 By Alvin Engelke
alvinengelke@hotmail.com
The Creston Community Christmas party will be held Saturday, December 17th at the building. All local folks, children of all ages from 9 days to 90 years are invited. It has been rumored that a visitor from the polar regions (not a polar bear) may make an appearance. For details contact Connie Boggs or Rosalie White.
Byrnadeene Offutt, age 90, passed away not too long after getting to see her great grandchild. She was the daughter of Howard and Jane Shrader Cooper of Little Creek & the widow of Deward Offutt, former Calhoun County Commissioner. She had been staying at her daughter's home for a while.
Bertha Mae Richards, age 73, passed away at Williamstown. She was the mother of Kathi Lee Arthur of Creston.
Charles Russell attended the Christmas Party at the Miletree Center in Spencer. Also on hand were members of the Basnett family, Ray Gum's family and Ginnie Bennett.
W. Harrison Schenerlein IV, his mother and grandmother went to visit his Aunt Anna and they all went to an ice show at the National Harbour. Later they went downtown to see the lights but Harrison was not impressed by the lighting on the national tree at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue (compared to displays elsewhere). He did like the Washington Monument which, of course, was damaged, as was the Calhoun County Court House by the earthquake in Virginia. His daddy and Uncle Scott attended the Army and Navy football game and no doubt hobnobbed with the dignitaries that were reported to have been there.
Rev. Keith Belt filled his regular appointment at the Burning Springs M. E. Church.
C. Burt Marks, the #1 Coon Hunter in Wirt and surrounding counties, is on the mend from his surgery and was out looking at some new dogs.
Carl Ferrell was thoroughly inspected and analyzed one day last week. In preparation he got to drink the special liquid that "cleans you out".
Gun owners had been worried about statements from those in power that there were lots of guns in the hands of Mexican drug dealers "because America had 'lax gun laws' and there was that 'out of date' second amendment, etc." Now, it has been learned that the US DOJ and other federal agencies arranged for guns (many made in China) to be sold to known criminals to be shipped to crime scenes in both Mexico and the U. S. The government was also laundering money for one of the cartels. Those who "cling to the Bibles & guns" would do well to keep up on the breaking news involving testimony and documents provided on the investigation of this outrageous doing called Fast & Furious on the behalf of very highly placed individuals.
It was reported recently that the W. Va. State retirement board lost about $5 million from the bankruptcy of MF Global which had been more or less a brokerage firm for grain traders before it was taken over by former Goldman-Sachs CEO, and national political player Jon Corzine, a big buddy of both the Big Eared one and his errand boy, Broadway Joe Manchin. Since Corzine was a "good guy and a fellow liberal" the state said they were not going to try to collect from Corzine who is a multi-millionaire. some grain farmers who had leveraged their crops have also lost significant sums even though the firm was supposed to have been regulated and the customers protected by the Commodities Futures Trading Commission, a federal agency. At this point there is 'missing' something over $1.2 billion. Speaking of commodities, the wise ones believe that corn will fall to $5.90/bu.
ABC News reported that the financial outlook for West Virginia is the worst in the nation which is somewhat different than what the politicians say. A video clip on the world wide web shows pictures of Iaeger and Welch and State Senator John Fanning sings about Cinder Bottom, a part of town in Keystone, W. Va.
Gov. Earl Ray announced that there will be a special session of the legislature, in conjunction with the interns to deal with the Marcellus shale bill which attempts to address the problems associated with Marcellus and Utica shale drilling. It would seem there are some who want the "wild west" current status to continue and those folks plan to have a rally, wear special tee shirts, etc. Folks may want to go down and watch the sessions and talk with one's favorite legislators.
Little Richard Neely who used to be one of the Supremes announced that he had leased a big strip mine near Montgomery for a cracker plant for the Marcellus shale gas and that Dominion was going to provide him with 3 million cubic feet of gas per day for the multi-billion dollar facility and that they were going to build him a pipeline to deliver the gas. The volume mentioned would be the production from one Marcellus well. While Ted Streit and Don Callaghan, both former bigwigs with the DEP are involved it was noted that Ryan E. M. Cunningham is a major financial backer. Local folks may remember Cunningham as being involved with Mountain Country Partners in Walton and with Gary Payne who recently had an oil spill in Kanawha County. Cunningham has been, on someone's behalf, leasing Utica shale acreage in Ohio. According to reports the section of the Marcellus that has the high ethane (feedstock for making ethylene) runs from Ohio over to Pittsburgh and then southward to about Parkersburg. A well placed source in the petrochemical industry said that he hoped he was wrong but he doubted very much that the scheme would come to pass. When Little Richard wore the black robe he was noted (and he bragged) for being anti-business and that he had a 'lifetime job'. He always demanded a chauffeur from the state police to take him around to political gatherings, speeches, etc. and the DPS made it a point to send big tall men as drivers which made the little fellow furious.
The price of local Pennsylvania grade crude oil rose $1.07/bbl to $97.96.
Creston had some high water again with some roads closed. The folks who use the low water crossings on Straight Creek note that for some reason the sand and very small rock that is placed on the crossings after each rain washes away when the water gets up and rushes over the top.
It was reported that Joe O'Ferrell's crew has been back working on his wells in the Rock Run country. He was also said to be working on a well in either Marshall or Wetzel County.
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