Creston News

Rev. Craig Blankenship filled his regular appointment at the Burning Springs M. E. Church.

A big crowd was on hand for the auction at the Creston Community Building.  Some while back the wind blew down & damaged the Markee sign that Shade Tree had given to the Creston group.  Leon Jurasik repaired the sign, added a frame and placed a top on it that looks like the roof of the Creston Community Building, complete with a cupula topped with an American flag.

The first Creston ATV poker run will be held on April 30.  Mark the calendar, gather up the grandchildren, make sure the chariots have been serviced, maybe bring some tools, check out the winch, etc.  The day can then start with biscuits & gravy in the kitchen before the fun ride.

A couple of Creston residents motored to Elizabeth for the meet the candidates event at the fire department in Elizabeth.  There was a good crowd with good interaction with those running for office.  County Clerk Marolyn Baldridge had maps showing the new House of Delegates districts now that Wirt is divided with part in with Roane County and the residue tied into southern Wood County.  One candidate told of the wonders that would happen if the voters went for Amendment One in the fall making vehicles, equipment and apparently all personal property not subject to county taxes.  'You won't have to pay tax on your car!".  "Trust us, the legislature will give you enough money to cover the loss  - we have $600 million."  As noted in the Wheeling paper, the president of the Monongalia County Commission noted that his county would lose $25 million & the legislature talked about raising the tax value from 60% to 100% and, of course with the abolition of the 1932 Tax Limitation Amendment that has protected homes & farms, the tax rate would also double.  "Trust us." said the man who 'gave' our world class oil & gas fields away for pennies on the dollar.  "Trust us" said the fellow who made sure Smiley Carmichaels will get a taxpayer funded $80,000 state retirement.  Smiley likely, when a full time lobbyist for the phone company, while also being state senate president worked to make sure W. Va. did not get high speed internet to allow for economic development, educational opportunities, etc.  If the proposal, which is "well greased" passes, then in Wood County duPont would get a county tax break of $5,465,696.12.  That amount would have to be made up somewhere.

"Pete" Young, age 76, of Elizabeth passed away.  He was the son of Von & Leota Young & has several relatives in the Creston area.  Burial was at Hartley.

Eldred Gene "Buddy" Goff, age 73, of Reedy passed away.  The Goff family formerly lived in Rock Camp.  Burial was at Hodam.

Gary Dickens had a heart attack and 911 was called for an ambulance.  The Parkersburg 911 contacted Spencer to send an ambulance via Tom's Run and Ann's Run to Creston where Gary lives on the Ann's Run road.  The ambulance got lost.  This certainly is the justification for Wirt County having their own 911 dispatcher, especially since there is, on hand, the funds to build the building and set up the operation.

The state road biggies who have friends that rent them high dollar equipment to "trim tree tops to allow the sun to dry the road" have shown that "we know how to waste taxpayer money".  The job done on W. Va. 5 going to Grantsville seems to have made it a point to make the snags look as ugly as possible.  Perhaps someone down at the Mouth of the Elk is in cahoots with those local officials who are vehemently opposed to the 1982 group that wants to make Grantsville & Calhoun County a place with a future where folks want to live, work, raise families & play.  There are those people who just cannot stand prosperity and will work hard to make sure that all who try fail.  Some obviously need to get out of the way.

Speaking of state road tree trimming, wonder what the story is as to why the trees between the W. Va. Turnpike and the Big Kanawha River were mangled using expensive rental equipment?  The turnpike toll took another increase so now they are breaking up the concrete and hauling it away. The job caused a two hour delay but obviously, "Who cares",  John Kerry & Occasional Cortex oppose the peasants driving around anyway.   The other day a local fellow was talking to a man who works for a car dealership in Moundsville.  He was told to go to Hagerstown and pick up a Volt & drive it back to Marshall County.  He was told that it would go 300 miles if fully charged. He asked if it was "filled up" and was told yes.  When he got to Cumberland he had a "half charge" but enough to get to Morgantown.  He got there with 50 miles 'left over'.  He then looked for a charging station so he went to the new "hippy dippy upscale" mall but found nothing.  He went other places, again with no luck.  Finally, he went to the Chevrolet dealer and was told "go around back, there's one there".  He hooked up and sat in the car since it was "hotter than blazes" and after one hour he had another ten miles.  He got out of the car, turned off the radio & the air and went into the dealership to wait.  Finally he got enough charge to get back home and made it back with 3 miles left.  A man formerly lived at Pleasant Hill & had a high dollar EV and worked in Parkersburg.  One time his chariot died in the curve on the Jacson Hill & he had to get the wrecker to pull him home to recharge.  He had to turn off all the electric items in the house to charge the chariot.  After a time he traded off for a "cheaper" EV and then he decided he would move to Morgantown as he was sure there were lots of charging places there.  It was reported that he is now driving a regular automobile.

April arrived in Creston with typical weather, first rain, then snow and afterwards sunshine.  Spring beauties, blood root & toothwort are now in bloom as are many trees & shrubs.  The USDAs multiflora rose is growing and remains "Exhibit A" of government programs that have very bad unintended consequences and the problems caused by the wonderful programs never go away.

Over on the other side of Elizabeth hill there are some of the invasive black buzzards, the ones that pick out the eyes of young calves.  There are some folks in that neighborhood who are known as excellent shots.  They need to do their civic duty.

Someone found a sound bite from 2004 quoting Dr. Fauci who said then that the fellow who had recently had a bad case of the influenza didn't need a shot because he now had the best protection against the virus.  That was before he was promoting the Pfizer vaccine from which he gets a cut.  His buddy, Bill Gates, now says that we should all eat "lab grown meat" and that, if necessary we should be forced to do such.  He also wants to reduce the population of the planet and, of course there are several ways such could be done.  One of which is a vaccine that makes the youth sterile.  Some folks are just plain evil.  He now owns 242,000 acres of prime farmland.

A local fellow was attending to business in Lewisburg and was pleasantly surprised that instead of $4.09.9 or $4.19.9 gasolene, fuel there was just $3.81.9 & at more than one service station.  Perhaps that was because of the great Morlunda oil field in Greenbrier County or perhaps the big oil refinery in downtown Lewisburg just off Arbuckle Alley.

The price of local Pennsylvania grade crude dropped to $ 98.27/bbl. while condensate fetched $84.27/bbl. & Marcellus & Utica light was $89.27 & medium $98.27/bbl.  Henry Hub natural gas was $5.72/MMBTU while gas sold on Owl Hill brought only $2.54.  The latter is what happens when one has a captive market and there is no choice.