| By Alvin Engelke
 By Alvin Engelke
alvinengelke@hotmail.com
The Creston area benefit auction will be held Saturday, June 2, starting at 6 P. M. at the Creston Community Building. Many nice things, including furniture, have been donated and there is bound to be that special thing there that one just cannot live without. Also Bobby Ray Starcher will bring his cheese, pepperoni and other food goodies. Everyone is welcome and there will be no more auctions until fall.
There were 330 riders at the Shriner's poker run on the dePue farm. Everyone reported having a good time.
The Creston Community ATV poker run is scheduled for July 21 and it should also be a great run. Have your ATVs checked out, serviced, etc and perhaps bring along extra fuel.
Mr. & Mrs. Chuck Richter and Roy Nutter's family were among those calling at the Nut Hut on Creston Hill (or Creston Heights as a former news writer said).
The Louden family spent the weekend at their place on the Richardsonville road and the several members thereof have been busy building. Earlier, Irvin Walker did some excavating and then concrete was poured.
A stray dog, a female Husky with a collar showed up at the Hall residence on Little Creek. They assume that someone lost a family pet as the canine does not seem like the type that would have been dropped off.
There are a number of very cute loveable kittens at the Engelke residence. They all need new homes. Alvin attended the Blue Grass Festival at the Upper West Fork Park and heard Rimer Kendall and the boys play. He also met Larry Jarvis's daughter and her husband and visited at the John Morris residence and obtained some buffalo meat. John is one of only a few Calhoun residents who have actually killed a buffalo.
The FunChester group spent the weekend at Ohio Pyle in Pennsylvania.
Bessie Arthur and others had been busy getting all the local graveyards mowed prior to Decoration Day. There were large crowds at most local graveyards as family members visited the last resting places of departed loved ones.
Rev. Juanita Lockhart filled her regular appointment at the Burning Springs M. E. church.
The U. S. D. A.'s multiflora rose is now in full bloom. The exotic pest from Asia continues to spread. Speaking of USDA, it was reported that bureaucrats in the agency plan to ban round hay bales as they felt, "Cows couldn't get square meals."
The price of local Penn grade crude oil was $60.50 while the price of lower grade crude was much higher elsewhere.
Mother Hope (Dominion) announced that their Bridgeport storage field was full and that there would be a 34% curtailment of gas supplies to them on certain systems. If more that the allowable gas was shipped it would "be confiscated" by Dominion.
Meanwhile Dominion has made a new location up on the West Fork not too far from a well that Dave Freshwater recently completed.
The State of West Virginia is asking for bids to drill the 2,843.57-acre Huttonsville prison property and the 642-acre Lakin facility in Mason County. One of the objects is to provide free gas to the facilities. Bid forms can be obtained by calling John Abbott at 558-2544 or calling 558-2000. It should be noted that there is a mandatory pre-bid conference on June 5 down at the Mouth of the Elk River.
Dry weather continues to be the norm and fine hay is being made although the crop is light in many instances. Local streams are low and fishermen give mixed reports.
A local resident saw the Turtle Twins in Grantsville the other day and it was noted that they are still as beautiful as they always were. As one of them said, "We like to hear things like that."
It was learned that Mr. & Mrs. Roger Meadows have moved back to the area.
Not so long back many pet owners were worried that they dogs and cats would get sick and die from eating contaminated pet food (and elsewhere many pets died) which, it turned out was the result of chemical contaminants which came from The People's Republic of China. In addition to Canada and the U. S. the poisons showed up in South Africa. Last month customs turned back 257 shipments of food from China and only 1% of shipments were inspected. Dried apples, peaches & pears, mushrooms, olives, scallops, cod and sardines were rejected because of filth while frozen eel, ginseng, mushrooms and frozen red raspberries were rejected because of pesticides while toothpaste was rejected because it contained antifreeze. Last year antifreeze contaminated cough syrup killed several in Panama. Some feel that at least part of this may be on purpose and at the very least it should be a wakeup call about our obtaining food from potentially hostile nations who could use food to kill or maim a large percentage of the nation.
It has been noted that the number of gardens planted has dropped off dramatically and it is particularly irksome when others talk about "hunger and need" when those who are supposedly so bad off won't raise a finger but expect handouts.
A number of local residents including Amy Ferrell and Grace Kefabber graduated from high school.
A longtime state road employee noted that now, instead of moving forward with better equipment, etc. the so called "Core maintenance program" is a big step backward. Now each organization is to be evaluated and 2/3rds of the evaluation will be on paperwork while only one third will be based on the quality of work performed. Apparently all of this is to help the Big Boss become a U. S. Senator like little Johnny D. IV so he can play on the national scene in the big sand box.
The postal system has issued some new stamps reflecting space and
Star Wars. It was underdstood that there was a lot of excitement at the Burning Springs space dock. The Creston post office has the new stamps for those who follow Cap'n Spock and the other heros. Stop by and Ida or Margie can handle all of one's postal needs and even Klingons will receive service.
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