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Show The National Enterprise , March 16, 1977 Page eleven Increased Gathering Capacity Boosts Tejas Gas Revenues CORPUS CHRISTI, Gas Corp. (OTC 11.625, 12.125) has reported substantial increases in revenues and net earnings for the year ended Dec. 31. Revenues for the year were $23,806,283 compared to $13,988,862 in 1975. Net Tx-Tej- income increased as to equal to $1.53 per primary share, from $1,039,333. or $1,10 per share. On a fully diluted $1,522,273, basis, earnings per share rose to $1.39 from 98 cents. Fourth-quarte- rev- r enues were $6,652,01 1 compared to $4,867,328 in the same period a year earlier. Earnings for the quarter were $377,950 or 37 cents per primary share, compared to $319,518, or 33 cents per share. President Wallace C. Sparkman said gas gathering increased 88 during 1976 to approximately $21 million from approximatley $11.1 million. Throughput in the gas gathering systems increased by 33 to 19.9 billion cubic feet. Sparkman said the major factors contributing to the companys revenue and earnings increases were the addition of new gas gathering systems, a full 12 months contribution from systems added during 1975 and the extension of some existing systems to reach newly developed production. The company currently Lately a few things I believe in seem to be coming into conflict with other things I believe in. Can there be any question that television, radio and newspapers encourage terrorist activities? No one even thought of hijacking an airplane until D.B. Cooper did it. The event got so much coverage that within months everyone was doing it. Wouldnt you suppose the coverage that the Symbionese Liberation Army received has only encouraged others? Last week wre learned that we can all talk to the President if we only stick a gun into some innocent persons head. As a matter of fact, we can even pull the trigger and be free on bail a few days later as certain members of the Hanafi Muslim sect can attest to. With all these twisted acts of all these twisted minds, one thing seems to be very clear. If you are willing to point a gun at enough innocent victims, you will be the number one subject on the evening news. Corporations pay hundreds of thousands of dollars for one minutes of time on these programs but you can have it all for free. There seems to be a catch however. To begin with, you have to be genuinely dangerous. It helps to kill a few people right off the bat. It also helps to come up with a new twist. Taking control of two or three buildings at a time was certainly a new angle. Finally, it seems to me, its best to have a cause. Dont worry too much about making sense just be sure that your group has some cause and a list of demands. Should you be caught without demands, your terrorist organization runs the real risk of sharing part of the evening news with other stories. The best demand Ive seen so far was that all white people get off the earth in seven days. Did you ever have your name in the newspaper? Did you read the story?" Ill bet you did. Ill even go so far as to make it a better than even chance that you cut the article out and saved it. Don't feel bad, we all do the same thing. Well, just imagine that you were a thousand times more insignificant than you are today ( nothing personal - we are all relatively insignificant). Wouldnt all this publicity be tempting. The only thing standing between you and being a household word is the price of an automatic weapon, a few crazy friends and a fair amount of nerve. The important thing to remember, is that if fame is your objective there is no chance of not getting it. If you are willing to risk enough innocent lives, you will be the number one story on the evening news. The entire nation will be talking about you. The whole country and even a good part of the world will know all about you. Even your friends and What sort of neighbors will be able to get into the act. person were you, they will ask. The neat thing is that there is no chance of not getting enormous press coverage if you do something horrible enough. And that, my friends, is whats been troubling me the last few days. Certain things I believe in are coming in conflict with other things I believe in. I believe in freedom of the press, but I also believe in common sense. If we as a free people tell the news what they cannot report, than where will censorship end? If we dont, where will the violence end? Its clear to me that within the next 20 years the terrorists will have atomic bombs. How do we balance that against the first amendment? These are conflicts that I cant resolve in my own mind. It would be helpful if we could have voluntary restraint on the part of the major networks and news services. Would it be possible to announce that in the future no terrorist names will be given? That no group names or causes or demands will be given? Only events will be reported but no glory will be given to the participants. The problem is that the news would be less interesting and hence draw less viewers, listeners and readers. Revenues would drop and sooner or later someone would begin reporting every morbid detail again. But it's too bad because in the end, we're all going to be victims. has a total of 1,297,934 common shares outstanding. In December of 1976, 212,945 shares were issued as a result of the exercise of stock purchase warrants and in February of 1977, 100,000 shares were issued upon the conversion of all remaining convertible debentures. Revenues and net income from fuel oil transportation increased substant1976, Sparkman said, primarily due to two ially during The company conducted the operations for a full 12 months during 1976, compared to approximately factors: 10 months in 1975, and a new storage tank went into operation as of Oct. 1, 1976, increasing the company's storage capabilities. The contribution to net income from Tejas barge transportation division was substantially lower due to the impact of the 1976 strike in the tire manufacturing industry, a major user of carbon black. Since the in strike ended September, these operations have improved substantially, Sparkman said. During 1976 the company also wrote off $196,000 of oil and gas 150,000-barr- el properties on operations conducted prior to the organization in December of the company's own oil and gas exploration subsidiary. During 1976 Tejas paid cash dividends totaling 20 cents per share. The Prince Column by John Prince Partner, Prince, Langheinrich & Greer. |