| By Alvin Engelke
 By Alvin Engelke
alvinengelke@hotmail.com
Geraldine Springston, age 78, of Parkersburg passed away. The daughter of Russell & Ada Blanche Maze Richards she was the sister of Harold Richards.
Rev. S. E. Cooper, Jr.'s widow, Peggy, donated to the Creston Community building the painting of Creston showing the buildings and boats that Edgar commissioned several years ago. The community is very grateful for her generosity.
The weather for the most part warmed up around Creston and the hairy bitter cress & crocuses are blooming. The buzzards have returned and, lucky for them, a number of dead whistle pigs have been seen on the roadway. For a while it would have been excellent maple syrup weather as well.
Charlie Menefee now has him a chariot and he has been helping Don Rhodes tear down Don's rental trailer formerly occupied by the Nichols family.
Some local residents got to visit with the magistrates. As some one once said, "It ain't over till the fat lady sings."
The folks down at the Mouth of the Elk passed legislation to allow big time gambling in the state. Before the next election folks should check the records to see who took care of the out of state and nation gambling interests. Perhaps the Big Boss should change the slogan once again from "Open for business" to "For sale to out of state buyers". Over $200,000 was spent in the primary alone to elect one new pro gambling state senator.
John D. Rockefeller IV was in the area doing some campaigning in advance of 2008. Earlier he had said he had tired of being a senator & wished to be named an ambassador & based on the family ties he allowed as how the Court of St. James would be ideal. Of course his chances might be better for San Marino, Moldavia, Upper Volta or Andorra.
Hunter Pell McCartney, a Calhoun native who did well at the state university in Morgantown passed away.
Rev. Juanita Lockhart filled her regular appointment at the Burning Springs M. E. church.
Joan Satterfield, long time Calhoun administrative assitant and
now road supervisor, has come down with cancer and is undergoing treatment at the Cleveland Clinic.
In the big class action lawsuit against Columbia, NISOURCE & Chesapeake the judge set aside the punitive damages on the $40 million owed for additional royalties on the old flat rate leases as such was not proper. Chesapeake had the Big Boss have a bill introduced in the legislature to give them relief from paying fair royalties but, even with MoJo's urging, the bill had little support and died. Now, it has been learned that a special one day session will be called with specific instructions to pass the bill to protect the poor out of state billionaires. It is obvious that money talks.
While the Big Okie, Chesapeake's head man was telling the Big Boss that they were pulling out and going back to Oklahoma, it was learned that he has brought in hundreds of landmen (at a minimum of $250/day) to lease property for ten year terms throughout the state. The company has again picked up leases in Wirt County. Chesapeake also had a whole bunch of Mexicans working for them and thus, one might conclude that they really don't want to hire local folks for menial work that is at least double the minimum wage.
A landman for Cabot called a local resident about leasing. When the fellow was told that the royalty Cabot was offering was one half of what they expect to be paid as royalty he said, "I guess you aren't too interested then". He then allowed that if someone was paying a one fourth royalty (of the gross) he shouldn't be satisfied with just half or 1/8th of the net.
Local residents have been listening to the wild turkeys talk and some have been thinking of the beautiful noise that will come from frying wild turkey and getting them before the coyotes do.
Arley Parker who delivers the mail to Palestine, Rockport, Elizabeth, Brooksville, etc. had a chariot breakdown in Creston after unloading the mail for Creston & Mount Zion. He had to call on Jack to bring the other truck.
Junior Hildreth announced that he was looking for men to work in the oil field for him. Junior is a well known Spencer oil man with extensive holdings in Calhoun County.
Charlie Menefee was calling on C. Glen Arthur as was a group that had a little dirt bike that they rode up & down the road.
The folks that purchased Gast's place in the graveyard was spending some time there over the weekend. | 
