No more Winchester guns?

Profit now is so much a prize that corps will sell out (just like the Gov of INDIANA) just to get money now. They cant see the LONG term despite what they say... it looks great right now.. thats all that matters.

The things upper management and executives do today do not give any regard to keeping a long standing company going. You wonder what innovative tactics could be used to combat the things that undermine some of our best manufacturers, a coalition of companies and people that will support them, strategizing on how to steer people away from junk, no matter how you cut it, it's a tall order in today's world. I don't know much about it, but I do detest the junk that is out there, I don't buy it, don't support it and do everything I can to support the good ones left.

I've always carried a pocket knife, but you won't find one made in china in my pocket, Schrade was an all time favorite, once great company suffered a defeat recently, still operating, retained their long standing craftsmen, but with all the junk out there, people don't know or care about Schrade steel alloy and how it holds an edge and the tight fit, compared to the sloppy junk everywhere. One example of this.

Firearms, was an avid shooter, still hunt religiously, some handloading here and there, it is sad to see some of the traditional manufacturers disappear. I've been to the Remington plant in Illion, NY, almost 20 years ago, been to one in Mass, forget the MFR. now, they were both impressive. A few years ago I saved an article about Smith and Wesson, when they folded under the government pressure regrading those new safety features, that and something else made me believe they were a sellout, but I know nothing of the facts, just what I read, so it's unfair to really make a generalization like that, but I hear ya, wish there was something all of us could do to help these remaining business's, we have a proud heritage that is getting undermined badly.

I admire the american made infantry rifles of the past, for what they represent, the engineering, quality, made by proud americans, like the M1 garand and the M-14, I grabbed a Springfield Armory M1-A, it was always a fun shooter, but to some disbelief, I do hunt with it, using my own handloads, kind heavy at 9lbs. but for whitetail it's my version of the standard Winchester '94 .30-.30 or like dads in .32 special, that was a tool for putting food on the table years ago, and although I'm not a fan of the caliber, any good hunter could put it to good use, was inexpensive to purchase and lasted for years with good care. The 70 certainly was another classic, my friend has a model 46 in .218 bee, an odball but a fun shooter to handload, was his dads on there old farm. It's all relevant, farms, tractors and firearms are some of the tools that go with the territory. These are also some of the first things I learned about as youngster, and still highly respect today.

At least I caught the person driving around, can be so annoying since I let the power company build an access road, ( 300 tons of crushed stone for free though ! ) to access their easement, which I have to legally do anyways according to the deed, people think it's a public park now, not good, time for a gate.

It's a very relevant topic with all the "right of way's" and "easements" crossing farmland out there, it's something a lot of people deal with, now all we have to do is get on our tractors armed with our Winchesters and take on the Redcoats ! LOL.

Maybe it's just me, but it sounds like a communication problem that happened at your place. I'm not sure what your arrangement is on the property, but you would not expect to see another company's equipment out there, but once they start, you don't know who will show up. In construction every subcontractor must be included in a hold harmless or the owner indemnified, keeping the owner from liability from a general contractor and any various subs, obviously like here they needed to gain access to their property, do they own it outright at your place ?

Anytime someone comes onto anothers property, it does feel like you're invaded, especially after years and years of tranquility. People try to use our 98 acres as a pass through, more so lately. I have maintained an active presence to let them know it's not appreciated and will not be tolerated, stating no one asked for permission, and until someone does, kindly stay off, can't say how much longer I'll be able to enjoy it, it's a tax burden, so I want what is left, without distraction. I don't like doing it, I'll say that just about everyone that I have stopped was polite, and has always understood, apologized etc., so I try not to be a jerk, but once in awhile one of them will get an earful, it does get annoying, it's a distraction. I hate posted signs, people go right past them anyways, 2 weeks ago, a young school teacher riding an ATV drove right into my back yard, I cursed him out, and told him to get the F out, I don't like people that close to the house, as the urban environment and the associated crime is getting closer to us, our place is in a nice location for this, it's not far from city limits, I've always liked it though, not too far out in the rural area, but just enough distance and space to still enjoy a place with a few acres. Same school teacher came back last week, I popped out of the woods and jumped in front of the ATV unexpectedly, I said "hey aren't you the same guy I tossed out last week ?" Ok, I said listen, you were a little close to the house, ( unbeknownst to most neighbors, I used to work away in NYC so, I want people to know the place is watched in case I ever go back). So I had a conversation with the guy and he was very apologetic about tresspassing. It ended on a polite note and although I owe these people nothing, I hate being a jerk to them or anyone if at all possible, but still don't take any crap from anyone either, you will respect the place, or you buy it and pay the taxes yourself. They make us out to be the bad guys when we tell them to leave. However, I did catch him redhanded bypassing the signs that are clearly visible, people are just oblivious to signs, they mean nothing anymore, so that fuels my fire, it simply means the owner does not want or does not allow strangers on the property, you have to ask for permission.

Niagara Mohawk being bought by National Grid, I think it sucks. I've known a lot of people who worked for them, we used to buy there old equipment and re-sell it our Ford Dealership on the side, like people who buy former fleet vehicles today for re-sale. I know Nimo used to have the union stigma about it, but it was a good outfit to work for, not to say any of us like the power companies, and their "fees" the re-organization has made the internal structure worse, they were not losing money, no need for it, if we are to pay the premium, we might as well have the premium services performed by some of the people I've known, from engineers to linemen, and yeah I've seen them playing botchy (spelling?) ball on the job, during downtime, but none of the linemen I knew were slouches, when lines were down, they worked, and even on most jobs I've seen they worked hard, I had a lot of confidence in the people that worked for Nimo. Not anymore, they're in upheaval, outsourcing the work, subcontractors mostly, no more big core of in-house trades. It's not the same.

When the right away agent approached me about the tower they are doing to build, ( they have to span our 23 acre pond and replace an existing span ) I asked to see the design drawings and had him bring a copy of the deeds stating the requirements of having to allow them access to their easement, we own on either side, they are landlocked. We went over the details, of the job, the tower is going up in a field that uses there property, so a lot of the field is being taken up now, but most of it will be restored we had use of all of it for 40 years. We went over the details of the job, I almost went after and bid the excavation and concrete for the towers, hey why not, I could walk to work LOL. When they came to build the road, I worked with the operators to "sight in" the road, I cut down a few nice mature sumacs and left an island of them on one side for aesthetic reasons, it looked nice and it's what I wanted left. The dozer operator did a lot of extra work for me, as the right of way agent told the crew to take care of the owner here, they also graded off our lot and placed 120 tons of crushed stone down, besides the other 200 or so for the road, all of which they would take up and stockpile if I wanted the road removed. It worked a lot better with these guys when I worked with them, they respected the place and when said in done, I got a lot of work done and materials for free. They left a JD 650 lgp rental dozer on the lot, I got a few days use of that when they were done for the cost of fuel which was not much. The operators were very good people, we worked together, he sure was generous with that stone. It kind of attracted some people/tresspassers to the property, but it's under control, have to keep them in check. When they cleared the entire easement, the deluge of atv's became a problem, but the right of way agent has been and will be assisting in mitigating the problem, the traffic uses their property illegally to gain access to our one nice bottom field, and that I don't like, they have destroyed crops in the field before and run through my clover patch.

I'd better cut myself off here !

The operators said they might want to start the tower construction in mid winter, and said that that having a hint of that, they were sparing no expense on the road they need to bring in the crane and the tower sections, apparently they know how the bosses like to work and try and get ahead of the game, like all agency type scenarios, they sometimes do a lot of things that don't make sense, they already have the tower sections fabricated, but did not have a foundation design, they did borings last August, to determine the soil bearing capacity and so on.

They did survey their 175'-200'wide easement established a center line. The first time Asplundh went through and cleared the brush and trees off, and appear to stay within their easement. 2nd time they came through they did some heavy clearing on the opposite side, engineers decided to switch sides for the new circuit to be added. We already have 1 wooden set and high tension on steel, forget the capacity, but to increase the existing they would have to do a lot of work, as the big line is at capacity now, it's big dollars if it goes off line. They have to cross our pond/wetland, the existing wooden set is leaning, it will share the new tower at this juncture to make the crossing. Best thing you can do is get your point across to the right of way agent ahead of any planned work, not sure if the same guy handles your area or not.

We've had similar issues and opinions regarding property rights, the state erected a sign ( I could post a photo if knew how on this site ) denoting an area they built along the state 2 lane highway east-west NY Rt. 7 when they put in sheet piling, took some of our under property eminent domain. Sign says our towns name then Viewing Area, small parking area was built so they have exploited our wetland for public viewing. I don't mind people enjoying what I see from my home for the last 30 years, the most productive wetland in the county, but it's the way they went about it. They are proposing a new super walmarts within 150' of the water line, we already have a walmart, as I type there is NYS police helicopter searching for someone out there, rattling my house, I'm wondering what kind of criminal is out there now. No peace and quiet on a sunday.

There is a photo of part of our wetland on the 1st page of the link I posted, from the public viewing area. All of the propsed changes to our town are posted on this site, it's unreal, you do wonder about continuing to own land, soon as a road is cut in the atv's take over, Tug Hill, boy that must be fun to keep people off, that's where all the snowmobilers head to, especially when there is no snow.

The NYS police does not like to deal ATV and tresspassing issues, the local barracks gets 10-12 calls a day about it, and it's just a violation, they issue you a court appearance ticket, so tresspassers have it made, it's a joke in one sense.

Taxes, like you said, for what you pay, there seems to be something wrong. Oh well, good discussion though.

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The way big companies to-day work, the CEOs sell of parts of the co. , fill there pockets and let the co. go belly up.....