 By Alvin Engelke
alvinengelke@hotmail.com
While proponents of the so called "global warming" are demanding that ordinary folks change their life style and that prohibitive new taxes be levied, the local area suffered with subzero cold and then more snow and slippery roads. Some have even suggested that Big Brother install a GPS unit on all chariots so that "excess mileage" fees may be charged for those who think that they are free Americans and can go where they choose without permission from Albert Gore Jr. or some other elitist. Some local plumbing had phase changes and some chariots died. One poor fellow had to crawl out of his warm bed at 10 below zero to make his truck horn stop blaringâ¦seems some moisture activated the hornâ¦no footprints around the chariot.
While some shriek that the end is near, Russian scientists seem quite concerned about a new ice age or at least a protracted cool period. Russia, of course, has more cold weather property than anyone else in the world and new lows have been set recently in Siberia.
Two ladies who live on Coal Fork of Leading Creek were left stranded in Elizabeth when their automobile elected not to start and had to be taken home.
Eva G. Pennington has been real sick with her cancer treatments. She visited with Nancy Hall who has been undergoing treatments for 7 years and is now recovering from an infection related to her port. Eva's daughter has been staying with her.
Bob Belt who fell and broke his hip is not doing well and is now in Mile Tree center in Spencer.
Carl Ferrell continues to be on the sick list.
Work on the roof of the Creston Community Building has been completed and some electrical upgrades currently are in progress. Because of the bitter cold there was a gas problem at the building which was resolved before causing damage to the plumbing.
Rev. Carlos Nutter filled his regular appointment at the Burning Springs M. E. church.
The fellow who "escaped from home confinement" turned himself in and now is sojourning in Doddridge County.
Spark Arthur's dog is lost. Obviously he would appreciate any information anyone has on his pet.
The economic chaos continues to be a concern and the proposed "fix" sounds worse than the problem, especially when those who are promoting the urgent, urgent $trillion program talk that things "will get worse". With "change" there are no more 'earmarks and pork barrel spending' but the projects listed in the "stimulus package" sound like a wheeler-dealer's dream with things like two new hotels in Harrisburg Pennsylvania (which already has a surplus of hotel rooms) and a Mafia Museum in Los Vegas Nevada. Locally some already scheduled bridge replacements are said to be on the list. Maintaining bridges is humdrum and doesn't allow for large contracts where extra cash could change hands but new jobs, like new school houses, etc. are ripe for the picking.
The big-eared one who had lots of support from Hamas and other terror groups announced that he would close Club Gitmo which houses terrorists picked up on battlefields all over the world. It should be noted that sixty some of the savages that were turned loose at the request of lily livered liberal judges have already returned to "jihad". Of course there is the question of what to do with these nice folks. Some have suggested the Kennedy compound at Hyannis Port while others have suggested the vacant lot owned by convicted gangster Tony Rezko (a former friend of B. Hussein) next door to the Messiah's mansion in Chicago. It was reported that some of Osama's followers in Algeria came down with Black Death. The survivors left and went to other camps likely spreading the contagion.
The price of local Penn grade crude is now $30.25 and the price of natural gas fell to below $5/mmbtu although residential customers likely will not have their bills sliced. The price of corn in Ohio is now $3.60/bu. compared to nearly triple that price not so long back.
Equitable announced that they are planning a 3-D seismic project along the Jackson/Roane border, apparently in the area of Chesapeake's Rainbow Prospect. They are wanting people to sign agreements to let them prospect and then not share the results with the property owners which is the equivalent of having one's timber cruised and then being told what it is worth without seeing the results of the cruise or being able to consult with others as to the meaning of the tally.
While the price of natural gas and oil has plummeted & coal has come under attack ("Build a coal power plant and we'll bankrupt you!") and home values have fallen, the fine folks down at the Mouth of the Elk have been sending out notices of substantial tax increases for West Virginia citizens. Some properties increased in value more than 70 times the prior assessments.
On the positive side, local banks have been loaning money. One banker who has roots in/around the Sanoma area was encouraging business activity by one of his bank clients.
David Barr, the Calhoun oilman who predicted that oil prices would crash, said that one should have on hand 6 months of non-perishable food items because of a) possible government blunders and b) possible failures of satellite and other systems because of solar winds that happen when sunspot activity ceases & the resultant chaos.
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