 By Alvin Engelke
alvinengelke@hotmail.com
The big Creston ATV poker run will be held Saturday, April 21 at the Creston Community Building. Signups will be from 9 A. M. until noon and a fun route has been laid out with scenic views and plenty of "play" areas who want to test out their chariots in deep mud holes. While laying out the route Garry Anderson's wheels "elected not to run" and he had to be towed up out of the head hollow on a non-maintained state road. In addition to the ride there will be door prizes, 50/50, yummies including sausage & biscuit for breakfast, etc. It will be a fun event for all the family, a few challenging spots and a fun ride far from the beaten track.
The federal government's autumn olive is in full bloom with its sticky sweet perfume and in places the invasive pest has almost pure stands. It is a 'good' example of government programs to "help people". Perhaps the busybodies at the USDA and the EPA could go around in shorts and using no gloves cut down all the olives and rose bushes they inflicted on the local residents. Someone else suggested that the EPA folks who threaten W. Va. farmers be "tarred & feathered" as such is an old American tradition for dealing with undesirables. Also wild geraniums, wild irises (flags) and other beautiful wild flowers are in bloom. The invasive garlic mustard, which has white flowers, is also blooming, especially along roadways where it was spread by state road equipment. Landowners should pull the plants all up by the roots. In places where all were pulled last year there are more plants because, apparently, the pest has hard seed. Nothing eats the plants and they put a poison in the soil that kills other plants as does the Japanese stiltgrass which is now also growing.
Rev. Bob Stanley brought the message at the Burning Springs M. E. Church as Rev. Keith Belt has not recovered sufficiently from his accident to be out and about.
Gay Belt Park is home after two visits in the cardiac units of the Parkersburg hospitals while her cousin Bill McFee remains a patient there after having hip surgery, a heart attack and complications.
Charles Russell & Mr. & Mrs. Larry Webster were attending to business in Spencer and Charles was calling on Ray Gumm & brother Euell at Miletree. Paris Parsons noted that some folks did not come to visit there Easter Sunday.
The puppy breeder and slot machine tycoon who presently holds forth down at the Mouth of the Elk promised more jobs and lower taxes. His buddy, the big eared one, has made it clear that taxes for all [who pay taxes] will jump in January. On the jobs scene a Pennsylvania outfit was repairing and installing guardrail and an Ohio outfit was spot painting the stripes on W. Va. 5 while up in the mountains the state road had the grass mowers out trying to mow the grass that was not yet tall enough to cut. The Roane crew did work on the bad place at the head of Beaver Dam (on the road from Creston to Spencer) although they did not solve the problem of water standing in the ditch. However, it was noted that if one decided to travel down Beaver Dam to the mouth one would do well not to try it in a car or pickup truck unless one had a winch and lots of cable, chain, etc.
It was a big work day in Creston after the Wirt road crew cut down a big dead elm before it fell and blocked the alley in Creston. The tree was brought down so nothing was blocked and no buildings were impacted. The cleanup crew included Brandon, Jeremy, Donna Sue & Carl Ferrell, Dorothy Lynch and Patricia Nida. There is now a nice pile of firewood and a frankfurter & marshmallow roast is also planned.
Nancy Engelke, W. Harrison & Rea Schenerlein and Donna Sue Ferrell were among those consulting with their medical professionals.
Locust blossoms, one of the spring special culinary delights, are now ready to pick and deep fry with one's favorite batter. Poke is also up.
Some kayakers were going down the scenic Little Kanawha River on Sunday.
"Peanut" Bunche was attending to business in Elizabeth.
The lawsuit over whether a drilling company has the right to make a big location on a surface owner's property to drill and produce oil and gas from other, adjacent properties which have separate titles was in the news again after Waco Oil & Gas was dropped from the litigation. The case is now in U. S. District Court in Clarksburg and involves the Rockefeller flagship company, Exxon Mobil.
Paul Nay, age 94, of Jane Lew passed away in a rest home. He had been president of the W. Va. Farm Bureau for many years and was a promoter of strip mining and served on the state surface mine board. The Nays were formerly from Calhoun County.
Parkersburg oil & gas man Denny Harton was on a Fox News special about how to lower the price of gasoline which is now above $7/gallon in parts of California. Harton noted that five (5) years ago natural gas fetched up to $15/mcf but with new technologies and lots of drilling the price is now in the $2 range and there is a glut. [The Big Eared One said drilling & supply would not impact oil prices.] If free markets are allowed the rules of supply & demand always work. Government interference is why the cost of health care is so high and the plan is to eliminate competition, stop medical research, etc. and, apparently, reduce the population [in America]. The big newspaper down at the Mouth of the Elk believes that natural gas will fetch less than $1/mcf this summer which means, after the required firm transport 75 cents deduction gas will bring 25 cents. Back when money was backed by gold, a quarter would buy something but now nickel candy bars cost $1.50 and Moochelle said they had to be made smaller, her decree.
The price of local Pennsylvania grade crude fell to $101.88 with drip (Marcellus condensate) fetching $87.87, Marcellus & Utica light $92.01 and medium $103.38.
| 
