 By Alvin Engelke
alvinengelke@hotmail.com
Local residents are getting ready for the Wirt County Fair which will open Wednesday and run through Saturday night. There will be activities for all sorts from the little ones to the boys who like the big toys at the mud bog on Saturday. Lots of work has been done on the fairground getting everything ready.
The folks from the Bell Chapel, Burning Springs & New Home (Mayberry) churches got together at North Bend State Park for a combined service and picnic. There were just under 50 on hand and everyone reported having a good time. After a time the rain quit and the sun came out but during the precipitation folks were under the shelter.
Last Saturday night there was a surprise 5th wedding anniversary party which had been secretly planned by "Scheny" Schenerlein to surprise his wife. All of both his and her families were present and Harrison greeted by name all who came to the gala event.
The local area continues to have rain and some high water. The katydids have started to call for frost in six weeks and they were joined by the tree frogs (toads) in song.
A well known Calhoun resident was calling in Creston and told about when he went to school with the Big Eared One's buddy, Harvard professor Henry "Skippy" Gates, who like Charles Manson & Pee Wee Herman is a West Virginia native. The man remembered when Skippy openly "looked down his nose" at folks who lived in communities and neighborhoods that were economically challenged relative to his situation.
The "Cash for Clunkers" program went through $1 billion in six days and now the junk dealers find, that because of federal guidelines, hard to get parts cannot be legally removed from the trade-ins. During the Katrina cleanup veneer grade logs and other valuable items had to be disposed of in the landfill.
The Big Eared One said a couple of years back that it was his plan to have a one payer system, not just "government competition" in the market. Older folks remember when the DPA got involved in health care and all their then clients were required to go to the Myers Clinic in Philippi for hemorrhoid surgery. No doubt, unlike the tonsil story, it was all necessary.
Nancy Engelke and daughters are visiting her brother and nieces and nephews and families in Peoria Illinois.
The man who was knocked off the Little Creek bridge by Shawn Martin's four wheeler is on the mend and back to work even though he has a broken fibula.
Mr. & Mrs. Will Brown & son, along with Thorn Roberts, were calling in Creston. The Browns were looking for his great-grandfather's house. His ancestor was Creston businessman John R. Pell Sr.
Rev. Carlos Nutter's wife is scheduled for heart surgery in Columbus.
The price of local Penn grade crude rose $2.50/bbl on Friday to $62.75. The price of natural gas is still in the $3.50/MCF range. Mother Hope (Dominion) is building a location for a new well near White Pine in Calhoun County and statewide more horizontal wells are being scheduled.
Folks are reminded that the farm use reports must be filed during the month of August for otherwise the state tax commissioner can say that all one's meadows are sites for high rises, strip malls and condominiums even if they are on dirt roads, in the flood plain, etc.
Dorothy Lynch's flowers have been spectacular lately but she has flowers from early spring on through the season.
Mr. Long & Mr. Tanner have both been visiting in the area but neither has done anything amusing or drastic lately.
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