The Morgantowner: coal

Thursday, August 6, 2015

Coal, The Iran Deal, and The Republican Debate

Part One: Coal

There was an opinion piece yesterday, August 5, in The Gazette-Mail, Charleston's daily newspaper from Kevin Crutchfield, CEO of Alpha Natural Resources, a coal-mining company, crying about how the bankrupt company can't be sold to a company in Kentucky unless it stops paying pensions and providing health insurance to retirees. According to Chris Regan's blog (homeyesterday.com), in a post from August 3, Crutchfield received a two million dollar bonus this year, and six million total in 2011 and 2012.

Meanwhile, President Obama came out this week with new guidelines for carbon pollution to combat global warming, air pollution and the high incidence of asthma, particularly among young people who live near coal-burning facilities.

According to our local politicians, particularly our Republican Congressman David McKinley and our newly-elected Republican Senator Shelley Moore Capito, but also our Democratic Senator Joe Manchin III, Obama is the villain. The health of people in the United States, and particularly in West Virginia, comes second to the lining the pockets of coal company executives. Meanwhile the bankrupt companies want to back out of their contracts to provide for retirees, and want to sell out their union workforce to non-union companies. This year, they convinced our Republican-dominated legislature to ease safety regulations for the mines.

Educated people and anyone wanting a chance for a real life have been leaving West Virginia for decades. Whole neighborhoods in northwest Baltimore, near where I grew up, were inhabited by "hillbillies," as we called them in our ignorance when I was a teen. In the 2010 census, forty of our fifty-five counties had lost population over the previous ten years. And yet coal millionaires ask for tax cuts and buy Republican officeholders (and many Democrats) to make sure the health of the planet, and the well-being of workers and their communities are not considered. Everything is the fault of Obama and the EPA.

President Obama has offered to help retrain workers and bring new industry to the coalfields. He has been so demonized here that no one will listen. When we came here in 2012, there were signs everywhere that said "Stop Obama's War On Coal." I understand fear of change and economic insecurity. I wish someone could reach out to people who are pro-coal - and I see lots of "Friend of Coal" decals on cars- and explain to them how they are being used, in a way they might understand. Once in a while I see a sticker that says "Friend of Coal Miners," and I think that is something that needs to be emphasized.

Part Two: The Iran Deal

There has been a split in the Jewish community about the Iran deal. Again, Obama is blamed by many traditional Jewish organizations, and certainly by Prime Minister Netanyahu in Israel, of caving in to Iran and not stopping a deal. Of course, the deal is not just the United States and Iran, but includes Britain, France, Germany, the European Union, Russia and China. People opposed to the deal want the United States to take unilateral action, maybe even to go to war against the regime in Iran. President Obama warned that these are the same people who pushed for war in Iraq.

I get that Iran has a terrible government. But I also understand that the United States does not, at this time, have the power to effectively engage Iran in war, even if we wanted to. Our allies in Europe would not support us. It is time to acknowledge that we must work with other countries, our allies particularly, but even Iran. Killing off a bunch of people we think are different from us is an American tradition, going back to Colonial days, but I've known people from Iran- yes, mostly Jews who fled, but others, too- and I don't see them as different from us. As we approach the anniversary of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, I know that war should be absolutely off the table. Is everything 100% verifiable in this treaty? I don't know. But I have to trust that a consortium of nations came up with a workable deal.

Part Three: The Republican Debate

So the Republicans are debating tonight. We don't have a television, but if we did, I wouldn't watch Fox. Not one Republican of the Top Ten has had anything positive to say about the rights of LGBT people or is in favor of my marriage. That alone is reason enough to not watch them. As far as threatening to shut down the government for funding Planned Parenthood, they should be tried for treason.

I cleaned up my political act for my spouse, Rabbi Joe, when he was applying for pulpit positions in 2012. He doesn't take a public stand on political issues, although some wish he would. He and I don't agree about everything political. If you look at the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, you will find that my positions follow those of our religious movement. I'm less diplomatic in my verbiage.

Thursday, July 23, 2015

Welcome to The Morgantowner - Boone County, West Virginia

I'm starting a new blog today, and calling it "The Morgantowner," since I'm now co-owner of a home in Morgantown with my spouse, Rabbi Joe Hample. Owning a home means we plan to stay here for the forseeable future. I expect to continue to write about my travels, about politics nationally and in West Virginia, and about my personal journey. My previous blogs, "Barry's Excellent Adventure," about our life from January 2010 to July 2012 in Crescent City, California, and "Year Three Morgantown" about our third year in town are both available online at http://www.barrywendell.blogspot.com and www.yearthreemorgantown.blogspot.com respectively. The Crescent City blog is available as a book titled Barry's Crescent City Blog. I have a few copies left. Send $20 to P.O. Box 831, Morgantown, WV 26507 and I'll mail back a copy. I'm on Facebook as "Barry Wendell," although there are others with that name there. On Twitter, I'm "Barry Lee Wendell." One could e-mail me at rebnermwv@gmail.com. Welcome to "The Morgantowner."

I've been visiting one county monthly since we moved to Morgantown in July 2012. All the counties should be within three hundred miles (500 kilometers) of Morgantown, regardless of what state they are in. I'm going in alphabetical order, more or less. I'm behind by two months because I was ill in January and the weather was so bad I couldn't get out in February. I understand what the word "compulsive" means.

I'm just back from May's county, Boone, West Virginia. It's 187 miles from Monongalia County's courthouse in Morgantown to Boone County's in Madison. I stayed at The Oak Tree Inn, part of a chain I had not heard of before. There didn't seem to be any place to stay in Madison or Danville, the two biggest towns in the county.

I started in Whitesville. From Charleston, it's about forty miles south to Whitesville, a coal mining town far down State Road 3, a two-lane highway that runs through Boone County.

Whitesville has a real downtown. Most of the storefronts are vacant, many with yellow signs in the windows that say "2015. Let's turn this town around." I stopped for gas at the one station. They had a convenience store and a lunch counter in the back of the station. The local elementary school is on The National Register of Historic Places. There is also an imposing monument to the twenty-nine coal miners killed in an explosion at The Upper Big Branch Mine in 2010.

Comfort, where the motel is located, is midway, about twenty miles each way, between Whitesville and Madison, the county seat. In addition to the motel, there are two gas stations, a convenience store with a chain sub shop and a pizza place. I saw a sign-in sheet at the motel for railroad employees.

Madison has a beautiful courthouse and a Main St. containing mostly social service agencies. The big old bank building is now the public library. There are two chain grocery stores between Danville and Madison and many fast-food restaurants. There is a small strip mall. I found a family-run Chinese restaurant for dinner. The waitress spoke fine English, but she wrote my order on her ticket in Chinese characters. I wanted to ask how her family came to live there, where there isn't any kind of minority community.

Boone County is more than 98% white, according to the 2010 census. There are lots of churches. Coal is king. In fact, a historic marker on Route 3 notes the location of the first coal mine in West Virginia. I saw the rail cars loaded with coal, passed several mines along the road. I visited Nellis, a small town on the National Register, an early coal company town. I didn't go south of Madison, but I could see that there were lots of small towns on the map down Route 85.

Boone County is beautiful, set in the mountains along Big and Little Coal River, not far from flood stage in this rainy summer. I could see why someone from there would want to stay, and I understand the antipathy to environmental regulations that would negatively impact the coal industry. Still, most of Boone County looked impoverished, particularly Whitesville. The highway through there was crowded with big trucks bringing coal to market. Someone is making money there. It just doesn't seem to be the residents.

I was worried about how I would be treated. There are reports that "outsiders" have been threatened in some of the coal counties of Southern West Virginia just for taking pictures. In Boone County, everyone I spoke to was friendly, upbeat and helpful.

I left the morning after I arrived. I had stopped at McDonald's for an iced tea on the way out of town. The car I parked next to had two bumper stickers. One was from the United Mine Workers. The other said "Don't blame me. I voted for the old white guy." I thought to myself that Romney (the old white guy) would have done everything he could to destroy the miners' union. A few homes had Confederate flags on their porches, the residents being obviously unclear about why West Virginia exists. There were also "Don't Tread On Me" Tea Party flags around. My impression is that most of the people in Boone County aren't that political, but just working hard to maintain their life.

Here are the pics: