| By Alvin Engelke
 By Alvin Engelke
alvinengelke@hotmail.com
Rev. Paul Williams was undergoing tests so David Tenbarge brought the message at the Burning Springs M. E. Church.
Former longtime Creston resident Ronnie Wyers, age 72, passed away after a round with cancer. He had been an employee of the Wirt County school system.
Hazel Marie Jett, age 64, passed away November 16 in Wooster Ohio. She was the daughter of Paul and Stella Jett. Services were Sunday at Arnoldsburg. She had been suffering from complications of diabetes.
Violet "Midge" Rader, age 65, of Fish Hatchery Road, formerly of Annamoriah, passed away after a bout with cancer. Burial was in the Cobb cemetery at Clendenin.
Prominent Cherry resident Jim Ruble, age 89, passed away. In addition to operating a picture perfect farm he was retired from the Wirt County DOH and was the last of the Cherry ferrymen. Most now living cannot remember when there was a ferry to take one from W. Va. 5 side over to the Enterprise road and then on to Route 14, Palestine, Elizabeth, Spencer and the rest of the world.
Local roads are hot as folks come from far and near for the big annual madness known as firearms deer season. Camps are full of folks and four wheelers are everywhere as frantic preparations are made for dawn on opening day. On Sunday one could hear "guns being sighted in" but, of course it is easier to sight if there is a fine rack attached.
The Annamoriah Cowpoke is in from North Carolina visiting family and preparing to shoot some of Bambi's relatives. He thought that it was neat that he was in the crossword puzzle. Several residents have been almost drooling thinking of fresh deer liver, fried tenderloin rolled in flour and gravy.
Mr. & Mrs. Denver McFarland and Mr. & Mrs. D. C. Ferrell were dining at J. P. Henry's Friday evening.
Donzel Ray White was attending to business in Glenville.
Folks who have occasion to go to Parkersburg know that the new Slate Creek bridge is open and that the new road over the hill from Mineral Wells to Pettyville is now closed because of a major slide. Both are examples of work done by the Shoddy Construction Companies, which, of course, have connections to the big boys who have run the state since back in 1928. Being connected they can do whatever they wish for the taxpayers will always pick up the tab and there will be no accounting. Those who don't know should be careful about the bump and the rough paving at the Slate bridge and the slide away four-lane heading toward Pettyville is proof that when one uses treetops and stumps for fill and when one puts fill in four-foot lifts, bad things will happen. Also on the big US 50 job frozen dirt was said to have been used for fill. The big boys down at the Mouth of the Elk and their out of state buddies in the gambling business won big again on election day so West Virginia's prosperity (at least as compared to Louisiana and Mississippi) should continue for at least two more years.
Speaking of West Virginia's high rating and all one store now has stuff women can use to hide their tattoos so they can interview for jobs other than at the circus, etc. The homemade tattoo, "Bubbie wuz hear" reflected well on the high academic standards achieved by lowering the curve on standard test scores to compare with places like, perhaps, East St. Louis, Illinois and Newark, New Jersey.
One fellow from another section of the county went in to ask for a load of stone for a road near his home. He was told, "There is no money." which is the message from the Big Boss as he wants to raise more tax money for the road system which has been allowed to decay. It was noted that all local counties are way under budget and, of course, stone in piles around in the various counties has already been paid for. A four-hour session was given to give the men the new method to treat roads for snow and ice. The new plan calls for the elimination of sand, cinders and other abrasives and the use of a very small amount of salt, about 125 lb/lane mile. This will not be the year to try to get by on Oscar Meyer tires but is the year to pick up some iron (chains) while sets are still available. It will be interesting to see if the roads used by the "important people" down at the Mouth of the Elk receive the same treatment. A significant amount of highway money is used to pay lawyers and claims over suits against the state that are kept very quiet. One widow & her lawyer collected $1 million from the taxpayers when her husband was killed when the company owned by the now assistant highway commissioner was building the temporary bridge in Elizabeth that allowed flagrant safety violations that the inspectors were not allowed to correct. The after incident OSHA reports were used to prove the case. After the man was killed the state inspector was told that his job was to keep an eye out to warn when or if the OSHA fellows were returning to the scene.
Amy Ferrell had to take some extra stuff to the high school so she had her father take her in the truck on his way to work. Down where one turns up Fish Hatchery road a woman more or less panicked and stopped in the middle of the road. To make a long story short the Ford F-250 had a bent front bumper while the little Honda was likely totaled. Luckily, no one was injured although she said she was on the way to see her chiropractor. Amy was frightened to say the least.
Rogers & Son drilled in their well near the Knight graveyard in the Big Bend. It was reported that the new wells up Big Root were good ones too.
Eastern American Energy's shut in was lifted when Dominion's Cornwall station in Clay county was put back into service. Many local wells, especially in Wirt County had been shut in for about 6 weeks. The price of local crude oil fell to $51.75/bbl over the weekend. Local natural gas fetched about $6 while domestic gas used locally cost $14.10/mcf.
It is understood that Artex has their locations made, pits dug, etc for their drilling program. Artex, a California based outfit, is said to have partnered with Buckeye.
Mr. Dexterity and Ronnie Kirby retired from the Calhoun road garage. It is understood that Mr. Dexterity is busy building fence, fixing up his barn and getting ready to farm.
Don Rhodes was calling on Charles & Euell Russell. Don borrowed Euell's deer rifle to go hunting up on the Creston hill.
Grantsville resident Gaylen Duskey, an old newspaperman wrote the following. On Election Day Nov 7 this was the picture;
- The stock market was more than 12,000 - the highest in history
- The national unemployment rate was 4.4% -- the lowest in history
- Gasoline prices were $2.08/gal. - the lowest in more than a year
- We hadn't had a terrorist attack in America since Sept. 11, 2001
We had won a war in Iraq even though there have been problems with the subsequent police action with special problems just for electoral effect.
This what the majority of the country voted against giving America a Democrat controlled Congress & Senate.
People got what they wanted. I just hope they want what they get. G. D. | 
