Photo by Phoebe Neel
After speaking with my lawyer today, it seems that I am free, for up to 30 days, pending an appeal for a retrial. So I do not have to turn myself in to the Southwestern Regional Jail tomorrow. We will see what happens in the next 30 days, whenever my attorney is able to file the motion. As far as we are concerned, I am innocent, and we are resolved to prove that. Massey is the criminal here, destroying the oldest mountain range in the world, violating the Clean Air and Clean Water acts, polluting head water streams, clear cutting an incredible amount of old forests, destroying habitat for animals, and terrorizing many of the citizens of Appalachia who live below the mountains Massey is exploding.
Our resolve is strong. We are not going to stop our work to save the wonderful mountains of Appalachia. We are more determined than ever to expose this incredibly destructive practice for what it is, a crime. It is a crime against nature, and Massey and all companies that participate in this crime, including the banks that fund it, are held accountable. It is long past the time to end mountaintop removal forever.
-James “Guin” McGuinness
So what about that cake?
That’s good news for now.
I think it was giving him the “willies” that we was gonna have to set in a jail that was sitting onto of a reclaimed coal mines!
Em about your comment on me to stand in front of the children and tell them that my husbands job caused them to have their illness, well my husband wanted to know if you were gonna stand in front of all those unborn babies that are resting with MY GOD and tell them oh, “it was okay to kill you guys”. Although I didn’t want to mention that.
Since you mentioned MY GOD in your post directed to me earlier, EM, I am not perfect by no mean, yes I sin but I am glad I have an advocate with MY GOD that I can go to him and ask his forgivness. I know We all could do better and I never mentioned MY GOD in my post from today, so don’t question my salvation because what I have with MY GOD is between him and me, and only us not YOU! On the day of Judgement, I hope I can stand before him and say Lord, I was just an humble servent and I hope and pray that I did what I can to make it into Heaven and EM if I don’t then well that is the best that I could do if he hold me and my husband both accountable for what we are doing then well I guess half of WV is going to hell aren’t they EM? I work to provide a life for my child, my husband works (WALKER MACHINERY IN LOGAN IF YOU WANT TO GO THERE EM AND TELL THE BOSS THAT WHAT HE IS DOING IS GONNA SEND HIS SOUL TO HELL, I CAN CALL HIM IN THE MORNING AND LET HIM KNOW YOUR COMING IF YOU WANT SO HE CAN BE THERE TO WELCOME YOU) to provide the best life he can for me, him and my son and there is nothing wrong with that. But I will ask several preachers over the weekend and get back with you on Monday morning to let you know what they said…
Have a wonderful nite Ms. EM
Amen, James! keep fighting!
God Bless You, James. You are doing God’s Work. I will continue to pray for your safety and freedom. Thank you for all you do to save our mountains.
Thanks Em, You can hold off on the cake for now! As to Raychal, the jail is not a deterrent. If you did your research, you would know I have spent a few days there already. Not a problem. And if need be, I will spend more time there. But it is Massey and the people blowing up the mountains that should be jailed. Violating the Clean Air and Clean Water Act is a federal crime. So they would not even necessarily be stuck in a jail on a mountain top removal site. They could go to a federal prison, which should be much more comfortable.
In their Mid-Atlantic Regional Assessment, the Environmental Protection Agency states: “The impact of mountaintop removal on nearby communities is devastating. Dynamite blasts needed to splinter rock strata are so strong they crack the foundations and walls of houses. Mining dries up an average of 100 wells a year and contaminates water in others. In many coalfield communities, the purity and availability of drinking water are keen concerns.”
So if the EPA knows the impact then why are they letting them get away with this…..the only logical explanation is because of money and greed to that extent is sickening.
I mean why are our soldiers overseas fighting? What are they fighting for? There is not going to be anything left.
Thank you for what you are doing James. The coal companies need to be held responsible. :O)
Raychel:
Laws are laws Raychel. I understand you are proud of your family providing. As you should be. There is nothing wrong with that. Living in Logan county I am sure there are “slim pickings” for fining employment. The people that are ruining people’s lives are breaking the law and have repeatably gotten by with it. You defending that will not satisfy you conscience. If all I had to feed my children was surface mining, I would have to do it too. Two wrongs don’t make a right though. I can understand the fear of being unemployed if you spoke against it but to go out of your way to defend it is sad.
You guys rock. Stay strong and keep up the fight.
MountainWitch:
It doesn’t bother me or my husband one bit to know that he works for Walker Machinery, it doesn’t bother me or him that he services hose trailers and long wall trailers to these mines.
If you think it’s sad well thats your opinon I don’t see it as sad. I do defend these men and women the same that you guys defend your cause. If these jobs are what me and my husband wants to do for a living then that is alright in mine and his eyes and if we can lay our heads on our pillows at night and sleep then something must be alright otherwise we would be up all night worrying if we were doing the right thing but we are not doing that.
IAgain if you think it’s sad well that’s your opinion and you can have an opinion, I just disagree with you and that is alright too.
Have a wonderful evening and God Bless You All.
I’ll be damned, Willie Nelson is against coal too??? Oh wait, that’s not Willie he bathe’s! I have lived under a MTR site for over 15 years, not one crack in my foundation or walls. None of the neighbors has had any problems, no kids are sick! BULLSHIT LIES IS ALL THIS SITE IS ABOUT!!!!!
You’ll never leave brusy alive……your time is coming. I’m glad no one is sick and none of you have had any problems but I am not lying and why would I have any reason to lie. All you have to do is fly over to see the devastation or get the water from some of the wells that people have to use and have it tested. For that matter if you have city water it might still be a good idea to have it tested. The physical effects of toxins sometimes cannot be seen for many, many years. It might even be that you won’t see them for yourself in your lifetime but the effects are real and they will be seen and felt and why do we have the right to do that to the next generations? We don’t. I don’t get why you think we would lie. Nothing absolutely nothing to gain from lying. Do you think I want to see people lose their jobs….damn, that is so far from the truth. I know that has to be a constant stress for you miners. Even without us protesting MTR I know you have to always plan for that next lay off. I know what it is like to live paycheck to paycheck and have children that I have to provide for but sometimes the cost is not worth it. If there could be another job that pays good but does not cause the destruction MTR causes do you not think most miners would choose that. I talked to a miners wife today that told me her husband has enrolled in school and is taking classes and working in the mines because he knows the jobs is not forever and he “wants out”. She told me they feel like the mine owners don’t care about the miners and she told me that they don’t even provide the safe environment required by law. I listened…I didn’t judge her because her husband is a miner. But they both feel that mining in WV is going to be short lived and that MTR is horrible. She is not the only miners wife I have had a personal conversation with this week that feels the way we do. You know what else was surprising none of the conversations were hostile or mean.
I can’t see if he felt that mining was horrible that he didn’t just quit and find something else in the meantime while he was in school. And if they knew they didn’t provide a safe environment to the miner’s why they didn’t report the mine or do something about it. No mining isn’t going to be forever here in WV the resources will run out eventually but it wont be for awhile and if the man felt this way towards mining why don’t he find something else, they are hiring everyday at Wal-Mart, car dealerships, grocery stores , etc(just some examples) sure these places wont offer the same amount of pay as I am sure working in the mines does but it could work for awhile until he finished his schooling and got another job in the field he went to school for doing something he enjoyed.
Some men enjoy working in the mining industry whether it be underground, surface or whatever it be. No one is making these men go out here and work for the mines and I feel that the man or the others that Em spoke to, if they felt this way, then why be miserable working for some place that your not happy at. If I felt that working in the funeral home business was horrible then I would get out of it and move on to something else until I found something I enjoyed.
I am not being mean or nothing I just was stating stating an opinion.
I hope these men that are not happy will be able to find something they enjoy and be able to provide for their families.
Oh and by the way James…I think the picture looks REGAL!!
Can somebody please tell me why it would be a BAD thing to mine underground opposed to MTR? Simple fix right?
Years ago, you had a thick seam of coal and now you may be lucky to get a good 18 inch seam of coal underground, and basically the roof has to be supported and now it just isn’t supported with that inch of a seam. Coal seams catch on fire and burn to the outside which is not a good thing to have happen.
The outside of a mine has to be faced up and well you have to blast rock to face one up. And the coal and slate that comes from an underground mine, well it just can’t be left there it has to go somewhere also which in turns to a slate dump which will be called a valleyfield also.
These presidents of a coal mine is not going to waste their time on a low seam of coal when they can get better coal otherways, if they can’t get it MTR, they would just go out west to where it would be more of a good seam of coal. And if it was so easy to get to underground, don’t you think they would have gotten it years ago?
My father worked underground for 22 1/2 years had slate fall upon slate fall’s on his back, ended up with a “rare Lung disease” which in disguise is black lung but no doctor will diagnos it as that but come on it doesn’t take a genius to figure that one out.
There are bad points to underground mining as their is to MTR or contour mining if I had to pick my choice well I would choose MTR over both the other two choices.
That is just a few points….Have a wonderful nite. GO EERS!
Raychel:
Those same contaminates that poisoned your grandfather are being blown up into air from MTR. It doesn’t take genius to figure out the ramifications of that one either. Massey has commercials on the radio now looking for experienced underground coal miners. They opened two new underground mines at Coal River not too long ago. So I guess they like to mine that way too. Peabody sent out a statement to their stock brokers about not having to worry about they pressure on MTR right now. They assured them they could always extract it underground. I don’t think many have to worry about the coal companies going east if they are forced to be responsible.
MountainWitch, I say if they can mine underground then have at it. James Miliam from Walker/CAT told his men that they would feel the effects if MTR went under but not too bad. I just feel that the dust underground is worse on a man or woman than mining MTR. My comment on going out west was just a comment made that I had heard from a coal miner not too long ago so that was just a statement. We have resources here in WV whether it be underground, MTR, contour or however and those resources aren’t going to run out until it’s time….So proud of My Mountaineers tonite!
Responsibility is what it’s all about Raychel. Never will it be ok to people’s well being over a companies profit. I never thought it would be allowed in America. It saddens me that things have went as far as they have.
Correction: Never will it be ok to put companie’s profit’s over people’s well being.
eM, you never answered. Do you drink bottled water?
In all the above discussion I must have missed the detail of property ownership. Who actually owns the property? If someone trys to come onto my property without my consent and mine my coal I will file a law suite. Oh, that’s right , the property isn’t yours and these guys mining upstream have to meet higher standarrds than the timber industry!
Decide what your protesting 1st. Then think through why you would. Do you really have a dog in the hunt? Can you discuss the issue inteligently? Email me and we can discuss. rward123456789@yahoo.com
Actually today is the first day in many, many months I’ve drank bottled water. I have a bottle that I fill every morning and put a slice of lemon in and bring to work. If I do use a plastic bottle I save it and put it in the recycle bin. Not only mine but all my students leave their cans and plastics sitting on a shelf and I rinse them and recycle them all. I put all my recyclable plastics in the bins provided through out the county. I know I’m gonna leave some footprint but at least I give a damn and I’m trying. You know that is all most of us “tree huggers” are asking is that people be aware of the damage we as humans are doing and care and try to do something. We can’t fight every fight all the time but we can fight one or two until we win that one and move on to the next. It’s the blatant disregard for the safe keeping of this planet that angers me even when faced with fact after fact after fact of what we are doing. It’s the “I don’t give a damn as long as I have mine” that sickens me. It’s just not okay to not care. No one can convince me of that and if you care it’s not okay to sit by idly and do nothing to try and fix it.
You must have something bothering you eM. I never said anything about recycling. I just wanted to inform you that bottled water found in studies show that it is no safer or healthier to drink than tap water. Boy you really must be having a bad week. You know what can help? Have some peace of mind with your Maker!
Progress miner you should have clarified yourself. I know bottled water is not better than tap but that depends on where your tap water originates. Yes, I was having a bad week. Disgusted with humans in general but you’re definitely right. I needed some time to meditate and reflect on the positive and I’m feeling a little better. Thanks for your concern.
MountainWitch, you’r question on March 26 was answered on the evening of April 4th 2010.
Watcher, the question she asked and I answered broke my heart that it came to pass. I don’t want to point out anything to get self gain on this website, because as all of are right now, we are shocked, hurt and angry that this had to happen and 29 lives were lost but I gotta say this.
During the March to the final four, Em posted that the ballplayers, COach Huggin or anyone else on that WVU basketball game could give a crap about me or the state of WV, but if anyone watched the news which I am sure we all did, I saw Coach Huggins getting off of a helicopter with two big bowls of homemade Pasta , a duffelbag full of WVU basketball shirts and several other items, that he brought for those families of the men inside the mine, now if that wasn’t showing some compassion for this state and the people in it, I don’t know what it was.
As I type this tears are rolling down my face, because I have seen things that I wished I would have never seen during all this, things that I pray none of these families wont ever see.
You see, two things that I stated on this board came to pass, one thing that happened that I wished would have happened and the second about COach Huggins, well he has a heart and he needs to be given credit where credit is due, I thank him from the bottom of my heart for coming down to Raliegh County to spend the hour or hour and half that he spent with these families, I thank him for having compassion and thank him for all he does for our state.
If there is anything I have learned during this time, it’s not to take life for granted, love your family and be there for them, tell them you love them no matter if it’s just to go to the mailbox and back because NONE of us is promised a tomorrow.
EM, I hope that your dear friend and the families that you knew will be comforted in the days to come, if there is anything I can do please don’t hessitate to let me know. MountainWitch, I hope you had no one in that mine that you knew or no friends of those miners you knew and if so I wish them peace and I wish them to be comforted in times like these. MountainWitch, I know you will never see eye to eye with me on MTR but I do think it’s better than undergound mining ten to one. May these men that perished find the sun, stars and God and may their families have the peace and the comfort that they so deserve right now.
James, I am wondering what exactly you are being charged for. I’ve been reading the CGZ updates and must have missed the event. I don’t know if you remember me, but I came from MN to the Coal River Mountain Protest in December.
I just can’t help my self so I have to say; Aside from MTR being a complete serious issue, I found the citizen arrest warrant to be completely imaginative and, well, funny. I’m not sure you had anything to do with that, but I bet Chris and Don were pissed. -
Always thinking of you and yours
Kate
I think it was giving him the “willies” that we was gonna have to set in a jail that was sitting onto of a reclaimed coal mines!