Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Roy Austin Smith on August 10, 2012 at 5:13

Mr brewster thinks he is talking to a bunch of uneducated rednecks, trailer trash. He has not crawled out of his hole , long enough to look around, some these people are fine people, some are people who have worked the land many years. I supposed he thinks all the complaints are ignorant, rantings, but he has just stepped completley out of his knowledge bass.

I just received an email from some , i call them dumb demos about the tea party, which i am not a member. the claimed all tea party members are ignorant and uneducated and most of them come from the SOUTH.

boy do i love this kind of people along with Mr Brewster.

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Permalink Reply by John Brewster on August 10, 2012 at 8:27

Roy, this is the last time I'll spend any time on you. You know nothing about me, and my background and personal life nor is it relevant. I'll just say you couldn't br more mistaken. FYI: iI have wrked in the industry but am now semi-retired. I own over1,000 nma which i have leased and managed for 30 years. I also manage my familiy's farms in Arkansas. In the late 1980s I sued Arco for various claims including take or pay, breach of the implied covenant to develop, and temporary cessation of production that extended beyond the period allowed in the lease. I am an ardent supporter of mineral owners. The only reason I visit this siite is to help other people (like Skip, The Baron, and others do). Occasionally the irresponsible ranting of posters is too much. I did not insult you, LN or anyone. You were not as polite! I merely asked for some evidence to support what can only be called outlandish hyperbole. People who get on this site merely to bash oil companies are a disgrace. Having said thst, if anyone has legitimate grievances, there are several of us who will try to help.

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Permalink Reply by Larry G Smith P.E. on August 10, 2012 at 8:43

Mr Brewster, I am not in here to bash an oil company, I was born and raised in the oil industry, received my  degree in Electrical Engineering in 1962, I am also a Registered Professinal Engineer, that was 11 years after I finished high school.  I still work in the oil field and deal with production companies and also pipeline companies all the time. I do consulting work in the Corrosion Field and spend a lot of time in the field.  I am not in here to as you say Bash the oil company, but when I see problems I question the reason and attempt to find out why and will continue doing that. I have sent e-mails to CHK asking questions, if there is no problems, they should be willing to answer. When I do not get answer's I question WHY? I do not have a lot of property up there but that is besides the point, it is my property, they leased it and I expect to be paid my Royalty money on time. Do I need the money to live on, NO I was doing great before and am still doing great but that money belones to us the Royalty Owners and we expect to receive it ON TIME, not when they feel like sending it.  I suspect that some of the as you call it "Irresponsible ranting" is from people that NEED that money to live on.  As far as evidence that you ask for, I would not advise any one to send you any evidence until they KNOW who you are and WHY do you want it. Too many eyes and ears working for CHK. Thank You.

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Permalink Reply by Roy Austin Smith on August 10, 2012 at 9:58

Amen: when you start calling people you do not ignorant and rantings. something is bad wrong. I am not ignorant nor am i too smart, but i was raised on that land, when we had nothing but a farm in a shotgun house with out electric. Did not know i was poor untill i was a grown man. everyone around you was in the same shape. But the big difference of then and now is: all your neighbors helped you. you helped your neighbors. most of the time you did not even ask for help but one of your neighbors would be. their. it is a tremendous differece in those years and those of today. you can tell that by reading these post.I am a little attached to the land i have put many hours of hard labor into it, and loved every minute of it. Of course, it is a hard way to get rich and i never made it, but i am doing ok.

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Permalink Reply by Roy Austin Smith on August 10, 2012 at 10:03

good. I have heard enough of your ranting and braggin.

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Permalink Reply by Roy Austin Smith on August 13, 2012 at 16:57

I just reread you post mr Brewster. you are much much better fiancial position than i am. not that it means anything to me. I am just an old country boy, who has been around for many years. may have already outlived my time, but i am still here for some reason, proably the old man upstairs is keeping me here. I have been around quite a bit , managed to get a good high school education in one of the best small high schools in Desoto parish. back in those times, the school had very little money, but did a really good job of teaching the children. went in the air force for awhile, came out and got me a colleage degree. without the GI bill i would not have been able to go. Oh yes, i joined the AF just before i was going to be drafted. went to a couple of schools and then overseas. best years of my life. You don't know much about me, but you insist that we, i are ranting and uneducated , i guess trailer trash, the way you talk. a trailer would have looked good beside what we lived in but we were a happy family and their wasn;t such a thing as a trailer home in those days. I was born in the worst year of the depression. after growing up it made quite an impression on me.  my working days are about over, not that i would like to work even at my age. the irresponsible ranting you are talking about maybe the truth is too much for you to bear. the truth hurts. I, my wife and larry along with quite a few others have legitimate grievances. I have the evidence on my wifes land to prove that Exco if giving out false info.When you come out with Chesapeake being a reputable company. i knew you were full of BS to put it mildly. they are not reputable and neither is JW assoicates who did the leasing for chk.  I am sure the few dollars you talk about is chicken feed to you, but it is not to me. I was making it before the wells came alone and i am still making it, but not near as good. When you work the land as my father and i have, you get attacted to it and at the time he purchased it one dollar went a long way. it was during the depression. one thing about it , we never went hungry, because my father, my mother, my granddad, grandmother and dads brothers all raised plenty to eat. My father worked day and nite till he got us out of the poverty , that i did not know we were in. in those days, neighbors helped each other.  now days that is not quite true. as you can tell by your postings. I am, not sure of larry, not in your financial status.  Outlandish hyperbole , that is what you think of when people are small landowners. tells you true character. The troubles i have with ckh are very much true, but they are too small for a lawyer of your caliber. They are cutting the payments back from what other companies pay. Aw not much use talking  to you anyway. As far as help with the attitude you have , the first two or three lines would tell me that you are not a reputable lawyer. You make big money and i am proud of it. that is your business, and appartley you did well. What little i own is mine. what little i own has hours and hours of hard manual labor put into it. and at present, as soon as i can get over open heart surgery, the implanting of a pace maker and defibilator i will be back do some work,not much on the rent house, sitting where the old shotgun house was built. My little acreage means a good bit to me. I was raised their until about 1939 ,and my grandmother and granfather was on top of the hill joining our land. they all worked togather, including my grandmother, who, while not cooking was doing some of the plowing herself, behind an old horse or a mule. did not know what a tractor was in those days. remember that was the depression, ir you are old enough. Although i learned more about the depression through reading than i realized at the time i was living in it. with your attitude i would not want you help. as soon as i get my health back, assuming i do, i will be sending , especially my wifes troubles along with photographs and proof that they are faking their reports the the attorney General of Louisiana. Now Mrs brewster you have a good night. and remember i do have some education and a lot of education while traveling in Europe and working most of my life.

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Permalink Reply by John Brewster on August 13, 2012 at 17:37

No hard feelings.  I never made any comments about your education, being trailor trash, etc.  I hope I am too much a gentleman to do that, nor did I have that impression of you.  In fact, I appreciate your service to our country.  I'm sorry to learn of your health issues.  I am also someone of fairly modest backgroud who was blessed by God with good fortune.  When I sued ARCO, I bought top leases from hundreds of mineral owners and tried to help everyone in the community.  One witness for us, the wife of the local vet outside McAlester, OK testified that by her calculation she had been shorted by almost a dollar on one check.  The ARCO lawyer scoffed that was not much money.  She replied, "It may not be much money, but it is my money, not ARCO's!"  I loved that answer, and it is my desire that all royalty owners are treated fairly and paid what they are owed.  My frustration with folks who just complain that oil companies are evil and crooked without factual support is that they are being unfair.  If people call the royalty owners help line with that attitude it is no wonder that they are treated rudely and don't get much help.  There are a lot of wonderful and certainly honest people who work at CHK, Exxon, XTO, SWN, and all of the other companies that occasionally come under attack on this site.  They don't deserve to be called names.  As I've said many times, mistakes are made.  To be fiar, there are some times when bad decisions are made and a coverup follows.  That doesn't happen often, and it is almost never a corporate decision made consciously at a high management level.  I felt that ARCO broke the law and failed to pay royalty owners properly, so I am not in denial that people can make wrong decisions to our detriment.  However, in over 35 years in this business, I have also become aware of the many reasons things can go wrong with no malice towards royalty owners intended.  It is just that we are "low man on the totem pole" and generally not well informed.  Royalty owners do have rights, and if patient, we do get paid in the end, especially if we know how to go about asserting our grievances without vitriol.  For what it's worth, I don't expect people will get much help from state attorneys general.  They will most likely advise you to hire private legal counsel.

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Permalink Reply by GoshDarn on August 13, 2012 at 18:45

Thanks for sharing, Mr. Smith.

And -- as you probably know -- doing good deeds is the best payday there is.  (It's also good medicine, too.) 

Yes, hard-working people with integrity, honesty, and the  benefit of good character . . .  are the true millionaires.  Poverty is not a blemish for many such folks since it can, indeed, be a strong builder of true worth.

So, keep your spirits up.  Hang in there.

Your day will come.

Take care.

GD

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Permalink Reply by Steve on August 14, 2012 at 2:09

 I agree with you that doing good deeds is the best payday, but, don't forget a wise word of caution - "a good deed seldom goes unpunished " meaning - often a good deed has unintended consequences. Obama's Affordable Health Care Act comes to mind. 

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Permalink Reply by Roy Austin Smith on August 14, 2012 at 3:15

thank you sir: i usual don"t get that involved,  but when we get call uneducation ranters and that chk is a reputable  company. it hit a nerve.

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Permalink Reply by John Brewster on August 10, 2012 at 8:49

Larry, i am happy to respond to someone who has asserted facts. Sadly, you couldn't resist casting erroneous aspersions aboutme. That was beneath a gentleman who is a P.E.

I havebeen onboth sides of oiland gaddisputes since beginning thepractice of law in1975. I was an enforcement attorney at the start. Myj job was ti investigate and prosecute bad guys. I did so both civilly and criminally in both state and Federal courts. I commend you for never having lost, but respectfully suggest that may be because you were not involved in enough cases. We all win some and lose some, despite the facts and/or preparation! You have not been paid for five months? Were you in a pay status before, then payments stopped, or have you never been on pay status? That information can give us some clue about what is going on. There are several legitimate reasons for delayed payment. I reject emotional outbursts which assume all oil companies are crooks. We simply need to get an explanaton so that you may be assured you will be paid - with interest if that is appropriate. Now, if can avoid bashing oil companies, attornyeys and me, let's address and resolve the problem.

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Permalink Reply by Larry G Smith P.E. on August 10, 2012 at 9:16

Roy, I never meant to casting erroneous things about you, I just asked why you were interested in this area of Louisiana. Do you  own property that is leased in this state, I question that because of some of your posting in here. I understand you are an attorney, that makes me question even more so.  Do you work for one of the oil companies or a land owner? That was my red flag that makes me ask questions.  I have only worked on about 6 or 7 cases for attorneys, corrosion problems do not usually involve Attorneys, the other cases were product  problems which are more easly solved and resolved. One was a trailer house fire that killed 2 children. It was not the fault of the mobil home maker.  My well was drilled and started producing on April 11, 2011, the first Royalty Check I received was not until October 2011,  then  the checks were just about on time. The last month we were paid for was for Feb 2012 and it was paid in May of 2012. we are owed from March, Apr, May June, July and we are now nearly half way thru Aug. I sent an email to CHK and was told that XTO had not paid them so they could not pay us. I sent an email to XTO asking then about it. At first they would not give me an answer but after I replied to that email, they sent me an answer. XTO said that they had over paid CHK earlier in the year and until they got the money back from CHK they would not be sending any payments to CHK.  So you can see why I am up set about what is going on, I do not care who pays the Royalty just as long as it is paid and on time for ALL royalty owners. If you want to respond to me by email you can send it to lgsmith.pe@gmail.com.

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