2006 – Issue 2 (April)
Bush proposes sale of national forest lands across US
President George Bush’s proposed sale of 300,000 acres forest service lands may have been just a trial balloon for a larger land sale, as Rep. Rick Boucher (D-VA) suggested in late March. But the balloon seems to be deflating quickly. Most of the Appalachian region’s governors, senators and representatives speaking on the issue have opposed…
Read MorePresident Theodore Roosevelt
One hundred years ago, President Theodore Roosevelt worked with Congress to ADD land to our national forests. “ I am gravely concerned at the extremely unsatisfactory condition of the public land laws and at the prevalence of fraud under their present provisions. For much of this fraud the present laws are chiefly responsible. In fairness…
Read MoreSpring Tonics and Appalachian Herbals
The Southern Appalachian Mountains forests contain a cornucopia of over four hundred medicinal herbs used by the Cherokee, including both native and introduced plants. Many of these herbs and their traditional medicinal uses were shared with the European settlers. The settlers often added their own additional European plants and use of alcohol tinctures. These plant…
Read MoreRemembering Carl Rutherford
Ain’t no grave holding Carl Rutherford down. In death as in life he’s still making people laugh out loud, and his music continues to carry on like a contagious smile. Which is mostly all he wanted. “I’d like to leave an afterglow of smiles when life is done,” he told his cousin, Hershel Muncy, before…
Read MoreLearning about Vultures with Kids
images/voice_uploads/vulture,-b-(flt)—P050522-.gif The author is an Associate Professor of English at Radford University in Radford, Va. The vultures have come back. They swirl and mix above me as I ride my bike home on Sundell Drive, though not much sun reaches this shady street and there are no farmers in this dell. Only vultures. And deer.…
Read MoreAppalachian resources: independence, culture and enlightenment
The United States of Appalachia: How Southern Mountaineers Brought Independence, Culture, and Enlightenment to America By Jeff Biggers. Shoemaker & Hoard. 238 pages. $26.00 In 1966, Appalachian scholar Robert Munn observed that “more nonsense has been written about the Southern Mountains than any comparable area in the United States.” In the years since Munn’s comment,…
Read MoreClean Smokestacks Bake Sale Helps Raise Awareness
At this rate, more than five million more bake sales would be needed to help American Electric Power company equip two aging electric power plants in Southwestern Virginia with modern pollution control systems. But since AEP has no plans to clean up their power plants, Appalachian Voices decided to lend a hand. “We thought we…
Read MoreVolunteers witness everyday tragedies, extraordinary hope in the coalfields
As our caravan wound northward from our homes in peaceful Boone, North Carolina, through the back roads toward the twisted hollows of southern West Virginia, we were reminded of why we love these mountains. But this wasn’t a sight-seeing trip. We were group of Appalachian Voices volunteers were going to a part of Appalachia that…
Read MoreAppalachian Voices Volunteer Update
Ending Mountaintop Removal Our volunteers and interns accomplished a lot this semester for our mountaintop removal campaign. So far this semester we held 5 volunteer nights where our volunteers made phone calls to members and activists across the country urging them to write their representatives and tell their families and friends about the devastating effects…
Read MoreAppalachian Spring
The end of a dark and difficult winter brings back moments of sorrow and horror like blasts of arctic wind. From the mines of West Virginia and Kentucky came news of tragedy that could have been averted. From federal appeals courts in Richmond and Knoxville came more grim news, as reckless procedures for permitting mountaintop…
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