Of course every meter has a reading but if you actually saw one in which the reading was changing without a source of flow, this is a good thing. It had output work without input energy. Scale it up and you can handle all the world’s energy problems.

REGARDING:
“Some of the Problems could be that a number of the homes in Century is not insulated for the tempuratures of the cold this year, or could it be a bigger problem.”

This is indeed a problem. If a house isn’t sealed and insulated, you aren’t heating the house, you are trying to heat the whole planet.. It’s much cheaper just to heat the inside of a house.

My grandfather’s house had one inch boards on the outside of two by fours. Wind blew through the cracks. He could never get it warm in the winter. A couple of cousins went to work for Georgia Pacific and noticed they were selling reject paneling cheap. They bought enough to panel the inside of his house. It still didn’t have any insulation but the wid couldn’t pass through it without slowing down anymore.

Grandpa’s heating bill dropped more the cost of buying the paneling in the first couple of months and stayed low for the rest of his life. It would have been even lower if he had used any kind of insulation to boot.

I just never blamed the county for how he built his house and the expenses which resulted. Blaming the innocent is a waste of a good mad.

REGARDING:
“This should not be White / Black issue, a Poor / better off issue / a Crack Head / Ellected Official issue, you are all residentsand you have to come togother as the Family of Century should.”

I doubt meters are racists so they never make an issue of such things. Those who do usually are, or so it seems to me.

REGARDING:
“Shouldn’t we be electing wise and knowledgeable people who will use their ability to make Century a better place to live and do business?”

Of course we should–or they should–since I’m an outsider and Bluff Springs hasn’t held an election since around 1930. The problem, of course is that we tend to elect only those running and those running tend to be people with an axe to grind or they are running on a single issue or–in very rare cases, none of those running is wise and knowledgeable in the first place.

As an outsider, I appreciate the way Freddy Wayne looks into questions and reports. I’m reminded of previous times in which questions simply were never answered. There were even times when I got the impression the attitude was, “You can’t handle the truth.” That may be true, but if true, I can’t handle the fact.

REGARDING:
“I think the gas consultant may have conflicts of interest and may not be an expert on automated metering systems. I think the meter reading schedule is questionable, and calibration is far too technical to be donei n the field.”

Well, if he doesn’t know his business, it may have been unwise to have consulted with him in the first place. I wonder what conflicts of interest are involved. Usually calibration isn’t done in the field and a few are tested and/or replaced every year to check how they work.

I noticed an air bubble on my water meter face a few years back and insisted they replace it, per advice from Sensus who sells water meters.

Sure enough the meter wasn’t working right. It was only registering half the water I was using and my bill went up enough to buy a new one in less than two months–good for the system, not good for my pocketbook. Me and my big mouth.

David thinking how old newspapers make fair insulation if they just didn’t burn

many elected officials DO take on the role of philsopher and especially judge but with little regard for the Charter, or Constitution, or the needs or desires of the people. This behavior beggs the question; what is the role of each elected official? And shouldn’t there be specific policies & procedures for carrying out those roles?

Shouldn’t we be electing wise and knowledgeable people who will use their ability to make Century a better place to live and do business?

Many people learn quickly to keep their mouth shut and their face down to survive; however, the proper role for citizen, Director, council person, or legislator is to be viligant, prepared to discuss or further investigate the issues on behalf of the people and to stand-up, speak up and stay the course until all issues and questions are resolved.

REGARDING gas meter readings:
I think the gas consultant may have conflicts of interest and may not be an expert on automated metering systems. I think the meter reading schedule is questionable, and calibration is far too technical to be donei n the field. I have witnessed water meters that WERE NOT CONNECTED that somehow gave readings.

The base issue here is “DO THE PEOPLE TRUST THEIR GOVERNMENT?
And “has the Town over-billed the Century Prison?”

We don’t expect them to be philosophers and judges so that might be a little bit above their pay grade. Just faithfully and impartially carrying out their duties as spelled out in the charter should be enough.

I suspect cutting the bill without showing it wasn’t owed was a favor but pity is a virtue and hard to gripe about. It meant others had to pick up the slack, but we don’t mind, being virtuous ourselves.

REGARDING:

“Problems should NOT have to rise to the level of MAJOR CRIMES or Felonies to get the attention of government and find out the truth. ”

I could be wrong, but it sure looks like they were seeking the truth of the matter.

They checked the meters for accuracy even though meters tend to under-read if they go out of calibration, not over-read.

They had an independent consultant check on the matter at least on the ones who were named. If it was someone who didn’t want her name brought out and didn’t officially gripe, they don’t have the chance to fix the possible problem.

David wondering what else they should do other than just give all the gas away to everybody for free and see how long anybody had gas

But who is able and capagle of showing these things, and who can afford an attorney to do it for them? Recently, I had to pay an attorney $900 to write a letter for me – true it involved a day of research and then an hour to actually write the letter – but at what point DOES IT BECOME JUSTICE DENIED because of the expense, time, and knowledge required. Perhaps the little old lady felt she could resolve it before her trusted elected official.

I doubt very seriously if the “old lady” has the resources or knowledge to prove her gas meter or its complex and technical reading system has caused her damage, but does this mean that she has NOT been damaged. Also, the Town of Century could spend itself into destitution doing a full blown investigation of every complaint; but that is why we have elected representatives like Henry J. Hawkins and Anne C. Brooks. If one of them thinks there is “fire” in the “smoke” then perhaps there is a problem that warrants an additional examination. What IF THERE IS A PROBLEM, and nothing is done about it. Where is the justice in that? Their job is NOT TO DO FAVORS, but rather to seek TRUTH AND RIGHTEOUSNESS.

Problems should NOT have to rise to the level of MAJOR CRIMES or Felonies to get the attention of government and find out the truth. And I might point out that it is the American process to question, and debate these issues, and Town Hall meetings is the place to do this. In my mind, Mr. Hawkins is a PATRIOT not a troublemaker.

A wise General once said; “The Devil is in the details!”

Supply and Demand. Check and Balance don’t apply here but you are right that people should pay for what they use.

If you can show that the meter isn’t working right or that the town overcharged, I am sure they will right the wrong. Just claiming it must be wrong and they must be wrong doesn’t help the old lady.

It also is confusing to read: “This is a Criminal act but the City of Century, Gulf and Escambia could care less about the poor, Old or Middle Class that live in Century.”

Where is the criminal act?

Do you propose they arrest the town and lock up all the inhabitants?

Should they arrest the entire county because you claim it has committed some criminal act?

How do you jail a town or a county? And why should people in Perdido or Pensacola Beach be arrested for the unspecified crimes commited by the town of Century or Escambia County? Wouldn’t this involve arresting the old lady since she is part of the town?

What kind of justice are we talking here????????? I don’t like so you’re guilty??

When did the people of Century quit caring about themselves as you claim? After all, not everybody on the Council is a spring chicken and all were elected by the people of the town.

David knowing the Constitution requires telling people charged with a crime exactly what the crime is supposed to be

Different animals. Central Water Works, Inc. is a member-owned utility with funding from federal loans and grants requiring membership. Century is a wonderful little town which sells natural gas to people outside its boundaries. I don’t want to force them to extend their boundaries to include Bluff Springs and McDavid and I don’t want them to stop selling me natural gas because I’m outside their boundaries. For that matter, there are people inside the boundaries of Century who are members of Central Water Works, Inc because Century decided not to provide them with water.

REGARDING:
“Mr. Green, I think you are correct about the value of gas-bought being based on THERMAL UNITS, and gas sold being priced on cubic feet. An interesting point for sure.”

Yep, everything’s interesting if looked at closely and often it makes more sense than at first glance.

That said and after reading Joe Thomas’ article, I’m becoming convinced the difference between bought and sold isn’t related to energy value but to accounting practices.

It looks like he’s saying they bought one amount from a pipeline and sold another amount. Not that they took in one amount and charged for a different amount. I think it says they bought it months in advance based on how much they expected to use and then used more than that.

Imagine paying for your water in advance based on how many baths and flushes you expected then having relatives over who used more than you expected. The water comes on demand, not on expectation.

I assume at some point they will square the differences away. I think it also said there were months in which they bought more than they used. I wonder if this is like my cell phone in which I paid for so many minutes per month but only use a thousand minutes less than that. Then the save them for a year in case I want to use them and then they throw them away.

Banking, accounting, and sales are interesting fields of endeavour.

REGARDING:
“DHG – What do you think of entrepreneurship as an economic development tool and incubators as an entreneurship building tool?”

I favor entrepreneurship
(Definition The assumption of risk and responsibility in designing and implementing a business strategy or starting a business.)
Because in it people set out on their own to produce a product which they think others will want and in the process make life better for many people.

I don’t favor incubators because they depend on government forming the opportunities for entrepreneurs to work. They do it in special places and under special conditions for special people. Or they don’t do it, as you pointed out.

I would much rather the government protect us from dangerous situations and allow entrepreneurs to take their own risks, come up with their own ideas, set up their businesses themselves–wherever and however seems best to them.

I can think of a few times in which Pensacola has drawn businesses away from Century and Flomaton with incintives. It made things better for Pensacola but worse for us and didn’t improve actual product, just changed location.

Welcome new businesses as long as they aren’t just scams (we’ve seen those too) and don’t treat them like gods or demons. Don’t try to skin them once when you can fleece them over and over. (Restated: Don’t put such a tax burden on them that they fail when they could have been producing taxes directly and through employees and sales for years to come.)

I always worry when government steps in to save one business at the expense of the taxpayers and their competitors. For example, consider the help given GM and Chrysler. Yes, they employ lots of people and we drive their cars, but giving them money does not assure their success and gives Ford more competition out of your pocketbook.

I don’t want anybody to fail but I don’t want to be the unwilling source of their success and I don’t want to make one succeed by pushing down others.

David knowing things are complicated but favoring simplistic solutions

The incubator in Century was designed and built to create jobs, but has NEVER BEEN OPENED – in TEN YEARS. Even with tenn
tenants waiting in line.

Google “community business incubator” to see what an inccubator could do for Century.

DHG – What do you think of entrepreneurship as an economic development tool and incubators as an entreneurship building tool?