Petrichor Energy Inc. is an emerging oil and gas exploration company focused on acquiring, exploring and developing new oil and natural gas reserves in North and South America. The company has been developing its current properties, located in the southern United States, for the past three years. Petrichor Energy is growing its operations by implementing two primary objectives. The first is exploiting the potential of its low risk oil and gas fields in Texas and Mississippi. The second is to find new and highly prospective exploration projects in both North and South America — and to develop them into commercially feasible operations. By applying the latest geophysical and geological technologies when selectively drilling new wells, the company expects to increase its success ratio, as well as reduce the risk typically associated with oil and gas exploration.

1. www.gonzalesinquirer.com Oct. 2, 2012 TUESDAY • PAGE A3
of the state. J.K. Caraway, owner of a many directions. Under destroyed, and our local
Eagle Ford For now, though, the Ford dealership. Before Texas’ school finance law, tax base can’t support it
CONTINUED FROM PAGE A1 industry and the state the boom, he said, “even if property-wealthy school without legislative change,”
in a sweep across some of are flush with cash. Texas they were wealthy on paper, districts must share tax rev- said Daryl Fowler, a county
South Texas’ historically Comptroller Susan Combs owning hundreds of acres, enue with property-poor judge in neighboring De-
poorest counties. The last reported earlier this month they didn’t have the cash.” districts. Many of 23 newly Witt County. “The state is
drilling boom-and-bust in that for fiscal year 2012, “There are a lot of ranch- wealthy school districts reaping huge rewards from
these parts ended in the which ended Aug. 31, the ers with a lot more cash,” contain the oil and gas fields all this activity.”
1980s. Now, with the inno- state collected more than said Christine Gonzales, in West Texas, as well as the “Not one nickel of road
vation of horizontal drilling $44 billion in tax revenue, a cashier at E-Barr Feed, Eagle Ford shale. damage has been deducted
and hydraulic fracturing, $3.7 billion more than she where new deer feeders are So fast has the tax base from the hundreds of mil-
or fracking, the natural gas had projected in December. the toy of choice. grown that under state law, lions of taxes levied on
fields are reopened. A big boost came from oil The county of 20,000 the Gonzales school board natural gas and oil,” Fowler
The gas boom could not and natural gas production had a median income of had to lower the effective said. He said Capitol of-
have been better timed, taxes, the result of feverish $28,368, ac- tax rate to ficials were attentive but
saving many in these rural drilling and fracking activ- cording to 97 cents per noncommittal.
counties from the harsh
drought that choked much
ity in West Texas’ Permian
Basin and the Eagle Ford
the 2010 cen-
sus. About
“We’re not the $100 for the To cope with the sheer
2012-13 fis- volume of traffic and people
of Texas. The land in Gon- shale. 70 percent of greedy kind cal year — that has poured through the
zales, long the setting for Combs’ office reported residents are down from region, Gonzales County
hard lives tending cattle that oil and gas produc- white; nearly of people. a tax rate will expand the number of
and poultry, has given rise tion taxes together came in one-fifth of of $1.10 the deputies from nine to 13,
to stories of ranchers get- about $1 billion, or 39 per- residents live If the good Lord p r e v i o u s said Sheriff Glen Sachtle-
ting rich as quickly as it has cent, higher than projected, below the year, ac- ben. Roads that were get-
given rise to the natural gas and the industry also con- poverty line. wants us to do cording to ting an average of 500 to
flares that illuminate a clear tributed heavily to strong South of superinten- 600 vehicles a day now get
Texas night. There’s the tale sales tax collections, which town, along a lease, we’ll do dent Kim- as many as 1,800.
of the elderly woman who were up 12.6 percent from U.S. 183, berly Stro- And then there’s all the
made her way to a bank in the previous year. which is be- one if He wants zier. men.
nearby Shiner to cash her In a further signal of the ing widened The five- No clear-cut demograph-
first royalty check from the influence of the wealth cre- to accom- us to be more campus dis- ic information exists, but
company drilling beneath ated by the boom, Texas modate the trict serves some of the region’s RV
her land. environmentalists have set heavy traffic, fruitful.” about 2,800 parks are known as “man
“I’m sorry, ma’am,” the only modest goals for the new fences Carla FalƟsek s t u d e n t s , camps.”
teller told her after inspect- regulation of drilling. In have gone up, about 68 Stories, just like the ru-
ing the check. “I can’t cash other states, environmen- with palatial p e r c e n t mors of suddenly-rich
that.” talists have had more suc- entrances that announce of whom qualify for the ranchers, proliferate about
“Well, let me see the bank cess in stymieing natural the Cripple Creek Ranch federal free- and reduced- prostitutes being bused in
manager then,” she said. gas drilling, drawing links and the Circle Bar Blue price lunch program for after dark to towns here and
“I’m sorry, ma’am, we between the practice and Ranch, each with the sort of low-income families. It nar- there in the Eagle Ford.
can’t cash that,” the bank underground water con- electronic gate more often rowly missed being one of The sheriff ’s office says
president then repeated. tamination. New York state seen in Beverly Hills. the wealthy schools, clock- there has been no notice-
“But surely you have the has gone so far as to put Some landowners have ing in at $308,000 property able increase in crime,
$15,000 on hand,” she said. a drilling moratorium in become so rich that the value wealth per student, but, fearing licentiousness,
“I’m sorry, ma’am, but place. jump in wealth paradoxi- just under the threshold of counties have recently es-
that check’s for $1.5 mil- America’s Natural Gas cally threatens banks, said $319,000. tablished ordinances calcu-
lion,” he told her. Alliance, which represents Ray Raley, president of the lated to prevent strip clubs
The central courthouse major drillers, spent more Prosperity Bank branch in The downside from being built. The regu-
square, like so many Texas than $500,000 in Texas in Gonzales. Even as royalty checks lations state, among other
towns, remains sleepy. But 2011 and has spent as much “You’ve got people who have fattened residents’ wal- things, that the businesses
a steady stream of landmen as $390,000 on Texas lobby- have been struggling for lets, the boom has strained must have one security
pour in and out of the Gon- ists this year. years suddenly rich,” Raley county coffers. guard for every 10 custom-
zales County clerk’s annex And in his speech this said. The ranchers have de- Gonzales County roads ers inside the building and
to inspect title records. month at the Democratic cided to pay off their debts, stretching into southerly at least one security guard
Another sign of changed National Convention, Pres- he said, robbing the banks plains, wooded with the outside the building; must
times: The merchandise ident Barack Obama prom- of interest income. odd live oak be nonsmok-
on sale at Indie’s Southern ised a future in which “we One rancher whose for- or pecan, ap- ing; cannot
Style, a boutique special- develop a hundred-year tunes recently changed was pear in good “Our roads are use pyro-
izing in women’s cosmetics supply of natural gas that’s Carla Faltisek, who just ne- form. But technics; and
and zebra-striped purses, ing to work overtime be- right beneath our feet.” gotiated a lease agreement other county being destroyed, cannot be
now includes the $64 fire- cause of more lucrative em- with a drilling company for roads have near certain
retardant Wrangler shirts ployment in the gas fields. A The newly rich the mineral rights on the been pum- and our local businesses,
popular among the rough- billboard on U.S. 183 South Gonzales hews closely 100-odd acres she owns in meled into a churches
neck set. in Luling advertises gas to its history. The Battle of Gonzales County. suspension- tax base can’t and parks,
companies seeking drivers Gonzales was the first skir- “We’re just middle-class,” pu n i s h i ng , among other
Working for wealth with commercial driver’s mish of the Texas Revolu- said Faltisek, 53, who does hard mar- support it places.
The first drilling of Eagle licenses. Starting pay for tion, and “Come and Take parks maintenance for the bly cake by The rules,
Ford wells was in 2008 in those jobs has jumped in It” flags can be found in feed city of Gonzales. Her hus- heavy trucks
without according to
La Salle County, and since
then, energy companies
South Texas from $37,000 a
year to $50,000 a year, said
stores and on the porches of
grand houses. The Gonzales
band, 52, is a saddle-maker routinely go-
and ranch hand. ing to and
legislative one adopted
by Dimmit
have poured in resources
and manpower to mine the
Noel Smith, director of the
St. Philip’s Truck Driving
Inquirer newspaper is in its
160th year of publication.
They have an 11-year-old from
son. “We’re older parents, sites hauling
drill change.” County, are
intended
gas, trapped in a layer of Training School in San An- Habits in a place like this and he’s our priority,” Fal- fracking wa- Daryl Fowler “to promote
shale 250 feet thick and 65 tonio. stick around. So it was that tisek said. If a drilling lease ter, pipe and DeWiƩ County judge the health,
million years old. In frack- RV parks, proliferating 82-year-old cowboy-hat- is lucrative, she said, “it’ll concrete. safety, mor-
ing, millions of gallons of like wildflowers on the edg- ted Bobby Steen, raised in make it easier to send him Gonzales County esti- als and general welfare” of
water, mixed with sand es of shale towns, are now Gonzales, was hanging out to college.” mates it needs hundreds of county residents.
and chemicals, are injected home to welders, pipe fit- at a Subway in a Shell sta- “We’re not the greedy millions of dollars to reha- Gonzales County passed
into rock to extract natural ters and drivers from as far tion, trading stories with an kind of people,” she said bilitate these byways. such an ordinance this year,
gas. The Eagle Ford shale is away as the Dakotas. old friend about the nou- while still negotiating the In late August, a cadre of and DeWitt followed in late
4,000 to 12,000 feet below Despite concerns about veau riche of town, such as lease. “If the good Lord county judges made its way August.
ground. fracking’s potential for the one about the woman at wants us to do a lease, we’ll to Austin to ask the gover- “We didn’t want to be
Like a vortex, the op- groundwater contamina- the Shiner bank. do one if He wants us to be nor for a greater share of oil opening the door to being
portunity to make cash has tion and the pollution “You got lots of new pick- more fruitful.” and gas tax money to im- the only wet county in a dry
pulled workers from other of skies above rig opera- ups and Lincolns,” Steen With upfront lease mon- prove roads. The county es- region,” Fowler said.
sectors and other regions. tions, hydraulic fracturing said, but other than that, ey now in hand, the family timates road improvements
In DeWitt County, just in Texas is unlikely to go “most people around here will now repair its fences, will cost in the hundreds of Asher Price is a reporter with
south of Gonzales County, away even as a booming ain’t going to flash cash.” build a saddle-repair shop millions of dollars, more the Austin American-States-
the county judge reports a gas economy could go bust, “People getting oil mon- and travel, she said. than the increased tax base man. He can be reached at
dip in jail staffers, and more just as previous booms have ey are the ones coming in” Consequences of the can support. 512-445-3643. Reprinted
sheriff ’s deputies are unwill- rocked this and other parts for new cars, confirmed drilling boom radiate in “Our roads are being with permission.
e 20th School Reunion
County nets HallettsvilleLivestock
Hallettsville Livestock
up to 4 inches Commission Co. $$$
Commission Co.
Th ky
omens
Where your livestock brings top
over weekend Where your livestock brings top $$$ everytime!
K
everytime! will be held
Gonzales County received AUCTION SALE EVERY TUESDAY
AUCTION SALE EVERY TUESDAY SATURDAY, OCT 6, 2012
2-4 inches of rain over the Call 361-798-2542
wet weekend, with the east- Call 361-798-2542
We appreciate your business!
at the MORAVIA DINING HALL
ern part of the county get- We appreciate your business! in MORAVIA, TEXAS
ting the most rain.
According to weather All former students, teachers, trustees, residents
watchers around the county, and their spouses, and also anyone interested in the
the eastern part of the coun- Komensky Community are invited to attend.
ty along U.S. Highway 90A COME AND TAKE IT
near the Lavaca County line BATTLE RE-ENACTMENT Registration Begins at 10am followed by a catered noon meal
consisting of fried chicken and trimmings for $5/plate.
received about 4 inches from
Friday through Sunday.
See the first shot for Texas Independence BRING SWEETS TO SHARE!
Also bring an item for a silent auction (optional).
A swath through the
county from north to south
October 6, 2012 - 3:00 p.m. After the noon meal, a short meeting will be held
Gates Open at 10 a.m.
ome For A Great Time!
resulted in rain amounts of followed by door prizes and social time.
about 3 inches on U.S. High- Activities all day • Meet the re-enactors
Do C
way 183 North, more than 3 Tour the Village • See how pioneers lived
inches on 183 South and 3
KY
inches at Lake Wood. Pioneer Village
NS
Reply only if attending, by contacting
About two inches of rain
ME
was reported in Gonzales
2122 N. St. Joseph (Bus. Hwy. 183 N.) Martha Pavlicek at (361) 596-4930 or
KO
Gonzales, TX 78629 • 830-672-2157 Barbara Janak at (361) 596-7001 / (361) 772-6409
and in the northern part of
the county.
Coming to the Square Oct. 20, 2012
FREE MOVIE IN
DESPICABLE ME
DOWNTOWN
PG rating
GONZALES
&
• Starts at Dark
• Bring the Family!
brought
to you by:
LYNN THEATRE
Downtown Gonzales
The Gonzales Inquirer