| By Alvin Engelke
 By Alvin Engelke
alvinengelke@hotmail.com
The Annual Creston Community Building open house brought folks from far and near. County Commissioners Robert Lowe and Bob Weaver came. Mr. & Mrs. Roy Pepper from Frostburg Maryland came back to the school where he had the late Nellie Engelke as a teacher. He also noted that he started at Riverview School with C. M. Engelke as his first instructor. Mr. Pepper is now a retired school administrator. He noted that after last year's visit he had acquired two copies of the Wilson/Pepper Genealogy.
Chester Jarvis who now lives in Lakeland Florida came, as did Jean Walker and Helen Petty Elliott. Chester made some models of riverboats and this time left a model of Creston as he remembered it as well as a number of other woodcarvings. When Rev. Gladson Grim noted that he didn't have a car to drive, Chester gave him a toy car.
David Hoffman brought up some pictures showing the Creston schoolhouse being built. The photos are part of his grandmother, Hazel Wix Hoffman's collection. Last year she had a school picture (with names) from the 1910-1912 era.
Mr. & Mrs. Jim Merrill, Mr. & Mrs. Paul Feick, Bill McFee, Harold Richards, Mr. & Mrs. Gray Campbell, Jerry Campbell, Pauline Cline, Nancy Foggin, Tammy & Ciara Kinney, Colen Townsend, Mary Adams, Mr. & Mrs. Robert Lowe Sr., Richard and Logan Lowe, Shirley Nay, Judy (Goff) Dorsey, Dora Jean Tucker Webb, Ednuna J. Webb Strutn, Marie Park Snyder, Wanda Lea Duncan, Jim Tucker as well as a number of local folks were all at the gathering.
Mr. & Mrs. Bradley Stutler, Blanche Headley Stutler and Vera Headley White were calling on Mr. & Mrs. R. W. Arthur and family and attended the Creston open house. Bradley recalled going to movies at the Creston school long ago.
The painting crew with the able assistance of Amish men Nelson and Sam Miller and Erwin Bricker finished up the job just before a rain came on Thursday. Gloria Norman, Ted Grim and Fred Bish were the other major painters. On Saturday Jimmy Tucker, Wanda Juart, Betty and Fred Bish, Gloria Norman and Helen Nutter cleaned the building. Then Sunday afternoon, Wanda, Helen and Betty served the food to all who came to visit, buy cookbooks, etc. It should also be noted that the painting crew was well fed, one day by special hotdogs fetched down from Erie Pennsylvania and on another day by soup beans & corn bread. In addition there was ice cream which was a big hit with the playground 'inspectors' as well as dough nuts, cake and other goodies.
Rachel, Marie, Daniel and Nelson Miller Jr. all checked out the playground equipment while their fathers worked on the paint job. They won the hearts of the local residents as they played all day and never fussed. Daniel, who is 2, played one full day without taking a nap while his big sister Marie, age 4, did take a five minute "power nap". He also learned the word "hot dog".
Jack Nutter is scheduled for cataract surgery on Tuesday. He will be the third member of his family to undergo the procedure. His eye problem has put Jack pretty much out of circulation.
Some had hoped that Gina London from Denver Colorado would come again to the Creston homecoming. She was a judge at the Wirt County Fair queen pageant and apparently had to return to her residence in the Rockies.
Betty Mahoney Myers was visiting Dorine Parsons and they checked out the community building where they were "just a swingin'". They reported talking to two handsome men and really enjoyed themselves even though they allowed that they might have some age on the gents but they assumed that "being young at heart" would count for something. Betty is from the Munday area. It was reported that The Campfire Boy gave them a spin on the Merry-Go-Round.
Area residents are reminded that Farm Use reports are due in the county assessor's office by September 1. Otherwise farmland will be assessed as sites for condominiums, strip malls, factories, etc. The folks down at the Mouth of the Elk want to significantly increase the assessment of land in West Virginia "so they can have more money to play with". They are said to be unhappy with certain assessors for not being sufficiently aggressive in jacking up land values.
Joye Walker Tucker was visiting area relatives and friends. She is the widow of the late Kermit Tucker.
Allegheny Power is planning to spin off their natural gas operations to a company called Mountaineer Gas. Of course there will be increases in prices. Locally it will be 21.38% or a 94% increase from the 2003 price. Paul Edward Graham thought it would be well to write the PSC (They look out for the companies?) at P. O. Box 812, Charleston 25323.
Rev. Juanita Lockhart filled her regular appointment at the Burning Springs M. E. Church. She, Steve and Janet Jett provided special music.
The U. S. Fish & Wildlife "Service" just enacted a new rule saying that wild (and wild grown - i. e. planted in the woods) ginseng cannot be exported unless it is a 10 year old four prong. Presently 500,000 lb of "sang" is exported to China each year. W. Va. enacted a new law to encourage ginseng planting as wild grown root is worth $300/lb or more while cultivated fetches $20/lb. A Fish & Wildlife bureaucrat became enraged that folks would actually plant and grow stuff in the woods and said, "I'll show you." Some still think Hill & Bill still run the show.
Speaking of that pair it has now come out that the 911 Commission ignored data that showed that Mr. Atta was a known terrorist who traveled over the world but someone very high up said that he was not to be bothered. No doubt if there was less hanky panky in the oval office during the prior administration there would be still two tall buildings standing in New York. With the bombs down in Clay County it is now clear that world events impact even remote rural areas. It also has become clear that a Mrs. Gorelick issued a memo that prohibited communication of data between law enforcement and intelligence agencies.
The price of local Penn grade crude rose over the weekend to $63.25/bbl while the world price has been in the $66 range for (primarily) lower grade asphalt based crude. Gasolene & diesel prices have gone up too. Quite some time back the cost of pipe and such took a big jump reflecting a world wide drilling frenzy.
Nancy Engelke received a good report from her bone doctor and is now using only a cane and is allowed to drive an automobile.
The fact that someone in the State Tax Department sold the names of taxpayers to credit card companies has stirred up some hornets. One man whose grandfather left Creston about the year 1905 received a credit card approval with a 9 digit local zip code.
It was learned that the state is actively promoting the opening of more gambling parlours or "dens of iniquity" as they are sometimes called. One might say that a key function of state government now it to encourage and promote gambling. The state is even fighting local governments who do not want more gambling.
On more mundane matters farming is always a topic of discussion. While some claim "That you can't make no money!" it was noted that several Mexican farm laborers working in the state's orchards make (receive tax papers to show) over $40,000 annually. It was noted that their employers were not operating in the red. In California illegal aliens doing work "no one else will do" are making so much money they are having a significant impact on the real estate market. At the same time the welfare people wail that there is no work for them [as tasters in pie factories].
Keith Collins returned after his trip to Germany. He reported staying exclusively in 4 & 5 star hotels with all expenses paid. Many such programs are available to school teachers. He met the mayor of Heidelberg was well as other dignitaries, dukes and such. He reported that the former Communist Russian occupied east zone still looks obviously different from the rest of Germany although some areas have been repaired and fixed up after the Russian occupation. | 
