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    <rss:item rdf:about="http://www.kftc.org/blog/archive/2012/02/07/union-college-plans-trip-to-i-love-mountains-day">

        <rss:title>Union College plans trip to I Love Mountains Day!</rss:title>

        <rss:link>http://www.kftc.org/blog/archive/2012/02/07/union-college-plans-trip-to-i-love-mountains-day</rss:link>       

        

        <content:encoded>
          <![CDATA[
          
&lt;p&gt;Monday evening, Union College had their third overall KFTC meeting/ event, but their first one of the new semester. &amp;nbsp;First, KFTC members at Union tabled near the dining hall entrance at dinner time and invited passersby to make a &lt;span class="visualHighlight"&gt;&lt;a class="external-link" href="archive/2012/02/01/i-love-mountains-the-pinwheel-edition"&gt;paper pinwheel&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;a class="external-link" href="archive/2012/02/01/i-love-mountains-the-pinwheel-edition"&gt; &lt;/a&gt;to be entered into a free raffle for the &lt;span class="visualHighlight"&gt;&lt;a class="external-link" href="https://www.thedatabank.com/dpg/146/kftcdonate.asp?formid=KFTCBeeHive"&gt;Beehive Collective's True Cost of Coal Poster&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;, while learning all about &lt;a class="external-link" href="../take-action/ilm-2012"&gt;&lt;span class="visualHighlight"&gt;I Love Mountains Day 2012&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;! &amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="image-left"&gt;&lt;a title="Pinwheel Making! by Kentuckians For The Commonwealth, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kftcphotos/6837341469/"&gt;&lt;img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7004/6837341469_097b86bbea_m.jpg" alt="Pinwheel Making!" height="250" width="200" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Close to 25 pinwheels where made and more than a dozen people entered the raffle. The poster was raffled off at the advertised campus "KFTC meeting" later that evening and given to senior Cortni Thrasher of Somerset. Cortni (pictured in center below) said she is "really excited for the rally!" after learning more about the poster, the&amp;nbsp;&lt;a class="external-link" href="../our-work/general-assembly/stream-saver-bill"&gt;Stream Saver Bill&lt;/a&gt;, and I Love Mountains Day!&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a title="Raffle winner! by Kentuckians For The Commonwealth, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kftcphotos/6837356343/"&gt;&lt;img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7143/6837356343_d48f719004_m.jpg" alt="Raffle winner!" height="180" width="240" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;p&gt;At that meeting, 5 people confirmed their plans to meet up with the EKY bus to Frankfort on Feb. 14th, and several more are still trying to determine if they can go.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Late last year/ semester, members at Union College organized 2 monthly KFTC gatherings, the second being a &lt;a class="external-link" href="archive/2011/11/17/union-college-i-was-there-film-screening"&gt;very well attended film screening of &lt;em&gt;I Was There.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp; It was at that meeting they decided to first focus their energy this semester on I Love Mountains Day turnout. &amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a title="Susan &amp;amp; David by Kentuckians For The Commonwealth, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kftcphotos/6837326255/"&gt;&lt;img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7169/6837326255_2c8ffe2f01_m.jpg" alt="Susan &amp;amp; David" height="240" width="180" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a title="IMG_0512 by Kentuckians For The Commonwealth, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kftcphotos/6837362947/"&gt;&lt;img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7167/6837362947_3cb0f6d7d1_m.jpg" alt="IMG_0512" height="240" width="160" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a title="IMG_0514 by Kentuckians For The Commonwealth, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kftcphotos/6837376375/"&gt;&lt;img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7160/6837376375_51fc6378b3_m.jpg" alt="IMG_0514" height="240" width="180" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;p&gt;At both the film screening and yesterday's event, a local reporter with The Advocate attended to cover the local growing momentum around KFTC! &amp;nbsp;Members at Union have filed to become an associate student organization called Kentuckians For The Commonwealth and hope to build enough support to eventually petition to be recognized as a KFTC chapter! &amp;nbsp;They've planned their next meeting for Monday, March 5 at 8:30 p.m. &amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="image-right"&gt;&lt;a title="Susan Deaton &amp;amp; her art by Kentuckians For The Commonwealth, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kftcphotos/6837333049/"&gt;&lt;img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7032/6837333049_3d9d48b5d0_m.jpg" alt="Susan Deaton &amp;amp; her art" height="200" width="270" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;One of the driving forces of this new energy is Susan Deaton of Corbin, a professor at Union. She attended a &lt;a class="external-link" href="../our-work/canary-project/people-in-action/witness-tours/mwt/"&gt;Mountain Witness Tour&lt;/a&gt; a few years ago and has been increasingly active with KFTC since. She attended the last KFTC annual meeting and plans to attend I Love Mountains Day. &amp;nbsp;She is pictured here with her artwork, inspired by that Mountain Witness Tour, currently displayed in the Sharp Academic Center at Union College. Susan is an amazing artist and certainly one of the extraordinary people who make Kentucky a better home for everyone!&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;

          ]]>
        </content:encoded>        

        <dc:date>2012-02-07T17:49:08-05:00</dc:date>

        <dc:modified>2012-02-07T20:59:17-05:00</dc:modified>

        <dc:creator>Tanya Turner</dc:creator>

        

        
            <dc:subject>EKY</dc:subject>
        
        
            <dc:subject>MWT</dc:subject>
        
        
            <dc:subject>MTR</dc:subject>
        
        
            <dc:subject>I Love Mountains Day</dc:subject>
        
        
            <dc:subject>New Power</dc:subject>
        
        
            <dc:subject>Eastern Kentucky</dc:subject>
        
        
            <dc:subject>Meeting</dc:subject>
        

    </rss:item>

    
    

    <rss:item rdf:about="http://www.kftc.org/blog/archive/2012/02/07/judge-grants-injunction-to-halt-new-legislative-district-boundaries">

        <rss:title>Judge grants injunction to halt new legislative district boundaries</rss:title>

        <rss:link>http://www.kftc.org/blog/archive/2012/02/07/judge-grants-injunction-to-halt-new-legislative-district-boundaries</rss:link>       

        

        <content:encoded>
          <![CDATA[
          
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a class="external-link" href="http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/02/07/judge-rules-in-favor-of-house-gop-stein-in-legislative-redistricting-suit/"&gt;Herald-Leader story by Jack Brammer&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;PDF: &lt;a class="external-link" href="http://media.kentucky.com/smedia/2012/02/07/15/29/komw1.So.79.pdf"&gt;Read the injunction&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;blockquote&gt;
&lt;p&gt;FRANKFORT — A judge granted House Republicans and Democratic State Sen. Kathy Stein a temporary injunction Tuesday in their legal challenge of Kentucky’s new legislative district boundaries.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Franklin Circuit Court Judge Phillip Shepherd extended the filing deadline for legislative candidates until 4 p.m. Friday.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;In an 18-page order, Shepherd blocked Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes and other state election officials from implementing the new district boundaries set out in House Bill 1. The General Assembly approved HB 1 and Gov. Steve Beshear signed it into law last month.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;“Until the General Assembly passes redistricting legislation that complies with all applicable constitutional requirements to revise the districts (under state law), the elections for the House and Senate shall be conducted with the legislative district boundaries in effect immediately prior to the enactment of House Bill 1 for both the House of Representatives and the Senate,” Shepherd said in Tuesday’s order.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The original filing deadline was Jan. 31. But Shepherd last week issued a restraining order that moved it back to 4:30 p.m. Tuesday. It now has been extended again.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Shepherd’s order is appealable. It was not immediately known if Lundergan Grimes and the Legislative Research Commission will appeal, but an appeal is expected.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;An appeal could take several days and put major action in the state legislature on hold until lawmakers know who their opponents will be in this year’s elections.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Scott White, an attorney for Stein, said “it is our hope that the General Assembly will go back and get the redistricting right. If they appeal, we will continue to fight for a constitutional district in Lexington.”&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Stein’s 13th Senate District in central Lexington was moved to northeastern Kentucky under HB 1.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The new law is unconstitutional primarily because it divides more counties into separate legislative districts than necessary, House Republicans have argued. The House plan split 28 counties and 246 precincts, although only 22 counties have more than the roughly 43,000 people that each district must contain. A GOP proposal would have split 24 counties and 10 precincts.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/blockquote&gt;
&lt;p class="image-right"&gt;&lt;a title="Christian Torp by Kentuckians For The Commonwealth, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kftcphotos/6758163913/"&gt;&lt;img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7022/6758163913_15f513edcc_m.jpg" alt="Christian Torp" height="154" width="204" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;This is tentative, but good news to KFTC as we have spent a lot of effort raising awareness of the unabashedly partisan, ill-spirited, and seemingly unconstitutional redistricting plans passed by House Democrats and Senate Republicans in recent weeks.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;For a summation or earlier reports on this issue on KFTC's blog, &lt;a class="external-link" href="archive/2012/01/30/redistricting-updates"&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;

          ]]>
        </content:encoded>        

        <dc:date>2012-02-07T16:50:45-05:00</dc:date>

        <dc:modified>2012-02-07T16:50:45-05:00</dc:modified>

        <dc:creator>Dave Newton</dc:creator>

        

        
            <dc:subject>Restoration of Voting Rights</dc:subject>
        
        
            <dc:subject>Voter Empowerment</dc:subject>
        

    </rss:item>

    
    

    <rss:item rdf:about="http://www.kftc.org/blog/archive/2012/02/07/support-i-love-mountains-day-from-home">

        <rss:title>Support I Love Mountains Day from home </rss:title>

        <rss:link>http://www.kftc.org/blog/archive/2012/02/07/support-i-love-mountains-day-from-home</rss:link>       

        

        <content:encoded>
          <![CDATA[
          &lt;a title="IMG_0389 by Kentuckians For The Commonwealth, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kftcphotos/6802692033/"&gt;&lt;img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7015/6802692033_c6b8fd90eb_m.jpg" alt="IMG_0389" height="180" width="240" align="right" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
								For &lt;a href="../love" target="_blank"&gt;I Love Mountains Day 2012&lt;/a&gt;, we will be delivering pinwheels to Governor Beshear and our legislators. We hope to have 1,200 pinwheels at the march – with each pinwheel representing 50 people living with cancer caused by strip mining in their community (Source: Journal of Community Health, July 2011). Each pinwheel will also represent the hope that wind turbines and other clean energy solutions mean for our future.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
								If you are unable to join us for the rally this year you can still contribute to this action by commissioning the creation of pinwheels. &lt;strong&gt;At $5 a piece KFTC members from around the state will create pinwheels for you and bring them to plant on Governor Beshear's doorstep.&lt;/strong&gt; &lt;a class="external-link" href="www.thedatabank.com/dpg/146/donate.asp?formid=KFTCshow"&gt;Click here to order!&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3&gt;&lt;img src="http://www3.thedatabank.com/hm/146/image/pinwheel-mug.jpg" alt="null" width="200" align="right" /&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Pinwheel coffee mugs&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p&gt;
								Celebrate I Love Mountains Day every day with our newly available pinwheel-themed coffee mugs. These stainless steel mugs are insulated to keep your coffee warm and come with a lid to minimize spillage. For a $20 donation (plus $3 s/h), we will renew your membership and send you a mug as a thank you gift. These mugs will also be available for sale at I Love Mountains Day. Supplies are limited. Mugs&amp;nbsp;will be shipped on Feb 16th.&amp;nbsp;&lt;a class="external-link" href="www.thedatabank.com/dpg/146/donate.asp?formid=KFTCshow"&gt;Click here to make your donation!&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a class="external-link" href="www.thedatabank.com/dpg/146/donate.asp?formid=KFTCshow"&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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        </content:encoded>        

        <dc:date>2012-02-07T16:06:42-05:00</dc:date>

        <dc:modified>2012-02-07T16:38:07-05:00</dc:modified>

        <dc:creator>Erik Hungerbuhler</dc:creator>

        

        
            <dc:subject>I Love Mountains Day</dc:subject>
        
        
            <dc:subject>Canary Project</dc:subject>
        
        
            <dc:subject>Fundraiser</dc:subject>
        

    </rss:item>

    
    

    <rss:item rdf:about="http://www.kftc.org/blog/archive/2012/02/05/former-felon-voices-james-snyder-scott-county">

        <rss:title>Former Felon Voices - James Snyder, Scott County</rss:title>

        <rss:link>http://www.kftc.org/blog/archive/2012/02/05/former-felon-voices-james-snyder-scott-county</rss:link>       

        

        <content:encoded>
          <![CDATA[
          
&lt;p class="image-right"&gt;&lt;a title="James Snyder 1 by Kentuckians For The Commonwealth, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kftcphotos/6827122469/"&gt;&lt;img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7156/6827122469_9436fb5e95_m.jpg" alt="James Snyder 1" height="178" width="240" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;In an attempt to share more of the stories from former felons across the Commonwealth, we’re presenting a series of short interviews every few weeks on our blog and in balancing the scales.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;"I'm a veteran of 9 years in the US Army infantry.&lt;br /&gt;My dad was in the military and I grew up on army bases...&amp;nbsp; Both my grandfathers served in the military too."&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;But despite this service and more, James Snyder does not have the right to vote here in Kentucky.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;"I pay taxes, but I'm not represented.&amp;nbsp; Effectively, I'm not a citizen because citizenship means having a voice in government through the ballot box.&amp;nbsp; It just doesn't seem right to me."&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;James has lived in Illinois for the last few years, working as a deputy voter registrar for the board of elections in Illinois - helping people register and vote.&amp;nbsp; And when he lived there, of course, he could vote.&amp;nbsp; Kentucky is one of just 4 states that take away voting rights from all former felons even after they've served their debt to society.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;"My parents aren't doing so well, so I'm back in Kentucky to take care of them and help around the house.&amp;nbsp; Because I'm on this side of the border of Illinois, I can't vote."&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;"The most recent of my two felony convictions is over 14 years old and neither of them are from Kentucky.&amp;nbsp; In fact, if I lived in either of those states, they recognize that I've served my debt to society and I could vote there."&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="image-right"&gt;&lt;a title="James Snyder and Dave Newton cropped by Kentuckians For The Commonwealth, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kftcphotos/6827212335/"&gt;&lt;img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7148/6827212335_f40cc00e73_m.jpg" alt="James Snyder and Dave Newton cropped" height="207" width="240" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Even with substantial political ties, James found it hard to know if he even had the right to vote in Kentucky.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;"I talked to a few different lawyers and I got conflicting answers.&amp;nbsp; Frankly, I could have gotten away with registering and voting because Kentucky would be unlikely to compare lists with other states, but credibility is important to me, so I spent a lot of effort to understand whether or not I have the right to vote here.&amp;nbsp; It seems I don't."&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;As a Scott County resident, James Snyder's own Senator is Damon Thayer, the legislator who has prevented HB 70 from coming up for a vote in recent years in his Senate State and Local Government Committee.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Snyder joined KFTC for his first citizen lobby day in Frankfort a few days ago and is looking forward to talking to Thayer in person.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;"I served my country, with due respect, more than any legislator I see that's standing in the way of this legislation.&amp;nbsp; And I served my time for what I've done wrong too.&amp;nbsp; The right thing to do would be to let me and others like me to vote."&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;"It renders moot the idea that "if you don't vote, you can't complain."&amp;nbsp; I'm complaining because I can't vote."&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;James is doing better than that - networking with people in Scott County through KFTC and otherwise to gain voting rights for former felons and for a host of other issues he cares about too.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;"I can join in politics in other ways - and I do because it's important to me- but not being able to vote sure does make it harder."&lt;/p&gt;

          ]]>
        </content:encoded>        

        <dc:date>2012-02-05T21:50:01-05:00</dc:date>

        <dc:modified>2012-02-05T23:47:55-05:00</dc:modified>

        <dc:creator>Dave Newton</dc:creator>

        

        
            <dc:subject>Restoration of Voting Rights</dc:subject>
        
        
            <dc:subject>Scott County</dc:subject>
        
        
            <dc:subject>Voter Empowerment</dc:subject>
        

    </rss:item>

    
    

    <rss:item rdf:about="http://www.kftc.org/blog/archive/2012/02/05/voting-rights-update-and-please-call-in-today">

        <rss:title>Voting Rights Update - And please call in today!</rss:title>

        <rss:link>http://www.kftc.org/blog/archive/2012/02/05/voting-rights-update-and-please-call-in-today</rss:link>       

        

        <content:encoded>
          <![CDATA[
          
&lt;p class="image-right"&gt;&lt;a title="DSC_0141 by Kentuckians For The Commonwealth, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kftcphotos/4408083336/"&gt;&lt;img src="http://farm5.staticflickr.com/4002/4408083336_c105793012_m.jpg" alt="DSC_0141" height="161" width="240" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;We've gotten some good media coverage in recent days including a&lt;a class="external-link" href="http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20120201/OPINION01/302010060/Editorial-Ex-felons-voting-rights?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|Home|s"&gt; strong editorial in support of HB 70&lt;/a&gt; in the Courier Journal, and a&lt;a class="external-link" href="http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20120204/NEWS0101/302050029/Kentucky-felon-voting-rights?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|Home"&gt; good story&lt;/a&gt;, also in the Courier, that included an interview of KFTC member and former felon spokesperson Jason Smith.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;These pieces, plus a similar editorial in the &lt;a class="external-link" href="http://www.kentucky.com/2012/01/26/2043683/return-voting-rights-to-ex-felons.html"&gt;Herald-Leade&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a class="external-link" href="http://www.kentucky.com/2012/01/26/2043683/return-voting-rights-to-ex-felons.html"&gt;r&lt;/a&gt;, are good on balance, but problematic in that they try to reduce the fight to Democrat vs. Republican or Conservative vs. Liberal.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Many strong supporters of HB 70 are Republicans - including former felon 
spokespeople, co-sponsoring legislators, and legislators in both 
chambers who support the bill.&amp;nbsp; The people preventing it from being 
voted on are just a handful of Senate leaders like Sen David Williams 
and Sen Damon Thayer.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;So we'll have to try hard to challenge this kind of narrative in the media and in the public.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Also of note in the Courier Journal article is an indication from David Williams' office that HB 70 might be assigned to Senate Judiciary instead of to State and Local Government. &amp;nbsp; This may or may not be true&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;For the time being, though, our bill is still in the House awaiting a vote on the House floor.&amp;nbsp; Until it passes, it's likely to attract unfriendly amendments to make the bill less effective.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;We need you to call in as soon as possible to build the support we need to pass the House!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="image-left"&gt;&lt;img class="image-inline" src="../Members/dave/oldphone.jpg/image_preview" alt="oldphone" height="185" width="145" /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Please call the the toll-free Legislative Message Line at 1-800-372-7181 and leave a message for your Senator and Representative, plus "House Leadership."&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;A simple message like "Please pass HB 70 with no floor amendments" works fine.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;You can call back later and also leave messages for groups like "Senate Leadership" "members of Senate Judiciary" and "members of the Senate State and Local Government Committee."&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;For them, a message like "Please support HB 70" works.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;It just takes a couple of minutes and that will leave a message for many key legislators all at once.&amp;nbsp; &lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The Message line is open 7 a.m. until 11 p.m. Monday-Thursday and until 6 p.m. on Friday.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;And finally, our big &lt;a class="external-link" href="../calendar/event/voting-rights-lobby-day/view"&gt;Voting Rights Lobby Day and Rally&lt;/a&gt; for March 8th.&amp;nbsp; Spread the word!&lt;/p&gt;

          ]]>
        </content:encoded>        

        <dc:date>2012-02-05T21:18:25-05:00</dc:date>

        <dc:modified>2012-02-05T21:18:25-05:00</dc:modified>

        <dc:creator>Dave Newton</dc:creator>

        

        
            <dc:subject>Restoration of Voting Rights</dc:subject>
        
        
            <dc:subject>Voter Empowerment</dc:subject>
        

    </rss:item>

    
    

    <rss:item rdf:about="http://www.kftc.org/blog/archive/2012/02/05/scott-county-kftc-chatter">

        <rss:title>Scott County KFTC "Chatter"</rss:title>

        <rss:link>http://www.kftc.org/blog/archive/2012/02/05/scott-county-kftc-chatter</rss:link>       

        

        <content:encoded>
          <![CDATA[
          
&lt;p class="image-right"&gt;&lt;a title="IMG_3253 by Kentuckians For The Commonwealth, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kftcphotos/6826830083/"&gt;&lt;img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7161/6826830083_93169f1a8b_m.jpg" alt="IMG_3253" height="141" width="240" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The Scott County Chapter had another great meeting on Thursday.&amp;nbsp; Members reported on the last Steering Committee meeting, the Martin Luther King Day march in Georgetown, lobby-training in Lexington, and some exciting first-time lobbying in Frankfort – by a new member, at that!&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;We welcomed several active new members, including two sociology majors at Georgetown College who plan to focus on organizing their fellow undergraduates.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;We are continuing to build support for curbside recycling in Georgetown, contacting Georgetown residents who have signed our petition in favor of curbside recycling, writing letters to the editor and sending letters and emails to City Council members.&amp;nbsp; We also continue to work with the City’s recycling Committee to evaluate different options for expanded recycling in Georgetown.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;On Monday February 13th we will attend the City Council meeting and offer citizen comment in favor of a curbside recycling program.&amp;nbsp; Everyone is invited to attend to show support and to meet fellow Georgetonians who are fans of recycling and sustainability!&amp;nbsp; The meeting is at City Hall (just behind the old County Court House on the Corner of Main and Broadway) beginning at 6:30 PM.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Each year the Scott County Chapter works with the Georgetown Branch of the NAACP on voter registration, voter empowerment and promotion of House Bill 70, the amendment to restore voting rights to former felons who have served their time.&amp;nbsp; Several Chapter members plan to turn out for the NAACP’s “Meet and Greet” event at the Ed Davis Center at 6:30 on Thursday, February 9.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;We are also working on local turnout for I Love Mountains Day, with high attendance expected from the College.&amp;nbsp; All Scott County members are reminded of the importance of this event:&amp;nbsp; KFTC members from the coalfields tell us all the time how much it means to them to get support from members outside the mountains.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Upcoming events of note:&lt;br /&gt;Feb 6th – &lt;a class="external-link" href="../calendar/event/webinar-on-the-health-impacts-of-mountaintop-removal-i-love-mountains-day/view"&gt;Health impacts of coal webina&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a class="external-link" href="../calendar/event/webinar-on-the-health-impacts-of-mountaintop-removal-i-love-mountains-day/view"&gt;r&lt;/a&gt; 7pm&lt;br /&gt;Feb 9th - NAACP Meet and Greet 6:30-pm at the Ed Davis Learning Ctr.&lt;br /&gt;Feb 13th - City Council Meeting.&amp;nbsp; 6:30pm at City Hall. &lt;br /&gt;Feb 14th – I Love Mountains Day.&amp;nbsp; Noon-2pm at the capitol steps with optional lobbying beforehand.&amp;nbsp; We'll be car pooling at 11am from the Anderson parking lot at Georgetown College. &lt;br /&gt;Feb 28th – Clean Energy Lobby Day -&amp;nbsp; 8:30am-3pm&lt;br /&gt;March 1st - Scott County KFTC Meeting.&amp;nbsp; 7pm.&lt;br /&gt;March 8th – Voting Rights Lobby Day - 9am to 2:30pm&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; - Homer White, Scott County Membership Coordinator&lt;/p&gt;

          ]]>
        </content:encoded>        

        <dc:date>2012-02-05T20:46:24-05:00</dc:date>

        <dc:modified>2012-02-05T20:53:45-05:00</dc:modified>

        <dc:creator>Dave Newton</dc:creator>

        

        
            <dc:subject>Scott County</dc:subject>
        

    </rss:item>

    
    

    <rss:item rdf:about="http://www.kftc.org/blog/archive/2012/02/03/citizen-lobby-training-in-madison-county">

        <rss:title>Citizen Lobby Training in Madison County</rss:title>

        <rss:link>http://www.kftc.org/blog/archive/2012/02/03/citizen-lobby-training-in-madison-county</rss:link>       

        

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&lt;p&gt;On January 31&lt;sup&gt;st&lt;/sup&gt;, the Madison County chapter held
a citizen lobby training as KFTC’s lobby season swings into high gear. Anyone
interested in making his or her voice heard in Frankfort was invited to the
training, and around a dozen people from Berea and Richmond showed up to learn
about the issues and the legislation making their way through the Frankfort
legislature. KFTC members leading the training opened with a discussion about
the importance of citizen lobbying and strategies for effective lobbying before
moving on to talk about the major bills KFTC is sponsoring this legislative
session. Among these bills are the Clean Energy Opportunity Act (HB 167) and
the Stream Saver Bill (HB 231). Members of the Madison County chapter hope that
holding trainings like these will educate politically concerned Madison County
residents and inspire them to go to Frankfort where they can personally fight
for a fairer Kentucky.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;div align="center"&gt;&lt;a title="Madison County Citizen Lobby Training by Kentuckians For The Commonwealth, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kftcphotos/6813277517/"&gt;&lt;img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7029/6813277517_6b3d225df2_m.jpg" alt="Madison County Citizen Lobby Training" height="184" width="243" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a title="Madison County Citizen Lobby Training by Kentuckians For The Commonwealth, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kftcphotos/6813274779/"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; &lt;img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7021/6813274779_23278c6908_m.jpg" alt="Madison County Citizen Lobby Training" height="184" width="245" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;

          ]]>
        </content:encoded>        

        <dc:date>2012-02-03T14:49:32-05:00</dc:date>

        <dc:modified>2012-02-05T17:03:51-05:00</dc:modified>

        <dc:creator>Cory Lowery</dc:creator>

        

        
            <dc:subject>Madison County</dc:subject>
        

    </rss:item>

    
    

    <rss:item rdf:about="http://www.kftc.org/blog/archive/2012/02/03/clean-energy-collaborative-passes-first-recommendations">

        <rss:title>Clean Energy Collaborative Passes First Recommendations</rss:title>

        <rss:link>http://www.kftc.org/blog/archive/2012/02/03/clean-energy-collaborative-passes-first-recommendations</rss:link>       

        

        <content:encoded>
          <![CDATA[
          
&lt;p class="image-right"&gt;&lt;a title="EKPC Clean Energy Collaborative Meeting -- January 31, 2012 by Kentuckians For The Commonwealth, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kftcphotos/6812369765/"&gt;&lt;img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7001/6812369765_77052839e4_m.jpg" alt="EKPC Clean Energy Collaborative Meeting -- January 31, 2012" height="198" width="265" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;As part of our work around clean energy and transition, KFTC
participates in a Clean Energy Collaborative that held its first meeting of the
new year on January 31 in Richmond.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The collaborative was formed in 2010 when KFTC and allies
succeeded in convincing East Kentucky Power Cooperative to abandon plans for a
new coal-burning power plant in Central Kentucky. In addition to KFTC and EKPC,
the collaborative includes other public interest groups, the Attorney
General’s office, and all 16 of EKPC’s distribution co-ops. The group has a
two-year charge to study renewable energy and energy efficiency options and
present proposals to EKPC.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;In addition to being an important piece of the work to move
Kentucky beyond coal and toward cleaner energy and new jobs, the collaborative
plays a role in creating greater transparency and member involvement in the
rural electric co-ops.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="image-left"&gt;&lt;a title="EKPC Clean Energy Collaborative Meeting -- January 31, 2012 by Kentuckians For The Commonwealth, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kftcphotos/6812368987/"&gt;&lt;img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7162/6812368987_4dbfb32e13_m.jpg" alt="EKPC Clean Energy Collaborative Meeting -- January 31, 2012" height="180" width="240" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;KFTC member Tona Barkley helped preside over the meeting as
Vice Chair of the Collaborative, along with David Crews of EKPC (pictured left), the Collaborative's new Chair, who introduced himself to the group at the meeting. KFTC member Steve Wilkins participated as a
co-chair of the Demand-Side Management Working Group. During the public comment
period, EKPC Board Chair Paul Hawkins invited Barkley to present the
collaborative’s annual report at the next EKPC board meeting.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Much of the discussion at the January 31 meeting focused on
recommendations from the Demand-Side Management Working Group. Six of seven
recommendations, which focus on increasing DSM programs in the co-ops, passed
with consensus. The seventh recommendation will be brought back to the full
collaborative for further discussion in April.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Mark your calendars: The next meeting of the Collaborative will be Tuesday, April 17 in the afternoon at the Perkins Building on the campus of Eastern Kentucky University. Stay tuned to this blog for more info as the date approaches. KFTC members are encouraged to attend and speak up during the public comment period.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align="center"&gt;____________________________________________&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Here are the six recommendations that will be presented to
EKPC for consideration by its management, board and member co-ops:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Measurement
and Verification Recommendations&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;Partner with
distribution member cooperatives and allocate resources for measurement and
verification (M&amp;amp;V) of the cooperatives' existing and future DSM efforts.
This includes developing a standardized, on-going process to collect
data, investigate, and report on dynamic energy and demand impacts.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Offer generally accepted
DSM quantitative and qualitative analytic services to member systems on an
individual, group, and/or system average basis using each member cooperative’s
unique market and cost structures. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Marketing
and Implementation Recommendations&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;Aggressively help member
systems market those DSM programs with the optimal benefit-cost profiles.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Develop strong
educational, marketing and training programs for member systems to promote DSM
efforts considering all potential markets and channels for messaging.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Allocate resources
toward becoming and serving as a consultant and expert for member systems in
their DSM efforts. Identify best practices, provide research support, and
explore partnerships to this end.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Overcoming
Barriers/Challenges Recommendations&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;Continually evaluate new
and on-going DSM programs, refining efforts to ensure optimal penetration of
target markets.&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;

          ]]>
        </content:encoded>        

        <dc:date>2012-02-03T13:50:54-05:00</dc:date>

        <dc:modified>2012-02-03T14:04:05-05:00</dc:modified>

        <dc:creator>Sara Pennington</dc:creator>

        

        
            <dc:subject>New Power</dc:subject>
        
        
            <dc:subject>Energy</dc:subject>
        
        
            <dc:subject>Renew East Kentucky</dc:subject>
        
        
            <dc:subject>Meeting</dc:subject>
        
        
            <dc:subject>Energy Efficiency</dc:subject>
        

    </rss:item>

    
    

    <rss:item rdf:about="http://www.kftc.org/blog/archive/2012/02/03/city-of-lynch-get-energy-audits">

        <rss:title>City of Lynch gets Energy Audit! </rss:title>

        <rss:link>http://www.kftc.org/blog/archive/2012/02/03/city-of-lynch-get-energy-audits</rss:link>       

        

        <content:encoded>
          <![CDATA[
          
&lt;p&gt;Yesterday, two Lynch city buildings got a thorough energy audit to kick-start an energy efficiency project to continue into summer. Conducting the energy audit on the Lynch City Hall and Water Treatment Plant were Josh Bills and Hope Broeker of MACED (Mountain Association for Community Economic Development) with assistance from Gregory Copley from UK's Center for Applied Energy Research. &amp;nbsp;There to learn and welcome them to the area, were Harlan County KFTC members Stanley Sturgill and Carl Shoupe. &amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a title="Tall tails by Kentuckians For The Commonwealth, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kftcphotos/6809356513/"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a title="Tall tails by Kentuckians For The Commonwealth, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kftcphotos/6809356513/"&gt;&lt;img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7013/6809356513_4654a0b5e6.jpg" alt="Tall tails" height="350" width="475" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div align="left" style="text-align: center;"&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Josh, Hope and Greg spent a good amount of time asking questions about the buildings energy usage, making notes, and taking pictures of all the appliances and units of the buildings that use electricity. All while Carl and Stanley reminisced about days when the Lynch coal tipple near the water plant (once the largest in the world) was in full swing.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a title="MACED Energy Audit in Lynch by Kentuckians For The Commonwealth, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kftcphotos/6809179283/"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a title="MACED Energy Audit in Lynch by Kentuckians For The Commonwealth, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kftcphotos/6809179283/"&gt;&lt;img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7031/6809179283_7af346df5a_m.jpg" alt="MACED Energy Audit in Lynch" height="240" width="170" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a title="MACED energy audit in Lynch by Kentuckians For The Commonwealth, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kftcphotos/6809152067/"&gt;&lt;img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7172/6809152067_d1844652bb_m.jpg" alt="MACED energy audit in Lynch" height="240" width="170" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a title="Lynch Water Plant by Kentuckians For The Commonwealth, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kftcphotos/6809296449/"&gt;&lt;img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7027/6809296449_4b9bc6a7a8_m.jpg" alt="Lynch Water Plant" height="240" width="170" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a title="Lynch energy audit by Kentuckians For The Commonwealth, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kftcphotos/6809172927/"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a title="Lynch energy audit by Kentuckians For The Commonwealth, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kftcphotos/6809172927/"&gt;&lt;img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7023/6809172927_8312257084_m.jpg" alt="Lynch energy audit" height="180" width="240" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a title="Water Tank by Kentuckians For The Commonwealth, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kftcphotos/6809158491/"&gt;&lt;img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7159/6809158491_67a407d064_m.jpg" alt="Water Tank" height="180" width="240" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Stay tuned for more updates on this project as KFTC, MACED, the city of Lynch, and state agencies work to get Lynch city buildings energy efficiency upgrades in the coming months! &amp;nbsp;And see more pictures of yesterday's audit of the Lynch Water Plant below and on &lt;a class="external-link" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kftcphotos/sets/72157629149960619/"&gt;Flickr&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a title="Stanley tells old coal tipple stories by Kentuckians For The Commonwealth, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kftcphotos/6809348295/"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a title="Stanley tells old coal tipple stories by Kentuckians For The Commonwealth, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kftcphotos/6809348295/"&gt;&lt;img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7016/6809348295_17083d27ff_m.jpg" alt="Stanley tells old coal tipple stories" height="240" width="180" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a title="MACED Energy Audit in Lynch by Kentuckians For The Commonwealth, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kftcphotos/6809200119/"&gt;&lt;img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7023/6809200119_78eebb52a8_m.jpg" alt="MACED Energy Audit in Lynch" height="240" width="300" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a title="Talking hydro-electric over Looney Creek by Kentuckians For The Commonwealth, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kftcphotos/6809366571/"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a title="Talking hydro-electric over Looney Creek by Kentuckians For The Commonwealth, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kftcphotos/6809366571/"&gt;&lt;img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7005/6809366571_a5b8d63d41.jpg" alt="Talking hydro-electric over Looney Creek" height="240" width="300" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a title="&amp;quot;Remember when?&amp;quot; by Kentuckians For The Commonwealth, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kftcphotos/6809167231/"&gt;&lt;img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7145/6809167231_113a0912f8_m.jpg" alt="&amp;quot;Remember when?&amp;quot;" height="240" width="180" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;

          ]]>
        </content:encoded>        

        <dc:date>2012-02-03T10:09:09-05:00</dc:date>

        <dc:modified>2012-02-03T12:10:09-05:00</dc:modified>

        <dc:creator>Tanya Turner</dc:creator>

        

        
            <dc:subject>EKY</dc:subject>
        
        
            <dc:subject>energy efficiency</dc:subject>
        
        
            <dc:subject>Energy Efficiency</dc:subject>
        
        
            <dc:subject>Energy</dc:subject>
        
        
            <dc:subject>Harlan County</dc:subject>
        
        
            <dc:subject>New Power</dc:subject>
        
        
            <dc:subject>Eastern Kentucky</dc:subject>
        
        
            <dc:subject>Energy efficiency</dc:subject>
        
        
            <dc:subject>Appalachian Transition</dc:subject>
        

    </rss:item>

    
    

    <rss:item rdf:about="http://www.kftc.org/blog/archive/2012/02/02/east-ky-art-classes-make-pinwheels">

        <rss:title>East KY Art Classes Make Pinwheels! </rss:title>

        <rss:link>http://www.kftc.org/blog/archive/2012/02/02/east-ky-art-classes-make-pinwheels</rss:link>       

        

        <content:encoded>
          <![CDATA[
          
&lt;p&gt;This week, Letcher County member, Carrie Wells, helped to build our I Love Mountains Day pinwheel collection with her art classes in Knott County. &amp;nbsp;Students from 1st grade to 12th grade made pinwheels throughout the day, ending with a total of over 200 pinwheels!&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a title="IMG_0389 by Kentuckians For The Commonwealth, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kftcphotos/6802692033/"&gt;&lt;img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7015/6802692033_c6b8fd90eb.jpg" alt="IMG_0389" height="375" width="500" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;During the day of pinwheel making, a dozen Cordia high school students signed up to travel with "Ms. Wells" and other east Kentucky KFTC members to &lt;a class="external-link" href="../take-action/ilm-2012"&gt;I Love Mountains Day in Frankfort&lt;/a&gt; on February 14th! &amp;nbsp;The theme of this year's rally is the &lt;a class="external-link" href="../our-work/canary-project/campaigns/mtr/health"&gt;community health impacts of living near mountaintop removal&lt;/a&gt; in Central Appalachia, which has been highlighted dozens of times in the past 2 years in regional, &lt;a class="external-link" href="../our-work/canary-project/campaigns/mtr/health/studies"&gt;peer-reviewed studies&lt;/a&gt;. &amp;nbsp; Everyone is being asked to bring one pinwheel to the rally to represent 50 people living with cancer that has been linked to the pollution from mountaintop removal mining. A&lt;a class="external-link" href="http://readersupportednews.org/news-section2/313-17/6788-mountaintop-removal-linked-to-60000-additional-cancer-cases"&gt; study that came out in July&lt;/a&gt; that found that 60,000 people living in Central Appalachia have cancer because of mountaintop removal.&amp;nbsp; So, 1,200 people expected to attend with pinwheels x 50 = 60,000.&amp;nbsp;You can learn more about this data on our '&lt;a class="external-link" href="../our-work/canary-project/campaigns/mtr/health/MTRHealthImpacts.pdf"&gt;Health Impacts Fact Sheet&lt;/a&gt;' or by registering for our upcoming &lt;a class="external-link" href="../our-work/canary-project/campaigns/mtr/health/webinar"&gt;Webinar on the health impacts of MTR&lt;/a&gt; in preparation for I Love Mountains Day!&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Making pinwheels has proven to be a blast for all ages, so &lt;a class="external-link" href="http://www.leslietryon.com/3dcolorcutout/makepinw/makepinwheel.html"&gt;get started on your own&lt;/a&gt;! &amp;nbsp;As the pictures below illustrate (&lt;a class="external-link" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kftcphotos/sets/72157629134088137/with/6802738777/"&gt;and more on our flickr&lt;/a&gt;), your pinwheel can be as unique as you! &amp;nbsp;&lt;a class="external-link" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kftcphotos/6802835601/in/set-72157629134088137"&gt;One six year-old, Cash&lt;/a&gt;, said he made his pinwheel "yellow and blue for the sun and the sky"....&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;div&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a title="IMG_0402 by Kentuckians For The Commonwealth, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kftcphotos/6802782513/"&gt;&lt;img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7031/6802782513_21c3e731b0_m.jpg" alt="IMG_0402" height="180" width="240" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a title="IMG_0426 by Kentuckians For The Commonwealth, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kftcphotos/6802852687/"&gt;&lt;img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7012/6802852687_b99a97a083_m.jpg" alt="IMG_0426" height="180" width="240" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a title="IMG_0396 by Kentuckians For The Commonwealth, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kftcphotos/6802746869/"&gt;&lt;img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7165/6802746869_566d27fb0d_m.jpg" alt="IMG_0396" height="240" width="180" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a title="IMG_0406 by Kentuckians For The Commonwealth, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kftcphotos/6802798901/"&gt;&lt;img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7024/6802798901_74921d1345_m.jpg" alt="IMG_0406" height="240" width="160" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a title="IMG_0393 by Kentuckians For The Commonwealth, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kftcphotos/6802729083/"&gt;&lt;img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7166/6802729083_36169ffa38_m.jpg" alt="IMG_0393" height="240" width="180" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a title="IMG_0415 by Kentuckians For The Commonwealth, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kftcphotos/6802803383/"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a title="IMG_0415 by Kentuckians For The Commonwealth, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kftcphotos/6802803383/"&gt;&lt;img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7021/6802803383_2c58352107_m.jpg" alt="IMG_0415" height="180" width="240" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a title="IMG_0387 by Kentuckians For The Commonwealth, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kftcphotos/6802673181/"&gt;&lt;img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7174/6802673181_0b6f6a9b71_m.jpg" alt="IMG_0387" height="180" width="240" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
&lt;div style="text-align: center;"&gt;&lt;a title="IMG_0399 by Kentuckians For The Commonwealth, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kftcphotos/6802773335/"&gt;&lt;span class="Apple-style-span"&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a title="IMG_0399 by Kentuckians For The Commonwealth, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kftcphotos/6802773335/"&gt;&lt;img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7142/6802773335_5fe332dcd9.jpg" alt="IMG_0399" height="400" width="260" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a title="IMG_0395 by Kentuckians For The Commonwealth, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kftcphotos/6802738777/"&gt;&lt;img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7166/6802738777_56e5237e83.jpg" alt="IMG_0395" height="400" width="260" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;

          ]]>
        </content:encoded>        

        <dc:date>2012-02-02T12:31:43-05:00</dc:date>

        <dc:modified>2012-02-05T17:04:23-05:00</dc:modified>

        <dc:creator>Tanya Turner</dc:creator>

        

        
            <dc:subject>EKY</dc:subject>
        
        
            <dc:subject>MTR</dc:subject>
        
        
            <dc:subject>I Love Mountains Day</dc:subject>
        
        
            <dc:subject>Knott County</dc:subject>
        
        
            <dc:subject>Perry County</dc:subject>
        
        
            <dc:subject>Eastern Kentucky</dc:subject>
        

    </rss:item>

    
    

    <rss:item rdf:about="http://www.kftc.org/blog/archive/2012/02/01/i-love-mountains-the-pinwheel-edition">

        <rss:title>I Love Mountains:  The Pinwheel edition!</rss:title>

        <rss:link>http://www.kftc.org/blog/archive/2012/02/01/i-love-mountains-the-pinwheel-edition</rss:link>       

        

        <content:encoded>
          <![CDATA[
          
&lt;p&gt;This year at I Love Mountains day we are using homemade pinwheels to share our message of calling for an end to mountaintop removal and transitioning to a clean energy economy.&amp;nbsp; We are asking everyone coming to I Love Mountains day to bring one pinwheel.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Then we will deliver each of our pinwheels to Governor Beshear at I Love Mountains.&amp;nbsp; With 1,2000 of us estimated to attend, each pinwheel will represent 50 people living with cancer that has been linked to the pollution from mountaintop removal mining. &amp;nbsp; &lt;a class="external-link" href="http://readersupportednews.org/news-section2/313-17/6788-mountaintop-removal-linked-to-60000-additional-cancer-cases"&gt;Click here to&lt;/a&gt; learn about the study that came out in July that found that 60,000 people living in Central Appalachia have cancer because of mountaintop removal.&amp;nbsp; So, 1,200 pinwheels x 50 = 60,000.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;But the pinwheels are also a beautiful way to visually demonstrate the hope that we all have for transitioning to a new, clean energy economy that can bring good jobs and cleaner air and water to our state!&amp;nbsp; What better way to share our message and help the Governor understand what is at stake!&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Will you join us by making and bringing a homemade pinwheel with you at I Love Mountains day?&amp;nbsp; We hope you will!&amp;nbsp; &lt;a class="external-link" href="http://www.leslietryon.com/3dcolorcutout/makepinw/makepinwheel.html"&gt;Here is a link to some super simple instructions!&amp;nbsp;&lt;/a&gt; And if you do, leave us a comment here to let us know how it goes!&amp;nbsp; But also don't worry if you can't make a pinwheel, we will have a few extras to share that day!&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;div align="center"&gt;&lt;a title="IMG_0376 by Kentuckians For The Commonwealth, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kftcphotos/6802635351/"&gt;&lt;img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7156/6802635351_0fe9857b9e.jpg" alt="IMG_0376" height="375" width="500" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;

          ]]>
        </content:encoded>        

        <dc:date>2012-02-01T19:36:38-05:00</dc:date>

        <dc:modified>2012-02-05T17:39:58-05:00</dc:modified>

        <dc:creator>Carissa Lenfert</dc:creator>

        

        
            <dc:subject>Take Action</dc:subject>
        
        
            <dc:subject>energy efficiency</dc:subject>
        
        
            <dc:subject>Energy efficiency</dc:subject>
        
        
            <dc:subject>MTR</dc:subject>
        
        
            <dc:subject>I Love Mountains Day</dc:subject>
        
        
            <dc:subject>Energy</dc:subject>
        
        
            <dc:subject>New Power</dc:subject>
        
        
            <dc:subject>Canary Project</dc:subject>
        
        
            <dc:subject>Renew East Kentucky</dc:subject>
        
        
            <dc:subject>Energy Efficiency</dc:subject>
        
        
            <dc:subject>Water quality</dc:subject>
        
        
            <dc:subject>Appalachian Transition</dc:subject>
        

    </rss:item>

    
    

    <rss:item rdf:about="http://www.kftc.org/blog/archive/2012/01/31/newspaper-urges-protection-for-benham-lynch">

        <rss:title>Newspaper urges protection for Benham &amp; Lynch</rss:title>

        <rss:link>http://www.kftc.org/blog/archive/2012/01/31/newspaper-urges-protection-for-benham-lynch</rss:link>       

        

        <content:encoded>
          <![CDATA[
          
&lt;p&gt;






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&lt;!--StartFragment--&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;An editorial in today’s &lt;em&gt;Lexington Herald-Leader&lt;/em&gt; urges Governor
Steve Beshear to consider the homes and health of people in Benham and Lynch
before allowing destructive surface mining there.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;img class="image-right" src="../images-1/blog/lynch.jpg/image_preview" alt="lynch" /&gt;According to the article, two
coal operators and their associates spent more than $500,000 to get Beshear re-elected
last fall – the largest private-sector donors to Beshear’s campaign.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;One donor, James C. Justice II
of A&amp;amp;G Coal, plans to mine near Benham and Lynch, threatening the community’s
water supply and quality of life. The Beshear administration has given
preliminary approval. From the editorial:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="callout"&gt;&lt;em&gt;With coal money talking so
loudly and directly into his ear, the governor should try extra hard to hear
average Kentuckians whose homes, health and future are imperiled by the coal
industry’s most destructive practices.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="callout"&gt;&lt;em&gt;The ridges that cradle Lynch
— and are at risk of being destroyed — are part of Black Mountain, Kentucky's
highest point, which school children fought to save from strip-mining in the
late 1990s. &lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="callout"&gt;&lt;em&gt;You can’t put a price tag on
the history and possibilities that will be lost if Beshear sacrifices this
little corner of Kentucky.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The other donor, James Booth of
Cambrian Coal, has a permit to mine in Pike County that a judge attempted to
block before Beshear’s Energy and Environment Secretary Len Peters overruled
him and allowed the permit to go through.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="callout"&gt;&lt;em&gt;Cambrian’s plan to chop 400
feet off a mountain near Elkhorn City in Pike County will pollute tributaries
of the Russell Fork that were already seriously degraded by earlier mining. &lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The editorial follows an analysis
of campaign contributions in &lt;em&gt;The
Courier-Journal &lt;/em&gt;by Tom Loftus. To read that article, click &lt;a class="external-link" href="http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2012301280100"&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;To read the full &lt;em&gt;Lexington Herald-Leader&lt;/em&gt; editorial, click
&lt;a class="external-link" href="http://www.kentucky.com/2012/01/31/2049750/for-beshear-will-coal-money-drown.html"&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;To learn more about Benham and Lynch
residents’ efforts to protect their community, click &lt;a title="Historic towns of Benham and Lynch need your support" class="internal-link" href="../take-action/tri-cities"&gt;here&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;

&lt;!--EndFragment--&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

          ]]>
        </content:encoded>        

        <dc:date>2012-01-31T09:46:47-05:00</dc:date>

        <dc:modified>2012-01-31T09:46:47-05:00</dc:modified>

        <dc:creator>Amy Hogg</dc:creator>

        

        
            <dc:subject>EKY</dc:subject>
        
        
            <dc:subject>MTR</dc:subject>
        
        
            <dc:subject>Public Health</dc:subject>
        
        
            <dc:subject>Money in politics</dc:subject>
        
        
            <dc:subject>Canary Project</dc:subject>
        
        
            <dc:subject>Filthy Fuels</dc:subject>
        
        
            <dc:subject>Eastern Kentucky</dc:subject>
        
        
            <dc:subject>Water quality</dc:subject>
        
        
            <dc:subject>Harlan County</dc:subject>
        

    </rss:item>

    
    

    <rss:item rdf:about="http://www.kftc.org/blog/archive/2012/01/30/redistricting-updates">

        <rss:title>Redistricting Updates</rss:title>

        <rss:link>http://www.kftc.org/blog/archive/2012/01/30/redistricting-updates</rss:link>       

        

        <content:encoded>
          <![CDATA[
          
&lt;p class="image-right"&gt;&lt;a title="gIMG_3150 by Kentuckians For The Commonwealth, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kftcphotos/6758169849/"&gt;&lt;img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7013/6758169849_46c218e34a_m.jpg" alt="gIMG_3150" height="180" width="240" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;There has been some movement on the redistricting issue in Kentucky these past few days.&amp;nbsp; Here's a quick update to fill in some of the broad details.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Republican Minority Leader Jeff Hoover &lt;a class="external-link" href="http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/01/26/lawsuit-challenges-new-boundaries-for-kentucky-legislative-election-districts/"&gt;filed an injunction&lt;/a&gt; in Franklin Circuit Court to push back the filing deadline in light of the possibly illegal and partisan redistricting.&amp;nbsp; Senator Kathy Stein joined the lawsuit, then &lt;a class="external-link" href="http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/01/30/judge-will-rule-by-end-of-tuesday-on-possible-delay-of-filing-deadline-for-legislative-candidates/"&gt;Judge Phillip Shepherd heard the case earlier toda&lt;/a&gt;y and said that he will make a decision before the end of the day tomorrow... which is also the (tentative) deadline to file for office.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;In other news, Kentucky House an Senate members have still been &lt;a class="external-link" href="http://www.kentucky.com/2012/01/23/2039885/no-deal-yet-on-congressional-redistricting.html"&gt;unable to agree on a plan for Congressional redistricting&lt;/a&gt; which will move back the filing deadline, at least for those offices.&amp;nbsp; In any event, this casts substantial doubt on Governor Steve Beshear's claim that he was only signing the state house and senate redistricting into law because the impending and at the time apparently immovable deadline was hanging over his head.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;In other news, several legislators have filed separate legislation to make the redistricting process less partisan, more transparent, and more reasonable than it has been this year.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;And finally, the &lt;a class="external-link" href="http://www.kentucky.com/2012/01/26/2045011/lexington-urban-county-council.html"&gt;Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government Council has stepped forward with a resolution expressing concern with the redistricting and the loss of Lexington senator Kathy Stein&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp; A resolution has no legal weight, but it matters.&amp;nbsp; During our &lt;a class="external-link" href="archive/2012/01/22/rally-against-insane-redistricting-draws-crowds-in-lexington"&gt;first rally in Lexington&lt;/a&gt; on this issue, our primary action was to ask people to contact the mayor and city council to do just this, so they deserve our kudos.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Here are some good quotes from the &lt;a class="external-link" href="http://www.kentucky.com/2012/01/26/2045011/lexington-urban-county-council.html"&gt;Herald-Leader article&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;blockquote&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Councilman Jay McChord said he was "sick and tired of Lexington looking weak, acting weak" at the state level. "If they don't like it up there, so be it. Maybe it is time to send somebody else up there," he said.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Councilman Chris Ford said when an action by Frankfort legislators "harms the citizens of Fayette County, we should stand up and speak."&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;"This is classic gerrymandering," said council member Julian Beard. "I don't think we should duck our head and go quietly into the night."&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/blockquote&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Council Members K.C. Crosby, Bill Farmer, and&amp;nbsp; Ed Lane voted against the resolution and Council Member Diane Lawless was not present for the vote.&amp;nbsp; All 11 other council members voted yes in favor of the resolution.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;If you're a Lexington resident, please &lt;a class="external-link" href="http://www.lexingtonky.gov/index.aspx?page=1741"&gt;contact your city council membe&lt;/a&gt;r and thank them for voting yes if they did, or express concern if they voted no.&amp;nbsp; Remember that Vice Mayor Linda Gorton, and Council At-Large members Steve Kay and Chuck Ellinger all represent everyone in Lexington.&amp;nbsp; So they're your council members too.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p align="center"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;_________________________________&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2/1/12 Update - &lt;a class="external-link" href="http://www.kentucky.com/2012/01/31/2050394/judge-delays-filing-deadline-for.html#storylink=cpy"&gt;Judge delays filing deadline for state legislative candidates&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/strong&gt; to Feb 7th. &amp;nbsp; This creates space for the Franklin Circuit court to take further action by that time, possibly declaring the redistricting to be illegal and asking the legislature to try again or taking some other action to intervene.&amp;nbsp; We'll know more by the end of the day on Feb 7th. &amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2/2/12 Update - &lt;a class="external-link" href="http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/02/02/house-senate-appear-close-on-congressional-redistricting-plan/"&gt;House, Senate appear close on congressional redistricting plan&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp; There has been some movement on the Congressional redistricting plan too.&amp;nbsp; Note that this is separate from the state legislature plan at issue above.&amp;nbsp; We're still waiting for the Franklin Circuit Court ruling by Feb 7th on that one.&amp;nbsp; In the mean time, you can take a moment to &lt;a class="external-link" href="../../../2010/02/03/write-a-letter-to-the-editor"&gt;write a letter to the editor&lt;/a&gt; to let your community know how you feel about these partisan redistricting plans.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;2/6/12 Update&lt;/strong&gt; - &lt;a class="external-link" href="http://bluegrasspolitics.bloginky.com/2012/02/06/judge-holds-hearing-on-legislative-redistricting-challenge/"&gt;Judge says he will rule in a day or two on legislative redistricting&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp; We might know something tomorrow or the filing deadline might get pushed back a little more.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;

          ]]>
        </content:encoded>        

        <dc:date>2012-01-30T21:33:34-05:00</dc:date>

        <dc:modified>2012-02-06T19:39:59-05:00</dc:modified>

        <dc:creator>Dave Newton</dc:creator>

        

        
            <dc:subject>Restoration of Voting Rights</dc:subject>
        
        
            <dc:subject>Voter Empowerment</dc:subject>
        
        
            <dc:subject>Central Kentucky</dc:subject>
        

    </rss:item>

    
    

    <rss:item rdf:about="http://www.kftc.org/blog/archive/2012/01/30/we-need-your-calls-to-help-pass-our-voting-rights-amendment-out-of-the-house">

        <rss:title>We need your calls to help pass our Voting Rights Amendment out of the House  </rss:title>

        <rss:link>http://www.kftc.org/blog/archive/2012/01/30/we-need-your-calls-to-help-pass-our-voting-rights-amendment-out-of-the-house</rss:link>       

        

        <content:encoded>
          <![CDATA[
          
&lt;table class="photo-right"&gt;
&lt;tbody&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;
&lt;td&gt;&lt;a title="DSC_1718 by Kentuckians For The Commonwealth, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/kftcphotos/6489233347/"&gt;&lt;img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7160/6489233347_65b7521caf_m.jpg" alt="DSC_1718" height="161" width="240" /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;
&lt;td&gt;Members and allies at a voting rights rally in Lexington this past December&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/tbody&gt;
&lt;tbody&gt;&lt;/tbody&gt;
&lt;/table&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Our restoration of voting rights amendment is on the move. Just last week House Bill 70 was voted out of committee with bipartisan support by a wide margin of 7-1.  We expect the bill to come up for a full vote before the Kentucky House of Representatives any day now. &lt;strong&gt;In order to ensure we get the supermajority needed to pass this bill, we need your help.&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Kentucky is one of only four states that permanently takes away voting rights from all former felons, even after they've served their debt to society. This directly impacts over 186,000 Kentuckians, including 1 in 4 voting age African-Americans. KFTC believes in restoring the right to vote to these citizens because is is the fair, democratic, and reasonable thing to do.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;h3&gt;Take Action!&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Do you have three minutes to make a call to help pass HB70?&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Call the Legislative Message Line (&lt;strong&gt;1-800-372-7181&lt;/strong&gt;) as soon as you can, and ask to leave a message for some legislators. The line is open 7am to 11pm on weekdays and until 6pm on Fridays. The operator will ask for your name and address.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Ask to leave the message for "House Leadership, Senate Leadership, Senate State and Local Government Committee,” and your own Representative and Senator (if you don’t know who that is, the operator can tell you).&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Message: &lt;/strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;"Please vote yes on House Bill 70."&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Thank you for taking action!&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

          ]]>
        </content:encoded>        

        <dc:date>2012-01-30T16:18:41-05:00</dc:date>

        <dc:modified>2012-02-06T00:56:07-05:00</dc:modified>

        <dc:creator>Erik Hungerbuhler</dc:creator>

        

        
            <dc:subject>Restoration of Voting Rights</dc:subject>
        
        
            <dc:subject>Take Action</dc:subject>
        
        
            <dc:subject>General Assembly</dc:subject>
        
        
            <dc:subject>Voter Empowerment</dc:subject>
        

    </rss:item>

    
    

    <rss:item rdf:about="http://www.kftc.org/blog/archive/2012/01/30/outrageous-statement-by-senate-president-david-williams">

        <rss:title>Outrageous statement by Senate President David Williams</rss:title>

        <rss:link>http://www.kftc.org/blog/archive/2012/01/30/outrageous-statement-by-senate-president-david-williams</rss:link>       

        

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&lt;p&gt;According to an &lt;a class="external-link" href="http://www.kentucky.com/2012/01/29/2047722/ethics-watchdog-richard-beliles.html#storylink=misearch"&gt;article&lt;/a&gt; by reporter John Cheeves in the 1/29/2012 edition of the Lexington Herald Leader, Senate President David Williams recently suggested that a 78-year old man protesting mountaintop removal mining in Governor Beshear's office should kill himself.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a class="external-link" href="http://www.kentucky.com/2012/01/29/2047722/ethics-watchdog-richard-beliles.html#storylink=misearch"&gt;Richard Beliles&lt;/a&gt; is a long-time advocate for honest and transparent government in Kentucky and chairman of the Kentucky chapter of &lt;a class="external-link" href="http://www.commoncause.org/site/pp.asp?c=dkLNK1MQIwG&amp;amp;b=4846233"&gt;Common Cause&lt;/a&gt;, a national organization that advocates for fair elections and limits on the role of money in politics. Since early January, he has taken a weekly shift as part of persistent, peaceful vigil against mountaintop removal mining in the state Capitol. In today's &lt;a class="external-link" href="http://www.kentucky.com/2012/01/29/2047722/ethics-watchdog-richard-beliles.html#storylink=misearch"&gt;article&lt;/a&gt;, Beliles described a chilling interaction he had with Senator David Williams while protesting.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p class="callout"&gt;"He said, 'Are you occupying the office?' I said yes. He said, 'Well, 
why don't you set yourself on fire? Why don't you immolate yourself?' 
And then he left," said Beliles, who is recovering from cancer 
treatment. "It was a strange thing for David to say. It sort of shook me
 up."&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Williams's spokesperson said the Senator was "clearly joking." But there is nothing humorous about statements like this, especially from a person in public office who holds a position of significant power.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;When activists&amp;nbsp; &lt;a class="external-link" href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeff-biggers/one-love-the-nation-shoul_b_822770.html"&gt;occupied the Kentucky Capitol&lt;/a&gt; for four days last February, they called on&amp;nbsp; Governor Beshear to "call for an end to extreme and violent speech aimed at citizens who are working to protect Kentucky's land, air and water." To date the governor has made no such declaration. Kentuckians are still waiting. Richard Beliles, and all of us, deserve far better.&lt;/p&gt;
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        <dc:date>2012-01-30T08:13:13-05:00</dc:date>

        <dc:modified>2012-01-30T08:13:13-05:00</dc:modified>

        <dc:creator>Lisa Abbott</dc:creator>

        

        
            <dc:subject>General Assembly</dc:subject>
        
        
            <dc:subject>EKY</dc:subject>
        
        
            <dc:subject>MTR</dc:subject>
        
        
            <dc:subject>Canary Project</dc:subject>
        
        
            <dc:subject>Eastern Kentucky</dc:subject>
        
        
            <dc:subject>News</dc:subject>
        

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