What you missed over break: A fracking busy time

Over winter break, the big local news stories just kept on a-comin' in little old Athens. If you left town and didn't follow The Athens NEWS online, here's a quick update on what you may have missed.

Frack, frack, frack

Undoubtedly the biggest continuing story over break was the accelerating rush by oil-and-gas operators to lease up land in Athens County for possible drilling. This leasing boom, which started in New York and Pennsylvania, spread to the eastern counties of Ohio in late 2010, and got to Athens County this past fall.

It's based on the presence of the deep underground Marcellus and Utica shale formations, which underlie much of the eastern United States, and contain large quantities of oil and natural gas. It has recently become profitable to harvest these petrochemicals by combining existing technology – hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling. Since shale layers are relatively narrow vertically, but run for many miles horizontally, the ability to employ horizontal hydraulic fracturing has revolutionized the oil and gas industry, both in this country and

Any drilling in Athens County would probably be into the deeper Utica shale; the Marcellus doesn't come very far into the county.

The new "fracking" method involves drilling thousands of feet down into a shale bed, then drilling out sideways in multiple directions. Once the drilling is complete, the operator pumps pressurized water, sand and chemicals underground to break up the shale, and bring the oil and/or gas to the surface.

The possibility that Athens County may be part of the anticipated boom in drilling has sparked wildly different responses among local residents. It's got many local landowners lining up to sign potentially big-money leases – mainly with a West Virginia company called Cunningham Energy – and environmentalists raising a great hue and cry about the potential for fracking to pollute water supplies and ruin the rural lifestyle. And recently, the threat of small earthquakes resulting from deep injection wells used to store fracking wastewater has become a reality in Northeast Ohio.

The same debate is occurring just about anywhere where fracking is being used, and some states and nationals have enacted strict limits or moratoriums on the practice.

Scores of county property owners have already agreed to lease their land for possible drilling (see related story, this issue), and if the deal really goes down, the bonus payments coming into the county will be in the millions of dollars. As of now, however, this still remains a great big "if." To date, no one has actually sunk a horizontal hydro-fracked well into the Utica shale below Athens County.

Another kind of boom

And speaking of hydrocarbon fuels, the federal government continued over winter break to investigate the Nov. 16 explosion of a natural gas pipeline near the northern border of Athens County with Morgan County.

The blast and an ensuing fire destroyed three homes and two barns in the area. No one was killed or seriously injured by the explosion and fire, but observers reported flames spurting hundreds of feet into the air.

Tennessee Gas Pipeline, which owns the pipeline, has shut down the section affected by the explosion, and rerouted the transmission network. State regulators have said the company was not guilty of any wrongdoing, but the incident is still under investigation by the U.S. Department of Transportation's Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration.

Law director wants to be lawmaker

Athens Law Director Pat Lang tossed his chapeau into the U.S. electoral hoop in early December, announcing that he plans to seek election to Congress next year.

Lang, a Democrat, will be running for the state's 15^th Congresssional District. He's looking to unseat incumbent U.S. Rep. Steve Stivers, a Franklin County Republican who's seeking election to a second term.

Ohio lost two congressional seats after the last U.S. Census showed declines in the state's population. In a Republican-drawn redistricting map, most of Athens County has been placed into backwards-C-shaped district that includes, remarkably, part of the city of Columbus.

In his announcement, Lang said he wants focus on job creation and to fight for middle-class families. He called Stivers a "career banking lobbyist whose extreme agenda protects Wall Street but ends Medicare as we know it."

No donut for you

A former Athens County sheriff's deputy pleaded guilty in late November to a reduced charge in a case in which he had been accused of coercing sex from female drug defendants.

Jerry Hallowell, 44, had been facing serious felony charges including sexual battery. As part of his plea bargain in Athens County Common Pleas Court, Hallowell pleaded to a misdemeanor charge of soliciting or receiving improper compensation (some type of sex, apparently), as well as three fifth-degree felony charges of misusing an official statewide electronic database that's available to police officers. Hallowell used the Ohio Law Enforcement Gateway to run background checks on women in whom he took a romantic interest.

Because he has been convicted of a felony, Hallowell had to give up his state certification as a police officer. He's very unlikely to serve any prison time, however. His sentencing is set for Jan. 25.

Let the T&A commence

An Athens County judge dealt the final blow in late November to efforts by the city of Athens to block a proposed strip club on Stimson Avenue within 100 yards of Athens' main OU student neighborhood (Palmer-Mill). The city, which has lost in repeated legal decisions, and is also facing a federal free-speech lawsuit, recently announced that it won't appeal its latest loss in court.

Three Wide Entertainment, a company based in Shade, has tried repeatedly to get the city to issue it a zoning permit for a club featuring nude dancers, to be housed in a building on West Stimson. The Athens Board of Zoning Appeals has said no every time.

After being turned down by the board in 2008, Three Wide appealed to Athens County Common Pleas Court. In June 2010, Judge Michael Ward ruled that the board had overstepped its legal authority in denying the permit, and sent the case back for reconsideration.

At a meeting in June 2011, the zoning board once again denied Three Wide a permit. The company filed an administrative appeal of the board's decision, which Common Pleas Judge L. Alan Goldsberry ruled on in late November. Goldsberry found that city zoning code clearly allows a nude-dancing club in the general business zone where the building is located.

It remains to be seen whether the proposed "gentleman's club" will ever really open its doors, in a neighborhood where it would be surrounded by a bank, a U.S. post office, a small grocery, a health-food store, and other businesses not generally found in a red-light district.

OU mashes opponent in tater bowl

In what surely must rank as the number-one feel-good, post-season, high-carb story of the winter break, the Ohio University football team finally won its first-ever bowl game. OK, so it was the Idaho Famous Potato Bowl. But the trophy did include a great heap of genuine potatoes, which can be mashed, fried, scalloped, boiled, or even rendered into potato salad with the addition of a few bits of diced celery and several large dollops of delicious creamy mayonnaise. Hooray for the home team!

School may be history

In early December, Athens City School Supt. Carl Martin announced that the district, facing budget problems, will probably be closing down the Chauncey Elementary School. The district had earlier indicated that one school might have to be shut down to save money, and the Chauncey Elementary was widely considered as the likely victim.

District parents whose kids go to the school aren't taking the decision lying down, however; shortly after the decision was announced, they had put together a Facebook group to oppose it.

Goodbye wine, hello more apartments

In December, a local business owner, Ric Wasserman, confirmed that he's in the process of purchasing the West Stimson building (across from the proposed strip club) that houses the high-end BellaVino wine store and carryout. Wasserman, who also owns the Pigskin sports bar on North Court Street, said he hopes to raze the carryout building, and erect a larger building with five multi-bedroom student apartments.

Some local historians expressed sadness that the 120-year-old building, formerly a stable and for many decades a beer-and-wine carryout, would be torn down.

Frankly expansionist

Athens' popular frankfurter restaurant, O'Betty's Red Hot Dogs & Sausages, is stretching its buns to accommodate another uptown location. OK, if you're so all-fired clever, why don't you try to come up with a wittier sausage metaphor.

In any case, O'Betty's, now housed on West State Street, recently announced the opening of a second restaurant at the corner of Union and South Congress, just across from Bromley Hall. The building most recently housed the Campus Garden restaurant.

Uptown institution to close

An Athens business that was a constant for over 50 years closed over winter intersession. The Campus Sundry on West Union Street shut its doors a few months after long-time owner Paul Abraham died suddenly on Sept. 28, 2011.

The small, utilitarian place was open later than most bars. It had wall-to-wall merchandise, cheap cigarettes and a calm, weary dog. A half-lucid voice at the counter never failed to ask, "You want matches?"

We featured the beloved local business in our annual "Reflections of the Past" history issue on Dec. 12.

Another Frank-related story

Robert Frank, this time. Over break, OU announced that he has been hired as the new dean of the university's College of Arts & Sciences, its biggest college. The appointment is effective Aug. 1, 2012.

Frank was chosen for the job after a nationwide search. He is currently a professor of psychology and associate dean for research and graduate studies in the McMicken College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Cincinnati.