 By Alvin Engelke
alvinengelke@hotmail.com
Austin Westfall, Joshua Ferrell-McAbee, Anna Reno & Amy N. Ferrell all went to Camden Park.
In last week's Creston news the correspondent got a name wrong. Freida Tuttle, age 80, of Joker passed away, not Mae Tuttle.
The rainy weather continues and many have consulted the zodiac to determine when the dog star goes out of "power".
With the worst hay harvesting season in recent memory many farmers realize they will have to purchase more grain to get critters through the winter, especially if there is snow and cold this winter like there was rain this summer. It appears there may be a bumper corn crop at just under 14 billion bushels with a per acre yield of 157. Soya beans may average out at 43 bu/acre.
Some while back the nice folks at the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) told Lois Alt, a chicken farmer in eastern W. Va. that she needed a discharge permit even though none of her operations were near a stream and she had no discharge pipes. She was told the daily fine would be $37,500 [the same amount as a ticket to a fund raiser for the big eared one] & that if she got the permit they woudn't bother her any more. She, the W. Va. Farm Bureau & the American Farm Bureau Federation brought suit and EPA, realizing that they were in a mess tried to have the case dismissed. This week, however, the EPA filed a motion stating that they had the full authority to regulate chicken farmers and, by extension, anyone who dares try to farm.
There are a number of new (to the owners) vehicles in Creston.
Mother Hope, now known as Dominion or CNX has a compressor down at the Cornwell Station in Clay County which impacts gas production in the Creston area.
Creston area residents who wonder if they will ever get high speed internet [get on the information superhighway, to quote the pr] were intrigued to read that Perry Rios, a consultant who lives in Denver has been paid $732,000 of federal stimulus money to make high speed internet "happen" in W. Va. Verizon, the telephone company that was 'doing the work' is also paid $250/hour for consultation and service was put in an office building in Huntington that is now empty but had been the HQ for the state's EDA. The super deal also included the $22,600 routers that almost no one could use. W. Va. also was determined to be the least "transparent", except, of course, for the federal government.
A new peer review article in Energy & Environment showed that, using satellite data, global temperatures have dropped from 1982 through 2006 and this year there has been record cold in the Arctic and in addition there is a record amount of sea ice in Antarctica. Of course the global warming folks are calling foul and demanding that all toe"the party line".
The food stamp hustlers now say that the "so-called sequester" which cut no funds, only the rate of growth, will hurt those living off the federal "benefit". Now perhaps some will not be able to afford lobster tail and will have to purchase dried beans and macaroni. Nationwide there are more than 47 million on the stamps/SNAP program. To illustrate the magnitude of the problem there are more people on welfare than on the work roles in states like Ohio, Illinois, New York & California and the average cost to the taxpayers is $168.00/day which calculates out to what one making $30/hour would make with a 40 hour work week taking in to account the various taxes that come out of workers' incomes. The average income per day nationwide of those who work is $137.13/day just to compare.
A big push is on for the Illegal alien amnesty bill with a weird group of backers for a variety of nefarious reasons. It is hoped that the local congressional delegation says no in a way that is made clear to the power brokers in both political parties.
It was reported locally that Cabot Corporation has obtained the necessary DOH permits for their Utica well on Larkmead road near south Parkersburg.
The price of local Pennsylvania grade crude is $105.94 with drip (formerly known as Appalachian light sweet) fetching $87.56, Marcellus & Utica light $99.92 and medium $107.44/bbl.
An employee of one of the major Marcellus producers stated that mineral owners are getting paid for the liquids that are separated at the well hes (as crude is commonly done) but if the separation is done "down the line" no one gets paid, which, of course, would include county taxes and state severance taxes. Many have signed leases that do not allow lawsuits to collect monies that are stolen.
The views and opinions expressed herein are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Hur Herald. | 
