Community, Connections, & Commerce Episode 18 with Jim Milleson Pt. 2

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:20):
Welcome back to the interview Connections and Commerce. I'm Drake Watson,
along with Brindy Anderson as always. Hey, remember we had
Jim Millicon on the last time. We've got him back
for part two. Jim, we kind of cut you off
the last time, but we we've got a lot of
things to talk about, and you were about to go
into almost every single reason why somebody should you know,
be here in the Ohio Valley, live here, invest here,

(00:40):
all those things what makes the Ohio Valley great. We'll
just get right into it.

Speaker 2 (00:43):
Well, everybody will say us about their hometown, but it's
the quality of life. I wrote down a few notes.
Low cost of living. Let's just start there. The average
national home is two hundred and eighty one thousand, High
Valley one hundred and forty eight thousand. Affordability is huge,

(01:06):
all right. Once you look at the quality of high
school educations, the community colleges, the four year colleges. We
have a huge history of good private education schools, and
we've got a few public schools in the area too.
Our parks are recreation, the rivers, the lakes. The low

(01:30):
crime rate. If there's a crime in our small communities
or our county. The deputy sheriffs look at each other
and say, who got out. Let's go talk to Billy.
We just let him out last week. It's probably him.
Is he staying at his mom's house or his ant's house?
All right? That is another reason. I know families that

(01:54):
have never ever locked their doors. Why would we need to.
We have churches that keep their doors open. If a
transient's in an area, then they come to your community, Hey,
how can we help you? You know? The natural beauty

(02:15):
is the other and that goes back to what we
were talking about in the Pioneers and how beautiful the
Ohio River Valley would have looked to them. Now it's
a major artery for the entire United States, but it
became an artery of what was just a country starting
in the late seventeen hundreds, early eighteen hundreds. So why

(02:37):
would you stay here? It's got a family feel. You
can raise your family here. Friday nights are still one
of the best nights in the Ohio Valley or football
Friday night.

Speaker 1 (02:48):
You know.

Speaker 2 (02:49):
I was raised in Freeport. Lakeland High School that no
longer exists became part of Harrison Central, but Lakeland we
didn't have a football team, you know, so basketball, So
Tuesdays and Fridays during basketball season, you might as well
the last person left the town turn the lights off
because everybody was at the ballgame.

Speaker 1 (03:08):
The Leisters were big over there, weren't.

Speaker 2 (03:09):
Oh yeah Leister family. Yeah we there's so many connections.
But you know, like Graham pap said, watch watch how
you talk to people because you're probably related to one.

Speaker 1 (03:18):
Right, could go out with a girl from New Athens,
the related small town. But you talk about connections. I
wanted to ask you about connections. We talk connections with
It's in the title. We talk about it with everybody
that comes on, but we never really get to the
to the actual meet of it. I mean, we raise
the surface and we say, oh yeah, connections are important.
That's as far as it gets. You obviously understand connections

(03:39):
are important. But I want to ask you on a
more deep level, what goes into making a connection? In
other words, how do you know you know what meaning
to go to, who to have dinner with, who's hand
to shake, who you need to tell about?

Speaker 3 (03:51):
What?

Speaker 1 (03:52):
I mean, what goes into all of that and kind
of the you know, the you know the makeup of
making a connection.

Speaker 2 (03:57):
Well, it's great question, but it's a quote that my
kids get tired of me saying. My Grandpap Brady Ah
always said, it's not about having a seat at the table.
You've got to have the seat at the table, because
if you don't have that seat, you're on the menu.

(04:21):
You're going to be being talked about, and you're not
going to know what's hitting you. So we make it
a point to be at every seminar, every conference. I've
got a bulletin board. I actually got two of them
now hanging in our office with the what do they
call things that hang around your neck with your name, Yeah,

(04:44):
from over one hundred and twenty separate seminars and conferences
that we've attended out of state. Separate bulletin board for
the end state conferences, you know. So we started going
to the doug East and the Nape back in twenty ten.
You've got to go to where the movers and shakers are,
the business directors. We took a trip in twenty eleven

(05:06):
and the best three days of my life as far
as business. We flew into Houston, spent spent a half
a day Houston, flew to Dallas, flew from Dallas to
Midland and then back to Houston. We met with eight
of the highest oil and gas families you can meet.
Sit in a boardroom with the Hunt family. Now the

(05:26):
Hunt family, if you don't know who they are. Back
in the seventies, they cornered the silver market. This is
a major, major family. And so Herbert Hunt, who just
passed this spring, Herbert Hunt sat in there with us
and he looks at me and says, melicon. He said,
you're going to Midland tomorrow morning. I said, yep, we're

(05:47):
flying and he said, he said, I'll tell you what
that precious Harrison County of yours. He said, it's going
to look like downtown Midland eventually, but not the high rises.
Look at your man camps, look at the wall and
gas wells. That's what your county is going to be.
You need to get your people prepared. The Hunts had

(06:08):
been here as early as two thousand and four buying
mineral rights in an Ohio valley. Wow, eight years ahead
of the play. All right, that's the history of people
who understand energy and natural resources. You got to be
at the table. You've got to make those connections. So

(06:30):
we've been able to do that. Had the pleasure set
in forty five minutes with Aubrey. McClendon also has passed away.
Aubrey was a visionary. He came to Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio.
I can remember when he left Charleston, West Virginia. The
West Virginia said, hey, this is a coal state. We
don't need you gas and oil people here. So he

(06:52):
took his headquarters from Charleston, West Virginia, went away, went
to Oklahoma, came back here and started les and lane
million acres before you know it, just like we had
we said in the last podcast, people were jumping at
because they really didn't know what their minerals were worth.
But we sit down with him, We needed to talk

(07:12):
with him. Have had that opportunity to literally have the
seat at the table. I go to some of these
meetings and I am the only advocate for the less ore,
the mineral owner in the room, and I get, what
the heck's he doing here? Oh he's here again, Watch
what you say. Mellicon's in the room. Because because we're

(07:35):
going to take right back and educate our people what
these people are planning to do. And there's an old
saying in your own gas business. What happens today already
happened in Midland, Texas two years ago. It's already planned out.
You're just now hearing about it. So you got to
you got to make those connections.

Speaker 1 (07:52):
Well, yes, just how valuable was it for you to
sit with the folks that knew that the Harrison County
and the Ohio Valley were going to you know, prosper
well before you know, anything actually came of it.

Speaker 2 (08:03):
The hydrocarbons are in place. That's what we tell our lessons.
What what's your hurry to lease when somebody offers you
Those rocks are not going anywhere. The hydrocarbons are there.
Somebody's got extracted. Nobody can extract it without a lease.
You've got the power. Organize your neighbors. Talk with your neighbors.
Let's work this together. Don't fall for their b s

(08:26):
at all. We're going to go away if you don't
treat us. I can remember Belmont County, Harrison County, Monroe,
Dad and granddad telling the stories of the coal company saying, well,
you know, if you don't help us a little bit here,
we're gonna pull up stakes and move out of state.
And we ain't gonna mind that coal bullpuckey, you know,
but we fell for it. Back to the word we

(08:47):
used earlier, gallible. You know, we trust people. So let's
let's go back to the basics now, when Doy you
had you had mentioned off air about society and things.
My mom, eighty eight years old, still works every day
at our real estate brokerage. Was raised in the church Christ.

(09:10):
Church of Christ, for the most part, still have church
pews without paths, and they are straight up and down.
So when you sat in there, you're setting straight up
and you're paying attention. Fire and brimstone type of preaching,
you know, and you know, slapping the Bible and oh

(09:30):
my gosh, did the preacher know what I did last night?
I mean, those type of sermons were being preached today.
When we hear the truth like that, we fade away
from it, so we don't pay attention. We go someplace
where there's no controversy, where people speak our language, and oh, hey,
I'm with those guys. Why because we're not telling us

(09:52):
anything we don't want to hear. If they tell us
what we don't want to hear, we don't associate with them.
And I think that's been a problem happen here in
the Ohio Valley. We still thankfully have a lot of
small communities with small churches who do a lot of
good things. I'm not a big fan of the of
the mega you know everybody happy, because that's not true

(10:15):
true life. We're not going to have roses every day. Sure,
just like this interview, you know, we're we're going back
and forth on a lot of topics. But we may
not agree on everything, but we're sitting here. We're having
a great conversation about what's important our hometown, our home region.
We should be promoting it. The Ohio Valley Energy Association,

(10:38):
which currently I'm the president. I don't know how much
longer they'll let me stay there, but we promote energy.
We try to have educational meetings. People say, well, why
do you do what you do?

Speaker 1 (10:51):
Well?

Speaker 2 (10:51):
We're trying to network and get people to understand that
they're an ambassador to the energy industry. At there's little
league games, at their school board meeting, at that Friday
night football game. What do you do? I work in
the old gas industry and be proud of it. Let
people know that it's a good industry, good paying jobs,

(11:11):
which leads me into another reason why you stay here
is the work ethic. You know, we've got. You know,
whether you're pro union or anti union, we've got some
of the best union halls in the country, and we
have dedicated, well trained workers. I talked to two of
my granddaughters, are both fifteen years old, and I said,
what are you girls going to do? You're thinking still

(11:33):
about college? No, why would we go to college. We
can go to work. We can go we can go
to you know, one of the tech centers, vocational schools,
and be working our junior and senior year and go
right into a well paying job. My oldest granddaughter, Mattie Grace, says,
she's thinking about being a welder, you know, and those

(11:56):
opportunities wouldn't be there now. I'll go back to the eighties,
late seventies, early agies. I was told by my high
school guidance counselor, why would you want to go to college?
You can go to work for Cravat coal, you know,
then start making good money right now. So we're back
to that doing things with our hands. And that's what

(12:16):
a High Valley people have always done. We make things,
we manufacture, but we manufacture our own raw materials.

Speaker 3 (12:25):
That's the reason, you know, right, exactly, So, so it's
very important for you to collaborate with local businesses and organizations.
I agree, and I think we have to really understand
that collaboration and that building relationships. And when I talk

(12:46):
to people about what we do at the Chamber and
what Ohio University Eastern does, we we kind of connect
people into those different jobs that you said or different organizations.
So what would you say to a young person who
is just thinking about going to college to get that
business degree. They can also then go to a trade

(13:09):
school and do something with their hands if they would
like to do. But they can do both things right,
Oh yeah, multi time and how important is that?

Speaker 2 (13:18):
So let's just talk about multitasking. That's what this generation
thirty and younger is great at and they don't even
realize it. There how they can multitask so many things
and still concentrate. Now, maybe that concentration don't last long,
but they're capable of doing so. The work ethic again

(13:39):
is built into them. That's genetically. The tech schools can
offer if you want to go there, go if you
want to go to a two year or four year
school go either way. There's unbelievable job opportunities right here
in the High Valley. The chemical industry, the plastics industry
need qualified engineers, all right. Those engineering jobs start at

(14:02):
one hundred and twenty a year. Those trade jobs, like
we were saying, you could go be a journeyman or
an apprentice electrician pipeliner heavy equipment making eighty thousand and
up a year right off the bat. You know, so
the opportunities here, why would somebody that's fourteen, fifteen, sixteen

(14:23):
year old ever think about leaving? I have no clue.
The best example I can give you, I went to
Shannandoah High School for a job fair. If you don't
know anything about Shanandoah High School, get to know that
school district phenomenal advantage of what they have to offer.
They've got their own farm on campus. Okay, all right,

(14:47):
they're fifteen sixth graders and seventh and eighth graders have
their own food truck that they raise on the farm,
and they prepare and present. They're going around catering to events.
So we're down at the job fair and I'm going
with all the students, asking what do you plan to do?

(15:10):
Not one student out of about thirty students said they
were leaving. Why would I ever leave Noble County. We've
got everything we need right here. If anything, I'm building
a new house on dad's farm and I'm going to
stay here farming. Or I'm one boy, fifth grader and
he's bib Overhaul says to me. Said my daddy works

(15:32):
for golf coort and so will I. You know, so
I mean that mentality. But the school district so involved.
It's all related around STEM education, all right. They did
a fantastic job, and a lot of school districts. River
High School's benefit, Harrison Central's benefited, Carrollton, and so the
high school education now is just phenomenal and everything that's available.

(15:57):
I told my wife the other day we were watching
TV nine news and there was at least was during
the Olympics, there was at least five separate school districts
advertising on the local news about why you should come
to our school district and then showing what they offer.
I'm amazed with what Martin's Ferry or Studentville and some

(16:17):
of these other high schools are able to offer. Now.
They're rising to the challenge of what's available here in
the Ohio Valley.

Speaker 3 (16:24):
It's not like the old high school when I went.

Speaker 2 (16:27):
No, you know, hey, what do I have to take
for college prep class?

Speaker 3 (16:30):
Exactly what we offer now.

Speaker 1 (16:34):
And honestly, you know, I just kind of bring it
full circle here, I'll say, without what you just mentioned
in the high school and the way that you know,
the community is investing in it. Like, I wouldn't be
here sitting here with a microphone talking to you guys
if it weren't for the opportunities that I was given
at Harrison Central, because of the way that they've been
able to grow and the things that they were able

(16:55):
to do and help me out with, you know, along
the way, and that like, when you put it in
that perspective, that's one life changed. How many others are
just like that? How many other opportunities are being opened
now that weren't open before that can change lives all
the time all over the valley.

Speaker 2 (17:14):
You mentioned Harrison Central, our county, Harrison's got just a
little over sixteen thousand people in the entire county when
the oil and gas started. I had a farmer who
farms close to two thousand acres, he said, Jimmy, He said,
our family's been here about the same amount of generation

(17:34):
as yours. He said, if I had it my way,
I'd build a fence ten foot high fence all around
Harrison County and not let anybody else in. He said.
People are going to learn our secret. They're going to
learn what Harrison County is all about. The grazing cattle
and the sheep, the beautiful timber, the lakes, the lands,

(17:55):
the hunting, the unbelievable hunting and fishing. To get too populated,
we're not gonna like it. Well, Luckily, a lot of
those oil and gas workers are just like us. They've
settled in. I don't know how many families from Louisiana
or in our area or Texas and Oklahomas that have
settled here and they just flat love it.

Speaker 1 (18:16):
I mean, you think about it, they're like a modern
day pioneer in that way, or you know, like a
settler because they're coming from a from a different place
and they're looking for better opportunities and prosperity and they
come up here and they find it, and they probably
have the same look on their eyes when they first
come to the Ohio Valley that you mentioned, the you know,
the the the pioneers having when they came across through
the mountains and everything.

Speaker 2 (18:37):
Oh and the first thing I'm thinking of is one
you just said that is a gentleman by the name
of Ray Walker. Ray Walker's with a company called Encino Energy,
and Ray actually standing in a camp or out at
Tappan Lake, you know, major leading oil producer in Ohio,

(18:58):
and he loves to fish. He can join the MWCD lakes,
you know, and they've become part of the community. You know,
they really have. You know, there are some people that
just want to come up here and take and take
it back to Houston or take it back to wherever.
But the majority of the workers, they're staying local. We
went from man camps and daycares to hey, we're living here,

(19:22):
where can we buy a house? You know.

Speaker 3 (19:25):
So that's what, you know, what I deal with. Some
of our members and just community members will say, I
don't really like those white trucks. You know, they the
quote unquote white trucks. That's all they see. But it
makes them feel like, you know, all they do is
work here, but they send their money back home. But

(19:45):
anymore they might have done that early on, but you're
right now they're staying here, they're paying taxes, they're buying groceries,
they're shopping local, They're contributing to our local economy. And
that is That's what people have to understand. They are here,
there's a reason why they're here. We just need to
open up and extend that welcome.

Speaker 2 (20:08):
No doubt. I pulled in and parked my twenty fourteen
Chevy white truck, so I'm one of those white truck guys.
But the bottom line is the gas stations, the supermarkets,
the restaurants, the hotels that sprung up overnight. Yeah, you know, Katis,

(20:32):
When I went to the village council and talked about
building hotels and caddis, they thought I was nuts. I said,
we're going to need at least two, Oh Jim. Well,
by the time we got them built, we you know,
most of the build out was done. But yeah, a
lot of those people have settled in and become part
of the community. One of the things that we talk

(20:53):
about a lot is how their kids would be taken
care of. We spent two full weeks in the Dakotas
in the box and Shale, talking to mayors and community leaders,
and just like we did in Northeast PA. What would
you guys do different, Well, we would think about daycare

(21:15):
and elementary schools. And I said why daycare and elementary
They said, well, you got to think of the average
age of those working in the oil patch, and they're
going to if they have children, they're going to be
from ages newborn to eleven. We got to have something
for them. So start thinking about daycare, Start thinking about

(21:38):
spin off businesses, laundry mats, service companies, food trucks, camper sales,
portable lights, portage ons, just the stuff that all a
lot of people don't think about and so slow. But
sure these people like, hey, you know, high valley people
aren't much different from where we come from. I'm going

(22:01):
to get out of this camper and I'm going to
find me a place to live. And it goes back
to that affordability. I mean, one hundred and forty eight
thousand for the average home in our area compared to
two hundred and eighty one. And you can if you're
an oil field worker. I'm not saying every oil field
worker is a hunter and a fisherman. Some are. Some
of them love to golf, and we got some great
golf courses. But there's so much to offer here that's

(22:24):
just low key. You know, we're setting outside of Capitol
Music Hall and you think back to the old days
of WWVA at eleven hundred I was eleven seventy or
whatever and listening to some of the music coming off
of that state. You still have quality events going on

(22:45):
here that you go. I looked on the on the website.
My wife and I are coming down. I guess Aaron
on this I might watch, I say it. But seeing
William Shatner, yes, yeah, go see him. I who never
thought you see Captain Kirk and wheeling. But the bottom line,
there's so much to do and we've kind of blended it,

(23:10):
just like back in the seventeen hundreds, just like back
in the nineteen thirties and forties. We are a blended
community and that's what we do in a high valley.
We put our arms around each other and how do
we help you, not push you away? We're bringing you in.

Speaker 3 (23:26):
Well, that's what funny you should say that. We had
Pastor Chris Figuretti from the New Bridge Church here and
he said one of the things that is needed in
the Ohio Valley is childcare. So they bought the museum.
They turned it into a huge, you know, Newbridge Academy,
which is something that is needed because you that you

(23:50):
can't have enough of that because you know, I have
a bunch of grandkids, so I know my kids.

Speaker 2 (23:55):
Need that quality daycare.

Speaker 3 (23:57):
So quality is the point care. And you know you
talk about other things. We have the symphony here that
is so magnificent. You know, people, you don't have to
just it's you don't have to understand it, just come
and listen to it. But we have things for everybody
to do. Ogleby Wheeling Park, Grandview, look at what Grandview's

(24:18):
just done. And you know down in Mountsville.

Speaker 2 (24:20):
Well it goes back to what the farmer in Harrison
County told me. We know what we've got.

Speaker 3 (24:25):
Yeah, we just have to let everybody else know what
we have and once they're here they realize.

Speaker 2 (24:30):
Right, But we still have to promote it. I read
think it was on your guys' website. Somebody that's not
advertising anymore. Well, I don't want to spend money on advertising.
You always have to promote and market, and literally that's
what we're doing. We're promoting and marketing our hydrocarbons in

(24:51):
our area. Through a high valley energy, through the Narrow Association,
through our reality company, whatever it is, this is what
we offer you, you know, come and be a part
of it. Absolutely. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (25:03):
Well, I've really appreciated the conversation. I lost you know,
this really good.

Speaker 2 (25:11):
This is not the first time a Watson and a
Mellicon have been across from each other doing something good.

Speaker 1 (25:17):
That's right, that's right. Well, we really appreciate your time.
We're thankful to have you on and great talking to you. Wendy.

Speaker 2 (25:23):
It's been great. Yep.

Speaker 1 (25:24):
Once again for the listener. You can reach us with
any kind of feedback at OUI Podcast at Ohio dot edu.
For Jim Millison, Wendy Anderson, I'm Drake Watson. Thank you
for listening to Community Connections and Commerce,