Community Members Take Action For the Sake of the
Kids
May 24, 2005
Photos by Vivian Stockman
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Residents Believe Massey Energy Facility Endangers School Kids
Coal River Mountain Watch's super-volunteers Bo Webb and Ed Wiley
worked overtime to get community members out to rally peacefully against Massey
Energy's Goals Coal facility at noon on Tuesday, May 24. OVEC staff Abe
Mwaura and Scott Straight, along with OVEC's super-volunteer Mike
Morrison, joined Coal River Mountain Watch in going door-to-door for
days. They showed area residents photos of the facility's coal sludge
impoundments and coal preparation plant that sit above and adjacent,
respectively, to the Marsh Fork Elementary School. Parents and
grandparents told the organizers that many kids are coming home sick
after school, but that their symptoms clear up after they have been home
for a while.
(Read more about the dangers the
Massey Energy facility poses to the school by clicking
here. Or
here.
Here, too. To learn more about the chemicals used in processing
coal for market, click
here.)
About 100 people showed up at the rally, marching the short distance
from outside the school to the gates of the Massey plant. When Bo Webb
and Coal River Mountain Watch's Judy Bonds tried to deliver a list of
demands to the head of the plant, Massey security guards came out,
snapping pictures of everyone. The guards refused to ask the plant's
chief to come get the demands. Bo and Judy said they would wait to
deliver the demands, at which points the guards asked the state police
to arrest Bo and Judy for trespassing. The police escorted the pair
away. After the rally crowd dispersed, the pair were ticketed for
trespassing and released, with an apology from the state police for
having to arrest them.
Below and on the following pages are pictures of the rally.
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The Goals Coal (A Massey Energy subsidiary) silo towers
above Marsh Fork Elementary School. Massey wants to put in
another silo right next to this one--even though some
children at the school already suffer health problems. |
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The people begin to assemble. |
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The banner reads "Massey Energy: Raping Our Homeland." |
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Marching from the school to the plants takes just moments. |
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Bo, left, warms up the crowd. |
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