Contributed photo Stone dust gushes into the air on a horse farm in Hickory, PA from a gas drilling rig. The dust, which was released for several hours on April 6, filled the valley across many acres and was breathed in by family members and by the owner’s horses. It ceased when the owner went to the site complaining and taking pictures.

Western PA landowners regret deep gas wells deals

Gasses bubbling out of the ground and into drinking wells and ponds

By TOM KANE

WASHINGTON COUNTY, PA - At first, farmer Ron Gulla and horse farm owner Joyce Mitchell were excited about the prospect of making money from gas drilling. Now, after more than two years of the presence of drilling companies with their heavy trucks and huge drill rigs, they and many of their neighbors wish they had never signed a lease.

“They say one thing to you when they want you to sign, and quite another thing when you’ve signed your land over to them and they begin to do what they want to it,” Mitchell said.

Mitchell said the gas company?Range Resources, a subsidiary of Halliburton?told her they would drill only one well. Then, when gas was discovered in a nearby well, they came in and drilled four over her and her husband’s objections.

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$40,000 incentive to sign with Uncle Sam

Eldred student nearly in the Army now

By FRITZ MAYER

MONTICELLO, NY—It’s no secret that the war in Iraq is controversial. And now that the war is in its fifth year, with more than 4,000 American fatalities, recruiting new service men and women is becoming an ever more challenging task. Army recruiters are still hitting their goals, but it’s not as easy as it is in peacetime.

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PA election bureaus inundated with new registrations

New machines ready in Wayne

By TOM KANE

PIKE AND WAYNE COUNTIES, PA ? Never before have so many people wanted to be Democrats, at least in Wayne County. The election bureau has been inundated with voters who either want to change their parties from Republican to Democrat or to register as Democrats for the first time.

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Other stories in this issue:

• Correction
• Dam rules to be tightened
• A wet and wild year-round Sullivan water park
• Monticello students net regional award with futuristic pet door
• River Management Plan discussed
• Planning board watch
• Quarry owner tries again for expansion
• Water woes: a prescription for precaution

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S