 By Alvin Engelke
alvinengelke@hotmail.com
The Creston auction is scheduled for Saturday, November 2, starting at 6 P. M. at the Creston Community Building. The Starcher family said that they would be here this time. They have had health problems as well as chariot difficulties.
The social event of the year happened Saturday evening in Creston on the occasion of the community Halloween party. The younger set had a great time eating food, being judged by Magistrate Roberts and banker Baldridge [Marolyn]. The not so young, but young at heart, were judged also and what a motley crew. The trashy Kardashian girls showed up complete with baby which won a "special prize". There were two hayrides, one scary and one for the "faint of heart". Both rides went well. There was lots of food for the meal and treat bags for the "children" of all ages. Needless to say both the building and the grounds were specially decorated for the "gala" event.
Rick Williams brought the message at the Burning Springs M. E. Church as Rev. Keith Belt was with his mother in Cleveland.
Jacques Frost made his first professional call in Creston on Friday, October 25. Leaves hadn't turned much and some feared that there would be few, if any beautiful leaves this fall.
The Abbie Newman well was fracted this week.
It was reported that the W. Va. Dept. of Agriculture plans to open & operate two hog farms in W. Va. to feed prisoners, one in Mingo County and the other somewhere in 'northern' West Virginia. Commissioner Helmick noted that the prisons use 100,000 lb of pork/year all of which is grown out of state. Some wonder if the reason for the increased demand/need would be if many are to be confined in the so called FEMA camps that the Big Eared One has established in the state. Former residents of the "hotels" situate in Braxton & Doddridge Counties noted that the closest thing to pork that was served was [perhaps?] spam.
Pauline Brumfield has been on the puny list.
Charles Russell was calling on Parris Parsons, Ray Gumm & brother Euell at the Miletree Center in Spencer.
Some local residents were among the big crowd down at the Mouth of the Elk that heard Mike Huckabee give a rousing speech. Also on the program were A. G. Patrick Morrisey and Shelly Moore Capito.
Federal Judge J. P. Bailey ruled that the EPA was way out in left field when it threated Lois Alt and her chicken farm in Hardy County of polluting the Chesapeake Bay. They had told her she would be fined $37,500/day even though no chicken manure was spread on her farm and there were no discharge pipes, etc. [point sources]. The EPA and the green weenies have 60 days to appeal. The West Virginia Farm Bureau and the American Farm Bureau had intervened on Mrs. Alt's behalf. Defense against the overbearing government bureaucrats cost in the six figures. This is an excellent example of why big government must not just be reduced but sliced. Farms are not point source polluters.
Daniel R. Trembly, age 68, passed away in Parkersburg. He was a brother of Sue Galloway and Ellen Hedges.
The state annual meeting of the West Virginia Farm Bureau will be held November 8, 9 & 10 at the Day's Inn hotel at Flatwoods [just down the hill from the 'other hotel' up there].
Some local folks attended the Lease Integration/Forced Pooling hearing at the Mouth of the Elk last Monday. The legislators on the panel were told about geology and how wells are cemented and EQT said that they strived for a 10% return on their investment. Holding up a company press release Ritchie County delegate Woody Ireland asked the EQT man if it was true that they were getting an 82% return on their wells in the wet Marcellus to which the obviously flustered spokesman had to reply "Yes". After discussions that made it clear that there are current legal means to deal with folks that cannot be found, it became clear that the reason the "big boys" want the forced pooling legislation is because some folks know the worth of their property and do not intend to be flim flamed by low or no bonus leases and royalties that are way too low. It is public record that Antero pays at least 20% on the leases they obtained from Mother Hope (Dominion) and it is also known that leases in Louisiana, etc. fetched bonuses of $10,000 - $25,000/acre and Antero said the Marcellus was better than the pays out there. One of the attendees at the hearing recounted that a landowner in Upshur County recently received a check from Statoil for $1.50 as his "share" of the royalty on a well drilled under one of the new Chesapeake leases. The check stub noted that 99% of the royalty was taken for expenses that were not itemized. The present emphasis is on drilling "wet" gas and the big wells in Ritchie County are over 50% gas liquids and under some leases royalties are not paid on the liquids at all and no severance or county taxes are paid either. One man who works in the business noted that the liquids are going on tank cars from the fractionation plants straight to the ocean and then shipped to China.
While coal mines are being shut down "to prevent the global warming hoax", the Communist Chinese plan to open up a met coal mine in Fayette County to make coke for steel for ICBMs and other weaponry for the Peoples Liberation Army. It was reported that 20 miles of "rails to trails" is to be converted back to rail road so the coal can be exported. Speaking of Chinese, the new welfare forms in addition to being written in Spanish are now also written in Chinese.
Young Dangerous Dan McGrew was in custody in the Roane County Sheriff's office when he decided it was time to escape. He went out the door [on the side of court house toward Alvord], leaped over the railing and started running toward Church Street while looking behind him to see if anyone was after him. He ran right smack into Deputy Smith whose folks hail from Little Creek. He was cuffed and later stuffed in a car and sent to a Wood County juvenile facility.
The Obamacare sign up snafu is news locally as elsewhere since local residents & employers have no clue what the future holds. It is understood that if one could log on to the $600,000,000+ website that was "built" by a Canadian firm that employs one of Moochelle's school buddies, one would find that in W. Va. there is only one choice to shop for prices. Of course the real plan is the single payer with big brother running the whole show. The skill and expertise is now visible to all and that is before one finds what the plans allowed by Obamacare cost along with the deductibles. Plans that do not comply are not allowed so hundreds of thousands are losing their insurance, doctors, etc but, of course that was part of the plan.
One Wirt farmer reported that he received the best price ever for his calves. The problem now is "When will inflation steal all the profit?"
The price of local Pennsylvania grade crude oil is $95.35 with Appalachian Light Sweet (drip) fetching $74.19, Marcellus & Utica light $89.10 and medium $96.85/bbl.
The views and opinions expressed herein are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Hur Herald.
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