County liability insurance rates remain stable

A representative of the county’s insurance provider, KCAMP, told the commission Monday the county has a higher than average loss ratio.

In 2007, the county’s loss ratio was a little more than 100 percent, in 2008, it was 247 percent, in 2009, it was 48 percent, and last year, it was 126 percent.
The county’s four-year average loss ratio is 134 percent.

If KCAMP was a commercial insurer, it would need its insured clients to have a loss ratio of about 60 percent to make money. A loss ration more than 100 percent means the county filed more in claims than it paid in premiums.
The county’s largest loss last year was a fire than destroyed a scrapper. A hydraulic hose burst, spewed hydraulic fluid on the engine, and the piece of equipment caught fire.

John Waltner, county administrator, said the equipment had recently been serviced, and he did not know what the county could have done to prevent the fire. That claim was for $150,000.

The county pays about $146,000 per year for insurance. That covers everything except worker’s compensation.

Despite having a loss ratio higher than some other counties in the state, the county’s insurance rate drooped last year by 1.3 percent.

Larry Sharp, KCAMP
representative, attributed this to a soft insurance market.

In other business, the county:

• Approved the purchase of four $20 road signs to designate the TransAmerica Bicycle Trail through Harvey County.
• Approved a memorandum of understanding between the Harvey County Health Department and the Health Ministries on the coordinating of care between the two entities. Health Ministries will serve as the medical primary care provider for clients both entities serve.
• Appointed Tim Johnson and Richard Denno to the Public Building Commission.
• Reappointed Neva Frey and Dorothy Kennedy to the Harvey County Council on Aging.
• Approved a memorandum that would give emergency management access to a list of residents with special needs in case of a disaster.
• Approved bylaws for the Kansas Local Emergency Planning Committee.
• Approved a Harvey County Emergency Operations Plan.
• Approved the adoption of a resolution that would allow the emergency management director to make minor changes or corrections as needed to the emergency plan without the commission’s approval.

Eaton Corp.'s CEO predicts $16 billion in sales by year's end as company reports sales up 21 percent

Eaton Corp. is heading toward all-time sales and profit records despite the uncertainties about government debt here and around the globe and their impact on economic growth.

The world's growing preoccupation with energy and energy efficiency has a lot to do with Eaton's forecast Monday that it will sell more than $16 billion in industrial equipment this year -- up by nearly a fifth over last year. About 55 percent of Eaton's sales are outside the United States.

"People are recognizing that energy prices are going to do nothing but go up from here, and they are investing in those types of solutions that will enable them to reduce their energy costs," said Alexander "Sandy" Cutler, Eaton's chairman, president and chief executive officer.

"That is the great mega-trend that Eaton has been attached to for some time since we are a power management company," he said in an interview after releasing the company's financial results for the second quarter.

The Cleveland company is a diversified global manufacturer of power management technologies. The company employs 73,000 worldwide, including divisions here in Cleveland, Euclid, Parma and Aurora, but does not release employment information on a country-by-country basis.

Eaton manufacturers everything from transmissions, clutches and hybrid systems for heavy-duty trucks, to hydraulics for agricultural equipment, from components for aircraft to superchargers and engine valves for cars, from hydraulic systems for wind turbines to the electrical guts of solar arrays, from electrical equipment for buildings to electronic power conditioning systems for computer data centers.

Cutler said the company expects sales to grow by 19 percent this year compared to 2010 and profits to increase by 42 percent to more than $4 per share of stock - both records for the company that turns 100 years old in a few months.

During the second quarter -- April through June -- Eaton's profits soared by 49 percent to $336 million, or 97 cents per share. That compares to $226 million, or 66 cents per share, in the second quarter of 2010, the company's financial report shows.

Sales for the second quarter were $4.09 million, up 21 percent from the $3.38 million in the same period last year.

Each of Eaton's five business segments showed double-digit growth in the second quarter compared to the same period last year, both in sales and profits.

"We are completing a very strong second quarter, a strong second half and what we expect to be a record year in both sales and profits," Cutler told financial analysts in a public teleconference, now available on the investor relations section of Eaton's web site.

Cutler added that at this point, sales and profits in 2012 look healthy as well. He said the company estimates that global manufacturing will increase by 5.2 percent next year.

But for the rest of this year, Cutler said sales should exceed $16 billion. The accelerating business growth this year have already prompted the company to adjust its 2011 sales and earnings forecast four times.

In January, the company forecast an 8 percent market growth, in February, 9 percent, in April, 10 percent and now 11 percent. The company expects this year's net earnings, or profits, to run between $3.90 and $4.10 per share. That's up from a January forecast of $3.50 to $3.80 per share.

Eaton's financial results beat analysts' predictions. The company's share price on the New York Stock Exchange increased by $1.43 to $52.59 per share.

Temp staff surge points to economic growth

Joe Garza and Du-Tex Inc. are the perfect fit for now — forever, he hopes.

The warehouse assistant is two months into his temporary job with the company dealing with a surge in orders for specialized hoses and valves for the oil and gas industry because of Eagle Ford production.

Du-Tex will need 15 more workers like Garza in the next few months, company vice president Mike Ray said.

More workers like Garza are in the workforce than during the past two years, which is a sign the Corpus Christi area's economy is emerging from the recession.

Dips and rises in temporary employment precede economic decline and recovery, respectively, by at least three months, according to analysis of data between 1972 and 2008 by the American Staffing Association.

Texas Workforce Commission figures for the Corpus Christi area follow those trends. Average quarterly temporary employment ranged between 2,500 and 3,000 jobs between 2005 and mid-2008.

The average count tanked between the end of 2008 and the beginning of 2009, when the region shed about 900 temp jobs as the recession choked the national economy. At the same time, the region's unemployment rate climbed from 4.8 percent in October 2008 to 6.3 percent by March 2009, figures show.

"During this recovery period, a lot of businesses are watching the economy and they're watching the market," said Jim Lee, a Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi economist. "So during this transitional period they would tend to hire more temporary staffing."

When times got tough, temporary employees were the first to go, said Sharon Kollaja, with Sterling Personnel Inc.

Corpus Christi's temp job market got even drier through 2009. Kollaja said her business at one point was down 60 percent.

State figures show the region's temp staffing sector hit bottom in the summer of 2009, with an average count of 1,880 jobs, with numbers climbing through the end of 2010 — the latest statistics available.

This spring has shown marked improvement, Kollaja said.

"Our numbers are exceeding 2008 which was a great year," Kollaja said.

All of the sectors Kollaja deals with are booming: clerical, professional and light industrial work, the latter helped by the Eagle Ford Shale boom, she said.

Other trends are emerging. Employers are going for longer temp employee contracts for projects that had been delayed by the economic downturn, Kollaja said.

Hourly rates are increasing for workers with certain skills, she said.

Average weekly wages for area temporary workers also rose during 2010, ending the year at $433, which was an increase of $97, regional figures show.

That is a sign employers gradually are becoming more confident.

"It takes some time for businesses to really take the risk of hiring a person permanently," Lee said.

Lee said data show the Corpus Christi area is out of the recession.

The regional economy has been growing during the past six months despite signs the national economy may be sputtering.

The temp staffing boom has created business opportunities. Pam and Paton Rigsby recently reopened the Corpus Christi branch of Snelling Staffing Services, which closed 18 months ago because of the low demand for temp workers and internal changes under different management, Pam Rigsby said.

Du-Tex has incorporated temporary staffing into its operations for several years, beginning with a need for workers during the mid-decade spike in the oil industry pre-Eagle Ford, Ray said.

He estimates 85 percent of Du-Tex's staff of 35 people entered the company through its temp-to-hire arrangement with Sterling Personnel, which screens, tests skills and does background checks on potential employees and also reduces Du-Tex's liability, Ray said.

"If we went out and spent the time to hire staff members, it would have cost us $4,000 to $8,000 per employee," Ray said.

Back to basic court!

The Senta Municipal Assembly last meeting of the members accepted the proposal for a decision under which initiated the Zentai Primary Court to restore order to Zenta and other officers along the towns residents do not have to constantly Subotica travel for legal affairs, because so much time and money. The subject experts say, because of the Tisza is a natural geographical unit, and citizens living in the region need to assert their rights, the court will see restoration feasible, provided there is political will to do so.
The Senta is a court building in Subotica, Senta Court Orders Base Unit works, so the earlier part of the implementation of activities, extra-judicial proceedings, civil lawsuits may continue to remain in Senta. The proportion of criminal justice, however, entirely moved to Subotica. And this is precisely what the main problem is caused by the public, since a procedure several times forced to travel to Subotica. In you want to change the Senta municipality by the Municipal Assembly of the Hungarian Civic Alliance proposal adopted the initiative, under which initiates the primary court to restore the activity of which three officers saved the village, Ada, Magyarkanizsa and Senta municipality hug up.
If the authorities listened to our request with a great assist in Senta and the neighborhood residents to explain our paper Commenting Racz, Laszlo Szabo, the initiative proposer of the Municipal Assembly President, adding the government is the public position of ease, as if the people arrange their affairs with the smallest Subotica always have to go, lots of travel and additional costs. As the representative body operating under the legal issues committee chairman said he had a case, when a total of eighteen people traveled Zenta Subotica, including the judge, assessor, public prosecutor as well. Everyone was Senta, Subotica was the scene of the trial only. However, Senta anyway, it should be maintained in the court building, so the recovery would not have almost no extra cost. I think not only in the three villages will benefit by being re-establish basic courts, but also its Subotica, as well tehermentesíthetnénk with the local court explained László Rácz Szabó.
The initiative Famous Ivan's lawyer, Senta court the former leader is fully in agreement, even as worded, specifically necessary for the court to restore the primary idea in his view already expressed when the reform was announced, but it still did not add the appropriate political power.
Judicial settlements along the Tisza, a forensic level of linking the inevitable step because of current judicial network is not at all rational. A lot of citizens in judicial proceedings must Subotica travel costs and a significant loss of time explaining to them famous Ivan, who said that the initiative is completely unrealistic idea. As we know, the Tisza is a natural geographical unit, which is why there is a need for citizens to assert their rights, so I feel like I restore any case, the court is possible.

French ban sparks Queensland fracking debate

Queensland farmers have raised concerns about the risks of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, after France banned the controversial procedure which is used to extract oil and natural gas.

The French parliament has passed a law banning fracking, while the US state of New Jersey has made moves in a similar direction.

Dalby landholder and Basin Sustainability Alliance committee member Anne Bridle says she is unsure about the safety of hydraulic fracturing.

"The practice certainly needs serious scrutiny because what’s happening overseas could happen here," she said.

Fracking is a process used by the coal seam gas industry where water, sand and chemicals are injected into wells at high pressure, in the process splitting open coal fissures to release more gas.

Landholders in numerous parts of Australia have expressed fears about the chemicals used in fracking contaminating underground water supplies and damaging the environment.

Queensland has banned a group of cancer-causing chemicals known as BTEX from being used in fracking fluid, but the process of hydraulic fracturing itself is allowed.

Ms Bridle has first-hand experience of the risks of hydraulic fracturing.

Two years ago a gas well near her property was hydraulically fractured, connecting the Springbok sandstone aquifer to the Walloon Coal Measures seam below.

"With all that is happening overseas you do start to wonder what does it mean and should we be equally concerned here," she said.

"The Queensland Government is saying things will be different in Queensland from the US because the Queensland industry is so highly regulated on fracking.

"I recognise they have improved some of the regulations around this practice, however I am very concerned, as I know of one coal seam gas company that is currently strongly lobbying to have the Government radically weaken its conditions on fracking."

‘Ban unnecessary’

The Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association's director of coal seam gas operations in Queensland, Ross Dunn, says France's decision to ban fracking was political, rather than being based on science.

“Every scientific study has come down in favour of the process and found it doesn’t pose a risk to adjoining aquifers,” Mr Dunn said.

“Hydraulic fracturing has been used in Australia for a number of decades and is only occasionally used in the coal seam gas industry.

“It is a large part of the petroleum industry and is also used in the geothermal industry and sometimes in water bores.”

Mr Dunn says an Australian ban on hydraulic fracturing is unnecessary.

“Hydraulic fracturing is a much-maligned and misunderstood practice.

“As long as wells are designed and constructed to industry expectations then you don’t get gas leaking from them.”

Australian Kiowa surpasses 60,000 fliying hours

As a key component supplier for the Bell 206B-1 Kiowa helicopter, diversified industrial manufacturer Eaton Corporation helped the Australian Army’s Kiowa fleet surpass 60,000 flying hours in April. The aircraft has been instrumental in providing support for a variety of missions, including relief efforts following massive flooding and cyclone damage in Queensland earlier this year.

“Eaton is proud to be a part of Bell’s supplier team and to contribute components that optimize reliability, efficiency and weight reduction,” said Mike Ruple, director of military accounts for Eaton’s Aerospace Group. “Operational readiness is the top priority in military aviation and is extremely critical during lifesaving relief and rescue efforts. Eaton’s components and support help keep Kiowa fleets in operation around the world, whenever and wherever they’re needed.”

Eaton supplies a large number of the Kiowa’s conveyance systems components, including hose tube fittings and couplings that distribute hydraulic power, fuel products, cooling fluids and air throughout the aircraft. Eaton’s remote-controlled circuit breakers are designed to reduce weight while providing the benefits of a switch and circuit breaker within the same device for aircraft electrical system circuit protection.

Additional content supplied by Eaton includes the Kiowa’s hydraulic pump and motor, the main engine fuel pump and refueling components, the power module, chip detectors, pneumatic assemblies, engine seals and check valves.

In the aerospace industry, Eaton is a leading supplier of hydraulic, electro-hydraulic pump and generator products and integrated systems; engine and airframe fuel pumps; electric motors; aircraft door actuation, flight and flow controls; fluid, fuel and air delivery products and systems; nose wheel steering systems; integrated control systems; cockpit controls and displays; power and load management systems; pressure sensors, seals, and fluid health monitoring products and systems. Eaton serves commercial and military aviation, aerospace, military weapons, marine and off-road markets worldwide.

Gas firm wants to extend Southern Tier leases

A Texas-based energy company blanketed Broome and Delaware county landowners with letters bearing an unwelcome piece of news last week.

XTO Energy is seeking to forcibly extend oil and gas leases because of long-standing bans on high volume hydraulic fracturing, the company told landowners in "force majeure" letters sent to members of the Deposit Coalition last week.

"We didn't like it, (but) it's not a surprise," said Dewey Decker, who led the 500-member coalition when it signed its $110 million deal with XTO in 2008. "We kind of expected it."

Signed in May 2008, leases gave landowners $2,411 per acre up front in addition to 15 percent royalties and were originally set to expire after five years.

The deal between the landowners and XTO -- now owned by ExxonMobil -- marked the beginning of the gas lease rush in the Southern Tier, which has slowed precipitously as the techniques used to extract natural gas from the massive Marcellus Shale formation have been stalled by government regulatory reviews.

Both the state Department of Environmental Conservation and the Delaware River Basin Commission -- a federal-state compact agency that regulates water use in a four-state area -- have put holds on permitting for high-volume hydraulic fracturing while regulatory and environmental impact reviews are underway.

In the three-page force majeure letter sent to landowners last week, XTO cited the bans as an unpredicted and uncontrollable event that it said provides legal justification for the extension of the leases.

" ...These unforeseen events constitute a force majeure event, as executive orders and other governmental regulatory action beyond XTO's control have delayed the process for obtaining permits required to produce gas from the property under the lease," the letter states.

"Your lease will be extended so long as XTO is prevented from conducting drilling or reworking operations on or from producing oil or gas from the land covered by your oil and gas lease," it adds.

Decker noted the letter doesn't specify a time period for the extension, or indicate when the extension begins. He said he's seeking more information from the company before landowners decide how to go forward.

Force majeure letters sent out by Chesapeake Energy have resulted in two separate federal class action lawsuits filed early this year involving about 300 Southern Tier landowners who are disputing the legality of the company's action.

XTO spokesman Jeff Neu declined to answer a written list of questions, including whether landowners would receive compensation during the lease extension period and how many letters were sent out.

"The only thing that's clear is that they're going to try to use force majeure," Decker said. "And naturally, I'm getting calls from everybody that everybody's upset. And I can understand it."

"I don't feel it's hardly fair," said Town of Sanford landowner Elinor Kellett, who received one of the letters.

DEC Commissioner Joseph Martens said last week that permits for high-volume fracturing could be issued as early as the beginning of 2012 as the agency's environmental review process nears completion.

However, drilling would be banned within the New York City watershed and a 4,000 foot buffer zone under a newly released draft of DEC's proposed regulations.

According to Decker, about 80 percent of the Deposit Coalition lies within the DRBC's purview, and will be shut out from high-volume hydraulic fracturing until the agency lifts its moratorium.

About 15 percent of the coalition -- all of which falls within the DRBC area -- lies with the New York City watershed, and would be locked out of gas extraction activity by the DEC's proposed ban.

SRAM and Rock Shox 2012 at Pass’portes Du Soleil

Along with the plentiful meat, cheese and drink on offer to entrants there are massive trade stands from the likes of Lapierre, Scott, SRAM and many more, so there’s always plenty to see off the bike.

So, as Matt and Jon were in Les Gets to attend the 2012 Lapierre launch and to shoot a feature on the Pass’portes du Soleil for Issue 68 (subscribe now!), they strolled about Les Gets with a beautiful combination of cheese overdose, arm pump and mild sunstroke and were ushered into the welcome shade of the SRAM stand.

There they were fed small and tasty cups of coffee and shown lots of shiny new things that’ll be available from the SRAM mega-corp for 2012 as well as being given the “Rock Shox Book of Expertise”, which made them feel rather special.
Internally routed Reverb Stealth launched for OEM customers


The thing that got us the most excited was the new Rock Shox Reverb Stealth post. The only thing that’s annoying about the Reverb (and all of the other uppy downy posts out there) is the fact there’s a cable flopping about on the outside, catching on the tyre when the post is dropped, rubbing on the frame and just waiting for some accident to rip it out – although hasn’t happened to any of the Reverbs being ridden in the office yet.


The Reverb Stealth gets round those pitfalls by taking the hose for the hydraulic remote out the bottom of the post and inside the frame, keeping everything looking neat and out of the way. Obviously you need a frame specifically designed for this so the Reverb Stealth is only going to be available on new bikes from Trek and Scott for 2012.

The guts are positioned upside down but you’ll still be able to bleed it from the top, which should make installation slightly less of a faff. Hopefully this will become a more common fitment, although it might make mechanics that struggled with internal gear cable routing even more miserable.
Standard Reverb gets new hose fittings and travel options

The normal Reverb has had a bit of a tweak too, with new threaded barb hose fittings at either end and there’s now a 100mm travel option as well as the 125mm if you don’t need that much travel to fit your frame. Going the other way, an ‘Enduro collar’ will also be available which clamps onto the upper to limit the travel if you don’t want the post going all the way down.

Diking accident injures 5 in Souris

Five soldiers and a civilian were injured Monday when a hydraulic hose blew on a dump truck hauling sandbags for flood fighting in Souris, Man.

The six, who were resting at the nearby Plum Creek site when they were sprayed with the oily fluid, were taken to hospital in Brandon for treatment, said Lori Truscott, spokeswoman for Canadian Forces Base Shilo. Their condition is unknown.

Despite the accident, Souris Mayor Darryl Jackson said Monday he's confident the barriers in the town of 2,000 are ready.

Chief floodfighter Steve Topping said the weather forecast is fairly good because there has been minimal rain in the Souris basin. He said they've been advising municipalities along the Souris they are expecting a crest about half a metre lower than had been predicted.

Residents in the town, about 50 kilometres southwest of Brandon, have spent weeks slinging sandbags since provincial flood officials urged them to build up their protection in light of the devastation in Minot, N.D.

Part of the American city, which is also situated along the Souris, was swallowed by the floodwaters last week. The water reached levels not seen in 130 years, washed over dikes and submerged more than 4,000 homes.

Farther upstream in Saskatchewan, where the Souris begins, much of the village of Roche Percee was also inundated.

Hundreds of soldiers arrived in Souris over the weekend to help build dikes. On Sunday, the town decided to sacrifice a historic 177-metre-long footbridge — Canada's longest — to prevent it from ripping apart a protective dike.

Jackson said the anchors holding the bridge cables ran beneath a dike, and if the Souris River rose up over the bridge, the cables could tear out the anchors, making the structural failure of the dike inevitable.

The river's crest is expected to arrive some time between Tuesday and Friday.

Jordan Greig, a 17-year-old sandbag volunteer, said he's looking forward to the end of the crisis when he won't be awakened by a morning siren. The town of about 1,600 people has been regularly issuing emergency calls for volunteers by four siren bursts.

Elsewhere, the town of Melita, located in the southwest corner of Manitoba — and the first community that was bracing for the Souris crest — seems to have made it through unscathed.

Mayor Bob Walker believes the peak may have passed through the town already. The crest was about 0.6 metres higher than their spring peak of 4.4 metres.

On Monday, that level in the town, which is on a higher elevation than Souris, had dropped a few centimetres.

Based on the information he is getting from North Dakota, Walker said he believes the water level will continue to drop very slowly. The information he has received from the U.S. officials has been fairly accurate, he said.

"It's only 27 miles away and there's not a whole bunch of calculation in between, whereas when the province tries to come up with numbers they're feeding in information right back to Rafferty and Alameda."

The Rafferty-Alameda reservoir and dam structure in Saskatchewan controls levels on the Souris River.

Walker said the level in Melita was lower than Manitoba officials had told him to expect.

But there is a dike in North Dakota that he believes is holding back another 0.3 metres of water that could still be on the way.