 By Alvin Engelke
alvinengelke@hotmail.com
Old Mr. Whistle Pig certainly didn't see any shadows in the Creston area on Ground Hog day although the sun did come out for a while later in the day. The local area received a skiff of snow thus missing the nasty storm that was inflicted on much of the nation. Al Gore's true believers continue to say that the cold weather and snow is caused by "global warming". A few years back they told folks that snow would be rare except in the very northern latitudes but now the story has changed. In Australia the global warming crowd said "droughts and dessication" will be the rule and based on such "settled science" real estate developers got waivers from the government to allow lots of building in the 'former' flood plain even though in the past there had been floods that were much higher than the recent ones that were said to be caused by "global warming". Ain't it wonderful when one can say just about anything and the lapdog media laps it up as "gospel" truth because some are making huge fortunes on the "global warming" hoax. The con men have schools and churches teaching the fraud.
After the snow there was a thaw locally and the road over the Asa Haney hill was so bad that even the U. S. Mail couldn't get through.
Wesley Nottingham, age 88, of Palestine passed away. He was a foreman for the Wirt County state road and had several friends in the Creston area. He had been battling cancer.
Spencer oil and gas man Vance Stonestreet, age 79, passed away. He, along with his brothers Bernard and Denzil also operated the Stonestreet Charolais Ranch.
C. Romeo Griffin Sr. is a patient in the hospital.
Rev. Keith Belt filled his regular appointment at the Burning Springs M. E. Church and served Holy Communion.
The folks who have been hunting big cats and coyotes have had mixed luck. Their dogs actually treed two bears. DNR still insists the long tailed cats that they turned loose are not to be found in the state - they are from the government and do not lie or so they say. The DNR will have public hearings for "public comment". On March 14 from 6 to 8 P. M. they will be at North Bend State Park and on the 15th of March the "listening tour" will be at City Hall in Parkersburg. Everyone is urged to attend.
A chunk of concrete fell off the Creston bridge and landed up at the edge of the road going up around the river (Woodring Road). Luckily no one was there when the chunk fell. A state road spokesperson advised Herb Rader's widow that construction would start soon on the replacement bridge across the river at the mouth of Annamoriah Creek. Ribbons and flags are out and about but no one remembers seeing the legal ad for the construction contract. Also no one has said why the structure has to be replaced.
While local folks are told that there is no money for routine maintenance it seems that the highway department must now be flush as it was announced that a multi-million dollar tract was being purchased in Parkersburg for a new district headquarters. It wasn't so long back that big money was spent fixing up the Walker Parkersburg (formerly Parkersburg Rig & Reel) office building and surrounding structures for a new highways home.
Our former governor who is now playing U. S. Senator did as he was told down in the swamps along the lower Potomac and voted to keep Obamacare even though it has now been ruled unconstitutional and has been repealed in the U. S. House of Representatives. For those have access to the world wide web, there is now a new site joeando.com that can be used to keep track of the gentleman who promised to "look out for West Virginia".
Apparently as a result of the turmoil in Egypt the price of gasoline in the Parkersburg area rose 20 cents/gallon on Thursday although the price of local Penn grade crude dropped a quarter/bbl to $82.25. Some pointed out that, in addition to the furor stirred up by George Soros the price of food in third world nations has gone up because of the use of food crops, mostly corn and soya beans for ethanol and biodiesel and then the "much hailed" quantitative easing lowering of the value of the U. S. dollar has caused food prices to go up world wide. If one hasn't been doing the grocery shopping for while a trip down the food isles may cause shock. One of the groups stirring in Egypt is the Muslim Brotherhood which calls America the "great Satan" and has now called for war against Israel. The war over Jerusalem as mentioned in Scripture may be closer than some would care to consider.
The folks who are meeting down at the Mouth of the Elk are now said to be "gung ho" for full scale development of the Marcellus shale. It is hoped that the new legislation protects landowners and doesn't allow foreign nations and out of state firms to rip the state off once again. Antero, one of the Marcellus drilling companies said the wells were as good or better than the Barnett shale wells that have 1/4 royalties but in West Virginia the landowners are lucky to get a 1/8 gross lease or half of the going rate in the rest of the nation. The talk is that a big sale is in the works that will make the Chicoms (Chinese Communists) a big player in West Virginia. That is, of course, how W. Va. can get to be an energy colony of an enemy foreign nation.
Alvin Engelke was consulting his physician and learned that his cholesterol had gone down. Apparently it is healthful to eat hogmeat from animals that are shown at the Wirt County Fair. Patty Morrison was rehired as the county agent and it was noted that there are several hogs to be shown & sold at the county fair which will be in August.
Ed Gainer, Joe Taylor and David Gainer were all attending to business in the Creston area.
A big crowd of enthusiastic workers were on hand for the business meeting of the Creston Community Building.
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