 By Alvin Engelke
alvinengelke@hotmail.com
The Creston area had balmy weather and the daffodils were coming up and a few crocuses were blooming but then Al Gore's hot air blew away and cold weather and snow arrived making slick roads, temperatures in the single digits, frozen pipes and such. The Creston auction and some church services were cancelled, cattle have been eating more hay, smoke is coming from stove pipes & chimneys and ice had to be broken so animals could get water. The bird feeders have lots of juncos, titmice & cardinals, a few nut hatches & white throated sparrows but no chickadees.
A number of Creston area residents did not watch the super bowl.
On Ground Hog Day it was so cold no self-respecting whistle pig would have come out but of course it was cloudy and any grass or food was covered with snow. Of course schools were closed; seems any excuse will do.
The "Army man" (VA) and a lady from West Virginia Medical Institute were calling on Charles Russell.
The postal service raised their rates again but they apparently didn't want much fanfare.
A number of area residents motored to Parkersburg to meet with Congresswoman Shelly Moore Capito who is running for the U. S. Senate. Speaking of senators, Broadway Joe who advertises himself as "independent" & in tune with West Virginia values, not the Big Eared One, gave a glowing report on what a wonderful Sec. of State John Kerry would make. Not so long back Kerry mocked the soldiers in Iraq which included many W. Va. residents and back when he was still in uniform he met with the Viet Cong at least 3 times helping them to force surrender on the United States. Such, of course, in addition to being treason, is an insult to local residents who got to spend "quality time" in scenic Viet Nam and Cambodia.
Mike Shaver of Bridgeport was attending to business in Creston one day last week.
W. Harrison Schenerlein IV attended the monster truck event in Charleston and got to see "Grave Digger".
Matthew Shimer was calling at the Carl Ferrell residence. His wife has been on the puny list. Brandon Ferrell was also visiting at the Ferrell home over the weekend. Carl has been doing some remodeling work.
After the "big wind" blew through [before the real cold weather] a bald eagle was spotted along the West Fork of the Little Kanawha.
The Tom cats have been out prowling and fighting over the ladies. There has been lots of squalling, etc.
One local resident is learning all about "pik lines", ports and pumps that inject antibiotics into the system.
Some local folks attended the WVU sponsored meeting in Parkersburg about leasing Marcellus & Utica. Both of the speakers were from Ohio. The best speaker was Peggy Kirk Hall who teaches Agricultural Law at Ohio State. She gave many good pointers on leasing, especially what not to do. Prof. Bob Chase from Marietta College talked about formations in Ohio and noted that the school's petroleum engineering graduates start out with $100,000/annum salaries. Unfortunately, most West Virginia high school students are so poorly educated & prepared that they could not get into Marietta or other quality colleges. A couple of W. Va. counties have increases in value of $500 million from the Marcellus boom from the tax on drilling rigs, equipment, fractionation facilities, pipelines, well production, etc. Marshall county has so much money that the school board went to the Caribbean for a "work retreat". High school guidance counselors are to advise students how to get SSI instead of jobs.
Antero is working on a big water line that will run from the Ohio River to Doddridge County. Those who have land on the route say that there will actually be three lines. The Wheeling newspaper reported that Antero planned to spend $1.65 billion in that area on Marcellus & Utica wells. It is understood that the firm has a bid out for someone to come to Calhoun county to get folks to modify their old Hope leases to allow for unitization and pooling, of course without any bonus or increase in royalty. Noble paid Dominion (Mother Hope or CNX) $7,100/acre for Marcellus rights and the companies are said to be paying 30% or more in overrides & royalties.
Some local residents had concerns over what was going on under the Route 5 bridge at night with big trucks, etc. It seems that Jackson Timbering is loading up trucks under there and that the road up around the river is bad, to say the least. The road is so bad that trucks hauling rock could not get over the road & a dozer is out on the state road. One would hope that the DOH will make Heartwood Fund and their contractors maintain & fix it.
The Board of Equalization & Review is meeting in each county. Property owners should check their new land & mineral values and if there are problems attend and remind the commissioners that the "experts" from down at the Mouth of the Elk do not have the final say.
The U. S. economy shrunk during the 4th quarter even using government numbers. Since the Big Eared One took over 8.5 million jobs have gone away. Then the IRS said that the cheapest family health insurance plan under Obamacare will cost $20,000/year. With the economic downturn and the war on coal, West Virginia continues to have economic woes. Also Obamacare will place a huge burden on state government to provide for those mandated by the folks down in the Potomac swamps. There currently is talk of layoffs from state agencies even though during the campaign the story was that, "We are doing good for W. Va." In the next census W. Va. is slated to lose another congressman. Once the state had six but now there are only three. The ruling oligarchy has done well for a few but a disaster for most.
Mr. & Mrs. Jim Matheny returned from a visit to Arizona. Jim reported that in west Texas he had never seen so many drilling rigs, trucks, yards, pipe, etc. He drove through a multi-zone oil play there.
After all the hoopla about the crazy galoot using an "assault rifle" to kill the folks in the school in Connecticut it turns out that he only used hand guns. Why let facts get in the way of disarming the peasants so the rulers can rule with impunity. The Wood County Sheriff Ken Merritt came out and advised that he would not enforce any executive orders or lamebrained law that infringed on the Second Amendment. It is hoped that the local sheriffs will do likewise.
The price of gasoline has gone up to $3.65 and reports say it is headed to the $4 range reflecting the debasing of the currency by the federal reserve and those who "want to cut America down to size".
The price of local Pennsylvania grade crude rose to $98.17 with drip fetching $87.01, Marcellus & Utica light $92.69 and medium $99.67/bbl. The average price for January Creston area (tier one) crude was $95.0861/bbl.
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