Liquid gold in the forest

The buying of timber land for the purpose of securing the bark is naturally incident to the tanning business The company owns a large amount of land acquired in this way and owns and operates some sawmills for utilizing the timber on it — Lewis H. Lapham, 1901.[1]

Western Pennsylvania is well known as the birthplace of America’s petroleum industry. Edwin Drake’s construction in 1859 of the nation’s first large-scale oil well laid the foundation for the industry that spread from Pennsylvania’s forests to the desert southwest within four decades.

Leroy Well. Stereograph, c. 1860-1870. Credit: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.

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Bike bummer

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Decatur police officer R. Lindsey completes the citation he issued me for running the stop sign on Oakview Road.

Last year I got my first moving violation citation in more than 20 years. Decatur, Georgia’s, only traffic cop, Robert Lindsey, ticketed me for running a stop sign on my bicycle. I paid the $212.50 fine plus $21.00 online payment fees and thought the experience was over. (Yes, if you add it up, I paid $233.50 for running a stop sign on a bicycle.)

When I logged into the Georgia Department of Driver Services Website to change the address on my driver’s license I was shocked to see that I had three points on my record. And where did those points originate? The September 2011 bicycle ticket.

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Decatur Beacon Community update

The Decatur City Commission unanimously voted July 2, 2012, to allocate $1.3 million for consultants Rutledge Alcock Architects to prepare construction documents for redevelopment of the former Beacon and Trinity schools. The proposed project ultimately will cost $25 million.

Decatur Deputy City Manager Hugh Saxon’s June 28, 2012 staff report on allocating funds for the Beacon redevelopment project.

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