 By Alvin Engelke
alvinengelke@hotmail.com
Santa & Mrs. Claus attended the Creston Christmas party as did many, many others, so many in fact that the building was full. Debbie McCracken & Ted Grim made it down from Erie Pennsylvania and with the new handicapped ramp that Jerry Poling & Associates constructed, Teresa Starcher was there. Marie Snyder was there visiting with old friends. She noted that she subscribed to The Calhoun Chronicle just to read the Creston news.
In last week's column there was a report about the problems Santa Claus was having with various regulatory agencies that have the view, "I'm here from the government to help you." In the spirit of "change" and Joe Biden's plagiarism, some thought that the comments were original but actually the thoughts (& research) came from Tonya Nickerson and Bill Aiken, the field representatives of the West Virginia Farm Bureau.
Rev. Carlos Nutter filled his regular appointment at the Burning Springs M. E. church and served Holy Communion.
Eva G. Pennington was a hospital patient while undergoing chemotherapy. While she is now home "her get up & go" got up & left. She did, however, decorate the Burning Springs church in a Christmas theme.
News reports from other sections note that the U. S. Postal System has been losing vast sums of money and that 40,000 jobs were to be cut. A postal spokesperson said, "Not to worry no union jobs would be lost and service would not be curtailed." Most of the local mail carriers are contract employees who have to bid for the positions.
The local area received more snow and resultant treacherous roadways. Meantimes the worshipers at the "Church of Manmade Global Warming" are calling for imminent doom & gloom in spite of global cooling & demanding drastic steps by the federales. While billions of cubic feet of natural gas is flared daily in Africa, new rules have come into play for pump jack engines. A well placed state employee noted that the folks down at the Mouth of the Elk were very concerned that the new "Change" team coming to Washington, Dee Cee, was hostile to coal, oil and gas and that the impact on West Virginia could be drastic.
Gendarmes from three counties were in Creston the other evening when a gent who doesn't like to read his name in the newspaper "escaped home confinement". An internet search determined that he was not sojourning at the regional crossbar hotel.
Several local residents have been called for jury duty, or as some say, "They are going courting."
It used to be said that West Virginia had the best politicians money could buy but it now appears that the locals are pikers. The big boss in Illinois has been caught on tape and the FBI put him in the cuffs and took him away to book him. One of the items was selling the big eared one's U. S. Senate seat. While as recently as a week ago they were long time buddies in the Chicago political environment, now the Big Eared One doesn't really know him and obviously never talked to him about anything. It should be noted that one Creston resident has some "ocean front property" in West Virginia to sell - and on easy terms at that & a special price, just for you. It was also reported that a 'famous' reverum's son (candidate #5) was talking seriously about forking over $1.5 mil for the position.
The price of local Penn grade crude dropped to $40/bbl over the weekend. One well-known Calhoun oil producer indicated that he would hold his oil until spring when some think that the price will go back up. An employee of another company noted that when he worked for Neal Rudder (Ramco, etc.) they set more tanks to hold the oil for higher prices but then the price went much lower.
Kean Weaver, president of Reno Ohio based Triad Energy died Thursday evening. The impact of his death could be significant locally as his company operates the Richardson, Tariff, Granny's Creek, Walton & Rock Creek secondary recovery units as well as many other wells in Calhoun, Roane and numerous other counties in addition to wells at Creston, an oil field in Kentucky, production in Ohio, etc. It was generally felt that Triad was a well-run business where all the employees knew the owner on a first name basis.
Equitable Production permitted five more horizontal wells in the Huron while CNX permitted more CBM wells. Englewood Colorado based MegaEnergy Operating permitted a 11,800' Tuscarora well in Pendleton County which is the 26th well permitted in that county since 1929. Chesapeake's Marcellus wells there are reported to be barn burners.
Some have claimed that Ronald Reagan was the reason for the problems with the auto industry and that "he caused industry to move overseas". Those who have followed news for sometime can remember many years ago when the "experts" such as those "pointy headed intylechshuals" at places like the Ford Foundation (the same outfit that said "Form the EU.") that manufacturing should be exported as "America was a mature country that didn't need such anymore & America should become a service industry nation." Role models for youth were advertising agency jobs, government positions, movie stars, etc. More recently Al Gore and many others suggested that "We should get all our food from third world countries." What is scary about all of this is that there are only three ways to create wealth. One can mine it, grow it or make (manufacture) it and everything else is a transfer payment. To enforce the transfer "the wise ones" enacted all sorts of laws and rules creating a hostile environment to business, especially manufacturing, almost forcing movement overseas or at least across the border in Mexico.
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