 By Alvin Engelke
alvinengelke@hotmail.com
Rev. Keith Belt filled his regular appointment at the Burning Springs M. E. Church.
The Creston Community Easter party will be held on April 13, starting at 2 P. M. at the Creston Community Building. There will be a covered dish dinner with the community supplying the ham. There will be an Easter egg hunt for the young and the "Easter Bunny" is scheduled to make an appearance. For information call Wilma at 275-3795 or Barb at 304-275-0006.
Dave Dobbins will hold a special auction Saturday, April 12, starting at 6 P. M. at the Creston Community Building.
The Creston ATV Poker Run is scheduled for Saturday, April 26. Riders can leave the building after 9 A. M. with noon being the deadline for signups. Tasty vittles will be served for breakfast and other yummies will be available all day long.
A big crowd was on hand for Josiah McAbee's first birthday party. He and other members of the young set had a great time as did those who fit into other age groups.
There was an "intergalactic gathering" Sunday afternoon at the Creston Space Dock. Rumor had it that it was Debbie's birthday. It was also noted that a Klingon War Bird has taken up a position on the Richardsonville road.
Spring continues to march along with the jonquils now in bloom as are peach trees, dandelions, violets, colts foot, etc. The USDA's multiflora rose is out in leaf and growing, a constant reminder of the evil that lasts from ill begotten government programs to "help people". Ramps are up big enough to dig.
One of the lessons in Common Core is a plan to remove two outdated rights in the Bill of Rights and replace them with "modern things". Madame Hillary and Jeb Bush, both liberal darlings, are pushing the Common Core which, among other things, gathers all sorts of data on children & their parents which is stored and shared with Microsoft and whomever. Those who oppose are cast in the same light as those who don't believe in "global warming". Even the government of the United Kingdom stated that there had been constant temperatures since 1997 and Warren Buffett, another liberal icon, admitted that insurance losses from severe weather has seen no increase. Of course, now the EPA wants to ban wood stoves & fireplaces. If the EPA was so good they might try banning volcanic eruptions as the Yellowstone super volcano is overdue for a major eruption and recently it was noted that the bison left the area.
Charles Russell was calling on Mr. & Mrs. Parris Parsons, Ray Gumm and brother Euell at the Miletree facility. Euell noted that they had some duck eggs in the incubator and that they planned to raise some ducks. "Duck Soup" comes to mind.
Kenneth Belt, "Whistle" McIntyre, Robin Ludwig, Linda & Bernard Nicholas, Florence Bishop, Pearl Bollinger, Mr. & Mrs. William J. Ward, Warren Kerby, Ron Mowrey, Cindy Starcher and Larry Koehler were all attending to business in Creston. "Uncle Ken" recounted his recovery and his ability to walk out of the nursing home.
Local residents who have been consulting with their medical professionals have been getting "an earful" about all the difficulties caused by Obamacare. One would hope that new leaders can be elected who have the fortitude to abolish the abomination. One "older" local resident was given the death panel criteria for treatment or non-treatment.
Jack dePue is having the old H. C. "Brick" dePue and "Doc" Wix houses torn down.
Last week it was noted that Chesapeake is planning a horizontal Utica well in Jackson County and now Antero has announced that they plan to drill one in Lincoln District of Tyler County [For the geographically impaired, that is near Sistersville.] Consol announced a new Marcellus pad on US 33/119 between Alum Bridge & Camden in Lewis County. Presently they are drilling on a Marcellus pad near Churchville.
An article in the Sunday Parkersburg News discussed what bonus & royalty one might expect if one leased land for oil & gas drilling. Charlie Burd who is now the head honcho of IOGA and who formerly worked for Mother Hope said there were all sorts of variables, wet gas, vs dry gas, physical location, BTU value, access, etc. The question is "What can one be expected to be paid, both in bonus & royalty?" as the value has already been determined. Aubrey McClendon, former Chesapeake CEO and now head of American Energy Partners paid XTO, a subsidiary of Exxon, the Rockefeller flagship company, $12,500/acre plus an override for tested dry Utica. Obviously wet Utica is worth much more. XTO leased Barnett shale acreage in Texas for $15,000/acre bonus and 25% royalty and the wet Marcellus is three times as valuable. Locally the Marcellus is wet or thus saith Noble Energy and the Utica is either dry or wet. The Utica is 1100' thick in Wirt & Calhoun counties.
The article also noted that the Wirt Oil & Gas group has put together a block of acreage with the intent of obtaining better terms than what the big boys offer when they show up with a paper for you to sign. One recent offer from Mother Hope is $500/acre &, apparently a 1/8 royalty, and be paid sometime after 150 days -- what a deal and if it is a lease modification and the original lease only calls for oil and gas, then they get the liquids for free.
A fable, chapter two. Back about 1895 a man from the Tarbell Company came to Farmer Linville and said, "We want to lease your place for oil so you can get rich." Farmer Linville, who was no petroleum expert, noted that the wells that had been drilled in the area were all gas wells. The man said, "Oh now Farmer Linville, we will pay you $300/year for a gas well -- that's a lot of money, yes, a lot of money, most of your neighbors would do well to make that much money in a year." Well, it seems that the Tarbell Company, the Intemperate Oil Company and others forgot to put pooling language in those old leases so now they are forced to get the great and great-great grandchildren to sign pooling clauses. Some of the heirs raised questions about the wells that, in 2014, still pay flat rates based on 1895 prices. To avoid having to deal with such churlish peasants they proposed a Forced Pooling law for the Legislature. However, the peasants organized and showed up in force Down at the Mouth of Elk and the legislation died. The big boys said, off the record, we'll fix that - we'll run people we know to oust those who went against us and we'll get it all. Yeah, sure we pay the Arabs 50% or more but the peasants in the hillbilly state deserve little. Some years back a Tarbell Company man said, "This is a hell of a place; farmers here own coal!" (to be continued)
A slip in Marshall County caused a break in a 12" line going to one of the Williams Company fractionation facilities resulting in a 'spectacular fire'. Luckily, no one was injured.
Randy Broida, a New Jersey fellow who operates as JayBee, got into a little trouble with the Office of Oil & Gas for lack of permits in Tyler County where, it is said he plans to drill 40 wells although acreage for him is being obtained, on the cheap, in Pleasants County.
The price for local Pennsylvania grade crude oil is $100.64 with Appalachian light sweet (drip) fetching $78.64, Marcellus & Utica light $89.64 and medium $99.64/bbl.
The views and opinions expressed herein are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Hur Herald. | 
