 By Alvin Engelke
alvinengelke@hotmail.com
A big crowd was on hand for the Creston homecoming. Several members of the Stewart family came, Mary Margaret Campbell, Warren's widow came with John (Jack) dePue. Mr. & Mrs. Jimmy Henthorn came from Zanesville and brought a listing of those buried in the dePue graveyard. It was noted that the gathering was an unquestioned success and all had a great time.
A 91st birthday party was held Sunday at Ground Hog for Bert Marks, the local area's most senior 'coon hunter.
Charles Russell attended the Wirt Charge Methodist picnic at the park down at the Mouth of Tucker's Creek. Pauline Brumfield provided music and singing. There were no services at Burning Springs and Mayberry [New Home].
Nancy Engelke was consulting her physician.
The Wirt road crew has been working on a number of Creston area roads and on Friday they were grading and applying stone to the road on Creston hill. A raised dump truck bed caught a live power line, pulled down a pole, broke the line and, among other things, made a transformer non-functional. The incident knocked out power to Joe Echard's shop and a gas compressor situate near the McCray/Snyder graveyard. The compressor owner found out about the outage on Saturday and the power company restored service Sunday afternoon.
On the statewide level the DOH has been in the news concerning federal prosecutions of the equipment division and the former longtime head quickly retired according to press reports but inside sources noted that the event had been planned. Some wonder if the fellow who has called the shots for the equipment division for years will escape the scrutiny and prosecutions.
A local fellow was traveling in Webster County and noted that almost all the roadways there were sprayed with herbicide and were brown. Apparently someone feared that the wild flowers and the Rhododendron, the state flower, might encroach on the roadway. Also it was noted that perhaps someone thought that "Brownfields" were some sort of economic development tool and an attraction for tourists.
A crew from Bridgeport was in Creston the other day to install new expansion joints in the bridge that crosses the West Fork of the Little Kanawha. They asked where they could obtain cell phone service.
A hearse driven by a woman has been spending a lot of time in the Creston area.
The local area continues to have rain which has brought haymaking activities to a halt. Freddie Bush hauled out some more humongous logs from his local timber job.
Several areas, not locally, have had floods but those in Pennsylvania learned that on May 5, 2014 FEMA ruled that properties that had oil and gas leases were not any longer covered by federal flood programs.
Bill & Hillary Clinton have been in the news more than usual now that she is running to be president. She had said, "they were dead broke and had problems making payments on their houses" but now she demands $300,000 for a speech along with a presidential suite at the hotel where she stays, private jet travel, meals, incidentals, rooms for her advisors, etc. and Bill likes $1,0000 cigars, just like the common folk they say they are looking out for.
The state of West Virginia has legal notices out asking for bids to drill the Marcellus &Utica formations under the Ohio River in Marshall, Wetzel and Pleasants Counties. Details can be obtained from Keith Burdette who now works for the state.
The State of Ohio announced that 1,025 Utica wells have been drilled in that state and more than 500 of them are in line and that gas production almost doubled from 2012 to 2013 and now has greatly surpassed those production numbers.
Dominion (Mother Hope) announced that their 42" gas line that is to go through the Monongahela National Forest and through Randolph and Pocahontas Counties will require a 400' right-of-way. Mr. Orndorf their spokesman said the line would start a little ways south of Clarksburg. Some believe this would mean that there will be more upgrades of the facilities at the Lightburn Station near the Lewis County line.
Last report was that the directional driller on Yellow Creek was having 'technical difficulties'. When done there they are to move to Owl Hill.
Little Johnny Rockefeller IV, made the news when it was learned that he charged the taxpayers $4,400/ trip for airfare from his luxury mansion in Dee Cee to attend rare functions, etc or 'visit' in West Virginia. A spokesperson said he had medical problems that 'required he fly in larger planes'. A tax exempt foundation provides for his every need, want & whim which, being tax exempt means ordinary citizens pay for the special comforts of "our betters" as set forth under the federal tax code. It's no wonder there is so much squealing when serious proposals are made to make the tax code fair.
The price of Pennsylvania grade crude dropped to $92.65/bbl with drip fetching $71.15, Marcellus &Utica light $86.65 and medium $92.65/bbl. Some local folks purchased gasoline in Parkersburg Friday at $3.099/gallon.
The views and opinions expressed herein are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Hur Herald. | 
