I intend to write the governor as well. I have to admit that I have no faith whatever in WVa government doing anything about MTR. This is not a new issue. People in the coal mining counties have been treated like dirt since they began to mine coal. Do you all hear any of Logan or Boone Cos.' elected officials saying anything about MTR?? No, and it will never happen. It's been a good while since ABC Nightline did a show on MTR at Blair and in Cabin Creek. I bought the tape - mid-to-late 90s. Like Gail, when I look at Blair I am outraged and sick at the same time. Nothing is the same - nothing. When I was a child I called one ridge across the road "my mountain". I loved to just sit and look at it. It is now 1/3 lower in elevation. Sorry to sound pessimistic. Rick

Rick, I do understand why you feel the way that you do. And I don't blame any of you for feeling defeated. This has been going on for a long time. I am not sure exactly how to change things other than joining with each other to keep this in the public eye. Also joining groups, such as the "American Rivers". They are fighting to keep the rivers clean and plainly dumping the leftovers of a destroyed mountain 'dirty the waters' so to speak. The toxic runoff from coal mines does too. It took a long time here to make the oil companies clean up their messes but it did finally happen. There is a legal fight going on east of me in Okla. over a mine. The surrounding area is polluted with arsenic and other toxic chemicals. Remember that because of the internet, you in Wv are not alone anymore. There are a lot of us out here that are 'madder than h***' who don't live there. The politicians there may be able to ignore the "illiterate inbred hillbillies" but what are they going to say to all of us out here across the USA I get soo mad when mountain people are viewed as subhuman. Just as mad as I get when my native american ancestors are pictured the same way. I come from both and I AM PROUD OF THAT. Also those of us who don't live IN Wv, the coal cos can't threaten us the way they do there. A single drop of rain can become part of a river. We need to keep the letter writing campaign going. I don't keep up with the music or movie news. Do we have an actor or singer from Wv? Get one of them involved. Join the West Virginia Sierra club. Pushy, aren't I. There is a link for Blair Mountain(PDF) on this page. http://search.atomz.com/search/?sp-q=wv&sp-a=sp1001da90&sp-x-1=collection&sp-q-1=Main&sp-t=site_wide http://www.sierraclub.org/ Gracie Cherokee Redneck from Okla ----- Original Message ----- From: <rcs5@bellsouth.net> To: <WVLOGAN-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Friday, August 11, 2006 5:44 PM Subject: [WVLOGAN] letters to the governor > I intend to write the governor as well. I have to admit that I have no faith whatever in WVa government doing anything about MTR. This is not a new issue. People in the coal mining counties have been treated like dirt since they began to mine coal. Do you all hear any of Logan or Boone Cos.' elected officials saying anything about MTR?? No, and it will never happen. It's been a good while since ABC Nightline did a show on MTR at Blair and in Cabin Creek. I bought the tape - mid-to-late 90s. > Like Gail, when I look at Blair I am outraged and sick at the same time. Nothing is the same - nothing. When I was a child I called one ridge across the road "my mountain". I loved to just sit and look at it. It is now 1/3 lower in elevation. Sorry to sound pessimistic. Rick > > > ============================== > Jumpstart your genealogy with OneWorldTree. Search not only for > ancestors, but entire generations. Learn more: > http://www.ancestry.com/s13972/rd.ashx >