Letters

Editor, Appalacian Voice,

My name is Denver Mitchell and I am writing this letter because I am concerned about how the coal companies are raping our land and tearing up our mountains. I think it is a shame that the people in the valleys aren’t fighting against this more. When we went to grade school, we were taught that anytime you move the vegetation off the mountain tops, it’s going to cause flash flooding in the low lands. I can’t understand why these people are issuing permits to the big corporations like Massey Energy and not making them take responsibility for our water ways and streams. Sure as I’m sitting here, there are going to be lives lost because of mountain top removal. I’m not against a man working but there is a right way and a wrong way of doing things. I hope the people in the valleys will wake up to what is happening or they may just wake up to realize their families will be floating in the creek with an ocean of water. We know that one big tree will absorb around 50 gallons of water. I hope you read this letter in good faith.

Sincerely,

Denver Mitchell
Wilkinson, WV

Editor, Appalacian Voice,

I read “Pagoda Beacon of Peace” {article by Andie Brymer} with some interest, as I was born in India, lived there for about thirteen years — happily (father was in the Army Educational Corps, and I’m mainly Scottish/Irish.)

We all wish for peace… perhaps not peace at any price, and I trust this shall slowly be attained as increasingly, poorer nations achieve prosperity.

I feel the “Peace Movement” is something all (except a very few “kooks”) people desire. I’m glad businesses are getting back to normal — in the main, in Iraq, and am saddened that back in India, certain beautiful areas in the Himalayan foothills, are now off limits to the public as the Indian Army has acquired them — places I knew as the most beautiful places anywhere in the world.

But, thank you for your article.
Sincerely,

Alan M. Webb
Kingsport, TN