 By Alvin Engelke
alvinengelke@hotmail.com
The big Creston benefit auction will be held Saturday June 6 starting at 6 P. M. at the Creston Community Building. In addition to the donated items (the place to find bargains) Bobby Ray Starcher will be bringing his standard items with him too.
Area residents were saddened by the untimely death of Eric Romage, age 28. He is survived by his parents and his twin Josh.
There were 781 riders in the Shrine ATV Poker run held on Saturday on the historic dePue farm at Creston. It quit raining around 9 A. M. so there was no dust; just ideal four wheeling conditions. Elaine Cutlip was first, Brandon Connors second and Jennifer Copen third. Delmas Kellar won the 50/50. The shrine would like to thank all who came and participated in ride.
The next Creston Community ATV poker run will be July 18.
Rev. Carlos Nutter filled his regular appointment at the Burning Springs M. E. Church.
David Righter and Shauna Bock were attending to business in Creston on Friday.
Dean Miller cut hay in the rain Saturday and he may "get lucky" and get some up the first of the week. Rain & storms continue to cause problems locally. At the Anderson trailer below Creston a big tree fell down the hill and smashed a car and a large oak fell across and blocked the Blankenship hill road. A slide came in the road going to the WEVA station and now the school bus has to turn at the mouth of Ann's Run.
The Roane road crew is laying hotmix from where the road goes out Lower Barnes Run (at the head of Beaver Dam) down to the former Ross Simmons residence on Tom's Run.
A certain fellow from Full's Fork who is a GSC student and who has been active in FFA called in on the radio asking for help, "A rattle snake has wrapped itself up in the four wheeler. Help!"
After tentatively determining the he-man's location two coworkers went to rescue him from the serpent and 'certain death'. When the rescue team arrived at the location no one was to be found so a call was put out on the radio, "Where are you?" A very shaky and frightened response came back, "I'm just on out the road, hurry." A short ride out the ridge at the head of Island Run found the frightened youth and an investigation determined that a black snake had crawed up in/on the four wheeler. When told it was a black snake the 'he-man' said, "I heard him rattling!" It was then noted that likely he heard his teeth rattling or chattering. The snake was dislodged from the chariot and then our man wanted to kill it but cooler heads prevailed and the harmless reptile slithered over the hill.
Chuck Richter put out the traps to catch gypsy moths and someone else placed the big purple traps for the emeral ash borers.
The Moscow newspaper Pravda commented on and marveled at the speed that America is becoming a Marxist nation. The writer noted that the change had been facilitated by students taught in dumbed down schools, co-opted churches and a dedicated group that has been working on the overthrow & takeover for a long time. The activist Puerto Rican supreme court pick who has a 60% reversal percentage on appealed cases is just one more step. Those who remember the Korean war wonder what the Big Eared One is going to do there as he has talked "the peace & love line" and now our enemies should love us.
Some local residents attended the Ergon catfish fry in Mercer Pennsylvania. The oil buyer & refiner had fine fish & fixins (hush puppies, fries, slaw & all) and lots of oil men and oil women were on hand to consume the delectables. While there the local residents visited the Mercer County Court House which was built in 1906 and has been maintained with spectacular marble, murals, fine woodwork, etc. To see how public buildings should be maintained, folks when anywhere near Mercer should stop and tour the inside of the impressive building.
The price of local Penn grade crude rose to $59.50/bbl while the price of natural gas fell to $3.45 which, in actual dollars corrected for inflation must be close to a record low.
Three folks from the Roane County assessor's office and one from Wood County attended the tax seminar held at Flatwoods. It was noted that no one from the Gilmer, Jackson, Calhoun & Wirt County assessors offices attended the very informative meeting. The folks down at the Mouth of the Elk describe royalty owners as "fellers sittin' on the front porch chewing terbacky". One Spencer royalty owner was offered a chaw but he declined saying he didn't want to get sick. Atty. Hunter McC. Bennett whose family owns thousands of acres was present and no one has ever seen him on the porch or chewing even chewing gum. Industry representatives talked about the Tawney case and oil and gas leasing and a spirited discussion resulted over the Little Elf's (Brooks McCabe) Senate Bill 484. The assessors who had heard about it were in a uproar, the folks from the state tax department weren't happy and the CPA who would have to do a lot of the work noted that the proposed May 1 deadline would be only two weeks after the end of income tax season. The 'loony tunes' bill would create two tax deadlines, July 1 for surface properties and January 1 for mineral rights. Each surface owner would have to determine if he/she owned any mineral rights such as limestone, pore space, sandstone, etc. and file annual reports, even on town lots, etc. The Elf is one of those who profits from being a "public servant".
Tommy Gay Wright has been spending some time at his place on the old W. T. Petty farm.
Euell Russell was consulting with his podiatrist.
Chesapeake, it has been learned, plans to try again for their forced pooling for the Roane County deed well. The hearing is scheduled for June 19 at the DEP office in Charleston.
The Creson Area Neighorhood Watch will have a flea market May 13 beside the Jerry Poling residence at the end of the Creston/dePue straight on W. Va. 5.
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