OVEC Action Alert - March 23, 2005

More on March 31

Correction to Film Date

March 31: Announcing Mountain Justice Summer Campaign  
Please note that the "Astroturf" industry front group, Friends of Coal (FOC), will have a FOC Day at the State Capitol on March 31, close to and ending as the rally and free concert to announce Mountain Justice Summer (MJS) begins. Last year, FOC bussed in people to their event and they apparently plan to do so again, predicting a turnout of over 1,000 people. Some have expressed concern that tensions could escalate. Capitol Security has assured the MJS rally organizers that there will be no problems. We wanted you to be aware of this situation. The MJS rally focus is on calling for an end to mountaintop removal; please bring signs (not on sticks!) that reflect this message. 

Here's our original e-mail on the event: From noon to 3 p.m. come to the West Virginia State Capitol to demand an end to mountaintop removal! Join a multi-state, multi-group rally and concert announcing the Mountain Justice Summer campaign. Speakers from Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, Virginia, Ohio and West Virginia, including Jack Spadaro. Music provided by Elaine Purkey, Paige Delporto, Matt Peters and Tonya Adkins. Join us at the stage near the back steps of the Capitol. Carpooling strongly encouraged. Drivers can drop off passengers at Greenbrier (exit 99 off I-77/64) and Washington Streets, then proceed to Kanawha Blvd., take a left, travel about a mile to the Moose Club parking lot on the right. Shuttles will bring drivers back to the event. (Or take your chances parking around the Capitol or Laidley Field, which has a shuttle to the Capitol.) Please bring your friends, family and neighbors out to help us kick-off this historic campaign! See www.mountainjusticesummer.org.

CORRECT DATE--Saturday, March 26: 7 p.m. The La Belle Theatre at South Charleston Museum, 311 D. St., S. Charleston. As Appalshop celebrates its 35 years of producing films and many other artworks about Appalachia, we celebrate honorary “Wvian” Mimi Pickering. Ever since she made her first film on the Buffalo Creek Disaster in 1972, she has been filming in West Virginia, Appalachia, and the world. Tonight we will honor her by showing two of several films she has made in West Virginia– CHEMICAL VALLEY, filmed in the Kanawha Valley after the Bhopal Disaster 20 years ago + HAZEL DICKENS– IT’S HARD TO TELL THE SINGER FROM THE SONG. Pam Nixon, now DEP's environmental advocate, appears in "Chemical Valley." Mimi Pickering will appear in person. Visit Appalshop’s film website at http://www.appalshop.org/film/.