 By Alvin Engelke
alvinengelke@hotmail.com
The annual Creston homecoming will be held Sunday, August 18th at the Creston Community Building. Bring your photographs, memories and memorabilia to Creston and visit with friends, relatives and folks you haven't seen in decades.
The Burning Springs, New Home (Mayberry) and Bell Chapel (Munday) churches will have their picnic Sunday, August 18 at the new shelter at Sportsman's Park in Elizabeth. Bring a covered dish for food & fellowship.
Alvah "Glenn" Griffin, age 84, of New Franklin Ohio passed away after a long illness. He was the son of "Bee" & Alice Griffin of Oka who later moved to Creston.
Rev. Keith Belt filled his regular appointment at the Burning Springs M.
E. Church.
Pauline Brumfield continues to be on the mend with her nose surgery. Now all her bandages are off and she hopes soon to be able to wear her spectacles again. Her son Victor Nutter has been having heart troubles and needs prayer.
The Creston Area Neighborhood Watch has increased patrols after some gasoline thefts were reported.
The Wirt Oil & Gas Group will have a meeting, Saturday, October 7 at 8:30 A. M. at the high school in Elizabeth.
One local fellow was so "lucky" to have old Brer Bar come up on his porch to eat the cat food. Then, just a short ways down river 3 of the critters were seen near the Brumfield & O'Dell residences.
The local area continues to have more rain although some hay was made "between showers".
Some local residents were vacationing in Myrtle Beach.
Christina Miller is scheduled to become a 4-H All Star. She is a scholar at WVU-P. The Creston correspondent's mother was an all star for her part in raising funds for the building of the Gilmer County Cottage at the (former?) 4-H camp at Jackson's Mills.
While local folk are getting telephone calls advising them that they must participate in socialized medicine (Obamacare) the poor folks that are known as congress critters and their aides, deputies and assistants (several thousand strong) got an exception because at salaries ranging from $70,000 to $170,000, they "can't afford" the increase in their premiums. So the Big Eared One insisted that they be granted and exception so that the taxpayers will get to pick up the tab for "those poor folks".
Alvin & Nancy Engelke returned from visiting Anna & Adam Yates who live in Silver Spring Maryland, inside the beltway. It is a different world there with a boomtown economy and prosperity everywhere from all the money that is collected in taxes from the peasants who live in "flyover country". Gasoline is 20c cents/gallon higher and parking starts at $5. Construction cranes are all about as more and more government programs are instituted and employees are hired. A short visit to the area makes it clear that massive cuts could easily be made to the bloated federal budget with no consequence whatsoever to the rest of the nation.
Melissa Ferrell was visiting Mr. & Mrs. Carl Ferrell & family.
A number of area residents attended the Wirt County Fair.
Local residents, like folks elsewhere, are being bombarded by the Nigerian computer scams saying "you have won a lottery" or "please help me get millions or billions out of some African bank.
J. Houston Eagleton was attending to business not far from here last week.
A road has been built to a new well location on Boice Hill in suburban Creston.
Nancy Engelke attended the Oil & Gas Festival pageant at Sistersville, Saturday evening.
Charles Russell was dining at Miletree Center with brother Euell, Ray Gumm & Parris Parsons.
It is understood that "the Republican leadership" in the Congress is going to cave and go along with the PC amnesty allowing uncounted millions of illegal immigrants to become automatic citizens. This is like a surrender to a host of foreign invading nations. Also, the spineless apparently do not have the resolve to defund Obamacare in the upcoming "Debt limit increase debate" and continuing funding resolutions.
Some local folks attended the Blue Ribbon panel looking at how to get more tax dollars for highways held at the Comfort Suites in Mineral Wells. The theme seemed to be how to get more cash rather than how to use money wisely, avoid waste & corruption, etc. Some said the meeting was a "dog & pony show".
It was reported that things got hot over at Normantown with the meeting concerning drilling and the earthquakes there. While the geological survey said the quakes were miles deep in the earth some felt they were caused by hydraulic fracturing which has been practiced in Gilmer County since the 1950s. Noble Energy, the company that is drilling on the Meadows pad plans a meeting at a later date where, likely, more sparks will fly.
There are more new Marcellus related trucks parked in the Spencer area.
Michelle, the pretty but shy dog, got lost during a storm and ended up on the Richardsonville Road in Wirt County. Her owners found her two weeks later and she returned to her home six miles up the West Fork on the Roane side.
The price of local Pennsylvania grade crude is $104.97 with Appalachian Light Sweet (drip) fetching $86.77, Marcellus & Utica light $101.15 and medium $106.47/bbl. It was pointed out again that when the liquids from the Marcellus wells go off well location "in the gas stream" there is no payment for them. It is understood that a class action suit is being prepared over this very serious problem. Some years back several of the shale wells in Burning Springs had the oil taken off location with separation taking place at a tank battery up Burning Springs Run.
The Wirt road crew did a nice surface treatment job on the Burning Springs Run road.
The views and opinions expressed herein are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Hur Herald. | 
