West Virginia Blue
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President Bill Clinton to Visit Beckley on Saturday
BECKLEY, WV - The Obama-Biden campaign announced Thursday that President Bill Clinton will visit Beckley, WV on Saturday, November 1st. President Clinton's visit to the Mountain State will focus on Barack Obama's commitment to bring the change West Virginia families need, create jobs, and turn around the economy.
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 1st
Beckley, WV
CHANGE WE NEED RALLY WITH PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON
Word Memorial Park
corner of Neville Street and Leslie Gates Place (downtown Beckley)
Beckley, WV 25801
Media Pre-set: 6:00 AM to 7:00 AM (Equipment must be dropped at the site by 7:00 AM; media will not have access to their equipment from 7:00 AM to 9:00 AM).
Media Access: 9:00 AM
Doors Open: 9:00 AM
Throw: 50 ft
Cable Run: 200 ft
Live truck parking: Word Park parking lot, exact spaces directed on site
Press Entrance: Word Park parking lot, vehicle exit
The event is free and open to the public. Tickets are not required, however, an RSVP is strongly encouraged. To RSVP please visit http://wv.barackobama.com/Beck...
Parking is very limited, please carpool if possible. For more information please contact the Beckley West Virgina Obama-Biden HQ at 304-881-6514.
Media Coverage: The event is open to the press. For credentials, please visit www.barackobama.com/mediarsvp.
***For security reasons do not bring bags or umbrellas and please limit personal items. No signs or banners allowed.***
We've got Big Daddy Byrd and Big Dawg Clinton campaigning for Barack Obama in West Virginia. This is an autumn to remember.
President Bill Clinton to Visit Beckley on Saturday
BECKLEY, WV - The Obama-Biden campaign today released details about President Bill Clinton's visit to Beckley, WV on Saturday, November 1st. President Clinton's visit to the Mountain State will focus on Barack Obama's commitment to bring the change West Virginia families need, create jobs, and turn around the economy.
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 1st
Beckley, WV
CHANGE WE NEED RALLY WITH PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON
Word Memorial Park
corner of Neville Street and Leslie Gates Place (downtown Beckley)
Beckley, WV 25801
Doors Open: 9:00 AM
The event is free and open to the public. Tickets are not required, however, an RSVP is strongly encouraged. To RSVP please visit http://wv.barackobama.com/Beck...
Parking is very limited, please carpool if possible. For more information please contact the Beckley West Virginia Campaign for Change HQ at 304-881-6514.
Mayor Emmett Pugh of Beckley Endorses Obama for President
Lifelong Resident Says Obama is the Change Small Town Folks Need So Washington will start working for them
Beckley, WV - Today Mayor Emmett Pugh announced his support of Senator Barack Obama for President. In a press conference held in front of his office, Mayor Pugh, a lifelong resident of Beckley, cited Senator Obama's ability to unite this country, bring back people's faith in government and provide relief to middle class Americans as reasons for lending his support to Obama.
"Barack Obama is the only candidate who can restore people's trust and faith in government. Washington is rife with partisan politics and we need change. We need to fix what's wrong with the country and Senator Obama understands you need Democrats, Independents and Republicans to do it.
"I've lived in a small town all my life and I know that people are tired of politicians who stand for special interests instead of our interests. Senator Obama is the only candidate who has refused money from lobbyists and PACs in Washington and he is the only candidate who's proposed a genuine middle-class tax cut that's paid for in part by closing corporate loopholes and shutting down tax havens. Obama will fight for the people of West Virginia," said Mayor Pugh.
From another email:
Obama for America Announces West Virginia Veterans for Obama Steering Committee
Steering Committee Members to Hold Conference Call Today at 2:00 Eastern
CHARLESTON, WV -Senator Barack Obama's Presidential campaign today announced the membership of the West Virginia Veterans for Obama Steering Committee. The steering committee includes veterans from the Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force who have served their country in conflicts ranging from World War II to the ongoing war in Iraq.
Today at 2:00 p.m. Eastern, members of the West Virginia Veterans for Obama Steering Committee will hold a conference call with West Virginia reporters to talk about the importance of veteran's issues when West Virginians cast their ballots in the Presidential primary on Tuesday, May 13. West Virginia has the second largest veterans' population per capita in the United States.
WHO:
· Delegate John Doyle, U.S. Army and Vietnam veteran
· Former Delegate Lyle Sattes, Vietnam veteran and life member, VFW and American Legion
· Jack Tincher, statewide veterans leader and present Chairman, WV Veterans Coalition
Obama's campaign also had a friend of his from the coal industry and the Illinois state legislature meeting with coal miners today.
Audrey Stanton wrote a great article about Barack Obama's visit to Beckely in Friday's edition of the Beckley Register Herald. The article gives us a nice summation of how Barack handled himself with guestions from the audience. The article can be read by clicking here. A couple of questions and answers that demonstrate how Senator Obama responded to questions can be read below.
Regarding gas prices...
For instance, when Nelson Staples of Beckley asked him how he planned to lower the cost of gasoline in the United States, Obama responded with an answer that included investing in alternative fuel research, investing in refinery capacities, having a more sensible policy in the Middle East, strengthening the value of the dollar by improving the economy, charging polluters and creating more fuel-efficient vehicles in the United States.
“But the hard truth is, the only way to, in the long term, reduce gas prices is to reduce demand,” Obama said.
“ ... So, in the meantime, what kind of car do you drive?” he asked Staples.
The laughter from those sitting around the Beckley resident gave him away even before he answered: “An Escalade.”
Obama shrugged his shoulders and widened his eyes.
“I’m sorry,” Obama said, “but this is what I’m talking about right here.”
Regarding the Clean Air Act and the effect non enforcement by the Bush Administration has effected the environment in West Virginia....
Another resident, who claimed a stream near his home was polluted by coal mining, asked for help.
“I want a strong enforcement of the Clean Water Act,” Obama said, “and I will make sure that the head of the Environmental Protection Agency believes in the environment and ... enforces the Clean Water Act and the Clean Air Act.”
He summed up his position on environmental issues when answering a question regarding logging and mining in our state...
Chad Foreman of Fayetteville asked Obama how he could help the state strike a balance between the environmental damage caused by the coal and logging industries and the environmental concerns of eco-tourism.
“The truth is, we don’t have perfect energy sources,” Obama said, adding that even though he supports wind energy, he is aware windmills threaten migratory birds. “Every source of energy has some problems. .... There are ways of removing coal that work well ... in a way that does not degrade the environment. But there are other companies tearing stuff up. The key for us has to be to work with those companies that are engaging in the best practices and understanding that over time everybody has an investment in the environment of West Virginia. ... But we have to do it in a way that does not completely eliminate the industry that provides a livelihood for a lot of people. We have to make a transition to clean energies, but it’s not going to happen overnight.”
Obama has stated that, as president, he intends to put an aggressive renewable energy plan into place that would, by 2020, make 25 percent of the nation’s energy come from alternative sources
Audrey's article is an excellent report on Obama's Town Hall Meeting. I would also complement the Obama Team for doing a great job of setting up the stage with random attendees sitting behind the podium and getting the mike to folks that Obama called on to ask questions. This kind of organization is something that sets his campaign apart from others.
Parkersburg native (but raised in Beckley) Morgan Spurlock's next film is titled "Where in the world is Osama bin Laden?" The director of the documentary "Super Size Me" may have done something that George W. Bush said he didn't put much thought into doing. The rumor in the film industry is Spurlock may have found Osama bin Laden.
I was at Sundance in 2004 when Morgan Spurlock took over the festival with his documentary Super Size Me. Four years later, Spurlock returns to Park City with Where In The World Is Osama Bin Laden?, a film documenting the director's search for the most wanted man on the planet. The Weinstein Co quickly snapped up the documentary, after seeing only 15 minutes at the Berlin Film Festival. Distributors who saw the footage were asked to sign draconian nondisclosure agreements.
Many people are speculating that Spurlock may have done what the U.S. government has been unable to do, and actually found Bin Laden. The film's director of photography, Daniel Marricone added fuel to the fire, telling the press that Spurlock "definitely got the holy grail."
For 30 years, Congressman Nick J. Rahall II, a Beckley native, has championed countless efforts to brighten the future of southern West Virginia.
Rahall has accumulated an impressive list of accomplishments as he has worked to improve the region’s infrastructure, develop its economy and protect its natural resources.
In the 1970s and ’80s, Rahall wrote legislation which created the largest network of federally protected rivers in the eastern United States, ensuring large tracts of the New and Gauley rivers would be preserved for generations.
He has spearheaded legislation that provided funding to reduce environmental threats associated with old mine sites and to reclaim abandoned mine properties.
In the late 1990s, he established the Rahall Transportation Institute, a consortium of five southern West Virginia colleges, for the purpose of improving transportation systems in West Virginia.
snip
In an effort to provide better economic opportunities to southern West Virginians, Rahall has secured millions of dollars for the construction of new technology centers at Concord University, Lewisburg, Beckley and Hinton.
In 2006, Rahall pushed mining safety legislation through Congress and brought together a $4 million Mine Safety Technology Consortium in order to make mining safer and healthier.
snip
“I am humbled and highly honored to receive the Spirit of Beckley Award and to join a long list of distinguished Beckleyans who have receive this award in the past,” said Rahall. “It reminds me of my deep roots in Beckley — from a pioneer grandfather who started on a shoestring in the promising town of Beckley. It makes me emotional considering our faith and the freedom we have had to grow and learn as Beckleyans.”
I hate reading stories like this because it makes me so envious that in WV-02 with Rep. Shelley Moore Capito we don't have a Congressional representative as good and effective as Nick Rahall.
We're not supposed to covet what our neighbors in WV-03 have, but I wish we had a Nick Rahall to represent us in WV-02. I don't agree with him on every issue, but I do on a heck of a lot of things.
Millions of dollars meant to trigger key provisions of the federal MINER Act, a sweeping coal safety law inspired largely by tragedies in his home state, have been landed by Sen. Robert C. Byrd of West Virginia.
Byrd’s efforts resulted in $13 million beyond what President Bush suggested to enhance the ability of the Mine Safety and Health Administration to perform all mandatory inspections, train new inspectors, expedite the issuance of standards and regulations on belt-air and refuge chambers and improve the transfer of technology.
“We have seen some progress since the MINER Act was passed, but too many delays,” Byrd, a Democrat, said. “The longer there are delays in implementing the new federal standards, the longer coal miners’ lives are placed needlessly at risk. We’ve got to take steps to save lives. The longer we wait to make positive changes in mine safety, the more risk coal miners face on the job.”
snip
Byrd said the funding assures that MSHA can perform its mission in mine safety so that the welfare of workers won’t be “compromised for personal profit or politics.”
“I am proud to be leading the fight to protect our miners; it is a moral responsibility and will not stop until I know that miners and their families have the best protections and the best safety enforcement possible,” the senator said.
Entire story well worth a read. Keep in mind the rightwingers of the GOP would just as well let the mine owners write the mine safety regulations and do away with safety enforcement.
BECKLEY, W.Va. — Although the Korean War officially ended nearly 54 years ago, the fight, for many veterans who served on the front lines, has continued as they struggled to gain recognition for what is often referred to as “the forgotten war.”
With Sunday’s opening of the Korean War Memorial in downtown Sophia, however, members of Chapter 156 of the Korean War Veterans say they hope to raise awareness of the war that left 54,246 dead, including 801 West Virginians.
“How do you forget 54,000-plus soldiers that died?” KWVA State President Frank Goff asked those who attended the dedication. “We’re a forgotten people. We don’t want the world or America to forget that we did have a war and we did fight for a cause.”
snip
Keynote speaker Congressman Nick Rahall praised the town of Sophia and everyone responsible for the construction of the monument, which he said will ensure “the bravery and sacrifices of men and women in the Korean War will be remembered for a long time to come.”
“It’s quite a moving event to have recognition of those who fought in the Korean War,” Rahall said. “It reminds us all of the sacrifices veterans of all wars have made for this country.”
It took 10 years of planning for this monument that comes 55 years after the cease fire truce was signed in Korea. I wonder how long it will be until we have a monument to those killed in Iraq and Afghanistan?
South Central Labor Council to hold March meeting at the new
Fayette Hills Unity Apartments, Oak Hill
The South Central Labor Council meets regularly at the UMWA hall in Beckley, second Tuesday of each month, 7:00 pm.
On Tuesday, March 13, 2007 the 7:00 pm meeting will be held in Oak Hill at Fayette Hills Unity Apartments, located at 300 High Street South. (Across from Advance Auto Parts which is located at 1650 Main Street turn onto Glendale Ave. Turn left onto High Street at the four-way intersection and the building is at the end of the street.)
An open house of the fixed income housing will make viewing the spacious living facility available for all union members and their families attending the meeting.
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