| By Alvin Engelke
 By Alvin Engelke
alvinengelke@hotmail.com
The Creston Community Christmas party will be held Saturday, December 16 at the community building. A Christmas dinner meal will be served and a jolly old gentleman from the polar region is expected to bring cheer to the young and young at heart. In the past the old, hirsute gentleman let good little girls & boys sit on his lap and tell him what they wanted when he came down the chimney and photographs were taken to save the memories. Of course there are always those big girls who also perch on Santa's lap too. For details call Connie at 275-3519 or Rosie. Everyone is welcome to come visit, eat and meet with the neighbors.
David Hoffman writes I don't know if you remember me? I brought some pictures to you my grandmother had of the old and new Creston School a year or two ago. My grandmother is Hazel Wix Hoffman, her dad was Doc Wix. I was just wondering if you could wish her a happy birthday. She will be 101 on December 16, 2006.
The Creston Area Neighborhood Watch fundraiser on Saturday was a big success with several folks from "far & near" setting up tables with goodies to sell. The dip & donate was the place to be for those who loved to eat for there were lots & lots of choices of fine food and dessert. In addition to the fund raising the event was a great time for folks to get together and talk about their individual issues, concerns, etc. It was noted that many seized on the great opportunity for folks to visit who, otherwise, would not get to see and visit with neighbors very often, if at all.
Anna Engelke & Jessica Potter motored to Washington Dee Cee to see Billy Joel's musical Movin' Out.
Ruth Self reported that she did not have to go back to her oncologist til July and that she was doing well. She also reported that Grandma Patterson, who has a host of friends everywhere, was not doing well at all.
Bert Marks reported that after getting a second opinion on his cancerous difficulties surgery was not advised and he does not have to report back for several months. He said he was feeling fine.
Rev. Juanita Lockhart filled her regular appointment at the Burning Springs M. E. church.
The DNR's busy beavers that they turned loose in the river have been busy downriver from Creston cutting down peach and apple trees in people's lawns. Beaver hats might come back in style as there are still a few people who run trap lines. For certain, beaver season is in.
Charles & Euell Russell were consulting with Dr. Bennett at the Minnie Hamilton Health Care Center. Lilly Katz was consulting with Dr. Dan Cain.
Helen Nutter fell while deer hunting and is wearing a very stylish sling on her arm or, at least, it is the newest style at "The Nut Hut".
A well-known businessman who lives down below Creston was apprehended by the gendarmes and charged with consumption of excess persimmon nectar whilst navigating and got to visit at the new hotel in Doddridge County.
Theodore Parsons was called to check on Rev. S. E. Cooper's gas but it was determined that a part had burned out on the furnace. A replacement part was obtained and all was well again.
The Wirt road crew fetched up some cold mix and filled the imperfections in the surface of the roadway. Now they are trimming back the brush, briers and dead weeds along Route 5.
The price of local Penn grade crude dropped to $58/bbl over the weekend. While some Creston area natural gas only fetched $3.83/MCF some Roane County natural gas brought $13.94/MCF. It is amazing how the price varies depending upon the companies involved.
Warren Drilling moved their rig out to Dooleyville to punch one down for Artex & Edith Roberts. It is sort of like old times with tubs full of drill pipe in the wide places along Route 5. David Cain has been building the locations.
Mike Rogers' drill down on the Lewis Smith farm beside the Knight graveyard in the Big Bend came in a natural and oil has already been hauled away. The well has caused quite a bit of excitement in oil and gas circles. There are offset locations available.
The folks who purchased Buffalo Properties for $7 million from the bankruptcy trustees have a crew out working and it appears that they plan to do a stroke of work to try to get the field back into production. Most of their wells would have qualified for presumptive abandonment a few years ago.
A number of residents have been working together, using a lease form prepared by retired Circuit Judge George M. Scott, in dealing with leasing oil and gas and not being ripped off. One can either get a fair shake or be ripped off again for another century or so as the Rockefeller family did when they came around back circa 1900 "offering good deals". Some of "the new companies" for now refuse to give free gas to landowners. Folks from all over the state have been obtaining copies of the better lease and comparing the terms to those proposed by those who would rip local residents off again. Of course certain well-placed folks are always paid properly but others are not supposed to find that out. That is why the state tax department keeps certain records secret from landowners.
Don Hebb, who works for the state tax department, got a little torqued when someone suggested things must be slow in his office if he had time to call assessors all over the state because Bob Matthey called him up and gave him thunder "because a secret record was given to those who had an interest therein". Some even wondered how Matthey, who travels around in a pink Cadillac, had so much influence with Hebb who is paid by the citizens & taxpayers.
According to Dale Meadows, District 3 Permit Supervisor, some wizard down at the Mouth of the Elk permitted the big oversized and overweight load to go through Big Springs on the way from Pennsylvania to Marietta, Ohio, "citing the fact that other routes would not work." It should be noted that the writer of this column has some "ocean front" lots in Spring Valley that are for sale too and special deals can be worked out for those who want to stay clear of traditional coastlines.
One of the DOH truck drivers reported that he was told that if the big boys came up from the Mouth of the Elk and determined that too much salt was used or if sand & cinders were used to help with traction, those employees would be punished with time off and possible firing for insubordination. Someone said, "Ain't it wonderful when micromanagers try to throw their weight around when they know not about what they speak." They must all study the Dilbert comic strip for guidance in how to act. To treat for snow and ice the Spruce Knob, Dolly Sods & Pickens areas just like Charleston, Huntington and Harper's Ferry should be interesting to watch, just as long as one does not have to drive on the roads. Locally there was snow the other day and the mercury headed for the single digits.
Nancy, Alvin & Jane Engelke, & Wilbur Schenerlein III were among the group who met Sunday evening at the Paradise Grill to discuss cooperation among the merchants who have stores near Jane's shop, Elizabeth Michaels. Bob Parrish, the owner of the complex picked up the tap for all the meals which was very nice of him, to say the least. One of Don Glover's daughters is one of the big movers & shakers in the group which plans synergy.
The Wirt County Farm Bureau will meet Tuesday, December 19 at 7 P. M. at the fire station in Elizabeth.
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