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Show Page eleven The National Enterprise , September 15t 1976 Lear Petroleum Lands Contract currently purchasing the gas from Chevron for 35 cents a cubic foot, and selling it to Pioneer for $1.43. The second Natural Gas Company of year. Pioneer will pay, $1.45, the third year $1.63. He said Amarillo, Texas. According to Max W. after the third year. Pioneer Woodard, president, Lear has will pay a price "equal to that the right to purchase about 2.8 paid for intrastate gas in the million cubic feet a day from a Texas Panhandle. He estimated Lear will prolific well operated by Chevron Oil in the Mills Ranch receive about $80,000 a month Field of Wheeler County, in revenue from the new' Texas. All Lears gas from contract. that well will be sold to Pioneer under the new contract. Woodard said Lear is Lear Petroleum Corp. (OTC 7.375, 7.875) has contract to signed a sell natural gas to Pioneer DALLAS 10-yc- i ar -- Dunkin Donuts ' Earnings Rise Firms Agree to Merger RANDOLPH, DALLAS, Tex. Communi- cations Industries, Inc. (OTC 18.00, 18.50) has agreed in principle to acquire the outstanding shares of Aztec Communications, Inc. and Universal Communications, Inc. A Dallas firm, Communications, has agreed to exchange up to 40,000 shares of common stock for the two Jacksonville, Florida panies. com- Subject to approval of the Florida Public Service Commission and the Federal Communications Commission, the merger would mean acquisition of stock owned by William L. Meadow, president of both companies. Who Claims Rights to Public Lands? byD. VandeGraaff Executive Director, Utah Petroleum Association Public lands are those lands owned by the public (read Federal Government) which are managed by a public agency (read Federal Government) for the best use of the largest number of people (read Federal Government . They are a states. phenomenon shared most commonly by the Western Any short course in U.S. history will tell that early population centers were in the East. The migration began d to the California gold fields. The westward and area constituting what is now the states of Montana, New Wyoming, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Colorado. Arizona and Mexico was relatively late in receiving population and leap-frogge- statehood. am aware of the early Mormon "Deseret and that Nevada received Yes, Professor, I settlements in statehood as early as 1864. Nevertheless, Deseret wras until sparsely settled and Utah did not receive statehood 1896. As for Nevada, it w as let into the Union because of the large settlements near the Comstock Mines and partly to stop of eastern Nevada Mormon expansion. Nearly was without significant settlement. As for the other states, Colorado came into the Union in 1876, Idaho and Montana in 1890 and Arizona and New Mexico joined 1912. At the time of statehood each of these states had relatively small populations, limited commerce and industry and a large land area. The result was that the Federal not being Government acquired ownership of lands that developed or used by local residents. This does not mean that there are not public lands in other states, there are. But the Western states have a much control. larger part of their total land area under Federal Two emotional arguments now fermenting are: To what extent should local governments be compensated for the loss two-thir- ds w-er- e Mass. Dunkin Donuts, Inc. (OTC 5.625, 6.00), has announced net earnings of 35 cents a share for the third quarter ending July 31, compared to 27 cents for last year. Net eanrings of $725,000 were compared to last years third of Revenue for the quarter $558,000. earnings period was $11,475,000 compared to last years figure of $8,907,000. According to company officials, revenues include sales by company operated units, rental income, franchise fees, sale of equipment, interest and other income. By the end of the 1976 third quarter, the company was operating 30 more shops than it was a year earlier. of land and, to what extent should Federal "outsiders be allowed to dictate specific activities taking place within state boundaries? It is pointed out that those states with little or no public land enjoy a tax base which includes all the real estate within the state and all the activities taking place thereon. Public land states cannot tax public lands and receive only a prccentage of the royalties and fees collected from those lands. On the second issue, local citizens feel they have the right to decide what use will be made of local resources, what activities will take place on adjacent land and what quality of life is acceptable to them. On the other side. Federal agencies claim they provide services local governments could not afford while at the same time making sizeable payments to local coffers. Further, and they maintain the public lands arc a national resource should not be exploited for local benefit. The argument continues but one hard reality is that the in Congress as public land states do not have as many votes do the heavily populated non public land states. When push comes to shove the vote will go with Federal programs. There are several moves underway to increase local government benefit from public lands. In fact, the amount of royalty returned to local government has recently been increased. The real question, however, should not be which level of government should benefit from public lands but rather how can public lands best benefit the people of this country. It is important to remember that "people and "government arc not necessarily synonymous. More discussion on the use of public lands at & later time. |