Rev. Kevin Gillespie filled his regular appointment at the Burning Springs M. E. Church & served Holy Communion.
There were 416 riders at the big Creston spring ATV poker run. Leighui Cummings placed first followed by Judy Proctor & Heather Leek while Jennifer Richey won the 50/50. The community would like to thank all those who came and rode, those who set up and took down the route, those who did the parking, fixed & served the food, sent out the mailings, filled out all the forms, sold shirts, 50/50, donated the door prizes, cleaned the building and helped in all the work it takes to have a poker run. Someone tried to drive a jeep up the hill at the head of Rock Camp, got stuck and it took 3 hours to get him out of the way. Some folks broke axles, got stuck, ended up upside down but no one was hurt and all said it was the muddiest ride that they had ever been on. A nice rain Friday night took care of any dust problems and, on part of the route there was rain on Saturday. Riders got to see wild turkeys, deer, squirrels and all sorts of scenery. Some stopped along the way to play in mud holes and streams.
Juanita Starcher, age 55, passed away. A neighbor found her unresponsive and tried CPR and called for help. Roane, Wirt & Calhoun folks showed up at her home on Ground Hog, the old Starcher place beside the pond. She formerly worked at Miletree and was laid to rest in the Craig Ridge cemetery which happened to be on the ATV poker run route.
Wild iris (flags) are at their peak as is wild geranium and the tasty locust blossoms are ready to pick. Dip them in batter and deep fry them and when done, put them in a paper bag and shake with sugar. Also milk weeds are up big enough to pick to cook.
Chares White has been on the sick list and ended up in the emergency room.
A recent report noted that about 25% of the Pell grants for higher education went to AI bots that were able to game the system. Pell grants were supposed to be to help needy folks get a college education.
After a 4 year delay the US government is again leasing property in the Wayne National Forest (just over the river in eastern Ohio) for Marcellus & Utica drilling.
There was a plan for a 860 acre solar farm in Stark County Ohio (Canton area) but the powers that be rejected the taxpayer funded eyesore.
Recently there were two key lawsuits heard before the W. Va. Supreme Court, Kaess vs BB Land (Randy Broida’s Jay Bee Exploration) and Romero vs. Antero (the Denver based oil & gas giant), The intent is to set aside the Tawney case which made it illegal to take out deductions when the lease said no. Seems the Governor Morrisey thinks that the out of state boys need more incentive to drill some of the best oil & gas fields on the planet and that taxpayers should “bear the burden”. Another member of the Board of Public Works suggested that next legislative session a bill to codify the Tawney case should be brought forth early then passed and then if Mr. Morrisey vetoes the bill it can be overridden by unhappy legislators.
It was reported that a disease similar to rabbit fever (Tularemia) is now spreading out in Illinois. This disease is also lethal to humans if not treated.
While the local folks are getting rain it was reported that over in the eastern part of the state there is already drought conditions. Those folks suffered a severe drought last year.
Some old friends from Ohio were visiting Barbara Wright.
Wilma Mowrey is getting a new roof.
JOHN GRIffin was attending to business in Freming Ohio. He along with Mr. & Mrs. Sonny Burdette & family were calling on Ted Grim & Debbie McCracken.
There has been a lot of hoopla about tariffs but it has now been determined that tariffs have had no impact on LNG and propane exports to foreign nations.
EQT, the Pittsburgh oil & gas giant recently acquired Olympus Energy for $1.8 billion.
The price of local Pennsylvania grade crude is $62.02/bbl. With condensate fetching $44.02/bbl. with Marcellus & Utica light bringing $51.02/bbl. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) was $63.32 while Brent (North Sea crude) brought $66.87/bbl. The NYMEX price of natural gas dropped below $3 to $2.93/MMBTU.
