TALES FROM THE FIELD Fear and Loathing, continued from p. 33
to stop you from drilling.” Back to town to regroup. Calls to Frenchie and lawyers. The lawyers call the GSO. Saturday morning (the 28th), a repetition of Friday’s scene. The GSO has decided, against Frenchie’s legal advice, not to back down. Sunday morning (the 29th), Frenchie’s lawyers persuade the GSO to yield. The GSO calls Dennis; Dennis calls the driller and threatens to personally put his own bullet in the radiator. The driller calls G&V to quit. G&V recruits a braver (or more foolish) driller, and grants him legal indemnification, including buying him a new radiator, or a new drill, or looking after his wife and children, as Dean promised to do for G&V.
Friday, October 11th. G&V show up with their new con- tractors. Frenchie thinks it would be prudent to protect them better, so…Frenchie calls the GSO to supply a man. Not one to miss an opportunity, the GSO calls Dennis and says, “Say, do you know that Frenchie is trying to get on your property again? Don’t you think you need protection?” Dennis says, “Yes.” Instead of just one guard, now there are two. They ride down together from Kingman in one truck, take positions on each side of the property line, and defend their respective turfs. Dennis’ guard (inside the line): “You are trespassing on Dennis’ property. If you persist, (blah, blah, blah)…” Frenchie’s guard (outside the line): “You are interfering with mineral exploration activities, legal under the Mining Law of 1872… (more blah, blah, blah).” After exchanging business cards, the caravan drives to the current drill hole, where the speeches are repeated less energetically, and work resumes.
Over time, relations deteriorate. Dennis’ guard drives to a telephone early on the 13th (Sunday), and triggers a plan to have the entourage arrested for trespass. The Mohave County Sheriff arrives at noon to serve a warrant. G&V politely explain that, on BLM land, he is out of his jurisdiction, that the warrant is improperly drawn (incorrect Section, Township & Range), and that any arrest will be met by suit against him and the county for false arrest. G&V will NOT consent to cease drilling, but offer to meet the Sheriff at the jail in town so he can make the arrest more conveniently. He declines to provide the jail address, and states he will come out tomorrow with a correctly-drawn warrant and enough manpower and vehicles to take us all in.
But then he undermines the legal solemnity of the situation by requesting the correct legal description for the warrant and location of the next hole, so he can find the rig!
Late Sunday-night phone calls from Frenchie’s lawyers to the Mohave County Attorney end the fracas. Drilling con- tinues, no uranium is found, and Dennis yields the property – gracelessly – in court two months later. He does, however, tell Dean in court that he (Dennis) and Frenchie have been snookered by the GSO: Both of them, he says, should have cooperated to the extent of sharing the cost of one guard, instead of each hiring his own! Dean, always affable, agrees.
________________________________
Many individuals have heard this account, but have difficulty believing that Dean actually said he’d look after the wives and children following the target shoot- ing episode, but it’s the truest fact in the whole story!
President’s Message, continued from p. 35
the initial shaking. We even had some of our main roads patched up within 3 days and traffic was up and running at almost normal.
While scary and a bit unnerving, the November 30th earth- quake has provided a great educational opportunity and the collaboration of professionals around Anchorage has been phenomenal. But the biggest takeaway from the damage and post-quake inspections has been the strengthening of the geoscience and engineering community in Anchorage. Where many of us were friendly competitors, we all came together to work as a collaborative unit and regularly share information with one another to support the public. For the first time I can recall, there has been public praise for engineers and geosci- entists and an outward respect shown for those professionals, not only for their immediate response to the earthquake, but also the work done before the shaking happened. Without quality work by qualified and licensed professionals, our city’s infrastructure would not have performed or protected public safety as well as it did.
This in turn emphasizes the importance of professional licen-
sure: where geoscientists are licensed or certified, the work is going to be done in accordance with the standard practice of care with the goal of protecting the health and safety of the public.
I want to thank my AIPG family that checked in on us, almost immediately after the shaking had stopped – it means a lot to have friends and colleagues looking out for you when unexpected disaster strikes. And I now know you all have earthquake alerts on your phones…. ☺
Student and Young Professionals Career Workshop
Saturday, September 21, 2019
AIPG will present a one-day workshop for students and young professionals at the Geological Society of America annual meeting, which will be held in Phoenix, Arizona. The workshop is intended to help students successfully transition from the classroom into the workforce and to guide both students and young professionals as they start careers in the mining industry. Participants will learn about the importance of balancing life and work demands, expectations of employers, how to navigate the hiring process, what techniques can be used to stand out as a candidate, how to prepare a CV, and strategies for professional development.
Presenters from industry will share their knowledge and experiences as employers, plus speak about their own career paths. The workshop will include several coffee breaks for networking, a lunch with presenta- tions and flash mentoring.
We are looking for AIPG members to participate in the workshop as presenters and during the flash- mentoring session. Please visit the Geological Society of America annual meeting page for more details and to register as a student or mentor.
www.aipg.org
Apr.May.Jun 2019 • TPG 39
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