After 10 years, the state EITC got its vote in Kentucky.

Madison County member Kim Stinson-Hawn got up early to listen to the school closings Wednesday.  As soon as she heard that she wouldn't be going to work that day, she got ready to come to Frankfort to testify on the Earned Income Tax Credit in HB 566.  Meanwhile, Northern Kentucky member Peter Meyer sandwiched a last-minute trip to Frankfort between travels from Northern Kentucky to Louisville and back to Northern Kentucky so that he could urge legislators to take this opportunity to tax the estate that he'll eventually inherit.  Thanks to the efforts of these members, ten years' worth of efforts from members and allies to build support for fair taxes, and Rep. Wayne's work with the committee chair, the House of Representatives now has an opportunity to pass a measure to make our tax system more fair with an EITC. 

HB 566 is a bill filed by Rep. Wayne and co-sponsored by Rep. Moberly.  It contains versions of two parts of KEJA's and Rep. Wayne's HB 262: a restored estate tax with an exemption level of $3.5 million and a 7.5% refundable state Earned Income Tax Credit.  The committee substitute exempts family farms and enacts the measure in 2010, when the state will start to see revenue from the estate tax. 

During the hearing, Rep. Moberly said, "I want to make sure that people understand what we're doing here.  It's a clear philosophical question: Do you want to tax estates over $3.5 million to give this credit to working people?"  Rep. Keith Hall from Pikeville answered by thanking Rep. Wayne for working on this bill. Looking at Stinson-Hawn, Hall said, "Kim, I'm on the *right* side this time.  I'm on your side." adding that he "can't wait to vote yes."   There was one vote against the bill, and one abstention, but the bill passed easily.

And this is a bill that should pass easily.  It only taxes a handful of estates, and only on their worth over and above $3.5 million.  Meyer told the committee, "I stand to inherit an estate, the vast majority of which has never been taxed. The luck of my parents accounts for the bulk of their estate. That estate even grew this year by 20% since I testified on January 22 of this year, and it has never been taxed.  It should be."

Further, the EITC in HB 566 will help more than 350,000 Kentucky families, that, like Stinson-Hawn's, are working hard to make ends meet.  Stinson-Hawn has a job that requires her to drive over a 5-county area in southeastern Kentucky, so it's essential to keep her 10-year-old car running.  "If this bill passes, the tax credit would go towards fixing the clutch in my car, which I need to help me keep my job," Stinson-Hawn testified. "There are so many needs and challenges that families like mine face."

A state EITC would help with these needs and challenges.  As it is, our tax system unfairly taxes lower-income Kentuckians.  The state EITC would help correct that unfairness.  And new research mentioned by KYA points out that .97 of every dollar of an EITC is funneled right back into the local economies of qualified families.  It's hard to imagine how a legislator would object to this bill.

Speaker Jody Richards, however, does object to this bill, citing that he is "afraid" of restoring the estate tax on estates worth more than $3.5 million, despite the help to the 350,000 families that would benefit from the credit. 

This is the second in a series of blog posts about the systematic lack of enforcement by the Kentucky Division of Mine Reclamation and Enforcement (DMRE).  The stories were compiled by members of Kentuckians For The Commonwealth living on Raccoon Branch near Hueysville in Floyd County. These stories are not unique to this community, but they have done a very good job documenting the abuses of the coal company mining around them and the willingness of the state DMRE to turn a blind eye to these dangerous and destructive abuses.  These same stories are happening in countless hollers and communities throughout the coalfields of eastern Kentucky.  You can read the first story here.

Apparently the DMRE does not believe a leaking settlement pond holding thousands of gallons of mud and water poses a threat to the people living below the pond. When the coal company did not repair the leak within the one month time frame specified in the violation notice, the DMRE refused to force a shutdown of the mine until the dangerous pond could be repaired, keeping nearby residents endangered by the risk of flooding.

This all started when one of Rick Handshoe’s neighbors, who would rather not be named, discovered water seeping into his yard. He suspected the water was coming from a large Miller Brothers Coal Co. settlement pond perched above his home. Dye tracing tests later performed by the state DMRE office confirmed his suspicion.

Settlement ponds are large impoundments coal companies construct in streams below every valley fill. The purpose of these impoundments is to collect the water and mud running off of the mine site and the valley fill into a small pond.  The mud and dirt then settles at the bottom of the pond. The ponds have a drainpipe near the top of the impoundment to allow the water to run out of the pond. The impoundments almost always have a rock drainage ditch as a secondary spillway to prevent the ponds from filling up and breaching.

It appeared to the DMRE inspectors that the pond at the head of Raccoon Creek was leaking either at the base of the impoundment wall or from underneath the impoundment. On October 1st, 2007, a DMRE inspector issued a violation and ordered Miller Brothers Coal Co. to stop the impoundment from leaking. The inspector gave the coal company a month resolve the problem.

Around December 15th, Rick Handshoe called the DMRE office to ask why the pond was still leaking,  and since the leak had not been stopped, why had the Miller Brothers’ coal mine not been ordered to shut down until this dangerous problem had been fixed?

The response Rick got was that about two weeks earlier, still after the one month deadline imposed by the DMRE inspector, Miller Brothers had poured about 76 bags of some sealing compound into the pond to attempt to stop the leak. When Rick pointed out to the person at the Prestonsburg DMRE office that Miller Brothers efforts to stop the leaking was past the one month deadline cited by the inspector, the person on the other end of the phone said they didn’t think the leaking was dangerous.

The most recent news is that as of January 22nd, 2008, the settlement pond is still leaking, and Miller Brothers continues to mine coal. Rumor has it that Miller Brothers has been fined about $1,800, and Rick’s neighbor was told by Miller Brothers they were getting ready to walk in more sealing compound to fix the leaking pond.

Rick's neighbor took that to mean they were bringing in more bags on a truck or an excavator, but instead they had a few workers walking in bags by hand to pour into the leaking pond.

According to Rick, his neighbor is beginning to think neither Miller Brothers Coal Company nor the State DMRE are taking the threat of the leaking pond seriously.

The automatic restoration of voting rights for felons who've served their debt to society is vital to preserving the spirit of our democracy, but Kentucky is one of the only states in country who does not allow this.  On this Thursday, February 28th, busloads of people from around the state will be coming out to rally in support of HB 70, the restoration of voting rights amendment. This will be our largest lobby day this session on the issue, and we need as many people there as possible to demand passage of this important bill.

Can you be there with us?

Action #1

Take the day off from work or school and come to Frankfort for this important day of action!

If you wish to lobby, join us in room 111 of the Capitol Annex from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. where we will be coordinating lobbying teams and providing brief trainings on how to lobby.  Please try to arrive early.

Otherwise, join us in the Capitol Rotunda at 1:30 p.m. for the rally.  Speaking there will be former felons who have been affected by disenfranchisement, members of the faith community, and state legislators. 

This is the first time we've held a rally in Frankfort on this issue, and we hope to make it a big one.

Either way, please sign up for the day here.

Action #2

House Bill 70 is currently awaiting a vote on the floor of the House and has had several bad floor amendments attached to it.  We need you to leave a message for your own representative, Speaker Richards, and House Majority Leader Adkins on the Legislative Message Line,1-800-372-7181.

Message: "Please pass HB 70 through the House without any floor amendments"

The Message Line is open 7 a.m. - 11 p.m., Monday through Thursday, 7 a.m. - 6 p.m. on Friday.

As we celebrate Black History Month, I see interesting parallels between the great civil rights struggles of the 1950s and 1960s and today's struggle against mountaintop-removal mining in Appalachia.

The documentary film Briars in the Cotton Patch explores what happened at Koinonia, a communal farm founded in 1942 in Americus, Ga, during the early days of the civil rights movement.

Koinonia was a peaceful "experiment in Christian living" founded by a courageous, gentle white activist named Clarence Jordan. At Koinonia, blacks and whites worked and lived as equals.

At first, the white residents of Sumter County, Georgia ignored the communal farmers as harmless and slightly weird people with strange ideas. But following the U.S. Supreme Court's 1954 ruling in Brown vs. Board of Education, the fear of integration, escalated by the Ku Klux Klan's hate-mongering, led to violent attacks against the farm.

Buildings were bombed, houses were strafed with gun fire, and fruit and nut trees were chopped down. Community leaders organized an economic boycott of Koinonia, and a store that broke the boycott was bombed.

Amazingly, the farmers endured the threats and the terrorism, and Koinonia survived and grew.

In the late 1960s, under the leadership of Jordan and newcomers Millard and Linda Fuller, Koinonia began building homes for the area's poor black residents. Eventually it became the inspiration for Habitat for Humanity, which today has its headquarters in Americus and is one of Sumter County's largest employers.

One of the most interesting parts of the documentary is footage of today's white residents of Americus equivocating and making excuses for their actions and bigotry during the civil rights struggle. Their eyes shift and dart as they try to explain how they once allowed white terrorists to live among them.

Yes, they knew about the bombings and shootings, but of course, they weren't involved. A reporter for the Americus News said that he thought it was in the community's best long-term interest to minimize reporting of the violent attacks on Koinonia. In the 1960s, the president of the chamber of commerce in Americus asked Koinonia to leave "for the good of the community."

In the film, the chamber president states his regret, admitting, "I didn't have any guts at the time."

All this was pitiful and somewhat embarrassing to watch, but it made me think about the documentary films that will be made 20 years from now about the campaign we are waging to protect the people and culture of Appalachia from utter destruction.

One day we will look back with horror at photos of exploded mountains, just as we look upon the photographs of civil rights leaders being blasted with fire hoses. We will revile the people who put corporate profits ahead of the life-support systems this planet provides.

So who will be the heroes and villains of these future films about mountaintop removal?

Instead of Sheriff "Bull" Conner and the White Citizens Council, we will have the spokesmen for the Friends of Coal and International Coal Group. Instead of Alabama Gov. George Wallace, we will have U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.

But who will be the heroes? Kayford Mountain Keeper Larry Gibson? Maybe Judy Bonds of Coal River Mountain Watch and Teri Blanton of Kentuckians for the Commonwealth.

Only time will tell. And there is still plenty of room in the anti-mountaintop removal movement for heroic leaders.

Want to make the world a better place? Want to end injustice and discrimination? Want to help right a grievous wrong? Join the movement to end mountaintop-removal mining -- and make history.

With a single AP photo and a two sentence caption, the Lexington Herald-Leader appeared uninterested in reporting on our I Love Mountains Day rally.  The paper has since been flooded with calls and letters criticizing their  poor coverage of this important event.  Eleven of these letters were published in Saturday's editorial page.

Clean water matters

The Herald-Leader can cover every aspect of meaningless news but can't provide adequate coverage of an important issue to all Kentuckians: clean water.

There was a rally in Frankfort on Feb. 14 in support of the "Stream Saver Bill," but there was no news story in the Herald-Leader. More than 1,200 Kentucky citizens and taxpayers who actually want to protect Kentucky's water attended, but the Herald-Leader seems only interested in covering meaningless stuff.

Having clean water and protecting against a water shortage should be more important issues to Kentuckians than deciding what to buy their sweeties for Valentine's Day.

What is wrong with the Herald-Leader? Has it been bought, as legislators in Frankfort have?

Clean water and air matter, not profits for coal mining executives and their bought flunkies.

Linda Sizemore
Richmond

Disappointed in paper

The Herald-Leader's lack of significant coverage of the large rally on the ice-covered steps of the state Capitol on Valentine's Day is very disappointing.

Attempts by legislators to ignore such input from citizens trying to get a hearing on the "Stream Saver Bill" may be attributed to their being in bed with surface-mining interests. I hope the Herald-Leader is not subject to the same sordid connections.

Maybe the rally was too peaceful and friendly. Civil disobedience or a few arrests might have made better news copy.

John Payne
Berea

Publish Berry's speech

What a shame that the Herald-Leader did not see fit to give more attention to the huge rally that took place in Frankfort on Valentine's Day. More than 1,200 people from all over the state came to protest mountaintop-removal in Eastern Kentucky.

Kentucky author Wendell Berry gave a wonderful speech, which, at the very least, deserved publication in the paper. People from Eastern Kentucky were there to testify to the devastating effects of mountaintop removal, which is ruining their drinking water and turning their beautiful land into a horrible moonscape.

I'm disappointed that the Herald-Leader did not provide more enlightening coverage of this vital issue.

Dianne Shuntich
Richmond

Hundreds of students from many colleges and universities crammed into the Capitol rotunda this afternoon to speak out against tuition increases and decreasing funding for higher education. 

  

Students from Kentucky State University, Morehead State University, Murray, Eastern KY University, Western Kentucky University, the University of Louisville, and the University of Kentucky, amongst others brought students out in a strong show of solidarity, supported by KFTC members from Lexington.

Students made made their basic message to legislators clear - "Don't balance the budget on the backs of the students!"  But who's backs *should* we balance the budget on, how, any why? 

People had a range of ideas, including cutting funding from other areas, increasing the cigarette tax, or expanded gambling, . 

But KFTC student members, friends, and many others were pushing for comprehensive tax reform in the form of HB 262 or similar legislation to make the tax system more fair, while at the same time generating far more revenue to support such worthy causes as funding higher education.

KFTC members had dozens of good conversations with students about HB 262 and passed out over a hundred factsheets relating the bill to the tuition problems they knew all too well.  Members also used the massive student rally as a backdrop in conversations with several legislators, illustrating the great needs we have as a state.

This evening, an extremely broad and diverse coalition of University of Kentucky organizations came together to raise awareness of Restoration of Voting Rights for former felons and took action to help pass HB 70.  Groups who organized the event included KFTC, the Latino American Student Organization, the UK Newman Center, UK NAACP, the Black Student Union, Delta Sigma Theta, UK College Democrats, Alpha Kappa Alpha, and UK Amnesty International. 

Primary speakers were former felon and KFTC Member Tayna Fogle and Representative Jesse Crenshaw, both of whom gave powerful testimony and strong arguments in support of the bill.

"People might ask - "Why would I want to help a Felon?"  I tell them that if they support this bill, what they'll be doing is helping society - all of us." Tayna Fogle.

Representative Crenshaw urged students to call the legislative message hotline (1-800-372-7181) and ask their legislators to support this bill.  He stressed that we needed to defeat the negative floor amendments presently attached to the bill.  "We need to stop these floor amendments," said Crenshaw.  "They might seem innocent, but they're all designed to weaken or kill this bill."
 

"We need your voices - the voices of young people, and students.  Most of the people in this room can vote and we need  you speak out for those of us who can't.  We need your generation to help set things straight."  Tayna Fogle

About 15 students signed up to come to the major Restoration of Voting Rights lobby day on February 28th, while over 40 took action by signing KFTC postcards, an Amnesty International Petition, and UK College Democrats letters to House Democratic Leadership. 

"It's great to learn about this, but we also need to really DO something to make it change," said Alise Marshall, holding a stack of postcards to legislators. "We need to send a clear message to our Representatives and Senators and we can start right now."

The event was a keystone event in the work on Restoration on UK's campus, but there have been many presentations on Restoration at co-sponsoring organization meetings, other group meetings, several days of community tabling to raise awareness of the issue, and even a tour of Greek houses raising awareness of this issue.  UK KFTC members plan to do a lot more outreach over the next few days to build our numbers for the major Restoration of Voting Rights Lobby Day on February 28th.

If you'd like to get involved in more events like this on UK's campus, please consider coming out to the weekly UK Kentuckians For The Commonwealth Meeting every Tuesday night at 8pm in room 106 of the UK Student Center (The Center for Student Involvement).

 2/20/08 - Update - The UK Kentucky Kernel published a news story about this event today.

Along with the many, many people who were taking photos at Thursday's I Love Mountains Day rally, we had a number of people there shooting video.  So if you weren't able to come, take a few minutes and see what you missed!

Here are a couple of clips shot by Mimi Pickering of Appalshop

People filling the tunnel between the Capitol and the Annex.
By Laura Heller

And here are some by Jim Pence, from the HillbillyReport.com

Randy Wilson performing at last year's I Love Mountains Day

Last Valentine’s Day, I hopped a ride with two of my friends from Berea to go to KFTC’s I Love Mountains Lobbying Day in Frankfort. After navigating the icy roads and getting turned around a few times, we made it to the Capitol. I remember feeling intimidated by the place—I had never lobbied before and hadn’t been to Frankfort since elementary school—but after an orientation, I joined a group of KFTC members with lobbying experience and headed off to meet with legislators, which proved to be worthwhile as a few of the people we met with expressed interest in co-sponsoring the Stream Saver Bill.

Later on in the day, we were told to gather in room 316 of the Capitol building for a press conference. Several KFTC members from Eastern Kentucky spoke about how Mountaintop Removal mining has devastated their homes and communities. That room was packed full of members from across the state, and many more stood just outside the door, listening. 

Randy Wilson put us in good spirits as he played the banjo and sang his rendition of “This Little Light of Mine,” just as he did later when we all lined the tunnel connecting the Capitol Annex and the Capitol Building to greet legislators heading to chambers.

I was one of about 200 people lobbying for the Stream Saver Bill that day, and it was a hell of a day—well worth missing four classes and a few hours of work for. I left Frankfort that day excited and filled with vigor to do more.

And here we are, a year later.

Madison Co. members meeting with their legislators

Rep. Lonnie Napier also dropped in to talk with people from Madison County. Another sponsor of the Stream Saver Bill, Rep. Napier said, “I feel like everybody’s entitled to good clean water, no matter who you are or where you come from…When it comes to things like this, I don’t think it should be partisan politics. I don’t see why anybody would be partisan when it comes to human life.”

Soon after meeting with Madison County legislators, I stood in the hall above the Rotunda, watching people gather. I got downright giddy looking at how many people were down there, shaking my friend Amy’s arm and nearly shouting, “Look how many people are here!” That sight didn’t prepare me at all for what I saw when I stepped outside. People lined the Capitol steps all the way to the bottom. It was so surreal to see such a huge crowd; I had never been a part of anything so big before. There were people from all over, people of all ages and of all backgrounds gathered on the steps, holding signs, braving the piercing cold, all to make their voices heard. Just a year ago, we had packed into a room; now, no room could possibly hold us.

Randy Wilson started us off right, again singing a revised version of “This Little Light of Mine.” Several people from Eastern Kentucky addressed the crowd this year, talking about how they’ve been personally impacted by destructive mining practices. Wendell Berry moved the crowd with a rousing speech, saying that we’ve been patient for too long on this issue, calling us all to do more to bring an end to the devastation in the Appalachian coalfields. Carl Shoupe got the crowd fired up with his booming voice and spirited words, and damn, were we fired up! Teri Blanton led chants of “Our mountains! Our streams! Our future!” between speakers, and around 1,200 voices joined hers each time for one hell of an outcry. The rally was simply amazing. I feel lucky and honored to have been a part of such a large group of people coming together for positive change. There’s no other feeling like it.

Beth delivering some Valentine's to the Governor's office

Back inside the Capitol, after my feet had sufficiently thawed, I delivered a valentine to Gov. Beshear’s office and then another 50 valentines made by Berea College students to members of House leadership. After a quick lunch, I walked downstairs to join other members in lining the tunnel connecting the Annex and the Capitol. Once I planted myself halfway down the tunnel, I looked around and again felt overwhelmed and giddy. When I looked to my left, I couldn’t see where our line of people ended. I turned to the right, and again, there is no end. People lined both sides of the tunnel and overflowed out of each end, making their way up the stairs and down the hall. From where I stood, I had my choice of chants to join in on. One end of the tunnel would shout “Our mountains! Our streams! Our future!” while the other started up with “164 on the floor! 164 on the floor!” We were loud and unrelenting. We refused to be ignored. And in between the chants and chats with my neighbors, I smiled from ear to ear.

At the day’s de-briefing, we heard a few stories, some good, some bad. What struck me the most during that session was hearing about a group of fifth graders who took it upon themselves to learn about Mountaintop Removal and to find a way to come to Frankfort so they could lobby to legislators about the Stream Saver Bill. Throughout the day, different speakers commented on the strong youth presence, and to see that people are learning about such important issues at such a young age was so refreshing and inspiring. If these kids are doing such important work as fifth graders, just imagine what they’ll do next.

When I left Frankfort on Thursday on a van full of Madison County members (over 100 had come out for the day!), my body felt exhausted (thanks to a lack of sleep and standing in the cold in thin sneakers) but my spirits were high. I was thrilled to see that people from all over the state, from Paducah to Hazard, came to Frankfort to stand together on this issue. Hell, we even had people from other states travel to Kentucky to stand with us in solidarity. At the day’s end, I was excited about the work we had come together to do, and I’m still excited—excited to see what will come of our efforts and excited for us all to keep doing more.

We knew it was going to be a great day, and by 8 a.m. our room in the Capitol Annex slowly began to fill up with people arriving early to lobby.  A few of the people there had arrived in Frankfort the night before, staying in a hotel room or with friends, so they could start extra early.  The stream of people arriving was so steady, we resorted to holding rolling lobbying orientations, starting every 15 minutes or so to keep people moving through.  The larger groups from Louisville, Berea, and Lexington had their own rooms where they could orient themselves separately and meet with their local legislators.  Elsewhere, in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th floor reception areas, members from other areas, grouped by legislative district, worked to arrange meetings with their own legislators.  Those who were unable to get a meeting filled out Valentine's cards for House Leadership, the governor, and their representatives.  By the end of the day we had handed out nearly 3,000 of these Valentines.

Jefferson County members met with their legislators in House Chambers.

In the lobby meetings many members expressed frustration that the "Stream Saver Bill" was being stalled in the House Natural Resources Committee.  "If you're going to have forward thinking about economic development in eastern Kentucky you will have to give us more choices than just mountaintop removal mining.  Pretty soon we will have no coal, no jobs, no mountains or streams," said Cari Moore from Knott County in a meeting with Rep. Keith Hall.  All told we likely had more than 300 people lobbying in the morning before the rally, more citizen lobbyists than we have ever had before on one day.

Rallying on the Capitol steps

Randy Wilson at the Rally

As we filed out onto the Capitol steps it became readily apparent that we had met and even possibly exceeded our goal of 1,000 people.  Randy Wilson started off the rally with a radicalized version of "This Little Light of Mine."  KFTC Fellow Teri Blanton emceed the rally, keeping the energy level high by leading chants.  Father John Rausch spoke of the necessity of caring for God's creation, and read off a long list of faith communities who opposed the practice of mountaintop removal mining.  Wendell Berry gave a fierce and inspiring speech, calling our state legislators to task and our supporters to action.  KFTC members Bev May, Carl Shoupe, and Rick Handshoe spoke of their daily experiences living near mining sites, explaining the urgency to the issue and its relevance to their lives, and Ronnie Banks, a high school student from Harlan county read a poem to the crowd about mountaintop removal.  The rally wrapped up with Clack Mountain String Band performing "Sow It On the Mountain, Reap It In the Valley."  By the end of the rally we could confidently say that we had more that exceeded our goal for the day, making this the biggest rally against mountaintop removal ever held in Kentucky.

Those who could stay after the rally spent the next hour either trying to get lunch in the packed cafeteria or doing some last minute lobbying before the legislators went into session.  Then around 1:30 the several hundred people who were still there lined up along both sides of the tunnel between the Annex and the Capitol building in hopes of catching legislators as they traveled to their chambers.  Co-sponsors of the Stream Saver Bill were met with cheers, however the tightly packed tunnel formed a sort of gauntlet for legislators who refused to meet with us, forcing them to meet eyes with those they had let down.

We ended the day with a debriefing session in one of the Annex committee rooms.  Members shared personal reflections on the day, discussed next steps, and laid the groundwork for organizing future actions.