| By Alvin Engelke
 By Alvin Engelke
alvinengelke@hotmail.com
Garry Anderson's trailer on W. Va. 5 below Creston burned down. Then a
large building on the old Sherman Petty place near the mouth of Fish Pot
burned. There was mention of an "explosion".
Matthew Copen reported that he finally received his income tax refund from
a year or two ago.
Brandon Ferrell was calling on Austin Westfall. Both reported having a
good time.
Nancy & Alvin Engelke motored to Melbourne Florida on the occasion of
Harold Martin's 98th birthday. He keeps track of local happenings through
the Creston News and is looking forward to celebrating his 100th birthday.
He can read without spectacles, has a good appetite and keeps abreast of
oil and gas activities.
Alvin & Nancy noted that the nation's economic strength is obvious and
that the economy is actually booming, in spite of the professional
naysayers who hope for doom & gloom. Construction projects (private)
which have to be in the billions of dollars are obvious in various
sections and there are help wanted signs out everywhere.
Down in Florida there was even road construction happening on Sunday.
Perhaps the contractors were Mohammadans or Aztec. The weather in Florida
was the coldest it had been since 1989 and the poverty program folks were
advising the poor to bundle up for temperatures in the 20s & 30s. One
poverty agency was giving away heating stoves.
For some reason a significant amount of the cotton has not yet been
picked and if there were real poverty in the nation the portion that was
left by the machines would be gathered by hand as would be the pecans that
cover the ground in some places.
The travelers stopped at Darien Georgia to obtain some shrimp (a shrimp
fleet is based there). Some fine frozen crustaceans were obtained at the
local hardware store to be fetched back to Creston. The owners of the
store noted that they skied at Snowshoe.
They also attended market in Atlanta to obtain supplies for Jane's store.
The majority of those who work there (15 floors in 3 or 4 buildings) seem
to be Chinese, Hindu or members of the Tribe of Ishmael. One place,
obviously run by Chinese, had a help wanted sign which said, "Must be
fluent in English"
Someone has been slashing tires in Creston again. The last victim was a
person who never bothers anyone and seldom even drives.
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