The Third Kentucky Authors Mountaintop Removal Tour brought 21 authors together to bear witness to the the environmental and human impacts mountaintop removal has on eastern Kentucky communities. This year, the  tour expanded to not only include accomplished writers such as former Kentucky poet-laureate Richard Taylor and Affrilachian poet Frank X. Walker, but  artists such as Dobree Adams, a celebrated fabric artist and photographer.

    The group was joined by the former voice of NPR’s Morning Addition and Radio Hall of Fame inductee, Bob Edwards, and a production crew.  Edwards recorded the tour and conducted interviews with KFTC members for a radio program on mountaintop removal that aired internationally on his XM Radio show on July 28 (also read Bob Edward's op-ed in The Courier-Journal on July 23).

    On May 31 the authors traveled to member Daymon Morgan’s house where they spent an afternoon viewing the juxtaposition between a healthy forest and the devastation brought by mountaintop removal and “reclamation” attempts.  Afterwards, flyovers were provided by Southwings so that the authors could see the scale of mountaintop removal from the air.

    The day’s program in eastern Kentucky ended with a powerful evening of community testimony at the Hindman Settlement School.  The session began with a sing-a-long led by Randy Wilson who told the crowd, “We recently went to the United Nations and there we met a man from Ghana who is living on the richest land in the world, but can’t get a drink of clean water.  I said, 'that story sounds familiar.’” A local welcome was given by eastern Kentucky native and writer, Mary Ann Bates, who congratulated the writers for lending their talents to the movement to stop mountaintop removal, but warned that their stance on this issue might attract criticism from others. 

    Personal testimony was given by Erica and Rully Urias of Island Creek who spoke about their choice not to move from their family’s land and the fears they had about bathing their daughter in contaminated water.  Caroline Brown of Roberts Town in Montgomery Creek of Perry County, spoke passionately about preservation stating, “We need to hold onto the few mountains we have left.”  John Roark and Archie Fields also gave testimony as did Letcher County Judge-Executive Carroll Smith and member Pam Maggard who stated, “I hope you can take our stories and articulate them to the world.” New members, Sam and Evelyn Gilbert, gave particularly powerful testimony about their fight in Eolia with Sam stating, “I’m not going to sign away my rights for nobody."  The crowd answered him with “Amens.” 

    Patsy Carter testified about the death of her daughter caused by an overweight coal truck and the underreported dangers faced by coalfield residents every day, stating, “We live in Eastern Kentucky, nobody hears us.”  Teri Blanton closed the night with a thank you to the authors and told them, “I just want you to know the importance of you being here and listening to the cries of my people. It’s very important and empowering that you’re here.”  She then summed up the themes of the evening’s testimonies, “So over and over and over again, different hollow, same story.” 

    The crowd heard comments from former chairperson Patty Wallace and KFTC member, Russell Oliver and deep miner, Nathan Hall.   Teri Blanton described the evening as, “The most amazing evening of public testimony KFTC has ever organized.”

    The authors were so moved by the public testimony that this year they took a different approach to crafting an Author’s Stament.  At a public event held on UK’s campus and co-sponsored by the Department of English, the authors were joined by past participants such as Wendell Berry and Ed McClanahan.  George Brosi led the evening's program of readings from Missing Mountains.  To close, instead of a prepared author’s statement, this year’s participants read aloud selected statements from member’s testimonies to a full auditorium, letting the people's words speak for themselves.

Thank You to all of the artists and community members who  made this a truly special event!