 By Alvin Engelke
alvinengelke@hotmail.com
The big Creston ATV poker run will be Saturday, April 30 with signup between 9 A. M. & noon. Biscuits & gravy will be served for breakfast and the ride takes one through water, waterfalls (not over them), scenic vistas, lots of wildflowers and while laying out the route folks saw wild turkeys, deer, bushy tails, amphibians, etc. There will be plenty of places where one can see how bad a mudhole the chariot will traverse, just be sure that your buddy has a tow rope, winch, etc. Those who don't want to bury their machines can avoid the very bad places & the entire route can easily be traversed in 2WD as such was done on Saturday.
A number of local residents motored to the Mouth of the Elk to see the Ringling Brothers, Barnum & Bailey Circus. The children of all ages reported having a wonderful time. Many, many years ago the circus used to come to Creston.
Rev. Lee Williams brought the message at the Burning Springs M. E. Church & served Holy Communion.
Joan Auvil returned home after visiting her daughter in Illinois.
Mary Reno was staying in Creston with her grandson, Austin Westfall, while Anna Reno was away.
Nick Nutter, age 62 of Walker, passed away. He was a son of Hershel Nutter who formerly lived in Creston.
A well known office holder wondered who advised the W. Va. Farm Bureau on their political endorsements since they backed proponents of common core and candidates who openly said they intended to repeal the right to work law. After all, even Michigan is now a state where one can have a job without dealing with the big union bosses.
Charles Russell was consulting a blood pressure specialist at the Minnie Hamilton facility & then dined at Mom's Place Too. He was calling on Ray Gumm, Paris Parsons & brother Euell at the Miletree Center in Spencer.
Chris Miller & daughters were attending to business in Spencer over the weekend.
Cap'n Spock was calling on Matt Hickman on the Sanoma road.
The WVU Extension is holding a meeting on oil & gas issues on May 18, starting at 8:30 A. M at the Conference Center in Bridgeport. To go one must register with Georgette at 304-329-1391 & the fee is $10. One of the topics is "Finding the right landman" which should put the meeting into a proper perspective. Several folks have learned the hard way that the "gross lease" that the landman had them sign had language that made the lease subject to all sorts of expenses and some folks in Pennsylvania actually received bills for the cost of producing & selling their gas. The W. Va. State Tax Department mandates that mineral owners pay county taxes on the "gross" they didn't receive from gas production and, of course, the bureaucrats took the side of the out of state companies since this approach saved the companies lots of money & taxes. Then the industry handmaidens in the legislature made sure that legislation wasn't passed to correct this travesty.
A judge in Tyler County recently ruled that the company does not have to get permission to modify old leases for pooling "as such is implied". The late Aubrey McClendon's company wanted to avoid paying modern royalties and bonuses on a 19th century lease & the judge said OK. Those who follow such matters are very, very concerned.
Folks are reminded that the election is coming soon and that judges & magistrates, like school board candidates will be elected in the primary. As they say, "Elections have consequences" and one of the gents who wants to represent Wirt in the State Senate proclaimed that he is with the big companies & is for forced pooling. Those who must be out of town on election day can go to the county clerk's office and vote early. To make one's presidential vote count one must vote for the delegates that are pledged to that individual.
The PC (Political Correct) police continue to amaze ordinary folks. Now, it would seem that if one were upset that grown male perverts & deviants were allowed into the little girl's bathroom at school one would be labeled as a bigot. The so called intelligentsia talk about such while China builds a blue water navy, Russia buzzes our planes and ships & Islamic terrorists promise to blow us to smithereens. It was reported that the border police in Hungary stopped the "refugees" at the border by having a sow and her piglets in the middle of the road. In West Virginia, politicians advise voters to support candidates that have openly said they were going to kill coal, oil & gas jobs and some of their buddies said that we should get all our food from third world countries. Perhaps this is why the TPP supporters say this will help W. Va. chicken farmers -- they can go to China & teach the folks there how to put America out of business. West Virginia used to be a consequential tobacco growing state but the Clintons made a deal with "friends" in Brazil and now we import from there -- progress, they say.
The Wirt road crew mowed the grass on W. Va. 5 and the Roane crew continues to work on the road from the location of the former Rose Hill church to the road going down Lower Barnes Run. They also replaced pipe in the Spring Creek road. The road folks apparently have plenty of money as contractors were milling up apparently good pavement on I-77 and then repaving. Perhaps someone had a contractor buddy who wanted a big job, not one repaving the hundreds of miles of roadway that are long past due for attention.
Some were "upset" that Sen. Shelly Capito declined to fund the repair of Flint Michigan's antique water system with lead pipes. The folks there elected inept leaders and now they, not the rest of the nation, should solve the problem for it is certain no one in Creston, Joker, Hur, Widen, Orma, Nicut, DeKalb, Kettle, Bergoo or Palestine caused the problem. They will have to cut the bloated salaries paid city employees and cut their lucrative retirement benefits and fix it. Now the cartel in Washington wants to bail out Puerto Rico, the territory that had been on a welfare spending spree, and, of course, next there will be Chicago, East St. Louis, ad infinitum, all on the backs of those who work & pay taxes. It should never be the place of the federal government to fix problems caused by inept & corrupt local governments except for making housing available for those convicted of federal crimes. It is worthwhile to note that no one from the EPA has been punished for the huge chemical spill from the old gold mine that their contractor buddies were "playing with" nor was TVA punished for the biggest coal slurry spill in the history of the world.
The Moth Man & Sandy were calling at the Creston Space Dock.
The price of local Pennsylvania grade crude rose to $42.53/bbl. with condensate fetching $25.73, Marcellus & Utica light $37.23 and medium $42.73/bbl. One day last week gasoline jumped 20 cents/gallon or $8.40/bbl. It should be noted that gasoline is one of the unimportant components of Pennsylvania grade crude, a light sweet paraffin based oil.
The views and opinions expressed herein are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Hur Herald. | 
