 By Alvin Engelke
alvinengelke@hotmail.com
Rev. Carlos Nutter filled his regular appointment at the Burning Springs M. E. Church and served Holy Communion.
A large crowd was on hand for the Creston auction. Folks toted away cheese, double yolk eggs, pepperoni, candy, blankets and all sorts of goodies after feasting on Creston style cooking.
Eva G. Pennington is undergoing chemotherapy at city hospital.
Neil Belt is home after a hospital stay.
The fellow who escaped from home confinement continues, apparently, to elude law enforcement.
Brandon Edwards, Kyle & Kathy Collins were calling on Keith Collins & Matt Enders at Front Royal Virginia.
The weather warmed up some locally with rain and such. The wild turkeys have been doing a lot of talking.
According to press reports the invasive black buzzards are causing problems in Wood County. They have been spotted in Creston and will attack young animals, especially newborn calves, lambs, etc. Warm metal, preferably hot lead, will resolve the problems and, obviously, time is of the essence. The native turkey buzzards presently are vacationing in the south and are easy to tell from the new, noxious birds.
Anna Engelke and Adam Yates were at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City. They also saw a Broadway show and dined at some of the Gotham greasy spoons.
Prominent Calhoun state road man, F. Harris, was hauling hay in Creston over the weekend.
For the first time in 40 years electric utilities are noting declines in residential use, in some cases up to a 9% decline. Of course for years there has been all this talk to conserve but an increase was always the norm. Now some feel that proposed big plans, like new monster power lines should be put on hold as there may not be any financial justification, even with guaranteed profits by governmental agencies that look after the big boys (such as the poor Rockefellers, etc.).
The Big Eared One who has promised change continues to have problems with his friends in Chicago, some of whom might be crooks and now Richardson the Mexican governor of New Mexico who was to be a cabinet member too, got caught up in dubious schemes & likewise may face charges. Some have said that his wife owns a home & lives in Massachusetts but when one is one of "the elite" such trivial details don't matter. Taking the great Obombo at his word, he plans to hire 600,000 more government employees on somebody's dime. With all the big bailouts for the connected, some are getting concerned about hyperinflation such as hit Germany after World War I and third world countries like Zimbabwe.
Industry resident Bob Belt fell and broke his hip. He is at Health South undergoing rehab.
Equitable, which has no known pipelines or wells in the Creston area, sent flyers to numerous local residents and businesses telling about pipeline safety, rights-of-way, etc. It was recently noted that one does not have to sell permanent rights-of-way to these firms but that one can lease for up to a 15 year term and then renegotiate for another term. It is known that Equitable plans a new 12" gas line in southern Roane County while Hard Rock is laying a new line to Liverpool.
One oil and gas outfit has been sending letters to royalty owners offering to pay ten times income for mineral rights. Of course the royalty payments sent to the owners are, at best, guesses as there are no meters on the individual wells and expenses may have been taken out of the production. One landowner received a big $30 check for three months royalty on three wells on his farm. Of course Chesapeake set the basis for the value of mineral rights when they sold the right to drill in only one formation (the Marcellus shale) for $5,666.66/acre to the Norwegian government.
It was reported that one of Cabot Oil & Gas's contractors was forced to lay off all his men. Cabot is getting a new double which is to go to Pennsylvania to drill wells there.
Triad has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Their CEO noted that they were caught short on the plunge in oil prices. Some have noted that the runup was for election purposes only and now that "Change" is guaranteed high oil and fuel prices are no longer needed but they will be back, this time the price increase being in the form of new taxes "to finance the change". The price of local crude rose over the weekend to $40/bbl.
Only Canada has been able to increase the amount of crude oil produced for some time now and that was because the Athabasca tar sands were being processed on a significant scale. Crude production from the tar sands is said to be profitable when oil hits $50/bbl. Apparently some of the ethanol plants (corn likker factories) are having financial troubles with the depressed gasoline prices even with the big federal subsidy that the taxpayers give the stills.
Some folks attended a recent gun show and they noted that one had best lay in a supply of ammo before January 20 lest "emergency rules" would be enacted by the "change team".
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