Is A Farmer Truly Rich If He Ignores The Consequences of Signing His Land Away To A Gas Lease?

 

Steve Beck is the third generation of his family to operate a small farm in Pulaski, Pa. He expresses his concerns about fracking.

VIDEO https://vindyarchives.com/videos/2012/mar/31/1878/ From April 1, 2012 story: New drilling law deepens discord
Also see related: RISKS AND RICHES IN THE FRACKING ERA Videographer & interviewer: William D. Lewis

If video doesn't play yet, here is the link: https://vindyarchives.com/videos/2012/mar/31/1878/

https://vindyarchives.com/news/2012/apr/01/new-drilling-law-deepens-discord/

https://vindyarchives.com/news/2012/apr/01/risks-and-riches-in-the-fracking-era/

Letter To The Editor published Sun, March 25, 2012 in Youngstown Vindicator, by Pennsylvania resident and frackfree ally who has laboured hard many months going door to door to educate the farmers around him.

Selling true farmers short 

A shale industry spokesman at a recent event at Wilmington Area High School was asked what effect shale gas well drilling will have on our local agriculture. His response: “All I can say about that is that we’re going to make a lot of farmers around here rich” as he leaned into the microphone and boldly delivered his clever, smug statement, I sat in the audience and realized that this man did not understand real farmers at all. To a real farmer, farming is not just an occupation or a hobby, it is much more. To some true farmers, it is a way of life — a total life-style. To other authentic farmers, farming is an inspired passion, and to some others, it is almost a religion that shapes their moral code.
There is a level of awareness and joy attained by the farmer who is appreciative of, and who understands, the beauty he perceives in what he is doing. Every true farmer can vividly describe some personal aesthetic experiences that have occurred to him on his farm at one time or another. These are gentle, joyful memories that visit and comfort him on his death bed and ease his departure from this life.
I know a farmer who signed a gas lease a few years ago without being made aware of the risks, consequences, and sacrifices that he would have to face and endure. When the heavy equipment that the lease permitted on his land arrived and began to knock down many of his large oak trees, which he had often climbed as a boy, he immediately felt the loss of the goodness that those beautiful trees had generously provided him throughout his life. When he watched the simple, single-file cow path being replaced by a wide, permanent, industrial road across his wild-flowered meadow, his sense of loss was magnified. When the slow seepage entered the aquifer and finally contaminated his and his neighbors’ water wells forever, he was overcome with deep regret for signing that complicated, deceptive gas lease; but it was too late.
We are conditioned by our greedy, competitive society to try to get as much money as we can get. People who read their Bibles are warned over and over again in the pages of this Good Book to resist this temptation. Yet in our local communities, thousands of hypocrites willingly signed leases in order to become rich despite all the warnings about the serious consequences of signing.
In the solitude of his fields, the sensitive farmer concludes that happiness dwells in the beauty of true virtue. Gratitude, simplicity and humility make up the content of his character, and he clearly realizes that he doesn’t need to be given a lot of money to be rich.
-- Steven J. Beck, West Middlesex

Read Steven's LTE in Sunday's letters at: https://vindyarchives.com/news/2012/mar/25/stop-strippers-at-the-scrap-yards/

December 2012, Hubbard, OH

June 2012, Coitsville, OH

November 2011, Youngstown, OH

November 2011, New Bedford, PA

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WEST MIDDLESEX, PA. – Steven J. Beck Jr., 62, died Sunday, Dec. 7, 2014, at his home.
He was born Oct. 3, 1952, in Youngstown, a son of Steven J. and Pauline E. Tomko Beck Sr. and was a lifelong West Middlesex resident, living on the family farm.
Mr. Beck was a member of St. James the Apostle Church, a graduate of Wilmington High School and received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Youngstown State University. He was a Junior High and High School Art teacher for the Youngstown City School District for 25 years, retiring in 2009.
He was a member of the Fracking Truth Alliance in Mercer and Lawrence County and Frack Free Mahoning County. Steve was also a member of the Sierra Club and the coalition of Peace and Justice. He enjoyed gardening and farming. Steve firmly believed every student could draw and he could use art to teach empathy. He was also known for his amazing story-telling ability.
He leaves a brother, William M. (Beverly) Beck of West Middlesex; two sisters, Pauline E. Beck of West Middlesex and Helen A. (John) Erickson of Bluffton, S.C.; three nieces; three nephews; three great-nieces; and four great-nephews.
He was preceded in death by his parents.
Family and friends may call on Thursday from 4 to 7 p.m. at the Kelley-Robb-Cummins Funeral Home and also one half-hour prior to the funeral services on Friday, from 10 to 10:30 a.m. at St. James the Apostle Church.
Funeral services will be held Friday at St. James the Apostle Church at 10:30 a.m.
Memorial donations may be made to a charity of the donor’s choice.
Interment will be at St. John Cemetery in Lowellville.
Visit www.krcummins.com to view this obituary and to send condolences to the family.
https://vindyarchives.com/news/tributes/2014/dec/10/steven-j-beck-j/