James King's Page
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How many of our children have to die on foreign soil in order to feed our oil addiction? What size vehicle must we have to get from A to B? I salute Boone's bold agenda!
Welcome to the Texas 13th Congressional District Group for the New Energy
Army! If you live in TX-13, please join us to learn more about Pickens Plan
events and activities taking place in our District.
Profile Information
- Are you interested in becoming an organizer in your area?
- Yes
- Tell us about your experience with alternative energy:
- I was in high school in my senior year when the Saudis discovered we were giving them a pittance for their most abundant natural resource - oil. They (rightfully so, IMHO) got really ticked off, and slammed our economy with a 90 day embargo. I watched gas prices triple, and watched the trickle down impact on everything from home energy costs to bread wrappers skyrocket. It fundamentally changed the way I looked at my own energy use. I was the President of the Writer's Club in high school. I did not apply the writing skills I seem to have been born with for several years, but eventually, around 1978-79, while working at an advertising agency servicing a lot of the oil equipment industry giants here in Wichita Falls, I began to not only find a voice but a place to utilize it. There was a magazine here called 'Red Dust', and as many such small publications go, it came...and went. But while it was here, it accepted my articles and photos. I wrote about Jay Carter Jr., a local engineer who I believe was the first to come up with the design for the wind turbines we see today, although his only had 2 blades instead of 3. I wrote an article using the expertise of a local architect about the use of solar energy, two part, and probably very boring. I basically got out of his way, and let him do the writing, trying to interfere very little in what he had to say, because it was important. We get a lot of sun and wind here. I wrote an editorial about aspects of alternate energies. Then the magazine pretty much folded. But someone out there was listening...the Curator of Science at the Wichita Falls Museum and Art Center. He asked if I would like to write the scripts for a tape/slide presentation on 8 forms of alternate energy. He provided the slides, I compiled the text. I thought it would be a great hit. In fact, it might have been, but we got the biggest demonstration of wind energy this town has ever seen only a week after the exhibit opened. We opened April 3, 1979. A tornado, later measured to be 1 1/2 miles wide cut an 8 mile swath through Wichita Falls on April 10, 1979...and took the walls of the museum with it...along with the tapes...and the slides...and the exhibits. While the writing of this exhibit was going on, another magazine surfaced, sponsored ironically by an oil tycoon who's wife wanted us to have a local magazine. The mag was called 'Wichita Falls'. Actually it was comparable in paper stock and print quality to D Magazine in Dallas. But it takes a long time to get a magazine in the black. It, too, died within a year. But I got to do an article or two in this magazine as well, one of which was an interview with Eddie Chiles, of "I'm Mad Too, Eddie" fame. I simply wanted to give him the opportunity to tell us what he was mad about. I moved on when this magazine folded, getting a job at the local newspaper, Wichita Falls Times/Record News, as a photojournalist, with the distinct specification that I would not write any more articles for the Wichita Falls magazine. (Little did they know, the contract I had signed was completed, and I had not recommitted to writing anything else for them anyway). It vastly increased my experience and abilities to work for this paper, but fundamentally I was at odds with the perception (for instance) that if someone had a wreck on public highways (and really, where else are you likely to have one?) then it was public information and the editors wanted the goriest pictures possible of such events because people will villify the paper for printing the stuff, but they usually do it while holding a copy of the publication...which translated into about 5000 more copies off the newsstands than normal news brought. I had one more stint in journalism, at the Saginaw Sentinel in Saginaw, Texas, and then basically packed it in, getting on with my life. But personally I have only owned 2 vehicles which had more than 4 cylinders. One of them was an American Rambler.
- What excites you about this campaign?
- With an oil giant like Mr. Pickens, something might actually get done. We've basically responded to the 73 oil embargo by ... building SUVs and Hummers! For every one of those on our highways, how many of our children have to die on foreign soil to assure our supply of oil for the tanks we cruise around in on the highways of the USA?
- What do you want to do to help?
- I write. I also take pictures. But I have a farm. I wish I could afford to make it an environmental example for the area. But my wife and I are both RNs, and although we make good money, farms eat money like candy. I drive a Honda Big Ruckus, 70mpg. I don't know what else I can do, but perhaps you'll find reason to speak with me and see what we can come up with.
Comment Wall (2 comments)
- At 3:07pm on April 28, 2009,
Leslie G. said… - James, glad to help. Great page.
- At 2:55pm on April 20, 2009,
Leslie G. said…
- Welcome James,
Below are some links and suggestions on how you can help. Take your time and check out the site..
Click on to Take Action !
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Leslie - Welcome Wagon Volunteer
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