family for generations to become an artificial intelligence hub.
“If I step off of this piece of property and it becomes something for an AI hub, then I have failed to occupy and I can be held accountable for that on the Judgment hour,” she told the outlet.
The mystery buyer, which the Journal reported is believed to have ties to Meta, was offering far more than market value for land that had reportedly been in the family for about two centuries.
Bare said she was offered $48,000 an acre for 463 acres, while Huddleston was in line to receive $60,000 per acre for 71 acres — a combined total of roughly $26.48 million, the mother and daughter told the outlet.
Meta said no decision has been made about working in the area, in a statement to the Journal.
The fight over data centers continues to deeply divide the town, as many welcome the possible economic boon that it may provide and have already agreed to sell their land to the company for millions, the publication reported.
In addition to bucking the multimillion dollar deal, Bare and others in the town have also decided to file lawsuits challenging the construction of the centers in Maysville – including one that would take neighbors to court.
“Some of those people would have gone their entire lives without being brought into a courtroom,” Tyler McHugh, an economic development director who liaisons with the unnamed AI company, told the publication.
Bare, who is nearly blind, and Huddleston, who walks with a cane, are surprised by their unlikely position as stalwarts standing against the data center’s construction.
“I never thought I’d be in a battle with a data center,” Bare said. “I thought I was about as far out in the boondocks as you could get.”
