 By Alvin Engelke
alvinengelke@hotmail.com
The Creston area received more snow and cold weather but, over the weekend, it warmed up and much of the snow melted -- perhaps to make room for the next storm. In spite of the cold and snow the true believers in the church of global warming still insist that all the cold is "global warming" and swear on their 'bible', "Earth in the Lurch" that Al Gore didn't lie. It is reported that now in even Washington D. C. folks are cracking global warming jokes about the "settled science" that now has been shown to be fraudulent and rigged. During the storm the other day a truck with a load of hay ended up sideways blocking W. Va. Route 5 at/near the top of the Creston hill.
The state road has been running out of salt in various locations and on Saturday, Heavy Maintenance was again hauling salt to Calhoun County. One of the trucks broke down at Burning Springs. It was also said that some got into trouble as "they were caught" mixing aggregate with the salt -- a practice that had always been standard procedure. While brine could be obtained for free to treat the roads apparently the salt lobby calls the shots down at the Mouth of the Elk.
Tim Carpenter turned his four wheeler over on himself and got to take a ride in a helicopter for medical assistance. Apparently he "only" suffered some broken bones, bruises, etc and should recover.
Gray Campbell, age 82, of Belpre passed away after an extended illness. He was a son of J. Pierce and Julia Campbell of Creston. He is survived by his widow Fayetta and one son Ricky Gray Campbell.
Elladean Stutler, age 77, of Parkersburg passed away. She was the widow of Boyd Woodrow Stutler and burial was at Hur. Older residents may remember her as one of "the Crawford girls".
Emodee Edgell Starcher, age 88, of Boone County passed away. She was a daughter of Andy & Rosa Edgell of Cremo.
Sandra Kay Ashby, age 65, of Palestine passed away after a long fight with cancer. She was the wife of Emzy Ashby and the daughter of Bert and the late Aggie Marks. Burial was at Ground Hog. The Marks family formerly lived on Ann's Run.
Rev. Carlos Nutter brought the message at the Burning Springs M. E. church as Rev. Keith Belt was keeping a close eye on his mother Mary (Jennie) Belt who had been 'vacationing' in one of those places that serve one breakfast in bed.
Broadway Joe who is now a U. S. Senator was in the general area working on the Big Eared One's reelection campaign while his cousin Mark took over handing out the cash at the state's School Building Authority. Nepotism is alive and well in W. Va.'s ruling oilgarchy. Now that it has been determined that there will be a race for governor (as set forth in the state constitution) it remains to be seen if there will be primaries as some, like House Speaker Thompson calculate that he/they would have a better chance among the party elite rather than with the voters. W. Va. continues to reside at the bottom of the education list which, of course, is convenient for certain politicians who would be history if there happened to be an educated and informed electorate. With education "leaders" talking about "throw away children" and school counselors helping high school seniors qualify for SSI the status quo seems assured in the short term.
Freddie Bush said he was unable to talk anyone in Roane County into selling him their timber but one fellow noted that Heartwood Fund had quite a bit they wanted cut. Not so long back they had a crew in from Mississippi as they, apparently, couldn't find local workers. The logging crews have had trouble with members of the Ten Finger Pick Up Dept. of the Midnight Supply Corp. Apparently there have been several orders for heavy duty batteries for big equipment. The gendarmes have several clues as to the culprits.
Both Freddie Bush & Mad Dog Parsons have been looking for junk to haul.
Charles Russell was consulting the medical professionals at the Minnie Hamilton hospital in Grantsville.
Joe, Carl, Donna Sue, Jeremy & Brandon Ferrell & Charles Russell were among those calling on Euell Russell.
The Big Eared One and his friends were having a party down in the swamps near the mouth of the Potomac while Egypt burned Saturday evening, sort mindful of a famous feast back in Bible times when the writing appeared on the wall which, when translated by Daniel said something about the then Babylonian leader coming up lacking. At the time the Persians had laid siege to Babylon were about to take over. Then that "nasty old judge" down in Florida ruled that Obamacare didn't pass constitutional muster.
It was reported that one of the companies operating in Wetzel County announced that they were shutting down for a year in that county "to make a political statement". Wetzel County has the "wet" Marcellus gas that is rich in ethane, the raw material for polyethylene.
It was learned that Exxon has been obtaining leases in Braxton County. The Rockefeller flagship company recently acquired XTO that had previously bought out Linn Energy.
According to a report generated by the university up at Morgantown in 2009 the Marcellus shale drilling in W. VA. generated 24,000 jobs, spending of $12 billion and $550 million in wages in the state.
The price of Pennsylvania grade crude rose $3.75/bbl to $84 while in Europe oil is in the $100 range. The chaos in the Middle East will, no doubt, make prices go up. With the increase in the price of oil food prices are going up but food and energy is not now included in the "inflation index" so everything can be reported to be "just fine".
| 
