OVEC - in ACTION

Nov. 6: Sludge and DECAF. No, we are not talking bad coffee! The Delbarton Environmental Community Awareness Foundation held a meeting to discuss community safety and the Massey Energy coal sludge impoundment. OVEC staffers attended the meeting. Stay tuned for more from this group as they awaken Mingo County to activism!

Nov 6: The Sierra Club sponsored "Appalachians and Activism" featuring Mari-Lynn Evans, executive producer of the PBS documentary, The Appalachians, which will air this spring. Look for folks you know is this flick, as well as in the accompanying book. Appearing with Evans at the event were OVEC’s Janet Fout and Larry Gibson, and Judy Bonds, Nanette Nelson and Freda Williams of Coal River Mountain Watch. The audience raved about clips from the documentary.

Oct. 28: West Virginia Highland Conservancy’s Cindy Rank spoke the truth to Massey Energy’s factually-challenged CEO Don Blankenship at a University of Charleston event. Members of Friends of the Mountains (a coalition of groups working to end mountaintop removal) handed out fliers on mountaintop removal and Massey Energy to people coming to hear the debate. We even placed a flier in the hands of Blankenship himself, who in his usual careless disregard said he had already seen the flier. We can only guess he has no idea what he is talking about, or he is monitoring our e-mail, as the Sierra Club’s Bill Price finished the flier just hours before the event.

Oct. 2: OVEC spread the word to our members and the media about the 5th Annual Celebrate Tolerance/Stop the Hate Vigil held in downtown Charleston. With music, storytelling and a circle of faith, people from many religions called for an end to hate violence. Event organizers, the WV Interfaith Center for Public Policy’s Stop the Hate Committee, said they had the best media coverage and highest attendance they have had for any vigil so far.

Sept. 24: Always on the cutting edge, OVEC presented the premier Huntington screening of Michael Moore’s documentary, Bowling for Columbine. Contact the office if you would like to arrange a screening of this movie.

Sept. 23: Members of Coal River Mountain Watch and OVEC met in Whitesville with WV Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Stephanie Timmermeyer and other DEP officers. Citizens talked about mountaintop removal and other illegal and irresponsible behavior of the coal industry, as well as DEP’s role in aiding and abetting King Koal. Suffice it to say that we heard a lot of the same-old, same-old in response. Freda Williams set up the meeting, which came about after Timmermeyer refused to meet with about 30 of us who stopped by DEP headquarters.

Three generations on Maynards at a DECAF event.
Andy Price, background, provides musical entertainment.