Media Advisory

April 19, 2005

NEWS ADVISORY FOR: April 21, 2005
CONTACT: Bill Price (304)854-1179, (304)389-8822

Ken Hechler, Historians, Community Members Call for Blair Mountain's Designation as a Historic Place

LOGAN, WV- On April 21, former Congressman Ken Hechler; Wess Harris, publisher of When Miners March; former Sierra Club Board President Robbie Cox; Mari-Lynn Evans, executive producer of The Appalachians documentary; and community residents will gather to call for Blair Mountain's addition to the National Register of Historic Places. They will urge the State Historic Preservation Office to honor our communities and our heritage by recommending the site for listing at their May 6 meeting.

Over eighty years ago on Blair Mountain, 10,000 coal miners rose up against armed federal troops in defense of their rights to unionize. Today, another battle is being fought there. Coal companies are planning to decimate this historic landmark using mountaintop removal methods. Local citizens, historians, the Sierra Club, and the Friends of the Mountains Coalition believe that Blair Mountain is too integral a part of West Virginia history to be destroyed by this irresponsible practice.

WHAT: Press Conference and Availability for Interviews

WHERE: Logan County Culture and History Museum, Chief Logan State
Park

WHEN: April 21, 11:00 AM

WHO: Ken Hechler, former Congressman and Historian Wess Harris, Publisher, When Miners March Robbie Cox, former National Board President, Sierra Club Mary-Lynn Evans, Executive Producer, The Appalachians Elaine Purkey, Singer/Songwriter Maria Gunnoe, Community member

Visuals will include a monument dedicated to miners lost in accidents and the outdoor scenery of the state park. Snacks will be served.

Background: In July 1921, Matewan Police Chief Sid Hatfield was murdered on the steps of the McDowell County Courthouse by hired guns. Hatfield was a fervent supporter of coal miners and their efforts to unionize. His murder galvanized miners' simmering frustration into an armed protest to unionize West Virginia's coal mines. The shooting war that followed in Logan County during August and September of 1921 became known as the Battle of Blair Mountain. 10,000 coal miners rose up against armed federal troops in an undeclared civil war that lasted ten days. Today, despite widespread efforts to preserve this valuable place as a historic site, the mountain is
under seige by coal companies proposing mountaintop removal mining.
Mountaintop removal blasts the earth and rock of mountaintops apart and pushes the debris into valleys. Many communities in Appalachia have completely disappeared due to blasting, flooding and decreasing property values caused by this devastating mining method.

For more information on conservation in Appalachia and The Appalachians, please visit http://www.sierraclub.org/appalachia/

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