 By Alvin Engelke
alvinengelke@hotmail.com
The Creston auction will be held Saturday, February 4, starting at 6 P. M. at the Creston Community Building, deep snow, ice storms and high water allowing. Folks can tell their favorite ground hog stories, etc.
Rev. Keith Belt filled his regular appointment at the Burning Springs M. E. church. His mother's surgery on her leg went well and she is scheduled to have the same procedure done to the other leg. It is reported that she is doing as the doctor ordered so as to not have complications.
Ottie Brumfield had some problems with his blood pressure and had some falls. He is doing better now.
While there have been some frosty mornings, unseasonably warm weather has continued although on Sunday evening there were strong winds. Some jonquils are six inches high and the pink color can be seen on one quince japonica.
Mabel Tanner noted that she reads the Creston news each week. She is a very young at heart lady with a sunny outlook.
Dr. D. F. Levering, Jr. noted that his son helped former Pennsylvania senator Arlen Spector, now age 80, after he was forcefully retired, get his credentials correct with the state bar there but that the former "public servant" has taken up a gig as a standup comedian. Apparently he can't make it on his paltry senatorial pension (six figures) since he now, of course, gets no help from lobbyists. His big spiel starts, thusly, "I'm 80 years old and my wife is 80 years old. We have sex almost every night. We almost do Monday evening, we almost do Tuesday evening..."
Ray Gumm & Euell Russell noted that the quarantine at Miletree had been lifted after the weight loss bug had made its rounds. Ray said he gained 13 lb during the time frame.
Christina Miller reported seeing a family of otters in Spring Creek. One of the animals had a fish in its mouth.
James Frank Deem who lives in Vienna filed to run against longtime State Senator Donna Boley. Two years ago Frank was beaten in the primary by Vienna Mayor David Nohe. It has always been understood that in multi-county senatorial districts, only one senator can be from any specific county.
The Old Furniture Salesman noted that he was planning this year's excursion to South Dakota to go Prairie Dog hunting. He indicated that his freezer was getting very low.
Carl Ferrell was doing some work on his chariot over the weekend.
Burt Marks continues to have both good and bad days.
Shawn Ashby, age 35, got into a scrape with the gendarmes concerning his ex wife and is now residing in Doddridge County.
Postage for letters went up to 45 cents and discussion continues as to whether the "service" will survive. The post office does "the last mile program" for UPS & FedEx but, apparently, there are problems there too. Others would think the program was reasonable, especially in rural areas.
Those who follow the political scene know that many in our nation's leadership have made it clear that they do not care for the America they know and want to "cut the nation down a few notches". The debt debacle to make America like Greece is a prime example and then when some don't go along or "compromise" they are labeled as "obstructionists". The Washington Dee Cee City government has more or less made it clear that they want the capitol city, at least to be more like a third world country complete with diseases that were once considered rare in America. This is being done by a new law concerning "animal rights". Professional exterminators are no longer allowed to kill rats but must capture them in family groups and relocate them to other places, perhaps such the HQ of the Humane Society of United States and PETA. At the "Occupy Wall Street" encampment rats are plentiful and obvious, along with other filth & vermin. With the rat population being allowed to expand, diseases like bubonic plague, typhus, viral hemorrhagic fever, the Hantavirus, leptospirosis and many more will, once again, be commonplace just as has been the case with tuberculosis and syphilis in certain subcultures.
Recently Alliance Petroleum announced that they sold just under $1.8 million worth of minerals in Washington County Ohio to Artex. Both companies formerly operated wells in
Wirt County.
Charles Russell noted that Roane County had not fixed the bad place in the road near the former Ferd Burdette residence where the ditch line directs water into the roadway making potholes and ice during cold snaps. For many years Charles worked on Creston area roadways.
Aubrey McClendon, the CEO of Chesapeake, announced that, because of low gas prices he was cutting dry gas production by 1 billion cubic feet/day and redirecting his drilling program to where 85% of the activity would be for "wet gas" and liquids. Big cuts will be in the Barnett & Haynesville shales and new drilling will be in the Eagle Ford and Utica formations with a big cutback in the dry section of the Marcellus in northeastern Pennsylvania. Aubrey noted that in 2009 his company was making 32,000bbl/day of crude and gas liquids and now they are producing 110,000 bbl/day. Some Marcellus wells are making >1,400 bbl/day and "they are hauling 'round the clock" at completed Utica locations.
A large producer of conventional wells located just north of the Creston area announced that they were not going to give their gas away and were going to shut in their gas wells and place flare pipes on their oil wells and burn the gas into the atmosphere.
Noble Energy paid, according to the deed, $709,993.23 for 106 net acres of Marcellus shale in Nicholas County [They purchased 1/2 of what Consolidation Coal owned.]. One tract was described as having 122 acres and the other was a 1/10th of 1/2 of1794 acres located at/near the Fola strip mine on the Clay County line. Also Talisman, a Calgary based firm, acquired several leases in southern Nicholas County. Talisman operates Trenton/Black River and Marcellus wells in New York and Pennsylvania. It was also said that the drillers in the Richwood section were "run off' because they took water from the stream, etc.
A group of Wirt County residents have indicated a desire to meet, learn more about local oil & gas and work together to get a better lease deal with the folks who want to drill and develop and, all to often, flim flam the locals.
The price of local Pennsylvania grade crude oil dropped to $98.11/bbl with Appalachian light sweet fetching $84.25.
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