Havreite campaigns to clean up vacant property

A Havre woman is leading a campaign to tackle blight that would include targeting property owners who let their vacant, rundown properties disintegrate while refusing offers to sell.

Samantha Clawson, who has grown up in Havre and works at Montana State University-Northern, would like to see a VPRO - vacant property registry ordinance - be implemented.  VPROs, she said, targets property owners who don't take the responsibility to maintain their property. Similar ordinances have been passed all over the country, including one by the government of Butte-Silver Bow last year called "Vacant B...