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Clean Elections Reception Tonight and Press Conference Tomorrow
Dust Buster Trial Goes to Closing Arguments
Tell Your Out-of-State Friends
Some News From the World Social Forum
MTR Play Auditions Today and Tomorrow
Kentucky Waterways Alliance Seeking Outreach Director
FOLKS—DON’T DESPAIR! Most, if not all, of us who have been working to stop mountaintop removal figured that the pro-business Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals would overturn Judge Haden’s latest ruling. Remember, lawsuits are but one aspect of a multi-pronged, multi-group campaign against the massacre of our mountains. More lawsuits are ongoing and in the works, as are many other aspects of the campaign. One critical element is YOUR participation. Believe it or not, public opinion still counts! More than ever, we need to add an increasing number of new voices demanding an end to the ecocide that is mountaintop removal. As ever, continue your letters to the editor and to legislators. Work to get your friends and neighbors involved. Stay tuned for upcoming actions! We are in this for the long haul—because our futures depend on it!
SUN. & MON.--CLEAN ELECTIONS RECEPTION AND PRESS CONFERENCE Thanks to the hard work of OVEC’s Janet Fout, Citizens for Clean Elections is bringing in a representative from Maine to talk with members of our Legislature about the success of Clean Elections in Maine. Representative Boyd Marley will share his experiences at a public reception at the University of Charleston (2300 MacCorkle Avenue South East), in the 2nd Floor Art Gallery of the Geary Student Union from 7:30 p.m. until 9:00 p.m. tonight, Sunday Feb. 2. Light refreshments will be served. On Monday, Feb. 3, Mr. Marley will speak to the press at 12:15 p.m. in the Governor’s conference room in the Secretary of State’s office at the State Capitol. Please come out for these events.
Mr. Marley was recently re-elected to his second term in the Maine Legislature with 56% of the vote. He represents part of Portland, Maine’s largest city. He was one of the first Clean Elections candidates nationally to be elected to public office. Mr. Marley has “Been there, Done That" when it comes to publicly financed election campaigns. The Maine Clean Elections Act is very similar to the West Virginia Clean Elections Act, which has now been introduced in the Senate as SB 158 and in the House as HB 2527. We can all learn a lot from him about the theory and practice of public financing of election campaigns.
The House version of the West Virginia Clean Elections Act was introduced just this week! As in the Senate, the bill has been assigned to the Judiciary Committee and will be assigned to the elections sub-committee. Please call members of the Senate and House elections sub-committees. Urge them to support the WV Clean Elections Act! The house version is HB 2527 and sub-committee members are Delegates Virginia Mahan, Barbara Fleishauer, John Pino, Robert Schadler, Corey Palumbo, Larry Faircloth and Dave Pethtel. Senate sub-committee members are Mike Oliverio, Jon Hunter, Andy McKenzie, Randy White and Evan Jenkins and the bill number is SB 158. Get Legislators ’ contact info at: www.legis.state.wv.us/legishp.html (click on Senate or House).
MON.--RALLY AT THE CAPITOL Members of the WV AFL-CIO request that you join them for a rally at the State Capitol on Monday, Feb. 3, at 1 p.m. Come to the upper rotunda area in front of the Robert C. Byrd statue. The rally will address the workers’ compensation bill and other issues facing West Virginia workers. Remember, coal companies bilked that state out of hundreds of millions of dollars in workers’ comp payments, helping to create the workers’ comp debt crisis. The bill now under consideration to “fix” this problem would, as Delegate Mike Caputo puts it in an e-mail, ”…take away benefits from injured workers and make permanent total disability benefits very difficult to obtain for deserving workers that are injured on the job. We cannot allow this debt to be balanced on the backs of working West Virginians.” Please come out to show your solidarity!
TUES.(?)--CITIZEN LAWSUIT AGAINST MASSEY CLOSES Pauline Canterberry and about 150 other “Dust Buster” residents of Sylvester request your presence for the closing arguments in their lawsuit against Elk Run Coal Co., a Massey subsidiary that has been coating Sylvester with coal dust for years. The folks that filed this lawsuit have been exceptionally courageous, and they really could use a packed courtroom on Tuesday. NOTE: The trial is set to resume Tuesday, Feb. 4 in the Boone County Courthouse in Madison (if you go to Madison, you can't miss the courthouse), but only if attorney Brian Glaser’s wife doesn’t go into labor! Coal River Mountain Watch at 304-854-2182 will have the latest information, and if we hear the trial is postponed before Tuesday morning, we’ll send out an Action Alert update.
See this news story and other articles posted on the news portions of the OVEC website for more on the trial.
STOP OVERWEIGHT COAL TRUCKS--TELL YOUR OUT-OF-STATE FRIENDS Citizens Coal Council is circulating the alert below. Please ask your friends and family members who live in other states to take this easy web action!
Dear Members and Allies,
Our members in West Virginia need help from people across the country to stop the huge, overloaded coal trucks that wreck havoc in their communities. These outlaw trucks injure and kill people (19 dead in the last two years), cause millions of dollars of damage to public roads, and pollute the air and water with coal dust. Governor Wise refuses to enforce the truck weight limits, allowing the outlaw trucking companies to break the law and literally get away with murder. Last year, he even supported an unsuccessful effort in the state legislature to raise the limits. This year, the Governor may again listen to his big campaign donors from the coal trucking companies who want him to support and sign legislation to raise the limits.
It's Time to Bend His Ear with OUR Big Bucks Message -- it's fun, fast and won't cost you a penny to deliver! Go to the Citizens Coal Council website at www.citizenscoalcouncil.org. Click on “Act Now” on the left. This will take you to a page where you can sign a postcard that we (CCC) will deliver to Governor Wise. The postcard tells him you won't visit West Virginia (and spend your tourist dollars) until he enforces the weight limits and stops trying to raise them.
SOME NEWS FROM THE WORLD SOCIAL FORUM The World Social Forum was great! We’ll have more about it in our upcoming newsletter. For some of the speeches and news of the forum, follow these links: www.nu.ac.za/ccs/default.asp?2,40,5,169 www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=15063 www.forumsocialmundial.org.br/home.asp (click on English)
Many, many thanks to the Ford Foundation and the Advocacy Institute for providing us with the funding needed for this great opportunity!
SUN. & MON. --MTR PLAY AUDITIONS At 7 p.m. today, Feb. 2 and tomorrow, Feb. 3, at the West Virginia State College Capitol Center Theatre, 123 Summers St., Charleston, the Charleston Stage Company holds auditions for the play “Final Assault.” The play, about mountaintop-removal mining, will be performed April 9-13 and rehearsals begin in March. For further information, contact CSC at 766-5721.
Be sure to check the OVEC Events Calendar page for other upcoming events, including a discussion with author and staunch mountaintop removal opponent Denise Giardina this Friday.
NEW ACTIVISTS’ TOOL A new federal web site purports to list all rulemakings currently open for public comment: www.regulations.gov/.
KENTUCKY WATERWAYS ALLIANCE OUTREACH DIRECTOR NEEDED The Kentucky Waterways Alliance, a statewide citizens nonprofit group dedicated to protecting and restoring Kentucky’s waterways and their watersheds by building effective alliances for their stewardship, seeks an Outreach Director to oversee its membership and outreach work.
Position duties include expanding Membership Program (70%- approximate percentage of time), increasing KWA’s Individual Membership base, developing appeals, a Major Donor Program, a Business Membership Program, a Corporate Donor Program, a workplace giving and “Earthshare” program, foundation fundraising; and media outreach.
Applicant should be a self starter willing and able to work with minimal supervision, with excellent writing and verbal communication skills. Previous experience with membership programs and experience with grant writing or media outreach desirable.
Must have a conservation ethic (believe in KWA’s mission), and have a good working knowledge of computers (MS Word necessary and additional MS Office programs beneficial). Must be able to drive and willing to travel in pursuit of job duties to meet with potential donors and for job training. Must be detail-oriented person able to maintain a membership database. Internet research skills.
KWA does not discriminate on the basis of gender, age, race, ethnicity, religion, or sexual orientation. Starting salary range $25,000 – 30,000/yr negotiable depending on skills and experience. Position is contractual, with possibility for employee status, including benefits, after six months. Limited benefit package for full-time employees includes paid vacation, holidays and sick leave. Must be able to work from the home until such time as KWA establishes an office in the Munfordville area.
Applicants should submit a cover letter and resume to KWA, 854 Horton Lane, Munfordville, KY 42765-8135. For more information, contact 877-602-1774 or Director@KWAlliance.org. Candidates should make application by March 14, although resumes will be accepted until the position is filled.
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