March 21, 2007
 
OPEN LETTER FROM DAVE COOPER: Protesters Arrested at Capitol Rally
 
Dear Friends of the Appalachian Mountains:
 
As part of the activities for Mountain Justice Spring Break, students and coalfield residents held a rally in the West Virginia State Capitol on Friday, March 16, 2007 to ask for a new safe school for the children at Marsh Fork Elementary School in Sundial, West Virginia.
 
The Marsh Fork school is located next to a huge coal processing plant, and there is also a 2.8 billion-gallon coal sludge pond above the school, similar to the one which failed in Martin County Kentucky in October 2000, sending 300 million gallons of coal sludge into two streams. The same company (Massey Energy) operates both coal sludge ponds in Sundial, WV and Martin County, KY.
 
We want a new safe school built for the children and we have been working with the Governor of West Virginia, Joe Manchin, for over two years now. We have been stalled and delayed for two years and we feel that this is a situation requiring immediate action.
 
13 people were arrested on Friday during the sit-in - Here are the two videos, both are about 5 minutes long and well worth the time to watch:
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8vYJhADxQ4
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vv4Yz2PEsJ0
 
Please call, write or email the Governor to ask him for a new school for the children at Marsh Fork. It is extremely important that Gov. Manchin hear from people from all over America on this issue, not just West Virginians (Gov. Manchin has aspirations for higher office).
 
Here is Gov. Manchin's contact info (handwritten letters are best):
 
Gov. Joe Manchin
1900 Kanawha Blvd East
Charleston WV 25305
(888) 438 2731
 
email:
governor@wvgov.org
 
For more information and photos about Marsh Fork School, go to:
 
www.penniesofpromise.org
 
For photos of the rally and the subsequent arrests:
 
http://www.ohvec.org/galleries/people_in_action/2007/03_16/index.html
 
Thanks friends!
 
Dave Cooper