 By Alvin Engelke
alvinengelke@hotmail.com
Rev. Lee Williams brought the message at the Burning Springs M. E. Church & served Holy Communion.
Gay Park is back home after spending some time in the "hotel" where they serve you breakfast in bed. She has been "afibbing."
The cicadas are now out and about everywhere and when one is outside there is the constant very irritating noise of their mating call. One Calhoun resident noted that he had caught some and gave them to a school of blue gills and that the fish actually jumped out of the water to devour the tasty morsels. Travis Burdette who was down from Ohio said the first day when he came out of the house, "What is that noise?"
Bob Gertz who works for Ergon, the oil buying company was attending to business in Creston. He indicated that the price of crude would likely stabilize around $50/bbl. while natural gas produced in April on Owl Hill fetched just 79 cents/MMBTU (dekatherm).
Several were riding their four wheelers in the area over the Holiday weekend while others took flowers some using natural plants & others using plastic to decorate the grave yards. One Gilmer County graveyard caretaker noted that there were only a handful of families that now bothered to visit & decorate their family gravesites. One local couple visited the National Cemetery at Pruntytown.
In the local area quite a bit of hay has been cut and some put up without getting wet although other fields had the hay "washed". Most of the hay at the Methodist Camp is up & Peanut laid down most of Jack dePue's hay on the home farm at Creston.
The state road mowed many of the main & side roads before Decoration Day & the Wirt crew pulled some ditch line on W. Va. 5.
It was learned that both Linn Energy & Postrock are in bankruptcy and apparently it is a "parlour game" to discern the future of Chesapeake. Recently that firm sold mineral rights in West Virginia the the firm owned to Haymaker Properties, LP.
Earl Ray & the legislature continue on their fight over the budget. Apparently the puppy breeder wants the legislature to raise taxes so Broadway Joe's buddies can campaign on the platform that those "rich republicans" raised the taxes on poor folks and included in the plan was an additional tax on snuff & chewing tobacco, both of which have a long tradition in the state. The road crew applied herbicide along the guard rails, rock ditches,etc. even though heavy applications in prior years had held vegetation to a minimum. If one had financial trouble one could easily skip the spraying for a year or so with no negative impact to the highway system but, it was noted that the vendors "must be protected" as they "share" with the "correct" people down at the Mouth of the Elk & elsewhere.
Charles Russell was attending to business in Spencer & was calling on brother Euell, Ray Gumm & Paris Parsons at the Miletree Center. It was noted that Euel's knees gave out on him while he was walking one day last week and Paris noted that he had gone back to Calhoun County to decorate the graves.
It was reported that someone purchased the old Shimer place and is having it timbered.
It was reported that as a result of the legislative update of the state's labor laws, the City of Morgantown's paving projects came in at 40% less than last year. A few years back the Town of Elizabeth was fined for having the town crew erect a small structure allegedly in violation of 'laws to protect workers'.
Charlie Pickens who is retired from the W. Va. DOH had open heart surgery & is now recovering.
The proposed ethane cracker down at Washington Bottom is back in the news as "Braskem wants out" and the Japanese are interested. It was also reported that Gastar is Tug Hill.
The Gast family was spending the Memorial Day weekend at their place in the Rose Hill graveyard at the head of Beaver Dam.
Madame Hillary who said she wanted to put coal miners out of a job, bankrupt the companies & eliminate the use of fossil fuels (oil & gas) stated a few years back that she was Goldman Sachs "partner in government" after she arranged that the big bank got federal funds to help build their new $9.9 billion 43 story "environmentally responsible" headquarters in New York City. Is it any wonder that the ruling cartel is nervous that outsiders might gain control of the federal government.
Gary Buchanan & daughter Sarah are walking across America along US 50 from coast to coast to raise money for St. Jude's hospital and the Parkersburg Humane Society. Their journey can be followed on www.facebook.com/pawsandhope and www.gofundme.compawsandhope. They both noted that when one walks an area one gets a far different picture that when one drives by. They have difficulties with their '84 VW Vanagan & with swollen feet. They started in Delaware and are now in Missouri. They were advised to avoid East St. Louis which, like Detroit & Venezuela, are all examples of how liberal politics & socialism work out in practice.
Eclipse Resources reported that they have drilled a 3 1/2 mile lateral on a well in Guernsey County Ohio which had 124 frac stages. Total E & P, the French oil giant & Chesapeake made a multimillion dollar settlement for the improper deduction of expenses from royalties in the Barnett shale in Texas and Chk & the Chinese. National Offshore Oil
Company (theChicoms) had to pay up for the same practice in the Eagle Ford in south Texas. Presently there is legal action in West Virginia concerning deductions from a lease that allows none whatsoever to "interpret" what the legislature meant in 1982 when they said that royalty in West Virginia would be a minimum of 1/8th. At that time Columbia and Mother Hope said they could not afford to change their old flat rate wells to 1/8th as they would have to purchase too many meters. Frank Deem helped them out on that.
Mr. & Mrs. R. P. Marks & daughters were calling on family at Millstone.
For those who read the column on the Hur Herald this will be the last time as the site is shutting down. One can read the column in the Trader's Guide and the Calhoun Chronicle or one can e-mail alvinengelke@hotmail.com to hopefully be put on "mailing list". The Hur Herald will be missed by many as It was the rapid source of information on breaking news, obits and items some didn't want discussed. Perhaps someone will start an on line news forum for the area.
Some local folks have been involved in the proposed new Christian school. Those who do not want grown men going into the little girl's bathrooms & such have real reason for concern as relates to the government schools that follow federal "mandates" no matter how absurd and how much opposed to Christian morality. We were told just the other day that we "have to get a new morality". Common Core is still there even though Broadway Joe's little wife Gayle may have given it a new name.
The price of local Pennsylvania grade crude is $48.33/bbl. with condensate fetching $31.33.bbl. & Marcellus & Utica light $42.83 & medium $48.33/bbl.
The views and opinions expressed herein are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Hur Herald. | 
