Gilbert's work is powerful journalism

It is with great admiration and thanks that I write this e-mail to congratulate Mr. Gilbert and your newspaper for receiving the Scripps-Howard Award and for producing such a powerful work of journalism.
At least one of my ancestors arrived in Virginia as an indentured servant. One of my great grandfathers fought in the Revolutionary War. My father owned property in both Buchanan and Dickenson counties until his death in 2009. I inherited the property when he died. I plan to pass it on to my son, and hopefully, when he has children, he will do the same.
My father had Alzheimer’s, and about 17 years ago or so, Equitable Production bulldozed roads, destroyed timber, installed at least five wells, and left the property in a state of destruction. My father did not give this company permission to do anything on his property. When I assumed the role of his power of attorney, I attempted to procure payment for the damage to the property at Priest Fork, near Birchleaf, Va. After much wrangling, Equitable agreed to pay my father $25,000 for the damages. When the agreement arrived, Equitable expected me to sign my father’s rights away into perpetuity. Needless to say, my father died without receiving a dime in compensation for damages or a penny of compensation for the gas. We still pay the taxes, though, but signage on the property warns me and my family to stay away from the wells.
When I visited my property in Buchanan County last summer, a couple of gas company employees approached my family and me and wanted to know what we were doing. I told them that I was looking at my land, they were trespassing, and to get off my property. I was made to feel like a trespasser on ground that belongs to me.
Mr. Gilbert’s series brought the situation that exists in Southwest Virginia into the light of day, and exposed these corporations and our politicians for the greedy, mercenary miscreants that they are. It is my hope that the series will help to produce justice for all of the people who have been taken advantage of because they are poor and unable to afford costly legal action against huge corporations.
I don’t know what the criteria are for winning a Pulitzer, but in my opinion, Daniel Gilbert deserves one!

Lill (Duty) Ludkowski
Des Plaines, Ill.

GOP, Tea Partiers have different goals

Contributors to this column like Don Umbarger cast conservatives and Tea Party supporters as people who don’t care about the poor and who will disagree with any policy that our president proposes. He snipes at conservative pundits, usually without identifying what belief they espouse that he disagrees with. It’s easy to throw stones, but much harder to take a position and back it up with facts. While Mr. Limbaugh is clearly and admittedly Republican, Glenn Beck is Libertarian and takes many issues with the Republican Party. If one would listen to him instead of parroting the attacks of the liberal media, you just might get it.
In a previous letter Mr. Umbarger asked if the Tea Party and Republicans could do anything except “say no.” First, quit confusing the Republican Party and the Tea Party. Just because the Tea Partiers are conservative doesn’t mean they are Republicans. Hopefully the Tea Party won’t be hijacked by the Republicans like the Democratic Party has been by the progressives. Saying “no” to bad legislation isn’t only our right, it’s our obligation.
The Tea Party is opposed to big federal government, period! We believe in the free market and capitalism as cornerstones of our economy and way of life. We believe in our founding fathers and the Constitution and don’t take lightly to either one being ignored.
We do not want the “fundamental transformation of America” that our president promised before his election. We agree that changes need to be made in many areas, but we’re distrustful of the way Democrats are going about making them. Perhaps if our president didn’t surround himself with radicals, socialists and admitted communists, we would be a more at ease with his agenda. Maybe if our country wasn’t broken we’d be more willing to add another entitlement program for the government to screw up like it has with Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.
Trying to move too fast and cram “cap and trade” and “health care reform” down the necks of the American people, when most clearly don’t want these bills, is cause for grave concern. Why can’t we slow down, work it out, and get it right? Hastily passing legislation of such magnitude will be catastrophic for our country if we get it wrong.

Tim Tabor
Bristol, Va.