 By Alvin Engelke
alvinengelke@hotmail.com
Creston native Ann Park Newell, age 61, wife of John Newell, passed away after a long fight with cancer. A native of Creston she was a daughter of the late Mug and Emogene Arthur Park and was the expert on many local family histories.
Mr. & Mrs. W. H. Schenerlein III & family, Adam & Anna Yates spent the weekend visiting at the Engelke residence. W. Harrison Schenerlein IV checked out the rock cliffs and caves along the West Fork.
Rev. Keith Belt filled his regular appointment at the Burning Springs M. E. church. His mother remains a patient in the Cleveland Clinic where it was necessary to work on the wiring of her pacemaker.
The cold weather went away for the winter solstice but, it is felt, the situation will change. It has already been determined that 2013 was one of the coldest years in the nation's history and that there has been no global warming now for 17 years. One would think that it is time for the federal government to stop wasting taxpayer money on foolish projects that have no impact on the weather and only grease slimy politicians hands. Along the same line more regular light bulbs are now banned forcing taxpayers to buy more mercury vapor (hazard) bulbs from the Chinese Liberation Army.
One of the big "earth healing" scams is the ethanol [corn likker] in the gasoline, the same stuff that ruins carburetors on small engines. ADM (Archer Daniels Midland) is the big pusher for that and politicians in Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, Nebraska, Missouri, etc are beholden to the company. The firm recently got caught bribing officials in the Ukraine and, to avoid criminal prosecution, agreed to pay about $18 million in fines and pay back some illegal profits generated by the bribes. ADM has been a big backer of the Big Eared One.
The Obamacare fiasco continues with folks not knowing where they stand on insurance as edicts continue to be issued to try to cover up the mess. It is now felt that the insurance companies [that made a deal] will now get taxpayer bailouts to cover the disaster. With the new rules one's doctor is no longer allowed to see you in the hospital but one is seen by "hospitalists". One would hope that next election some candidates with spines get elected and solve the mess even if it means "shutting down" the government for two years.
Nancy Engelke spent two days at the Camden Clark Hospital when it was determined that she had calcium rich blood.
The little university up at Morgantown announced that they hired a new lobbyist for $140,000 making their total lobbying bill at $1/2 million or more. One can be sure that they are arguing for higher academic standards & wiser use of taxpayer funds.
The federal government reported that over $1.2 billion will be spent cleaning up the biggest coal slurry mess in the history of the planet. The government's TVA let a slurry dam break and destroyed a huge habitat but "it was ok since it was done by nice people who meant well".
Jeremy and Amy Nicole Ferrell were calling at the Creston Space Dock. One of the craft there encountered technical difficulties and Hillbilly Wrecker had to be called in for emergency assistance.
Charles Russell attended the Christmas gift exchange at Miletree on Saturday. Brother Euell still has congestion from his cold.
There was a lot of talk locally about the tee vee network (A&E) objecting to the Duck Commander expressing his personal views on morality when not on the Duck Dynasty show. Apparently the PC police do not allow free expression of thoughts [or facts] that are not in political alignment with their views. There used to be this cartoon that stated "I hate bigots".
The price of local Pennsylvania grade crude rose to $96.82 with drip fetching $75.91, Marcellus & Utica light $88.04 and medium $97.82/ bbl. Local natural gas sold to Mountaineer Gas in November fetched $2.975.
The views and opinions expressed herein are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Hur Herald. | 
