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By Alvin Engelke
Jane and Nancy Engelke, family members of Ashlee Small and friends attended the Miss W. Va. Teen All American state pageant Saturday, May 17th at the Holiday Inn in Parkersburg. There were 52 girls competing for the state title and a trip to Miami, FL this summer to compete for the national title. All contestants were judged in three areas; private interview, evening gown, and swim suit. Although this was Ashlee's first pageant she was an outstanding competitor, and placed in the top 15, winning over many seasoned pageant competitors.
The top 15 were then judged on an on stage interview and again in evening gown. Wirt County can be proud of their young people and the positive way they represent our county. The winner was Heather Nichols from Cabell-Midland High School, 1st runner up was C'Anna Keefer of Fairmont and 2nd runner up was Lisa Lockhart of Vienna.
Cap'n Spock was visiting on the Richardsonville road. He is no longer sporting a big white bandage on his wrist. Dixie, the canine quarterback did not accompany him on this trip.
Rain has been the norm of late. The work crew this past Saturday at the Community Building had to forgo work on the picnic shelters for a couple of reasons. Rain, being the first and termites the second. Seems the termites have done quite a number on the supporting posts for the shelters. Community members are looking for someone to saw out some new timbers so the shelters can be properly repaired. Gardens are becoming weedy and lawns are getting shaggy. Hay is ready to cut but harvest is out of the question with rain, soft fields, etc.
Workers moved inside and finished cleaning the coat closets and prepared the hallway for painting, which begins on Monday. That will finish the inside work until fall when the second restroom will be repaired and put into use. A new swing was purchased for the outside play area and there is discussion on getting more play equipment for the children who live in Creston and who visit the community building.
There are several reunions scheduled this month and those who haven't been to the community building for some time will be pleasantly surprised.
Area residents were looking forward to watching the eclipse but all that was visible locally was cloud cover.
An auction, fundraiser is planned for Saturday, June 7th and all proceeds will benefit the building. Bobby Ray is donating his time to be the auctioneer. Anyone who has something they don't want that would be a good auction item should bring it to the auction that evening or call Donna Sue for other drop off times.
On Saturday, June 14th, there will be a sing. Anyone wanting a spot on the schedule should call Alvin Engelke or Mary Ann Dobbins.
Jerry Crank and friends were visiting over the week-end at their trailer camp on the West Fork. Everyone knew they were in town as they like to play music and rev engines far into the night. They must sleep with the radio on as it was still playing on high volume when the sun came up.
The Gast family was camping at their trailer in the graveyard at the old location of the Rose Hill Church on the head of Beaver Dam.
C. Romeo Griffin, Jr. Chris & Dalton were calling at the Burning Springs Space Dock as were C. Romeo Griffin, Sr. & Lucille Reed. C. R. Sr. helped make repairs to Uncle Pete's truck.
It has been reported that OSHA has declared war against the timber industry and has been going around shutting down operations with "violations", fines and penalties.
Dominion Resources (formerly Consolidated and before that Hope Gas) sold some deep drilling rights in Calhoun and nearby counties to Enron (as EOG Resources, formerly known as Enron Oil & Gas). Dominion will be paid 20% of 8/8ths override. The mineral owner will receive a 12.5% royalty and Dominion will receive 17.16% for transporting the gas. And then there are those who would say that there is no interest in deep rights. Some of those who were swindled by Enron are not too happy to learn that those slicksters are back doing business as usual.
The price for natural gas produced in March was just under $11/dekatherm. In olden days gas was sold on a volume basis but now the price is calculated on the heat value with much local gas having 1200 to 1400 DTH/ MCF [dekatherms/ thousand cubic feet]. However, Columbia natural resources paid royalties on March gas at the rate of $3.28/MCF. As one fellow said, "They've got some 'splainin' to do." The price of local crude oil rose to $25.75/bbl.
Gary Coberly and Judy Kay Marks were in the area searching for old pictures for a program on Little Kanawha River navigation. They were also calling on Delores "Grandma" Patterson near Elizabeth.
A group of evangelical Christians recently met in Washington to discuss what has been described as "reckless talk about Islam". Killers in Israel, Saudi Arabia and Morocco recently showed that the groups run by Yasser Arafat, Osama bin Laden, etc still want to kill as many infidels as possible. Apparently they are trying to stir up commotion in Iraq too. The Christian leaders were concerned for the safety of missionaries working in areas where they come in contact with Moslems. The bottom line was "We've got to say how peaceful they are, or they'll kill us."
The rhythm used to be, "The rain in Spain fell mainly on the plain". Now there is a new one, "The state plane, for hanky panky flies mainly to Spain". Those who work in low level state jobs were not even allowed overnight trips for training and meetings and all were told that money was tight. Apparently that wasn't all that was tight.
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