Ashley Judd wrote the statement below in response to recent attacks from industry representatives on her public comments about mountaintop removal at a National Press Club Luncheon. Ashley is a KFTC member and spoke at the 2008 I Love Mountains Day.

I am proud to be standing with so many Eastern Kentuckians everywhere who are working to build a better future. There's so much potential today, right now, for Eastern Kentucky to proudly and bravely lead the way to a new energy economy in this country, with more jobs and more justice for the people of the Appalachian Mountains. It is time for a community abused and exploited by outsiders who have never had our best interests at heart to rise and lead our entire country into a renewable energy future. We can and do have the hope and the vision to bring real, diverse jobs, money, health, and generativity that benefits the broader common welfare.  The cost of premature mortality related to coal mining in Eastern Kentucky was 3.1 to 6.2 billion every year. Kentucky's annual net loss related to coal mining is $115 million per year.  This must stop.
 
When I started speaking out about mountaintop removal, I expected to be attacked personally. I told my husband we should be prepared for it, because the coal companies are cunning, callous and greedy. They use people on the ground as their front, and pit us against one another. However, I know the derogatory and defamatory comments directed at me absolutely pale in comparison to what it is like for those who live every day in the war zone created by mountain top removal mining in our beloved communities and mountains.

 Thus, rest assured, I will continue to speak out about the many reasons I’m so proud to be from Eastern Kentucky for so many generations, and also about the things I think can be better. I stand with those whose jobs are lost by increased mechanization, and those who are a terrified to lose the coal jobs they do have, because coal does not allow for other local economies. I stand with those whose land has been stolen from them, whose homes' foundations are cracked and whose water runs orange and black. I stand with those are sick from particulate dust and pervasive environmental toxicity related to MTR. I stand with those who grieve dead loves ones, killed on dangerous mining sites, by fly rock, by overloaded coal trucks, by social problems such as addiction related to the despair this mono economy wreaks. I stand with those who grieve the 800 mountains gone forever, the 2,500 miles of stream buried. I stand with those who believe we do not have to choose between mountains and jobs, our past and our future. I even stand with those who oppose me.  I believe we can work together.  

I look forward to the chance to have a real conversation, a civil conversation, as we retire the cynical and superficial coal company-created argument that we must choose between people and mountains.  That is simply false, fear based and fear mongering. The time has come for Appalachia to have a dynamic, diverse economic base that actually supports and perpetuates our inherent richness, rather than destroying and depressing it.  

KFTC is proud to stand with Ashley and people from Eastern Kentucky who are working to build a better future in the region. There is great potential right now for Eastern Kentucky to help lead the way to a new energy economy in this country, with more jobs and more justice for the people of the Appalachian Mountains. Talking together in a civil, honest way about how we'll get there given the very serious issues we're facing today is the start of a real solution.

Patty Wallace never planned to become an activist. She just didn’t like what she saw.

At first she was shy to speak up, and she never said a curse word until she was over 70. “Certain words, you need ’em for emphasis, and I don’t care to use them anymore.”

Wallace turns 80 on April 5, and she took a few minutes recently to look back on her 20-plus years of fighting for justice as a member of KFTC.

She calls KFTC “the most important organization I’ve ever belonged to. I’ve learned so much and met the best people. I wouldn’t take anything for my years with KFTC.”

Wallace first got involved with KFTC in the 1980s when a company called Pyrochem wanted to build a hazardous waste incinerator in her community in Lawrence County. As a Girl Scout leader, she had learned about environmental issues in Eastern Kentucky and she was ready to defend her community.

She heard about the Kentucky Fair Tax Coalition, as KFTC was originally known, and got help from KFTC to organize and fight the incinerator. She and her neighbors learned leadership skills, how to talk to local officials, and how to lobby in Frankfort.

Working with other KFTC members, they helped to pass a Hazardous Waste Local Control Bill in the Kentucky General Assembly in 1988 and defeated Pyrochem for good. They also supported other KFTC chapters in different battles across the state.

Wallace became KFTC chairperson in 1988, when the broad form deed campaign was at its peak. Of all her many moments in KFTC, one of her proudest was when the broad form deed amendment passed in 1988 and guaranteed landowners some protection from surface mining.

As she became more active in KFTC’s statewide work, Wallace kept an eye on her own community. She and her niece Ruth Colvin attracted national media attention when they fought asbestos disposal at nearby Roe Creek. When the local sheriff suggested they not enter Roe Creek without a gun, Colvin got deputized and started carrying one. Audubon magazine dubbed them “Housewives from Hell,” and television show Expose featured them in a program about the influence of organized crime in the garbage business. They were also featured in Dr. Richard Leakey’s Earth Journal television program and AARP’s Modern Maturity magazine.

On more than one occasion, Wallace has answered the question of why she became an activist in this way:

“Because I am responsible and answerable to God for the things that are within my power to change, even if only by the way I live and speak out when I see a wrong.

Because there are many other children and adults who have no one to speak for them.

Because I agree with two-thirds of the state who favor clean air and water over jobs and economic development.

Because there are alternatives to the problems of this dispose-all society.”

Wallace’s current goal is to end mountaintop removal.

“To me, the most beautiful areas are these little hollows with the rhododendron, the hemlock, the rocks. I love to discover a place like that … and to think that we can just cover that up and destroy it all, it just makes me sick,” she says.

If you’d like to honor Wallace’s 80^th birthday, here are a few suggestions:

• Leave a comment for her below.
• Donate $80 to KFTC in her honor. Click here to donate online.
• Write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper calling for an end to mountaintop removal and a transition to a cleaner, healthier and more prosperous economy in Eastern Kentucky. Follow this link for tips on writing a good letter.

Elmer Lloyd video

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.

Tayna Fogle is a mother of 2, grandmother of 6, former UK Lady Kat, powerful leader in her community, former felon, and one of KFTC’s most powerful spokespeople on the issue of restoring voting rights to former felons who have served their debt to society. 

“I live in Northern KY now,” says Tayna, “But I was born in Lexington and lived there almost my entire life and I feel very connected to that community.” 

“I’ve done some things I’m not too proud of in my life.  I’ve written cold checks, I’ve done drugs.  What’s worse is that my family – my mom, grandmother, and my kids - had to witness all of that.”

“I lost my mom and I lost my grandmother in the last few years.  The beauty is that they were able to witness the change in me – from all of the bad choices I made when I was younger to the woman I am today.”

“I give back to my community now, talking to organizations in Lexington and across the state, talking to kids to make sure they don’t make the same kinds of mistakes I did.” 

“What motivates me is that there are so many in Kentucky who have lost hope in themselves and their communities.  They’ve lost their voice and don’t remember how to use it.  God has helped me – and helped me to help others.”

“There’s no place I wouldn’t go to give back to my community – to give what was freely given to me – the opportunity to change.” 

Importance of Voting

“I remember when I found out I couldn’t vote was just devastating.”

“In September 2006, I jumped through all the hoops.  I paid the poll tax, wrote my essay, and got all of my character references.  I walked that application into the Governor’s office personally to get my rights back – and it worked.  It took several tries and a lot of time, but it worked/”

“Most people aren’t that persistent, but I am.  Frankly, I don’t think you should need to be determined as I was to be able to get your voting rights back – an in any outher US state but Virginia, you wouldn’t have to be.”

“I never have figured out what committing a crime has to do with being able to vote.  We have to pay for that same crime twice – but with a life sentence. “

“Voting matters to me.  It’s not all about Obama and McCain, either.  I also want to be able to vote in the school board for my grandchildren’s education – and on the local ownership of water issue (from a few years ago in Lexington) so I can make sure my family has clean water to drink.  This is pretty basic stuff.”

“It gives former felons a sense of ownership In their communities.  They’ll be stakeholders.  We’re smart and we’ve got good ideas.  We don’t go back to prison if we’ve got somewhere better to be.  Once we have a glimpse of hope, we go for it.”

Faith

“I’m a very religious Christian and I think that if people honestly practiced their faiths – Christianity and other major world religions - we’d be in a different place on this issue.” 

“Forgiveness, loving your neighbor, compassion - If we truly believed all of that, then we wouldn’t have to have this discussion about whether former felons can vote or not.” 

“We have all of these legislators who are prominent in their churches who somehow can’t make the connection.” 

“God is always watching – and we’d better make this right.” 

Generational Curse

“I don’t want my kids or anyone else’s kids to go down the road I went down.  Our children need the right to experience joy and happiness.  I take my grandchildren with me when I talk about voting rights because they need to learn about this stuff.” 

“My son Michael didn’t see a lot of voting growing up as my son – and didn’t see a lot of voting in the rest of the neighborhood either.”

“In 2008, he registered to vote at the KFTC table.  I think he saw how  important getting involved in the community has been for me and how big a difference it’s made in my life and he thought he’d give it a try.” 

“When he went to that voting booth last year, I recorded his every movement with my camera as he was voted for the first time.

“I had tears in my eyes and I was so proud for him.  I got to pin his “I Voted” sticker on him.”

“So many of my son’s peers seem to be so jaded about democracy – but to see so many of them get excited about it last year, was so fulfilling.”

“My son Michael even wrote a rap song about voting a few months later and performed it in Georgetown College.”

Organizing

“If I didn’t have powerful people around me like KFTC, I wouldn’t be able to do the things I do today.   KFTC members told me that I could make a difference and I started to believe them.  Once I finally got that down in my soul, there was no turning back.  It helps keep me going.” 

“I get to go all around the state and talk to organizations, and classes, and legislators, and former felons about this issue.  I’ve met so many great people over the last few years doing this work and so many of them want to get involved in this work too.

“Most people aren’t as outgoing as I am, but so many folks help out behind the scenes, sending emails to their legislators, talking to their neighbors, and making phone calls.”

“I get to witness people getting their rights back and making their lives better.  There’s nothing better than that.”

“It’s contagious.” 


If you’re a former felon or a family member of a former felon and would like to be interviewed and tell your story here, contact Dave Newton, KFTC’s Voter Empowerment Organizer at (859) 420-8919 or Dave@kftc.org