ASL’s 17th Annual Golf Tournament fielded 81 players at Willowbrook Country Club

 

ASL’s 17^th Annual Golf Tournament fielded 81 players at Willowbrook Country Club on Saturday, August 17, 2013. They enjoyed perfect golfing weather, with temperatures in the 70s and an overcast sky.  In the morning rounds, the Sheriff’s Office team of Rick Jackson, Harold Keen,  Kegan Bostic, Jimmy Blackburn and Officer Williams took first place in the Championship Flight; the Sheriff’s Office team of Ray Foster, Cody Billiter, JR Stanley, Mike Thompson and Heath Harrison won first place in the First Flight; and West River Conveyors team of Joe Gary Street, Jerry Shields, Harold Gillespie, Jerry Looney and Curtis Mullins were first in the Second Flight. Anonymous donors sponsored both teams of Sheriffs and one of Virginia State Troopers.

 

In afternoon play, The Street Law Firm’s team that included Tracy Stallard, Jonathan Dennis, Eddie Dean Stiltner and Rayburn and Robert Minton won first place in the Championship Round. Leading the First Flight was the Wells Fargo team of Mike Rife, Bryan Boyd, Sean Matney, Todd Owens and Lawford Birchfield. Winning first place in the Second Flight was Dr. Terry Wright’s team including Dillon Quarles, Pat Larkin, Matthew Bower and Steve Walters.

 

Appalachian School of Law Students visit Gas Well of Range Resources

 

On August 8, 2013, 16 students from the Appalachian School of Law (ASL) traveled to Haysi, Virginia, to tour a gas well. The trip was made possible by Range Resources. The field work was aimed at providing valuable insight into the oil and gas industry as part of Professor Patrick Baker’s Oil& Gas Law summer course.

The students arrived in Haysi early Thursday morning, where the day began with a short safety lesson on jobsite conduct, awareness, and safety apparel. The group geared up, and Range Resources personnel answered questions covering a wide array of topics from drilling technology to the environment.

The tour provided students with a hands-on introduction into the oil and gas industry. The application of classroom material to a real drilling operation provided practical knowledge they can apply throughout their professional lives.

Prior to the field work, Jerry Grantham, Vice President of Range Resources Southern Appalachia Division, visited ASL to present a brief history of the company, a blueprint of their operations, and the geology of shale gas and coalbed methane. Range Resources is one of the leading independent natural gas companies operating in the United States and is dedicated to “safer, cleaner and greener technologies”in the extraction process. To learn more about Range Resources, please visit: http://www.rangeresources.com

(Starting left to right, back row: Will Whisenant, EHS Operations Coordinator for Range Resources, Professor Patrick Baker, Lucas Luginbuhl Completions Engineering Manager for Range Resources., Matt Matney, Pedro Gonzales, Zachary Smith, Nicole Kostenko, Bryan Dooling, Traci Justin Dempsey, Kourtney Brock, Professor Priscilla Harris, Sabrina Mullins.

Starting left to right, front row: Dove Powers, Kati Asbury, Erin Taylor, Vinita Thaker, Paul Howard, Bryan Polas, Piper Doeppe, Christian Nwaopara.)

 

ASL's Professor Pat Baker Quoted in Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/court-records-show-va-ags-office-fought-disclosure-of-emails-that-led-to-rebuke-probe/2013/08/20/056b918c-09ab-11e3-89fe-abb4a5067014_story.html

Mary Kilpatrick, ASL Class of 2002, Named Executive Director of CASA for Kids Inc.

Story from:
http://www.tricities.com/news/local/article_53295534-0d03-11e3-8731-0019bb30f31a.html?mode=image&photo=0

Andy Dietrich, president of the CASA for Kids Inc. board of directors, announced Saturday that the agency has hired a new executive director.

Mary Kilpatrick, a Kingsport resident who already serves the agency as a volunteer, will take on the director's role effective Sept. 13. In a written announcement of the appointment, Deitrich said that Kilpatrick will spend her first couple of months working alongside current Executive Director Connie Steere, who after 18 years of service is retiring Nov. 1.

 After earning a Bachelor of Science in Organizational Management at Tusculum College, Kilpatrick studied law and earned a Juris Doctor cum laude at the Appalachian School of Law. It was while in law school that she learned about CASA's work. Later, she decided to get involved. She completed the CASA for Kids training and was sworn in as a Court Appointed Special Advocate in October 2012. Since then, Kilpatrick has served as a CASA volunteer on five cases.

Originally from Knoxville, Kilpatrick also has worked as a dental hygienist and then co-owned with her husband their own Surgoinsville, Tenn.-based business, MIS Inc., before moving to Kingsport.
She also has been active in community projects and organizations, including The Rogersville Hawkins County Chamber of Commerce, The Rogersville Heritage Association, chairwoman of Heritage Days, campaign chairwoman and board member of the Hawkins County United Way, and serving as board member, then chairwoman of The Rogersville City School Board.

She has two biological children and then fostered two more. She now has eight grandchildren. When the executive director position at CASA was advertised, Kilpatrick said, her own children encouraged her to apply.

Kilpatrick joins a staff of eight. This past fiscal year, with the work of 100-plus active volunteers and the leadership of 18 board directors, CASA for Kids Inc. served 590 alleged abused and, or neglected children coming to the attention of the four juvenile courts in Sullivan and Hawkins counties.

Appalachian School of Law students visit local renewable energy company

08-13-2013 Grundy, VA.  Law students get up close with solar power projects.

On August 13, 2013, students from the Appalachian School of Law took a short field trip from Grundy, VA to Bristol, TN to visit EcoLogical Energy Systems.  EcoLogical Energy Systems provides renewable energy services such as solar energy design and installation to private residences, businesses and communities.

                The field trip was part of Professor Mark “Buzz” Belleville’s Law of Renewables class, recently offered in a summer session at ASL.  The class primarily focused on different types of renewable energy resources and the legal issues that surround those sources.  The Renewables course is part of a wide array of natural resources law related courses offered at ASL.

Vice President of Ecological, Nick Safay, greeted the students and gave a short presentation outlining the company’s services.  Mr. Safay also answered questions for students regarding the possible tax credits and increase in efficiency that EcoLogical products can offer.  Mr. Safay demonstrated with detailed balance sheets for various renewable energy projects, so the students could see for themselves how the various tax incentives they had been studying actually affected the affordability of a project.  Mr. Safay and the students also discussed the various corporate structures and contractual arrangements that can be utilized to benefit both the company and their customers.

                Mr. Safay then gave the group from ASL tours of two solar projects the company recently completed.  The first project was a 200kW solar photovoltaic project of 819 solar panel modules atop a former Bristol landfill.  Utilizing the otherwise wasted space of a capped landfill to generate renewable power is a growing trend, especially in the east where open space is less prevalent than the western US.  The electricity generated from the project is sold to TVA to service its local customers. 

The second project the class visited was a 50kW solar pavilion at the Holston View Elementary School, also in Bristol.  Here, EcoLogical and the school plan to partner on educational programs so students and the surrounding community can learn about solar power.  At the end of 12 years, EcoLogical will donate the pavilion to the school. 

You can learn more about EcoLogical Energy Systems, and view pictures of its various projects, by visiting www.YourEcoEnergy.com.

 

 

Jerry Grantham, Vice President of Range Resources, visits ASL

 

ASL summer school is in full swing.  In Professor Pat Baker's Oil and Gas class, Jerry Grantham, Vice President of Range Resources, discussed the technology, geology and science behind natural gas production in Central Appalachia.

A native of southwest Virginia, Mr. Grantham has 30 years of experience in the gas and oil industry throughout the United States. He currently holds the position of Vice President of Range Resources’ Southern Appalachia Division, which explores for natural gas -- both conventional and coalbed methane -- in southwestern Virginia. He has an undergraduate degree in Environmental Sciences from the University of Virginia and a Masters’ degree in Geology from Michigan State University.

Clean burning natural gas currently represents 99% of the hydrocarbon production in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Coalbed methane makes up the majority of this production, and Virginia is now ranked 5th in coalbed methane production in the nation. All of the gas in Virginia is produced from a 7-county area in the very southwestern corner of the state (also home to ASL). The development of this resource by the gas industry benefits the region and the Commonwealth by creating high paying jobs, generating revenue through royalty and tax payments, and providing the cleanest burning fossil fuel available. According to Grantham, “Natural gas clearly should be part of the solution of meeting the future energy needs of both the Commonwealth and our nation."

ASL Launches Natural Resource Law Program

Appalachian School of Law

Natural Resources Law Program

 

Excitement is growing over the official launch of ASL’s Natural Resources Law Program in 2013.  The NRLP is intended to provide a place for rational discussion, intelligent debate and collaboration by engaging both students and the surrounding community in efforts to balance our very real energy needs with stewardship of our land and natural resources.  

 A few years back, ASL formulated a plan to create a nationally-recognized natural resources law program.  The goal was to take advantage of ASL’s location in the heart of Appalachia’s coal and gas fields, to attract high quality students with an interest in this area of the law, to provide a resource both to the surrounding community and to the many energy and mineral employers in the region, and to enhance ASL’s academic reputation.

The NRLP will be formally rolled out at the ASL-hosted Governor’s First Biennial Natural Resources and Energy Law Symposium on September 23, 2013 in Abingdon, Virginia.  There, respected legal experts will interact with ASL professors in examining topics relevant to practice in natural resources law, particularly as they relate to the Appalachian region.  The 2013 program will focus on “The Future of Energy,” and bring all sides together for rational discussion about how to responsibly address some of the country’s most pressing energy challenges. Representatives from industry, the environmental community, government, and academia will engage in intelligent debate in an atmosphere of civil discourse on a range of important contemporary topics.  Additional information is available at http://www.asl.edu/Admissions/Natural-Resources-and--Energy-Law-Symposium.html. ASL plans to host such a symposium biennially.

 

Virginia "DMV 2 Go" to Hold Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony at ASL

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Sunni Brown

Public Relations and Media Liaison
Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles

 

DMV Mobile Office Partners with Appalachian School of Law

DMV 2 Go to Serve ASL Students, Faculty, and Staff on Campus

 

RICHMOND – The Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) mobile customer service center, called DMV 2 Go, is partnering with Appalachian School of Law (ASL) in Grundy to offer another convenient location for students, college faculty and staff to conduct their DMV business. DMV 2 Go will be open for business on campus on Tuesday, August 20th, from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. at 1169 Edgewater Drive; Grundy, VA 24614. A ribbon-cutting ceremony will be held at 10:00 a.m. to celebrate the new partnership. A number of legislators and other local dignitaries are slated to attend.

“Our mobile office service on the campus of Appalachian School of Law highlights a number of visits we have scheduled to colleges and universities throughout the Commonwealth to both greet new students and serve existing students, faculty and staff,” said DMV Commissioner Richard D. Holcomb.  “Our goal with this program is to bring DMV services directly to today’s busy Virginians at locations convenient to them. The mobile office serves as a community connection tool, and provides added value for the places it visits, such as ASL.”

DMV 2 Go is a handicapped-accessible full service office on wheels that provides all DMV transactions including buying hunting and fishing licenses, and applying for and renewing driver’s licenses and ID cards. In addition, if Virginians have recently moved, which is often the case in a college community, they can stop in to update their address on their DMV record, and update their voter registration address and organ donor status.

Customers are encouraged to research and bring the proper documents to complete their transactions by using the interactive document guide at www.dmvNOW.com. For more details, scheduling information, and a calendar of upcoming locations visit www.dmvNOW.com/DMV2GO.