Oil & Gas Industry: Facts & Trivia - Part One

Do we need energy policy changes? 

Yes, let's get rid of those people in all aspects of government who are not for American energy independence.

What present policies need to be changed? 

• Increase, not decrease energy production by promoting all sources.
• Encourage energy self-reliance and self-sufficiency as a core American principle.
• Encourage investment in advanced technologies and long term energy initiatives.
• Allow market forces to allocate products and adjust to changing conditions.
• Refrain from more new taxes that make it more and more expensive to develop our domestic supplies.

There are over 157,000 retail gas stations in the U.S.

So how many are owned by the major integrated oil companies, aka “Big Oil?” 

Well, how about 3%! The vast majority of branded stations are owned and operated by independent retailers licensed to represent that brand.

According to the National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS), more than half of the retail stations in the US are owned by an individual or family.

According to the Energy Information Administration the U.S. is projected to consume 107.64 quadrillion BTUs of energy in 2040.

So how much of that do they think will be supplied by oil and natural gas? How about more than 59%!

Even as renewable energy production grows, oil and natural gas will continue to provide the majority of our energy for years to come.

According to a study by Sonecon what group owns the most shares of publically held oil and natural gas companies?

How about Public & Private Pension Funds!

That's right, nearly half of the shares of U.S.-based oil and natural gas companies are held by public and private pension and retirement plans, including 401(k)s, and IRA’s.

Corporate management owns less than three percent of the oil and natural gas industry.

What percentage of offshore federal areas remains off limits to oil and natural gas

development? How about 87%!

The areas off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, off the coast of Alaska, and in the eastern Gulf of Mexico are resource-rich but closed to development by government policy.

In 1995 it was estimated that there were less than 200 million barrels of oil in the Williston Basin shale area (North Dakota, South Dakota and Montana).

With new technologies it is now estimated that there are 7.38 Billion barrels of undiscovered, technically recoverable oil in the area.

In 1995 it was estimated that there were less than 200 Million barrels of oil in the Williston Basin shale area (North Dakota, South Dakota and Montana).

With new technologies it is now estimated that there are 7.38 Billion barrels of undiscovered, technically recoverable oil in the area?

“These world-class formations contain even more energy resource potential than previously understood, which is important information as we continue to reduce our nation’s dependence on foreign sources of oil.” - Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell 

According to the latest State Department study, how many jobs could be supported during the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline?

Yes, even a State Department study says at least, at a minimum, 42,100 American jobs can be created with the Keystone XL pipeline. 

An average, across studied cases, indicates that 213,000 new American great paying American jobs would be supported by LNG exports between 2015 and 2035.

An oil industry worker makes about $94,500 a year on the average.

And yes, for every one job created in the oil industry - there are 3 jobs created in support of the oil industry.

If Americans, even liberals, are really concerned about the quality of life here in our country, than job creation should be our number one priority. 

America's oil and natural gas industry has a widespread economic impact throughout all sectors of the economy and across all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

The industry supports 9.8 million men and women in a wide range of highly skilled, well-paying professions.

In fact, oil and natural gas industry exploration and production wages are more than double the national average.

In 2011 the industry paid over $200 billion in direct wages to U.S. employees, with another $300 billion in wages paid to workers in jobs supported by the industry.

Oil and natural gas companies invest in cutting-edge technology and offer fulfilling careers to the next generation of American engineers, geophysicists, chemists, earth scientists, geologists, climate experts and explorers.

These individuals, working with the best technologies, will help find and recover oil and natural gas here and abroad and help secure America's energy future.

In addition, the industry employs professionals that most people don't normally associate with our industry, such as botanists and marine biologists, even zoologists and veterinarians.

With the right government policies in place, the oil and natural gas industry can create more American jobs that can help grow the U.S. economy, generate substantial new revenues for government and provide greater energy security for our nation.

In fact, with increased access to U.S. oil and gas resources we can create 1 million new jobs in the next ten years alone.

To put that in perspective, that would provide enough jobs for nearly every citizen of Rhode Island.

A recent study by Wood Mackenzie found that by 2030, nearly 1.4 million new jobs could be added through policies which encourage development of America's oil and natural resources, and facilitate Canadian oil sands production through the development of Keystone XL and other related pipelines.

A few examples are as follows:

• Development of the Marcellus Shale alone could create 160,000 jobs in Pennsylvania, 20,000 jobs in New York and 30,000 jobs in West Virginia by 2015.
• The opening of Florida to exploration and development could result in up to 100,000 new Florida jobs by 2016--just with increased access to federal areas within the Gulf of Mexico.
• U.S. State Department approval of the Keystone XL pipeline could generate nearly 85,000 jobs by 2020

So ask yourself how bad this economy would be if it weren't for the oil and gas industry putting so many Americans to work?  

The oil and natural gas industry contributes significantly to the U.S. economy as one of the nation’s largest employers and purchasers of goods.

Even in a struggling economy, America's oil and natural gas companies continue to provide well-paying jobs, revenue to governments and investment growth for millions of Americans - totaling an economic contribution that challenges Washington's idea of stimulus.

Consider it the energy stimulus: $476 billion delivered to the U.S. economy in 2010. That's equal to roughly 60% of the 2009 federal stimulus.

It's a stimulus that didn't need an act of Congress and which, with the right policies, can be repeated over and over. And yes, each and every time helping to drive broader economic recovery.

The oil and natural gas industry by the numbers:

9.8 million: Number of people directly and indirectly employed by the U.S. oil and natural gas industry.

600,000: Increase of the number of jobs supported in just two years.

$200 billion: Paid by the industry paid in direct wages to U.S. employees.

$300 billion: Paid to workers in jobs supported by the industry.

1.4 million: Number of jobs the industry could create by 2030 with the right government policies in place to expand access to domestic natural resources.

$85 million: Daily amount companies pay to the federal government in royalty payments, rents and bonus fees.

$2 trillion: Invested by the industry in U.S. capital projects since 2000 to advance all forms of energy, including alternatives.

$74 billion: Government revenues generated by unconventional oil and natural gas development in 2012, rising to $138 billion in 2025.

12 percent: Percentage that U.S. energy demand will grow between now and 2040.

America’s oil and natural gas industry is creating jobs, stimulating the economy through investments in energy development and fueling our modern way of life.

Together, we can find commonsense solutions to our nation's energy challenges.

Among the biggest challenge facing America's oil and natural gas industry is President Obama and the Democrat Party - and their opposition to American energy independence. 

Of course, as with their trying to take away our guns, nothing changes until we vote Democrats out of office in 2014. 

 

Modern Day Minutemen Descend On Washington DC

Dear Readers,

On the 12th Anniversay of the Muslim Terrorist attack on America, we watched more than a million modern day Minutemen and women bikers descend on Washington DC.

Patriotism was in full swing as we remembered and saluted the victims of 9/11.

We didn't hear much at all out of the Million Muslim March.

Come to find out, maybe a hundred or so signed up, but only a handful showed up.

The back story on this is that a Muslim group wanted to make the 12th Anniversery of the 9/11 Attack as a Civil Rights march for Muslims.

They labeled their event as the Million Muslim March, but when that went over like pork chops served at a Mosque for dinner - they changed it to sound more politically correct.

But hey, whatever name they gave it - everyone understood that it was going to be a celebration of what took place on 9/11.

It was certainly not going to be American or Patriotic.

When a few bikers from the Northeast heard about that, they had other ideas.

The groups organizers, Bill Williamson, Belinda Bee, and John Mullins, did an incredible job keeping the public informed about the ride – for the bikers, and for those of us who can’t be there but wanted to show support.

If they could help it, our nation's leaders will get a reminder that Americans who will never forget the worst terrorist attack on American soil - and that we still wait for answers about who is criminally at fault for Benghazi.

Permits

While the Muslims applied for a permit to rally but not to be freed of traffic controls.  The biker group was refused a permit.

As strange as that was, that didn't stop the those Patriot bikers from showing up yesterday.

Sure, the group of bikers had been denied a no-stop permit for its planned "2 Million Bikers to DC" ride to commemorate the 12th anniversary of 9/11 Wednesday which meant that they could still ride through the capital - but they had to obey traffic signals and signs.

Or so they told them!

The bikers' rally generated a lot of buzz on social media, with thousands vowing to ride through Washington to "remember the victims of 9/11 and to honor our armed forced who fought those who precipitated this attack," according to the group's Facebook page.

The ride was also meant as a response to the Million Muslim March, a movement organized by the American Muslim Political Action Committee (AMPAC) in an effort to show Americans that Muslims denounce terrorism.

Message from the Muslims

"On 9.11.01 our country was forever changed by the horrific events in New York. The entire country was victimized by the acts done on that day," AMPAC said in a statement.

"Muslim and non-Muslim alike were traumatized but we as Muslims continue 12 years later to be victimized by being made the villains. To this day every media outlet and anti-Islamic organizations have committed slanderous and libel statements against us as Muslims and our religion of Islam."

My response to that!

Where have you Muslims been for 12 years?

America didn't hear a peep from any Muslim group in the U.S. condemning the attacks on 9/11/2001 or the attack that killed 4 Americans in Libya last year on 9/11/2012.

Fact is, there has been no condemnation from any of the Islamic nations in regards to either attack.

Instead, we have President Obama who came to office, bowed to their Princes, kissed the rings of the clergy, and gave away Billions of American Dollars which are certainly needed here more than there in those Oil Rich barbaric countries who hate America and all we stand for.

Over a year has gone by since the fools that we have in the White House failed to send military help like the Marines into Libya Benghazi to support our Americans there.

Instead, they let them die after a 10 HOUR battle!

The day before 9/11, the same President Barack Hussein Obama had the nerve to tell America that it is our responsibility to attack Syria on behave Muslims with ties to the very people who attacked up both on 9/11 twelve years ago and last year.

Obama's step-brother is an organizer for the anti-American terrorist group the Muslim Brotherhood, and is the very same American president who takes vacations every few weeks and gives away Biilion upon Billions of our taxpayer dollars to Muslim nations who harbor terrorist and want us dead.

Isn't it strange, yes queer, that Obama has found assets to attack Syria on behave of a group that has ties to Al Queda.

Isn't it strange how he now has the committment to go  to war to help someone.

Where was Obama when Americans needed him to go to war for them?

And youknow what, that's a damn fine question, where was he when that all came down a year ago?

Fact is, a year has passed and we still don't know the whereabouts of President Obama on the night when 4 Americans were under attack and needed help from Marine quick-response teams only a few hours away.

Why is it he wants to go to war for Muslims but not Americans?

Back to our Hero Bikers!

The "2 Million Bikers to DC" organization was denied a no-stop permit from the city, which meant it would not be allowed to ride through red lights or stop traffic.

"Washington DC has DENIED our permit for a no-stop ride through Washington DC. We find this regretful for the residents and businesses of that great city, and humbly offer our apologies," the ride's organizers posted on the group's Facebook page last week.

"What could have been a one or two hour ride through will now likely be an all-day event. We will be obeying all laws. We will be stopping at all stoplights, stop signs, and yielding to all pedestrians."

The denial didn't mean that the group was prohibited from riding, though that's how many on Twitter took it.

And yes, they rode in anyway!

The group said in a statement Sunday that D.C. officials denied their request for a special nonstop ride through town with a waiver for red lights, stop signs and other traffic signals.

“What could have been a one or two hour ride through will now likely be an all day event,” the group said.

Denial of the permit sparked outrage on the biker group’s website because the District of Columbia reportedly had granted the American Muslim Political Action Committee a permit for the Million Americans Against Fear rally, formerly known as the Million Muslim March, for Wednesday on the National Mall, the PAC announced Saturday.

BizPac Review pointed out that the Muslim advocacy group also announced it had received a commitment from Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, Missouri Democrat, to speak at the event.

The 2 Million Bikers to DC group offered an apology to D.C. residents, who will undoubtedly be disturbed by the noise.

“We did the right thing and went through the proper channels to secure a no-stop permit to ride through your great city,” the groups said Sunday.

“We wanted to ride an established route, which would have taken us past the Viet Nam Memorial to the Lincoln Memorial, across the bridge into Virginia, and that’s it! We would have been completely out of Washington DC, and your city would have been back to normal.”

The bikers planed to meet at the Harley Davidson in Fort Washington, Maryland, on Wednesday morning, where they will had opening ceremonies, blessings, the Pledge of Allegiance and a handful of speakers.

Up until yesterday morning, the final route has not yet been announced “for security purposes.”

Their message!

“On September 11th, we ride as one!!” the group said.

“We ride to pay tribute and offer respect to those that lost their lives on that day 12 years ago, and to salute our troops engaged in the War on Terror. Riders!…we are the best of the best in America!! Our love for these people and this country is staggering, and we will make a display of Patriotism and solidarity America won’t soon forget!!”

And that they did!

World Net Daily reported:

Driving in from Canada and from all over the United States, the bikers, who were denied a permit for their demonstration, were flooding the capital.

At approximately 1 p.m., “2 Million Bikers to DC” Facebook page co-founder Belinda Bee posted that police have counted nearly 1 million bikers are on the streets of Washington.

The name of the “Million Muslim March” was changed to the “Million American March Against Fear” because organizers said the original name proved too “scary.”

In fact, The American Muslim Political Action Committee was criticized for scheduling the march on the anniversary of 9/11.

Organizers refused to change the date of the march, which marked 12 years since the attack by 19 Muslims on New York City and Washington.

“September 11th, 2001 was the beginning of a new era of fear,” the organizers insisted. “Since 9/11, Americans have been terrorized by the media.”

Claims AMPAC: “They have been taught to fear their neighbors. They have been inculcated with fear of other religions. They have been brainwashed into fearing people with brown skins, turbans, and foreign accents.”

Million Muslim March organizer M.D. Rabbi Alam addresses an empty field and 25 people where a million Muslims were supposed to gather.

The Huffington Post reported: “Organizers at the group American Muslim Political Action Committee (AMPAC) didn’t exactly do a lot to engender sympathy for an event held on one of the most emotionally charged days of the year. The group is led by M.D. Rabbi Alam, a professed 9/11 truther who has pushed controversial anti-Semitic conspiracy theories about the attacks. AMPAC’s plans outraged conservative outlets earlier this year, though many cited the religion of the organizing group, rather than the fringe beliefs behind the event.”

The bikers, meanwhile, have stated their opposition to President Obama’s push to “fundamentally transform” the U.S.

Radio giant Rush Limbaugh said Wednesday the American public as a whole did not understand what Obama was intending to do when he campaigned in 2008 with that remark.

“They had no idea that fundamentally transforming the United States of America meant turning the Constitution of the United States on its head,” Limbaugh said.

“They had no idea that transforming the United States of America meant getting rid of capitalism and replacing it with socialism. They had no idea that it meant co-opting one-sixth of the U.S. economy by the government, the health-care business. They had no idea what Obama was promising. They thought they knew, but they didn’t. Some of them may now not even know, but the bikers in D.C. know – and knew.”

There is a major difference in the Facebook pages for the two 9/11 events.

The Million American March Against Fear page has a paltry 295 Facebook likes and had not posted any photos of their rally as of 2 p.m.

But on the 2 Million Bikers to DC Facebook page, there were 196,000 likes, and many photos of the bikers rolling into the nation’s capital.

If you want to know what it looked like, here you go!

God Bless each and every one of those bikers and their families. They truly are Patriots! Too bad I can't say the same for the President who ignored them.















Like the man holding the flag as you ride by, I salute every one of you.

Thank you!

Story by Tom Correa

AQHA forced to include "Cloned" horses

Dear Readers,

Some of you have writen asking me what I knew about the AQHA being forced to accepted "cloned" horses in their registry?

While I know little to nothing about "cloned" horses, I do know that the AQHA, which is the world’s largest horse registry, is now being forced to include "cloned" horses.

A landmark ruling in Texas was made when U.S. District Judge Mary Lou Robinson ordered the American Quarter Horse Association -- which is the world’s largest horse breeding and registry organization -- to allow cloned horses.

"Theoretically, could they clone the great American quarter horses?

Well, some say "Sure!"

And yes, that’s part of what the opposition is.

Tom Persechino, a spokesman for the AQHA, told FoxNews.com. "It’s not strictly for breeding purposes."

Jason Abraham won the lawsuit on August 14th, and to hear him talk about it, cloning is simply the latest in a long line of advances -  from transfer of embryos to the use of frozen sperm to intracytoplasmic sperm injection which are all techniques that let breeders avoid genetic dead-ends and preserve valued traits.

"What made Secretariat so stunning was that he was a freak of nature, an alignment of genes so superb as to be the closest thing to perfection we are likely to ever see."
- Laura Hillenbrand, author of the bestseller 'Seabiscuit'

"I’m probably the largest horse owner in the country, maybe in the world. And I’m always on the leading edge of reproduction -- and apparently they don’t like that," Abraham told FoxNews.com.

Quarterhorses are different from thoroughbreds like Secretariat in that they are raised for quick power and speed rather than endurance.

Quarterhorse racing raised more than $300 million in wagers at U.S. racetracks in 2010; it’s the third-most popular form of horse racing, after thoroughbreds and standardbred racing horses.

After cloning them, it's a short leap to other animals.

The procedure is now commonplace among cattle, Abraham said. Citing backers of the technology, NBC News said cloning will spread this year to rodeo competitions like barrel racing and reining, polo matches and equestrian events leading up to the 2014 Olympics.

The AQHA has numerous other reasons for its ban on cloning.

"Clones don't have parents. Cloning is not breeding," reads a position statement on the group’s site.

"Cloning doesn't improve the breed; it just makes Xerox copies of the same horses," the group says.

Abraham sees it differently. He believes a powerful group of breeders that make up the AQHA see cloned horses not as way to sell the Morning Line, but as a threat to the bottom line.

"The good ol’ boys club, they syndicate stallions, like Corona Cartel," he told FoxNews.com, citing a popular sire.

"You got a $20 million stud there. … They don’t want every Tom, Dick and Harry to breed the Corona Cartel. In addition, cloning could help breeders avoid problems that crop up when a single stud’s genes are constantly re-used," he said.

"We’ve got so many horses that are bred the same way, genetically, we’ve got these terrible diseases where the skin falls off the horse," he said.

For the disease called HERDA, or hereditary equine regional dermal asthenia, there is no cure.

"We bring back older genetics that are HERDA free … it just gives you a tool to go off in a different direction," he said.

The AQHA disagrees, arguing that cloning could narrow the gene pool even further which would result in the worsening of genetic diseases or the creation of new ones.

Villanova University’s Angela DiBenedetto, an associate professor of biology and an expert on genetics and cloning, sides with the association.

"The process is very inefficient, with very low live-birth success rates, and of the successes, a high incidence of later developmental abnormalities, higher risks for some diseases and malformations, and abnormal gene expression patterns throughout life," she told FoxNews.com. "We don’t know why that is."

Independent companies like ViaGen nevertheless are already cloning horses, such as Royal Blue Boon, a producer of cutting horses owned by Elaine Hall of Weatherford, Texas. She had the horse cloned seven years ago.

"I simply could not imagine not being able to continue to breed this fine animal and improve the genetics of future generations of cutting horses," Hall said.

His opinion is that "If you don’t stay up with the latest technology, you are going to be left in the dust."
But will the science ever advance to the point that Seabiscuit 2, 3 and 4 are lined up beside a row of Secretariats?

The experts agree genetic copies wouldn’t necessarily be winners. There’s no gene for winning, after all.

"Think of identical human twins you may know," DiBenedetto said. "They are alike in many ways, but not the same person."

Laura Hillenbrand, author of the beloved book "Seabiscuit: An American Legend" and The New York Times best-seller "Unbroken," told FoxNews.com there’s another reason to be careful.

"If we could simply clone the best, and we stopped breeding horses, a great deal of the joy of the sport would be lost," Hillenbrand told FoxNews.com.

"We wouldn't see the wonders of genetics at work, and would no longer have the challenge of pairing one horse with another in hopes of creating an animal who bears the strengths of each."

"So much of what made Secretariat so stunning was that he was a freak of nature, one in a billion, an alignment of genes so superb as to be the closest thing to perfection we are likely to ever see. What fun would there be in a crowd of Secretariats, if he were merely commonplace?"

But it's not just about cloning, it's also about money!

The AQHA statement reads as follows:

On August 12, the parties appeared for a hearing before Judge Mary Lou Robinson for the purpose of arguing on the issues of the plaintiffs’ claims for attorney fees and for equitable relief in the form of an injunction requiring AQHA to register clones and their offspring.

The plaintiffs have requested an award of nearly $900,000 in attorney fees and seek an injunction requiring the unconditional registration of clones and their offspring in the AQHA registry.


At the conclusion of the hearing, Judge Mary Lou Robinson announced that she was going to enter an injunction requiring AQHA to register clones and their offspring.

She instructed the parties to confer and determine if any agreements concerning what rules would be necessary for this relief were needed, and instructed the parties to file any briefs on the subject no later than Wednesday August 14.

As for attorney fees, the Judge did not render any ruling.

She further instructed the plaintiffs to produce all attorney fee billing statements by the end of the day and ordered that AQHA enter any briefs on the subject of plaintiffs’ requested award of attorney fees by August 14, 2013.

Finally, the Judge ordered the plaintiffs to submit proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law by the August 14 deadline as well.

"As announced on August 1, and referenced in its August 9 Brief on Equitable Relief and Attorney Fees, AQHA will continue to take any and all necessary legal action in seeking to have the verdict of the jury and any judgment entered by the Court in favor of plaintiffs reversed,” said AQHA Executive Vice President Don Treadway. "AQHA will continue to fight for its members’ rights."

It is expected that following the entry of a judgment in favor of plaintiffs AQHA will proceed with filing a Motion for Judgment as a Matter of Law in which AQHA will request the Court enter a take nothing judgment in favor of AQHA based upon the fact that the jury’s verdict was not supported by the evidence entered at trial.

Such a motion is due no later than 28 days following the entry of a signed final judgment by the Court.

Should the court not grant AQHA’s Motion for Judgment as a Matter of Law, then AQHA will file a notice of appeal thus beginning the appellate process. AQHA will continue to update its membership and directors with developments in the case.

As a matter of background, on July 28, a 10-person jury in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Amarillo Division, ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, Abraham & Veneklasen Joint Venture et al. in their antitrust suit against AQHA.

The plaintiffs alleged that AQHA Rule REG106.1, which prohibits the registration of cloned horses and their offspring in AQHA’s breed registry, violates federal and state anti-trust laws.

Although the jury found that AQHA violated antitrust laws, it awarded no damages to the plaintiffs despite the plaintiffs demand for $5.7 million dollars in damages at trial.

At today’s hearing, which lasted a little more than two hours, the counsel for AQHA urged the court to deny the plaintiffs’ requests and to enter judgment as a matter of law in favor of AQHA due to plaintiffs’:

• failure to establish the existence of a conspiracy to prohibit registration of clones and their offspring;

• failure to establish the existence of a properly defined antitrust market consisting of “elite” Quarter Horses;

• failure to establish that Rule REG106.1 has caused any harm to the alleged market through a constraint on the supply of “elite” Quarter Horses;

• failure to establish that Rule REG106.1 constitutes an unreasonable restrain on trade, such that the anticompetitive effects of the rule outweigh the legitimate justifications for the rule;

• failure to establish that AQHA possesses monopoly power in the alleged market; and

• failure to establish that Rule REG106.1 constitutes exclusionary conduct that is inconsistent with competition on the merits and that has the potential for making a significant contribution to AQHA’s monopoly power.

Counsel for AQHA further argued that to the extent the plaintiffs were entitled to any injunctive relief, which AQHA denied, then such relief should be limited to only the registration of cloned mares.

More specifically, AQHA argued that any equitable relief be limited so as to only allow for the registration of cloned mares that are free of genetic diseases and that such clones be listed in a Clone Supplement for breeding purposes only.

AQHA counsel further argued that, for parentage verification purposes, the mitochondrial DNA profile of the clone must be different than the mitochondrial DNA profile of the original mare and all other previously registered clones of the same mare.

Finally, AQHA counsel argued that the registration of the offspring of clones and their descendants be listed in either a Clone Numbered Registry or Clone Appendix registry as determined by AQHA and its members and Stud Book Committee.

AQHA’s counsel also argued to the Court that AQHA should retain the authority to craft whatever rules necessary for dealing with the registration of clones as opposed to the plaintiffs’ request for an extensive set of new rules dealing with the clone registration issue.

With respect to attorneys’ fees, AQHA’s attorney argued that the court should deny plaintiffs’ request for fees because plaintiffs had not produced legally sufficient evidence at trial to establish an antitrust violation.

Further, the jury in its verdict awarded no damages to the plaintiffs. Therefore, should the Court decide to award attorneys’ fees then such award should be significantly reduced in keeping with the jury’s award of no damages.

Posted by Tom Correa

Thanks For Your Service Renee!

Dear Readers,

After lunch at a new restaurant in Mokelumne Hill, my in-laws and my wife and I sat talking about Yard Sales in the area.

My mother-in-law, Fran, said she was told about a yard sale in West Point and asked if we could "swing by" to check it out.

I laughed and made mention that West Point was not "on the way" home to our place in Glencoe, but in fact about 8 miles out of the way past where we live.

We were laughing about the "swing by" comment for a while as we drove east on Hwy 26 to Glencoe.

Just before the Jesus Maria turn off, I asked if they'd ever taken that road.

When they said no, I turned up Jesus Maria Road. It is an out of the way windy road with three different shades of blacktop - those being black, gray, and green.

It winds mercilessly through the hills between Mokelumne Hill and Rail Road Flat Road over some rugged, bumpy, bouncy, isolated, lonesome looking territory.

When we finally came out, I turned toward our place but about 4 miles away I decided to turn up and head to West Point from Rail Road Flat.

This is hill country and mountain roads. Yes, 27 miles an hour can feel way too fast when an unexpected blind curve comes up and you have to share the road with oncoming traffic.

Of course there is lots of room, but it doesn't seem like that at that speed!

Once we came out where the area looked familiar to my in-laws, we reached West Point. From there, I was determined that late or not - I was going to find that Yard Sale.

Yes, you are right if you guessed that I don't like Yard Sales. To me, I just feel strange driving up onto someone's property to look over their stuff.

I certainly doesn't bother my wife or her parents, they lover Yard Sales, Garage Sales, and Thrift Stores. To them, its a treasure hunt.

We found the Yard Sale in West Point and they had all sorts of junk, and nothing I wanted so I went back to our Chevy Tahoe and listened to an old Statler Brothers tape in my cassette player.

No, our vehicle doesn't have a CD player! But that's OK, we really do survive alright without one.

As we left, I saw a sign that said Yard Sale 1 Mile On Winton Road. So yes, I headed up Winton Road. About a mile or so, we passed the Yard Sale but I didn't stop.

I just kept driving because I couldn't remember what was up in that area. For some reason, I honestly didn't recognize the area.

Sure, it was woods everywhere. That's the way it is up here. West Point is about 2800 ft elevation and we kept driving.

At one point the forest cleared and we could look to the South and see the smoke still coming from the Rim Fire not all that far away as the crow flies.

But we didn't stop, I just kept driving and into the National Forest we went.

My father-in-law was not real impressed with this, he was bored and tired and wanted to get back to our home to relax - or maybe do some shooting to prepare for our Cowboy Shooting match tomorrow morning in Rail Road Flat.

For me, the area was just so beautiful as far as the eye can see.

Some would think living up here, that I'd become jaded to the forest around us - but no not me.

I'd take big trees and woods over the likes of a city any day of the week. And yes, these days even the town of Jackson with its 4000 plus population is almost too much "city" for me to handle.

Stop lights, fast cars, horns, everyone becoming more and more in a hurry to go absolutely no where drives me nuts these days.

We entered an open fire gate and a sign the said national forest, and I kept driving.

As I drove up Winton Road, my father-in-law who loves techy stuff and actually has a watch that can give him the altitude started calling out "4500!"

After a while we asked and he called out "6300!"

Throughout our trip up the mountain, we passed all sorts of cuttings where loggers had been. And yes, since logging trucks are always coming by our home in Glencoe down the hill, it was good to see one of the places where they were coming from.

My mother-in-law didn't know about the hundreds of trees that are planted where they harvest trees. She was happy to see that, and asked why this sort of information isn't told to the public.

Thinking about it, I guess reforestation is a big deal that few people really don't know about.

I'm guessing many probably think that the government is the one who does the reforestation - when in fact its private companies with leases to harvest timber.

We finally found the end to Winton Road when we ran out of blacktop and went onto a gravel road. We were one hour east of West Point, and subsequently about an hour and 20 minutes from home if we'd turn around.

After I turned around, I noticed that out all by its lonesome sat the Hermit Springs Cal Fire Station.

I pulled in when I saw cars there in their parking area. You could see a few folks inside and I was afraid that we were interrupting their dinner.

I was going to get out and go in when a Firefighter came out and started towards us.

She smiled and asked if she could help us, and I asked the question that seemed to be the simplest "Where are we?"

My in-laws both thought we had driven so far that we had already crossed into Nevada by then, but I really didn't think so.

Frankly, I was just going to turn around and head back down the mountain when she answered, "Well, West Point is 18 miles down the hill and that road over there which is about 8 miles long will take you to Hwy 4. It comes out above Arnold. Our fire truck can do in 15 minutes. It's gravel and paved on and off for a while, but its a good road."

I was immediately impressed by her friendliness, her helpfulness and the fact that she was in a Cal Fire Station way the heck away from everything. Yes, basically on top of a mountain.

I had to ask her a few questions such as her name and what she knew about the Rim Fire to the south.

Her name is Renee Henault and she pointed over to a ridge to the south and said, "There it is. I wish I was there instead of here!"

"Putting wet stuff on the hot stuff," I nodded.

She laughed and looked happy. I took it that she knew that understood what they did.

And yes, I really do understand. She is typical of Firefighters who I have met over the years.

She is smart, kind, helpful, brave, and very willing to get into the fight where ever there is smoke.  Yes, she sees the smoke over in the distance and feels like she's being left out.

City Firefighters don't have anything on Cal Fire Firefight Renee Henault and the crew up at Hermit Springs. They all want to do their job and feel left out when they can't.

Renee is a smart and pretty gal. She could probably do great at just about anything she puts her mind to in this crazy world of ours. He'd be a success at anything she does.

She has a trusting face and kind voice, and she would probably make a mint if she ever got into sales or marketing or management.

But really, as pretty and nice as she is, I don't think she'd ever be happy anywhere else.

I saw it as she walked up to my car. She is a Firefighter, a professional at her job. She is at home in the forest fighting fires. 

She is someone who loves being a "Firefighter." She takes pride in what she does, and serves the public good without reservation.

We talked all of two or three minutes, I gave her a card and told her that I would mention her in my blog, then left headed for Hwy 4 and down to Arnold.

And by the way, I felt better about pulling in and asking where I was after she told us about some European tourists who showed up and asked if they were close to the Yosemite National Forest when they were no where near it.

At least I knew that I could just make a U Turn and head back down the hill to get home, and I'm sure that Renee would agree with me that knowing that means that I wasn't lost.

Really Renee, if you are reading this, I wasn't lost - no matter what my father-in-law was saying!

We drove to Hwy 4 and went down to Arnold and filled up there, then went down to Angels Camp and got some ice cream and headed back up Hwy 49 and home.

All in all, it was a great ride.

And yes, I really believe that every once in a while we just have to get out and go see what's around the bend or up that road that you may or may not have ever visited.

Sometimes, sometimes, the road might lead down a dead end. During those times its great if at least the view of the scenery is good.

Other times, that road might lead us to someone like Cal Fire's Renee Henault.

Yes, I can't help but like her. And yes, I have a whole lot of respect for her.

Cal Fire has some really wonderful people. Renee is one of them!

Renee, if you are reading this, I see what you're doing for us as being no different, no less courageous, no less self-sacrificing, no less important, than the job that our men and women in America's military are doing for us.

Because of that, I take great pleasure in saying, "thanks for your service!"



EDITOR'S NOTE:

I found out Renee Henault has been a Firefighter with Cal Fire since the mid-1990s. She is a Fire Captain. And no, that doesn't surprise me.





Story by Tom Correa