Karnes Co. TX - NEWS - May 2007 This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by: Kimm Antell Copyright. All rights reserved. http://files.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm Copyright 2006 Victoria Advocate Online (http://victoriaadvocate.com) unless otherwise notated. ************************************************ From marketwire.com May 8, 2007 Tradestar Resources Corporation Announces Production of Well in Karnes County HOT SPRINGS, AR -- (MARKET WIRE) -- May 08, 2007 -- Tradestar Resources Corporation (PINKSHEETS: TSRR) is pleased to report that the Janssen #1A well in Karnes County, Texas has been put into production status as of Monday, April 30, 2007. The well was perforated at approximately the 10,300 ft. interval in the Roeder Sand (Wilcox Sand Series). The well was perf'ed with 6,000 ft. of water fluid in the tubing to help prevent any extreme gas pressure blowing the perf tools up the hole. The well went on a low vacuum at once, but after a few days of slow open flowback and also a fluid swabbing procedure in the tubing, the well began to show good gas flow. There is still some leveling off period before the estimated daily gas flow rate can be established, but the well has been flowing at an average rate of 330 thousand cubic feet of gas per day for last five days along with 10 to 20 barrels of high grade condensate. The Janssen has a gas sales contract that fluctuates monthly with the Houston Ship Channel price index and the liquid condensate will be sold at the monthly spot price for product in the regional Texas area. Tradestar and the other Participating Partners should expect revenue distribution in the first week of July for the hydrocarbon products sold from the Janssen #1A well. Management is pleased to have this gas well in the growing portfolio of good properties that should produce revenue for many years to come. About: Tradestar Resources Corporation is an independent energy company that is engaged in the exploration, development, exploitation and acquisition of on-shore and natural gas properties in conventional producing areas in the United States. Tradestar strives to enhance asset value by expanding oil and natural gas reserves raising production levels and increasing cash flow. Tradestar intends to foster its growth as an independent oil and gas company by investing in only proven producing wells. The company's web site is http://tradestar-corp.com. ************************************************ From seguingazette.com May 9, 2007 GRMC unveils $93 million expansion project By Michael Cary GUADALUPE COUNTY - Robert Haynes, administrator of the Guadalupe Regional Medical Center, unveiled to county commissioners on Tuesday the hospital's plan to secure a $93 million, low-interest loan from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Haynes said the loan includes $54.5 million in construction costs for a comprehensive expansion of the city-county-owned hospital. Other estimated costs include $15 million for equipment, information technology and furnishings, $5.3 million in soft costs, $3 million for contingency funds and $15 million for financing of the loan, which includes fees and existing loans the GRMC remains encumbered for. The loan is contingent upon the county signing the title of the original hospital property over to the name of Guadalupe Regional Medical Center, Pct. 2 Commissioner Cesareo Guadarrama III said Monday. According to documents provided by hospital administrators, the GRMC is a 116-bed acute care facility that gets 80 percent of its patients from Guadalupe County, which also serves the other 20 percent of patients from Caldwell, Comal, Gonzales, Hays, Karnes and Wilson counties. "You need certain components for a successful medical facility and medical staff," Haynes told the commissioners. He said the hospital's administration and its board of managers launched a strategic plan three years ago to determine what the medical center needs to stay competitive in health care, and how GRMC would pay for it. "HUD offers the best financing at the lowest rate," Haynes said. Additionally, HUD ensures the federal loan through its Federal Housing Administration, which has provided funding assistance to hospitals since 1968. The expansion would close off Leonard Street and connect the hospital to the wellness center, the nursing school and other facilities that have been developed by GRMC over the decades since it opened on Court Street in 1965. During the loan application process, architects will complete construction documents to increase the emergency room bed size from nine to 25 (to accommodate more than 2,000 patients per month); increase inpatient bed size from 98 to 117 with potential for up to 154; construct new outpatient and inpatient entrances; increase operating rooms to five; add a chemotherapy unit and three suites for endoscopy; and expand the lab, pharmacy and imaging areas. The plan also includes a three-story "patient tower" to front the hospital's expansion, with room for more floors in the future. Assistant Administrator Michelle Rumbaut and Chief Financial Officer Penny Wallace joined Haynes at the podium for the presentation on the proposed expansion. Kevin Reed of the Austin law firm Davis & Wilkerson also was present to lobby for the commissioners' approval of the project. "HUD will require us to have uniformity of the title," Reed said in an effort to convince county officials to relinquish the deed. "We're not asking you to use county resources nor will we ask the city. "The city and county will be disadvantaged by not doing the project. You're failing to account for the future," Reed said. Reed also said that if the hospital got into financial trouble, his guess would be that the hospital, the city and county would take a look at the situation if it should occur. "We haven't had a hospital failure in a community hospital because the volume [of patients] is there," Reed said. GRMC staff have completed the loan pre-applicaton process with HUD, Wallace told the commissioners. "We have engaged financial legal counsel, and we're working on a financial feasibility study that should be finished by June," Wallace said. She said that if the loan were approved today, the interest rate on the $93 million would be 4.75 percent to be rolled into the loan total, "but we're budgeting for a higher number." Rumbaut said that 75 percent of the architectural work is completed, with groundbreaking targeted for fall 2007, and a completion date of 2010. County Judge Mike Wiggins mentioned a previous loan of more than $10 million that GRMC obtained in 2004 to expand the facility and add other improvements along with a $2 million line of credit for operating expenses. He made a reference to $2.6 million that was paid to the Austin architectural firm of Page Southerland Page from the two loan notes and a $2 million line of credit that was secured after city-county approval during GRMC's 2002-2003 budget process. Haynes said the architectural plans already paid for will not be used for the proposed expansion, and the Austin-based firm is not participating in the latest expansion plan. Out of the total $10.2 million that was borrowed with variable interest rates, $4.2 million was used to expand the wellness center. The other $4 million was slated for "financing of certain developmental, acquisition and operational costs previously incurred and to be incurred," according to a county document. The hospital purchased Leonard Street with about $431,000 of the borrowed funds. Haynes said that since he took the job as GRMC administrator, he has paid down the $2 million line of credit to $700,000. He also said he has brought the other two loans down to $4.8 million, which would be refinanced under the $93 million HUD loan. "I inherited that debt and did a good job paying that debt down," Haynes explained. "The money was spent on a variety of hospital needs and operating expenses." Precinct 3 Commissioner Jim Wolverton expressed a concern about the financing for the proposed expansion. "If they put us in a bind, we have to bail them out. That's what is scary about it," Wolverton said. "This is a huge decision for this court and the city. Once you appoint people to the hospital board, you can't control them," he said. County Attorney Elizabeth Murray-Kolb said the city and county would still own the hospital even though it would be under the GRMC's name for the purpose of securing the $93 million loan. Haynes said that since he took the reins at GRMC, the hospital's cash on hand has been extended from nine days to 75 days, indicating an improved stewardship of the center's financial situation. "As a business we're doing a good job. We have to show good numbers to even approach HUD's table," Haynes said. ************************************************ From mysa.com May 10, 2007 S.A. doctors get measles warning Don Finley Express-News Medical Writer S.A. doctors get measles warning Web Posted: 05/10/2007 11:14 PM CDT Don Finley Express-News Medical Writer San Antonio health officials have issued a rare measles alert to physicians after a young woman moving from Japan to San Antonio infected two members of a North Side family with the viral illness - the first local cases since 1995. The 18-year-old female, who had lived in Tokyo the past two years, arrived in San Antonio in early April. Parts of Japan, including Tokyo, are in the midst of a measles epidemic, according to news accounts. A 3-year-old girl living in the home was diagnosed at a Galveston hospital in late April while visiting other relatives in Texas City. Her 21-year-old uncle became ill around the same time. The 18-year-old went to a North Side hospital emergency room for treatment but was erroneously diagnosed with chickenpox, health officials said. None of the three was immunized, and health officials said they had personal or religious objections to vaccination. "The fear is that these two people exposed an unknown number of others," said Roger Sanchez, an epidemiologist at the Metropolitan Health District. "Physicians may have seen some measles from those first patients, and we could be seeing secondary or tertiary cases now." The alert, issued Thursday, urged doctors and health facilities to be on the lookout for rash illnesses, and suggested anyone with measles-like symptoms be tested for the virus. They urged parents be encouraged to get children up-to-date on their immunizations. Children should get two doses, the first at 12 to 15 months and another at 4 to 6 years, according to federal guidelines. Adults born after 1957 and who are at least 18 should get at least one dose unless they have been previously vaccinated or have had measles. Adults traveling abroad are considered at higher risk and should receive two doses. To obtain information or report a local rash illness or suspected case of measles, call the health district at (210) 207-8876 or (210) 207-2085. Rubeola, or measles, is a highly contagious viral infection passed along through contact with droplets from an infected person's mouth or nose. It generally takes one to two weeks from exposure before a rash appears. Measles rash often begins at the hairline and spreads to the rest of the body, lasting about a week. Other symptoms include high fever, cough, runny nose and conjunctivitis. Between 20 percent and 30 percent of measles cases result in complications, including diarrhea, ear infections, pneumonia, encephalitis and even death. In 2003, Texas lawmakers made it easier for parents to obtain wavers to keep their school-age children from being vaccinated. Still, Sanchez said, an estimated 95 percent of local school-age children are vaccinated. Preschoolers are another story. A 2005 federal survey found 78.7 percent of Bexar County children 19-35 months of age had received at least one dose of measles vaccine, compared with 80.6 percent statewide and 83.1 percent nationally. Texas has seen seven or fewer cases per year since 1996, when 47 of 49 cases were linked to a swim team in Harris County. All cases statewide since 1999 have been linked to international travel, said Doug McBride, a spokesman for the Texas Department of State Health Services. Only 66 measles cases were reported nationally in 2005, the most recent year for which numbers are available. Of those, 34 were from a single outbreak in Indiana linked to international travel. In 1995, health officials issued a health alert after a San Antonio woman with measles exposed more than 1,000 guests at a Karnes City cattle auction. In 1992, the city issued a travel advisory after a measles outbreak in Corpus Christi and Alice. ************************************************ From mysa.com May 17, 2007 Baseball: Thursday-Saturday playoff schedule Region IV quarterfinals Today's games Class 2A Karnes City vs. Bloomington (Game 1, best-of-3), 7:30 p.m., at Coastal Bend College in Beeville Friday's games Class 2A Karnes City vs. Bloomington (Game 2, best-of-3), 7:30 p.m., at Coastal Bend College in Beeville Saturday's games Class 2A Karnes City vs. Bloomington (Game 3, if necessary), 7:30 p.m., at Coastal Bend College in Beeville ************************************************ May 16, 2007 Bobcats coach finding it hard to relax BY MIKE FORMAN - ADVOCATE SPORTS WRITER BLOOMINGTON - Bloomington coach Mike Whitehead has been undergoing tests for the better part of a month to determine the cause of the severe headaches he has been experiencing. After going over all the results, Whitehead's doctor has come to the conclusion the headaches are caused by stress, which is exactly what Whitehead didn't need to hear. "The doctor told me if I didn't calm down I could suffer a stroke or a heart attack," Whitehead said. Whitehead knows it would have been virtually impossible for him to relax considering what's been going on with the Bloomington baseball team. The Bobcats had to win their final District 31-2A game at Refugio to reach the playoffs for the third straight season as the third-place team. They won the opening game of their bi-district series against Freer but got blown out in Game 2 after Tim Cantu severely sprained his ankle sliding into second base before bouncing back to win Game 3 via the 10-run mercy rule. Bloomington (20-7) then rallied in the second game to sweep District 29-2A champion Navarro in their best-of-three area series to move into the regional quarterfinals against Karnes City (15-14). Game 1 of the best-of-three series at Joe Hunter Field in Beeville is scheduled for Thursday at 7:30 p.m. Game 2 will be played Friday at 7:30 p.m. and Game 3, if necessary, will be played Saturday at 7:30 p.m. "We're winning so my stress level increases every week," Whitehead said. "But actually, this is my refuge." His medical problems aside Whitehead has a hard time explaining why the Bobcats have had such an up-and-down season. "They're just teenagers I guess," Whitehead said. "One thing is we got put into a very tough district. Both of our losses to Taft were by one run and Odem had our number for whatever reason." Bloomington's players have also been puzzled by their lack of consistency this season. "I couldn't tell you a reason," said senior catcher Sean Chapa, who has hit a team-leading eight home runs this season. "We just try to keep our minds on the game and keep focused on what we need to do. Our motto this year is we're playing for each other." The Bobcats point to the sweep of Navarro as proof they're starting to play their best baseball. "I think we're peaking at just the right time," Whitehead said. "We're making a play or getting base hits when we need them. They're a team. Someone has stepped up and made a play when they had to." Bloomington and Karnes City were district foes last season. The Badgers had to win their final two district games to clinch third in District 29-2A and went to three games to win their bi-district series against Jourdanton before sweeping 31-2A champion Odem in their area series. "You have two third-place teams in the third round of the playoffs," Whitehead said. "We know a lot of their players and they know a lot of our players. They're like us, one of the top 32 teams left in the state." ************************************************ May 18, 2007 Bobcats blank Badgers BY MIKE FORMAN - ADVOCATE SPORTS WRITER BEEVILLE - Bloomington was not content to steal home. The Bobcats took the first game of their best-of-three Class 2A regional quarterfinal series along with them. Philly Garcia added a steal of home to his six-hit pitching to lead Bloomington to a 5-0 win over Karnes City on Thursday night at Joe Hunter Field. "We're real aggressive on the basepaths," Bloomington coach Mike Whitehead said. "That's our style of baseball. We got aggressive and capitalized on their mistakes. That's baseball." The Bobcats improved to 21-7 and moved to within a game of advancing to the regional semifinals. The teams will return to Joe Hunter Field for Game 2 today at 7:30 p.m. and Game 3, if necessary, will be Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at Joe Hunter Field. Karnes City (15-15) had six hits to four for Bloomington. But the Badgers committed three errors and the Bobcats took advantage of four walks, a hit batsman, a wild pitch and a passed ball. "I told the team that half the teams in the state are going to lose the first games," Karnes City coach Roland Salinas said. "Half will win the second game and we need to be in that half. We're not the only team in the state in this position." Garcia walked with one out in the top of the third on a pitch in the dirt from Jacob Maldonado and continued to second base when catcher Travis Buehring had trouble locating the ball. Garcia went to third on Darby House's flyout to right field. With Maldonado working from the windup, Garcia broke for the plate on the first pitch to Sean Chapa and just beat Buehring's tag. "That's something we work on," Whitehead said of Garcia's steal. "We had watched him and decided to go for it." Bloomington added two runs in the fifth on two walks, an error and a passed ball. The Bobcats scored twice more in the sixth on an infield single by Ray Madrigal, a hit batsman and an error on a sacrifice by Nick Padgett. The five runs were more than enough support for Garcia, who overcame some early control problems and finished with nine strikeouts. "Philly wasn't comfortable on the mound," Whitehead said of Garcia, whose three walks came in the first two innings. "He kind of got into a rhythm and found out we were going to play defense behind him." Karnes City had runners on second and third in the fifth and sixth innings. Garcia got out of the fifth by striking out Maldonado and used an interference call and two strikeouts to escape the sixth. "I think that's the first time in a month we've been shut out," Salinas said. "Philly Garcia threw a heck of a game. That's one of the best efforts we've seen all year." Taylor Millington and Buehring each had two hits for the Badgers, who stranded eight runners. "I told the kids to enjoy this one until midnight," Whitehead said. "But tomorrow is a new day." ************************************************ May 24, 2007 HOME IS WHERE THE HIVE IS Charco family battles bees that have set up residence in their walls BY SONNY LONG - VICTORIA ADVOCATE CHARCO - When Daniel Camacho called the Goliad Sheriff's Office to ask for help with bees in his home, he was at the end of his rope. "No one could help us," said the head of the household that, at times, includes up to 10 children, ages 6 months through 10. "I killed a bunch of (bees), but there were a bunch more. Thousands. Millions." Camacho said a 2-year-old child in the house was stung but had no serious reaction. The older children could no longer play in the backyard, and the back door was becoming an increasingly dangerous place to enter and exit the home on Charco Street in this Goliad County community on Farm-to-Market Road 239 near the Karnes County line. Mary Camacho, Daniel's wife, said, "The children were getting upset. They didn't understand why they couldn't go outside and play." Daniel said he battled the bees for weeks. "The hive is inside," he said. "They've been here about three weeks. At first it was just a swarm on the wall there and I killed them. I got stung three or four times and went inside. When I came back out, there were more. I tried diesel (fuel), everything. The longer they stayed, the more aggressive they got. "Last night, the bees were moving in upstairs. They got so aggressive, when the exterminator came out to check it yesterday, he got stung. He said they'd come back (Wednesday) and put on their suits and spray them." Exterminator Frank Gutierrez III of Bugmobiles arrived early Wednesday and took about half an hour to apply the remedy. Only an occasional solitary bee buzzed the outside of the home. Inside, all was quiet. "It's just springtime. We have it every year. It's part of South Texas," said Gutierrez as he was rushing off on another bee extermination call - in Beeville. ************************************************ May 24, 2007 NO EASY TASK Bobcats set to meet top-ranked Rogers BY MIKE FORMAN - ADVOCATE SPORTS WRITER Bloomington coach Mike Whitehead admits he and assistant Jesse House considered flipping a coin for a one-game playoff rather than agreeing to play a best-of-three game series against top-ranked Rogers. "It crossed my mind," Whitehead said. "I figured we've gone two out of three in each round. Crazy things happen in this game. There are too many weird things that can happen to play one game." The Bobcats (22-7) don't need to be told how strange baseball can be heading into Game 1 of the Class 2A regional semifinal series Rogers (30-2) today at 7:30 p.m. at Columbus. There are 16 teams remaining in the Class 2A playoffs. Ten were district champions, five were district runner-ups and Bloomington is the lone third-place finisher still playing. The Bobcats had to win on the road at Refugio to qualify for the playoffs and went to three games to defeat Freer in the bi-district round. They swept No. 3 Navarro in the area round before sweeping Karnes City, another third-place team, in the regional quarterfinals. "I've seen too many teams that had losing records go out and beat teams with great district records," said Whitehead, who was an assistant at Sinton before taking over at Bloomington last season. "You just have to believe and go out and do what you have to do." The Bobcats don't plan to change their aggressive approach against Rogers, which advanced to the state tournament and lost in the semifinals last season. "I'm a big believer in dancing with the one that brought you," Whitehead said. "We're trying to keep everything as normal as possible. We don't want to get out of our routine if we can help it." Whitehead knows Bloomington will have to play its best against Rogers. The Eagles have swept through the playoffs behind the pitching of Alan Valenzuela, the likely Game 1 starter, and Taylor Jungmann, a junior, who has committed to the University of Texas. "At this level, with the caliber of team we're playing, we have to do everything right," Whitehead said. "We have to get all our signs, our pitchers have to hit their spots and our defense has to be making the plays." The Bobcats should be at full strength for Rogers. Tim Cantu, who sprained his ankle in the Freer series, returned as the designated hitter in Game 2 against Karnes City. Philly Garcia pitched a six-hit shutout in Game 1 against Karnes City and is expected to start Game 1 against Rogers. "Everything is coming together," Whitehead said. "They're becoming more of a team. Their motto is to play for each other. We've told them they don't play for themselves, they don't play for me and they don't play for coach House. They play for their teammates." The Bobcats lost in the area round the past two seasons and need to defeat Rogers to match the 2003 team, which advanced to the regional final. "We finally got over the second-round hump," Whitehead said. "Once we did that, we decided why not go all the way." NOTES: The Bloomington-Rogers winner will play either Trinity or Bishop in the regional final. Trinity and Bishop meet in a one-game playoff Saturday at Weimar. ************************************************ From mysa.com May 26, 2007 2 deadly storms, 10 years apart, were unusually powerful Cindy Tumiel Express-News Tornadoes are king in Texas. They have inspired songwriters and moviemakers, sporting teams and musical groups. Texas has the notoriety of spawning more tornadoes than any other state — 125 of them in a typical year. Just about every corner of the state has a historical record of at least one sad episode, when lives were lost suddenly one day to a column of violent, swirling winds that dropped from darkened skies and tore a path of destruction across the landscape or through a defenseless community. Ten years ago today, the Central Texas town of Jarrell suffered the devastation, when a rare F5 tornado churned through the rural Williamson County community, meandering at 18 mph along a half-mile- wide path through the Double Creek Estates subdivision. With winds estimated at the time to be more than 300 mph, the tornado destroyed 40 homes and killed 27 people. Then it moved along to destroy 300 head of cattle and rip out two 500-foot-wide sections of pavement on two nearby county roads. Last month, the Eagle Pass community of Rosita Valley became the latest victim of nature's fury in Texas. An F3 tornado brought 150- mph winds along a quarter-mile-wide swath through a poor community of small houses on the night of April 24. Seven died there; three others perished in the Mexican border community of Piedras Negras. The mile- long path of destruction was described as a war zone. The storms were 10 years apart and hundreds of miles distant from each other. But they had this much in common — both were meteorological freaks. They were uncharacteristically strong. Fewer than 5 percent of tornadoes reach the F3 level; less than one in 1,000 is strong enough to be graded as an F5. Both storms also were out of place, south of the so-called Tornado Alley belt that reaches from North Texas into the Plains states. Most Texas tornadoes are in the area between Abilene and the Red River, said George Bomar, a meteorologist with the Department of Licensing and Regulation and the author of the oft-quoted book "Texas Weather." "That area happens to be strategically placed where you have a confluence of a number of triggers," Bomar said. Typical spring weather conditions in Texas bring a surface layer of warm Gulf of Mexico moisture in contact with dry jet stream winds aloft, providing fertile ground for the severe thunderstorms that spawn tornadoes. "It's really the strong wind shear aloft from 10,000 to 20,000 feet that is the primary catalyst to get thunderstorms rotating and funnel clouds to begin being born," Bomar said. "That wind shear on a typical spring day is stronger the farther north you go." Despite all that, meteorologists are quick to add that tornadoes can happen anywhere, given the right set of circumstances. And they do. In fact, three of the 10 deadliest tornadoes noted in Texas weather records happened in Central and South Texas. Killer F4 or F5 storms devastated Goliad in 1902, the Edwards County community of Rocksprings in 1927 and Karnes-Dewitt counties in 1930. Another went through the far West Texas community of Saragosa in 1987, another area where tornado activity is uncommon. It killed 30 residents; 22 of the fatalities were people attending a graduation ceremony in a community hall. "You never see storms like that out there," Bomar said. "But that one happened." The Goliad tornado killed 114 and injured 250. The Rocksprings tornado killed 74 people and destroyed 235 of the town's 247 buildings. Despite their unpredictable nature, tornadoes are rare events, especially super-strong ones. The devastating tornado that ripped through Greensburg, Kan., on May 4 was the first F5 of the millennium, said Texas State Climatologist John Nielsen-Gammon. "An F4 or F5 is pretty much unheard of anywhere," Nielsen-Gammon said. "They are exceedingly rare." Their random and sudden onslaught makes them especially frightening, the weather experts agreed. "The site of one certainly strikes terror in any of us," Bomar said. "But the fact of the matter is, I have lived in Texas all my life and have never even seen an F3 in person. Which is to say that the chances of being in a place to be hit by a tornado are almost infinitesimally small." Tornado fatalities have decreased since the advent of weather radar in the late 1950s, which gave forecasters better tools to warn people about oncoming storms, Nielsen-Gammon said. Doppler radar, which allows meteorologists to measure wind speeds, was deployed statewide during the 1990s, giving forecasters state-of-the-art tornado detection tools that have probably saved countless lives. "One component of Doppler is the wind velocity," Nielsen-Gammon said. "You can tell from the radar when thunderstorms are starting to rotate and form a tornado." Still, blanket radar coverage and emergency warning systems haven't prevented all fatalities. An emergency warning network experienced technical problems during the Eagle Pass storms, and danger warnings issued by the National Weather Service apparently didn't make it to the people in danger. Rosita Valley residents said they knew nothing about the tornado until they heard the frightening sound of it descending upon their community. Plains states such as Kansas and Missouri, where strong tornadoes are more common, have elaborate warning systems that include public sirens to advise residents when they should seek cover. Expensive solutions are hard to justify in places that almost never see tornadoes, Nielsen-Gammon said. "Whatever you put in, the fact that this is a rare event makes it hard to justify the expense," he said. "Obviously, it would have been worthwhile for this particular location (Eagle Pass), but what about for the communities that aren't hit by tornadoes and probably never will be?" Still, the recent deadly tornado should prompt community leaders in the region to re-evaluate their own warning systems, Bomar said. "Each community would do well to make sure there is some local government entity that is on the receiving end of the weather warning and that has the capacity to get that message out to people living in the community," he said. ************************************************ From utsa.edu May 29, 2007 'Walk & Roll' challenge touts commuting choices By Mark Munguia Associate Director of Campus Recreation To promote the use of alternative modes of transportation in the San Antonio region, several organizations will host the "Walk & Roll Corporate Challenge" in June. UTSA employees and students are challenged to log their "smart-commute" miles as they walk, cycle, carpool or take the bus to work or class. Sponsored by the Alamo Area Council of Governments (AACOG), Metropolitan Planning Organization and City of San Antonio, the goal of the program is to accumulate 500,000 smart miles -- the equivalent of removing more than 1,800 pounds of pollutants from our air. An accomplishment of that type means everyone is a winner because we're all breathing easier. Organizations in the AACOG 12-county region are eligible to participate including Atascosa, Bandera, Bexar, Comal, Frio, Gillespie, Guadalupe, Karnes, Kendall, Kerr, Medina and Wilson counties. The organization with the best record will receive the Walk & Roll Commuters Challenge Cup. New this year is awarding mileage points for choosing to stay in the office for lunch. If an employee brings his or her lunch or chooses to use the company cafeteria, he or she will accrue an additional two miles for the day. Find a link to the AlterNetRides Ride Sharing Service at the UTSA Parking and Transportation Services Web site. Miles accumulated when sharing a ride to work or class count toward the cup. For more information, call (210) 458-7373. ************************************************ From businesswire.com May 31, 2007 Avalon Announces Purchase of Karnes County Prospect With Potential Reserves of 3-4 BCF Gas and 75,000 to 100,000 Barrels of Condensate MINNEAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Avalon Oil & Gas, Inc., (OTCBB:AOGN) announced today that it has purchased a stake in the Janssen Prospect, Karnes County, Texas. Plans are underway to revitalize the property in conjunction with Tradestar Resources (TSRR.PK), Hot Springs, AR, Bedford Energy (BFDE.PK) Oklahoma City, OK, and Penasco Petroleum, Austin TX. The Janssen Prospect will be re-completed in the existing vertical wellbore by a sidetrack drilling procedure at a depth of approximately 10,500 feet, and test the Wilcox sand. Total potential reserves are estimated to be 75,000 to 100,000 barrels of condensate and 3 to 4 BCF (billion cubic feet) of gas. “The Janssen Prospect represents a significant revenue opportunity for Avalon,” said Kent Rodriguez, President & CEO of Avalon. “With substantial potential for proven reserves of oil and gas, the Janssen Prospect is a great addition to our portfolio of properties.” Avalon currently has a 15% working interest in the property. About Avalon Oil & Gas, Inc. Avalon Oil & Gas, Inc. is an oil and gas company engaged in the acquisition of oil and gas producing properties. In addition, Avalon's technology group acquires and develops oil and gas production enhancing technologies. Through its strategic partnership with UTEK, Inc., (UTK:ASE) a transfer technology company, Avalon is building an asset portfolio of innovative technologies in the oil and gas industry to maximize enhancement opportunities at its various oil and gas properties. About Tradestar Resources Corporation Tradestar Resources Corporation is an independent energy company that is engaged in the exploration, development, exploitation and acquisition of on-shore and natural gas properties in conventional producing areas in the United States. Tradestar strives to enhance asset value by expanding oil and natural gas reserves, raising production levels and increasing cash flow. Tradestar intends to foster its growth as an independent oil and gas company by investing in only proven producing wells. The company's web site is http://tradestar-corp.com. Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains statements, which may constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Those statements include statements regarding the intent, belief or current expectations of Avalon Oil & Gas, Inc., and members of its management as well as the assumptions on which such statements are based. Prospective investors are cautioned that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties, and that actual results may differ materially from those contemplated by such forward-looking statements. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise forward-looking statements to reflect changed assumptions, the occurrence of unanticipated events or changes to future operating results. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION: please visit the company’s website at www.avalonoilinc.com. Contacts Avalon Oil & Gas, Inc., Minneapolis Kent Rodriguez, 952-746-9655 Fax: 952-746-5216 ************************************************