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By Alvin Engelke
Larry Radcliff, age 57, died of an apparent heart attack at his home in Annamoriah. He was the son of Georgia Lott of Stocking Run.
Although Carl Ferrell did a lot of work, Donna Sue's red chariot is still on the sick list. Jeremy and Andrea Ferrell were among those visiting Donna, Carl and Amy.
Mr. and Mrs. Carl Ferrell celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary with a picnic at City Park in Parkersburg followed by a bowling excursion. Their 3 children, Mary Reno, Lewis and a cousin surprised them.
Nancy Engelke and Susan Myers spent the weekend in Fairmont visiting Anna Engelke and Fritzina and Keith Collins who gave them driving tours of Fairmont State College and West Virginia University. They feasted at the Pokey Dot and The Diner, two 50s vintage décor places. The Pokey Dot was named that since the daddy of the family that owned the place was sojourning there (in the Pokey) then. They also toured Valley Falls State Park.
Peggy Marie "Sis" Nida has returned home from Australia.
Hope Starcher, daughter of Eric and Rebecca Starcher, celebrated her fourth birthday with a party at the Creston Community Building, Sunday afternoon.
Juliett Danielle Newhouse is spending the week visiting Joe and Gayenell Pennington at Burning Springs. The comely lass lives in Teays Valley.
Nancy Engelke consulted with her physician and has now "graduated" from a walker to a cane.
Jeffro McFee purchased some land from Teddy Ball and has now set up a trailer next to the Rose Hill cemetery at the head of Beaver Dam.
The Gasts who have a trailer where the old church formerly sat spent the weekend at their place there.
Mark "Old Lizard" Shimer got his ears lowered, twice. First he had someone do it and then he came and had Carl Ferrell fix the haircut.
Several area residents attended the informational meeting on the county operating levy in Elizabeth. Officers from the W. Va. Assoc. of Counties were on hand to explain that only if the levy passed would the county survive. The folks down at the Mouth of Elk River are betting on rejection so they can "resolve their Wirt County problem" and then they can proceed with other counties. The Fayette County Assessor heard that 30 counties was the plan but the late Joe Mills said that when he started in State Government he was assigned to the "County Consolidation Work Group" and the plan was a minimum of 5 and a maximum of 10 counties for the entire state. It should be noted that this was over 30 years ago - they have been busy and local politicians have been sleeping since that time.
Sen. Donna Boley told the local correspondent over the weekend that it was imperative that the levy carry for otherwise the county "is toast". She noted that many
Down at the Mouth of the Elk feel that Wirt County citizens will say no and one might even wonder if they have not sent agitators to try to make sure the county is abolished by encouraging opposition to the necessary court house funding.
While the May primary is still in the future, talk continues about the 2004 gubernatorial race. It is generally felt that "the powers that be" will have the little fiddler step down allowing the clogger to dance back to D. C. Manchin, McGraw and Perdue already have campaigns in high gear while other names have been bandied around including John Raese and a former highways employee.
Columbia Natural Resources is having 8 wells drilled on the Chestnut Ridge anticline in southern Roane and northern Kanawha Counties. These wells are said to be about 6,000' deep. Columbia's latest deed well unit in Roane County is 207.95 acres and is situate near the head of Canoe. Dominion (formerly known as CNG and Hope Gas) has one of the leases in the unit. The formations unitized start below the top of the Onondaga and go down to and include the Wells Creek formation which is a pay in central Kentucky. Several of the lease hounds that had been in area court houses have gone to Kentucky to look for leases and locations.
Reflecting on the "reliability" of the likes of Saddam and Yasser and the obvious uncertainty now that the Marxist took back over in Venezuela the price of local crude rose to $22.75. Some of the showmen (carnival workers) who pass as national leaders got a lot of camera by stopping proposed additional drilling in Alaska in a small area that was set aside for future development during the Carter administration.
The tent caterpillar worms are busy eating fruit trees again this year, that is the trees that they have not already killed by repeated defoliation. The trilliums are at the peak on Tom's Run as are many other spring ephemerals.
Mr. and Mrs. Billy Butler were in Creston looking for morel mushrooms which are up. H. D. "Abe" Dooley was out on Ground Hog looking for the tasty delectables.
Westvaco officials were out checking on the Raines timber crew that is doing clear cuts for the company in the Ground Hog area. One official noted that the factory in Elizabeth should be used to utilize local wood products and provide badly needed employment for the area. Folks who were down at the Mount of the Elk River learned that the state still has an anti business and anti job philosophy, making job creation and retention difficult. In addition to the medical malpractice mess (unresolved) the exorbitant workmen's comp problem begs for resolution. It was noted that one company pays a 50% premium in West Virginia but only 11% in Ohio. Other states allow one to purchase a private insurance to cover on the job injuries but in W. Va. it is a political operation that allows some to not pay at all.
Mia Rhodes has a new pair of spectacles.
The Creston area received some hard rain over the weekend.
After three months most of the work on fixing Alvin Engelke's telephone line has been done. Back in February, the local rep reported a tree had fallen on the line where it crosses the West Fork. This was duly reported to the wise ones elsewhere who finally decided that it was not a real problem.
Then the water got up and the force of the water put pressure on the telephone line causing a pole to creel stopping only when another tree was encountered. Additional calls for repair were made but nothing was done. Finally two of the lines broke. Richard Coplin was called and he made emergency repairs so that service was restored.
However, the "Haul After Dark Logging Company" caught the line with an oversized load ripping the lines from the cable and damaging a very expensive connector. Again Richard made emergency repairs by wading out in the West Fork and picking up the line and making temporary connections. Of course, after the line was pulled apart the tree fell into the West Fork but then Ellis Tree Service from Parkersburg appeared to remove the tree as requested by the wise ones who make decisions from great distances. Then a contract firm came and reset the pole and restrung the line, that is all the line except what is to be buried. It is now estimated that at least a few thousand dollars have been expended complying with bureaucratic guidelines when the nominal expense of the removal of the tree in February would have solved the problem.
SFC & Mrs. Thomas Fluharty are spending the weekend at a remote mountain cabin celebrating their wedding anniversary. Last year Tom was sick for weeks after their return.
Uncle Pete and Cap'n Spock were out running around the Crummies Creek section and called on Dave Vineyard.
Ellie May was among those calling on Uncle Jed, down on the farm.
Zack Gohn and Aaron Marks both entered Cub Scout Pack 30's "Genius Contest" in Elizabeth last week. Both Scouts won
prizes for their efforts.
C Romeo Griffin, Sr.'s little Lhaso Opso dog, Benji, recently decided to act like some of his West Virginia counter parts when
he bayed a critter of prey in a hole under a shed behind Steve & Mary (Griffin) Newton's residence at the outskirts of
Kissimmee, Florida. He backed off and quit barking at the hole, however, as an angry armadillo appeared and administered
an appropriate attitude adjustment.
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