| By Alvin Engelke
 By Alvin Engelke
alvinengelke@hotmail.com
Sierra Starcher, Janet Jett and Paul Williams provided special singing at the Burning
Springs M. E. Church while Rev. Paul Williams brought the message.
Dorothy Graham's 80th birthday party will be held starting a little after noon on September 24 at the Creston Community Building. Everyone is invited to stop by and wish her the best. Those who cannot come should send her a card as the family hopes that she receives 80 cards. Her address is Dorothy Graham, R. F. D. #1, Creston, W. Va. 26141.
The Adopt-a-Highway event will start at 9 A. M. on September 24. Willing workers will gather at the Creston Community Building to gather up what others threw out along the roadway. For details call Amy Nicole at 275-3202.
Nancy Hall and Dora O'Dell have both been on the sick list.
While there has been plenty of rain elsewhere the local area is dry with a few turning leaves and falling walnuts, of which there are many this year. Carl Ferrell also has some tasty late peaches.
Dean Miller has been spreading lime.
Bonnie Arthur and Euell Russell were among those calling on C. Glen Arthur.
Alvin & Nancy Engelke were visiting Anna Engelke, Fritzina and Wilbur. They went on a spontaneous tour of Tyson's Corners and downtown Washington, D. C. & Georgetown. The real estate developers over in that section obviously believe Albert Gore Jr. who said we should get all our food from 3rd world countries as they are destroying some of the best farmland in the east for quick buck ticky tacky real estate developments. While one saw lots of Mexicans (who seem to be doing most of the work) there were many Arabs and Chinamen.
After visiting Anna the local folks went up to Gettysburg and then on to Lancaster County where Nancy's ancestors lived back in the 18th century. Up there the corn and soya beans looked good as did the tobacco, that which hadn't yet been cut and what was already in the barns. It was interesting that even in Amish country there were Mexicans working and in small towns (and on rural churches) were Spanish signs. The one church must have been an evangelical denomination. They went over to Bedford and saw George Washington's headquarters during the Whiskey Rebellion of 1794 and then on down to Meyersdale where there is a "wind farm". Certainly it is impressive to look at the skyline on top of the ridge and see a line of windmills. They also visited a sugar maple operation.
Mike Linn who presently operates as Linn Energy purchased a number of wells and leaseholds from GasSearch. Linn which is based in Pittsburgh is planning to go public very soon. Texas Keystone, another outfit based in Pennsylvania is also trying to obtain leases locally. Their leases do not allow free gas, among other things, so one should read the "fine print". Some of these folks are/were associated with Enron which was, for a time a household name. Robert E. Rubin who was Hill & Bill's Secretary of the Treasury is still said to get an annual retainer of just a million or so from Enron's bank.
The price of local Pennsylvania grade crude fell to $59.25 over the weekend and local gasoline prices have also dropped. It was interesting to note that fuel was just about a dime higher in the metropolitan D. C. area. The price paid for most local natural gas will be $10.87/dekatherm for September with higher prices through March. Impacting the price is damage done by Katrina to Gulf of Mexico production facilities some of which may be off line for several months. During a prior "high energy price time" it was noted that no one gathered up all the firewood that is lodged against the Creston bridge indicating that some are still in the complaining stage rather than utilizing free fuel that would require work.
While at least one of the new Oriskany wells in Ritchie County is said to make lots of water that will conduct electricity the other wells are barn burners, blowing the leaves off trees, ripping weeds out by the roots and such. There was a panic call for an oil truck one day last week when they had 400 bbl of oil on location with more coming up hole at a rapid rate.
It was said that the bidding for Columbia Natural Resources got so high that even Mother Hope said it was too high. One of the present owners is a group called First Reserve Corp.
Gary & Alvie Ferrell and Betty Myers were among those calling on Dorine Parsons.
Jane Engelke & Stacy Offenberger, who is Miss Ohio USA, were in Detroit attending the Michigan USA state pageant and visiting with friends in the Motor City area.
Anna Engelke spent part of the weekend on a tour of the Kalorama House and several embassies in Washington. She visited the embassies of Cyprus, Iceland, Afghanistan and Austria as well as 3 private homes and the Woodrow Wilson house. She dined on crab cakes at Tony & Joe's waterfront eatery in Georgetown.
Wirt County took a small step toward entering the 20th century with cell phone service now available in and around the county seat. Service is sometimes available at the Burning Springs Space Dock (which is always light years ahead of ordinary places especially in technology) but Creston and Burning Springs and other sections are still lacking in service. One might wonder when the local baby bell is going to upgrade "land lines" so that the internet and other state of the art technologies are available locally.
Euell Russell attended the Birdsong (Vogelsong) Family gospel sing at the Baptist church in Elizabeth.
Mr. & Mrs. Kenneth Mowrey are having a water well drilled and have excavated for a basement on the land they purchased from Helen Elliott along W. Va. Route 5. It is a very beautiful location.
A number of local residents are concerned about the new draconian tobacco regulations that have been imposed on local residents and businesses. Wirt County has a long history as a tobacco producing county but when the health department voted, one of Wirt's representatives voted for the ban and the other rep was absent. Calhoun County's representatives on the board split their votes and both were present. It hasn't been that long since football players kept a mouthful of Mail Pouch, Navy or Copenhagen to intimidate players on the other team. It seems that some efforts could be put to better use going after illegal substances, especially those who make it their business to peddle them to area youth.
Alvin & Nancy Engelke attended the Society of Petroleum Engineers meeting at Morgantown. There was a big crowd with folks from all over the world, experts in every aspect of oil and gas exploration and development. The report was good with lots of new discoveries and new technologies. On a sour note it was obvious that almost all the students in the WVU Petroleum Engineering department were from abroad, mostly the Indian subcontinent. It is approaching criminal neglect that the so called educators in W. Va. are not or will not train state scholars with the necessary skills so that they can be the engineers, scientists and leaders that the state needs. It would seem that the folks down at the Mouth of the Elk would rather the state's youth be trained as tattoo parlour technicians, gambling parlour (casino) workers and unskilled laborers for North Carolina's businesses. Of course the recent high profile criminal cases involving assistant superintendents, the chairman of the house education committee highlight why these folks are really in the education business and has nothing to do with teaching and learning.
Virgil Maze fetched Teddy Parsons a ground hog.
Todd Rhodes who formerly lived in the area is now sojourning in scenic Kuwait, complements of the results of Arab terrorists. He noted that he took the Creston news column with him and that he shared it with members of his unit who enjoyed reading it.
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