Morgan County Democrat. (McConnelsville, Ohio) 1886-1943, 1930-05-08
IN GAS NATTER
WRITE MAYOR r. ID. SHAF'ER

10 d IcltCi III pal
that Mayor Shafer received from the
law firm of Crabbe, Johnson, Crabbe
and Williams, who assisted the late
Chas. H. Fouts, as attorneys for the
M. e M. Gas Co., in their action to
lower the gas rate in the two towns:
Columbus, O., May 5, 1880
Hon. E. D. Shafer,
Mayor of the village of
McConnelsville, Ohio.
Dear Sir:-This has been a long
strenuous fight and Mr.. FOuts work
ed faithfully in this case with us for
more than two years We have all
been of the opinion that the valua
ton placed upon the property of the
gas company was entirely too high,
and tried to have the commission
take into consideration the fact that
many of the wells carried on the
or no use, but the commission took
a different view We also contended
that there was an adequate supply
of gas in the immediate vicinity and
If this gas company had used due
diligence and drilled new wells, as
the villages were led to believe it
would at the time the 6Oc rate was
first allowed, that many of these
old wells would probably have been
abandoned and an ample supply
could have been furnished from a
comparatively few wells and the
company would not have been COM
PEELED to go out into the market and
buy gas as it has done during a
portion of the year. The commits
sion let the company get away with
the claim that many of these old
wells were used for storage pur-
poses and in so doing came within
the provisions of the law as being
fused and useful thereby adding
at least 100000 to the valuation.
We raised numerous other ques-
tions but after a valuation was final
ly fixed, it was apparent that such
valuation would justify much
greater rate than provided in the
village ordinances. In fact, we have
feared that the commission might
fix rate even higher than the 60c
rate
We had considerable correspond
ence with Mr.. Fouts up to the time
of his death and a few days before
his passing, we submitted the final
made by the attorneys
for the gas company in which they
were demanding 58c net for the
first two years, and 6Oc net for the
second three years of proposed
five year ordinance, with a minimum
bill of Use. You will see
that this is considerably higher than
the rate finally fixed by the COM
mission.
On the 18th day of April we re-
ceived reply from Mr.. Fouts In
which he refused to consent to the |
increased rate as demanded by the |
but desiring no further de-
lay directed us to notify the COM
mission to proceed at once and de- |
termine the rate, which the COM |
did on April 30th, a copy /
of which is enclosed. We quote the !
last paragraph of Mr.. Fouts' let |
ter as follows:
''If the rate is TO be increased, it |
will be over my protest and not by
any cooperation on my part, for l |
have a very pronounced feeling that |
justice is on our side. / ask for no |
further delay on the part of the |
in rendering its final |
decision"
We are allowed sixty days from |
the time the rate was fixed within |
which to file petition in error,
should we decide to carry the case
to the supreme court.
You will appreciate that one of
the greatest handicaps was the lack .
Of funds with which to employ COM
petent engineers to cope with the /
highly paid engineers of the gas
In considering the time which we
have spent on this case, both in the
office and in public hearings, we
feel that the combined bill for the
two villages is reasonably worth
$500. OF course, this bill COW
ers the fees and expenses of Crabbe,
Johnson, Crabbe and Williams and |
L. S. Dougan.-Very truly yours,
Crabbe, Johnson, Crabbe & VIII
Jams. BY C. C.. Crabbe, L. S. Dou-
gan. BY L. S. DOugan.