In 1965 a Kentucky widow managed to drive the coal company from her land with what was called a “sit-in,” an early use of peaceful civil disobedience in Appalachia.
Today we tell the story of Ollie Combs of Knott County, Kentucky, and her fight to save her farm from strip-mining.
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“Strip-mining was both a blessing . . . .” A blessing? A BLESSING! Destruction of the land, destruction of graveyards, destruction of the water resources, destruction of homes, destruction of the culture, exploitation of the people by offering them dirt-low wages, removal of the resources in the mountains to enrich northeastern investors, treating parts of Kentucky and West Virginia as a third world country where the land and people were simply resources to be exploited and then abandoned. And on and on and on. Hmmm! You guys do great work which I value. But you are better than this.
Strip mining is a “blessing” in only one way: creation of jobs. It is a total disaster in every other way.
Our comment was meant as a bit of sarcasm, which it looks like we didn’t get across very well. Hope you keep listening.
I enjoy and value all of your stories. I will certainly continue to listen, even if I am perplexed with a word here or there.