| By Alvin Engelke
 By Alvin Engelke
alvinengelke@hotmail.com
Rev. Juanita Lockhart filled her regular appointment at the Burning Springs M. E. church and served Holy Communion.
Ward Swart, age 81, of Annamoriah passed away. His widow, the former Virginia Greathouse, survives him. He was retired from the B & W and burial was in the Bryner Chapel cemetery.
Grace Keaffaber's mom and dad, Billie & Larry, brothers Stephen & William and Mr. & Mr. & Mrs. Carl Ferrell and Amy motored to Ft. Leonard Wood, Missouri, on the occasion of Grace's graduation from basic training. She is now Pvt. second class and is in AIT. While there the local folks camped and had a great time visiting and sight seeing.
Nancy Hall was feeling good and looking forward to her visit with her oncologist. Eva G. Pennington has been under the weather since her recent surgery.
Wirt County Commissioner Roy Copen attended the Creston Area neighborhood watch meeting. A dry run involving a mock confrontation with 'bad guys' is being planned.
The Stinson Lady's Man, Jake Boggs, was back in Creston working in the hay and he tried to keep with Jeb Clampett, who, as you may remember, struck oil. Jake struck gas but actually he clipped off a drip.
Jack dePue put up some fine second cutting hay.
One local woman who has been canning her bountiful crop of beans noted that she was "sick of beans".
Mr. & Mrs. Rick Starcher & daughter Hope were visiting up in Ohio Amish country.
Nancy & Jane Engelke& Linda Sams have been at Market in Atlanta buying 2008 Prom & Wedding stock for Elizabeth Michaels in Vienna. They took the big bird down on Friday and will return on Tuesday evening. Even for those who love to shop, it becomes a real task to find just "the thing" your customer is going to love.
Jovani, the biggest & most nationally known prom designer, just moved into a new 5,500 sq. ft. showroom and some of their favorite clients were invited to their celebration party on Sunday evening after the final runway show of the day. Some W. Va. pageant girls have been modeling for Jovani and they put on five shows/day which is very hard work and hard on the feet.
Jovani served some fine (real) Chinese cuisine & had the crowd boogying to some very loud but fun line dance music. After that the girls attended a Red Carpet show at the Hard Rock Café put on by Elmer Avenue Designers showing their winter '07 line. They are all excited about the new season coming up. Prom gowns will begin arriving in December.
On Friday evening they dined on the 72nd floor of the Westin Hotel. The dining room turns around in a circle while one dines and each rotation takes about an hour. The view was said to be fabulous as is the food and service. Atlanta has an alive and friendly downtown area.
Anna Engelke and some of the FunChester crowd spent the weekend at Rehoboth Beach Delaware.
It was noted that farm use applications are due in the county assessor's office by the end of the month. If the annual reports are not filed the state tax commissioner and all the wise ones down at the Mouth of the Elk determine that land is being held to build condominiums, high rises, strip malls and luxury resorts for non-residents.
Local residents, as well as others over the state, were surprised Saturday morning when they learned that a special legislative session had been called by the Big Boss and Item #1 on the call was the reintroduction of what was called during the regular session, "The Chesapeake Royalty Relief Act of 2007". While most independents in the oil field pay royalties (including overrides) of 3/16, ¼ and sometimes more, poor little Chesapeake claims that they can't even afford to pay a 1/8th royalty and needs help and new rules to slash severance and county taxes. Some plan to spend some time visiting with the legislators during the special session. It was also noted that those who wanted a crime fighting bill would be told to back the Big Boss's special bill for the big boys if they wanted help locking up drug dealers and such. It is called "Open for Business", doncha know! In Roane County, Chesapeake & Columbia Natural Resources (the prior owner) were found guilty of fraud and the jury awarded punitive damages. It was found that taxes were avoided on the sale of millions of dollars worth of natural gas showing that, as the old hotel heiress said, "Only little people pay taxes." Thus far the boys down at the Mouth of the Elk have not tried to collect the amounts that the state and counties were defrauded.
The price of local Penn grade crude rose to $66.50/bbl while propane was worth $1.208/gal. isobutene $1.456/gal. And drip (mountain high test) $1.629/gal.
Alvin Engelke, Wesley and Dewey Nottingham were among those who attended the Hill reunion Sunday at Harrisville.
Roy Fluharty was visiting Mr. & Mrs. Tom Fluharty and was looking after his oil interests in Creston.
The Right Reedy bridge on Rt. 14 is closed and the local road crew has Three Bridges road in fine shape. The real detour (not the one marked for truckers) is ½ mile longer than the regular route. The same contractor pained over rust on this bridge as was done at the Lee bridge near the southern end of Three Brides road. That bridge had to be replaced but since bridge maintenance and such is all political there are no consequences to those who put the traveling public at risk. A while back one bridge in Parkersburg was so bad that the bridge inspectors wouldn't even drive across the span. | 
