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If you have not lived here, you do not know our strengths, or weaknesses. You do not know what we hold important. First and foremost, family and community. Do you know how many Grandparents or community members who have raised a child because that child needed help? We do not depend on the government to raise our children, but the family or community. A child needs help, some one in the community steps up, A family needs help, some one in the community steps up, A house burns down, someone in the community steps up. Someone wants to get a job in another community? The word goes out. Somebody helps them get a job and a place to live. Somebody else helps the family make it until they can support those who are left behind. Clannish? Yes. Community? Yes.
---" we do not depend on the government to raise our children"
No parents in Eastern KY receiving food stamps?
Yup, food stamps is depending on the govt to feed your family.
How and when did mountaintop mining get started? Doesn't that technique employ less miners than underground mining? It couldn't be a jobs issue.
Why didn't the citizens of Kentucky and West Virginia complain to their state governments at the outset?
It puzzles me.
It would not surprise me that someday they will give environmental disaster tours of areas of KY and WV
as they currently do in Chernobyl, Ukraine.
Mountain-top -removal or better known as Strip mining was a no brainer for the Coal industry because it is cheaper. It started when American industry developed the huge excavators , transporters and earth removers to do the job efficently and economically in the 1940s and 50s. It also uses far less manpower and a large reason why the number or mining jobs in West Virginia has shrunk from over 500,000 to less than 80,000 this is another reason why it is much cheaper to strip mine than to do shaft and vault mining which needs much more and skilled manpower It is also safer because the shale formations coal is found in have a lot of methane and other toxic gases that allways percolated into old style mines. This gas was up until now too slow to come out of the shale formations to be worth collecting or extracting. We have know figured out how to change this through hydrofracturing or fracking. Fracking may make those hills worth something but will provide less jobs than strip mining once the fracking is done and the automated wells all connected to equally automated collection, transport and storage facillities.
You ask why didn't the locals complain to the politicians in Lexington or Charleston. The answer is money talks and the miners and local folks didn't have the money, or the vote since poll taxes and literacy tests weren't just for keeping blacks from the ballot boxes. The voiceless hill folk put up some of the bloodiest battles agaionst the coal companies but for their trouble got shot at or had their skulls cracked open. Harlen Country KY was the site of a notable insurection in the 1920s . Woody Gutherie a "Union Man" even wrote a song about it "Which Side Are You On" which notes "In Harlen County there are no neutrals there, you either are a union man or thug for J. H. Blair". The Coal industry was was dragged kicking and screaming into the modern era of labor relations when on a Federal level they had to recognize the UMWA under the National Labor Relations Act of the New Deal if they wanted to sell their coal outside of KY or WVA. Interstate commerce is a Federal responsibility under the US Constitution. WW2 also helped becuase the Coal Mines like a lot of American industry was Federalized and controled by the Federal Government for the duration of the war.
As for tourism? Americas first coal mining area the Anthracite Belt in NE Penna has plenty of abanndonned mines, coal breakers, slag and mine waste piles. Add to that weather beaten towns that have seen better days and streams running toxic acid runoff to satisfy the most fervant tree hugger. We even have whole mountain sides devoid of any vegitation. Unfortunately its not very appealing or intersting and even with nearly 75 million people along our eastern seaboard there are few vistors in this part of PA.
I invite you to try to raise a family on food stamps and see where you come out. Check out the foodstamp rates per person per income in the household, and only spend that amount per month. See if you and your family can subsist on it. Our Mt. people do utilize foodstamps to help provide food, but most of our food is home grown and we make it with very little ready cash. However, that was not the point of my post. My point was that a hillbilly with not enough for himself or herself and their family will still share what he or she has if someone else needs help. The people in the community will exhaust their resources before they turn to outsiders. For me, this is not some philosophical argument, I have witnessed it.
I invite you to try to raise a family on food stamps and see where you come out. Check out the foodstamp rates per person per income in the household, and only spend that amount per month. See if you and your family can subsist on it. Our Mt. people do utilize foodstamps to help provide food, but most of our food is home grown and we make it with very little ready cash. However, that was not the point of my post. My point was that a hillbilly with not enough for himself or herself and their family will still share what he or she has if someone else needs help. The people in the community will exhaust their resources before they turn to outsiders. For me, this is not some philosophical argument, I have witnessed it.
When I traveled in eastern Kentucky as an insurance representative I by chance got to know several families that literally didn't have a pot to pee in, but somehow was fortunate enough to be accepted by them and on one occasion was invited to dinner by a family (near Paintsville as I recall) that had very little to offer. But they put out the best they had. I don't remember if we had mountain strawberries (pinto beans) or greens or what, but I understood that they were honoring me by sharing their diminished resources. I badly wanted to leave them a twenty dollar bill or something, but knew in my heart they would be insulted by such an offer.
So there are those that will be just as kind to an outsider---which is sometimes a hard thing for east Kentuckians to do. And those folks weren't sharing with me because of any need I had, but because they wanted to be kind to me.
I moved away many, many years ago and I have lost touch with them, but I've never forgotten how they shared the little that they had with a Jefferson County guy in a suit!
It's given me a soft spot in my heart for those that struggle to survive in that land that they love.
I just got a job that brought me back home to east ky after 20 years of being away. I am sad to say that the use of meth and pills are unbelievable in this area. The use of food stamps are not being used for what they are intended. They buy product with food stamps and sell it to other places for cash and theft is at an all time high. It seems these people who are hooked on drugs will stop at nothing to get what they need. But I notice the same people or families are in power and that is a huge problem for this area. They wont allow businesses to come here, except for pike county. These people are a big part of the reason these areas are not growing. This area needs new leadership that will get these areas out of the 1950s and get in the 21st century. Then, you hear of the johnson county sheriffs office cutting their force in half because of budget cuts so the drugs will get worse. I plan on running for an office here soon and hopefully make some changes with the help of my hometown folks who are longing for change here
I just got a job that brought me back home to east ky after 20 years of being away. I am sad to say that the use of meth and pills are unbelievable in this area. The use of food stamps are not being used for what they are intended. They buy product with food stamps and sell it to other places for cash and theft is at an all time high. It seems these people who are hooked on drugs will stop at nothing to get what they need. But I notice the same people or families are in power and that is a huge problem for this area. They wont allow businesses to come here, except for pike county. These people are a big part of the reason these areas are not growing. This area needs new leadership that will get these areas out of the 1950s and get in the 21st century. Then, you hear of the johnson county sheriffs office cutting their force in half because of budget cuts so the drugs will get worse. I plan on running for an office here soon and hopefully make some changes with the help of my hometown folks who are longing for change here
Good luck with your reform campaign - just don't link it to this post /\, or you'll never get elected!
If I lived in your county, I'd both campaign and vote for you.
I just got a job that brought me back home to east ky after 20 years of being away. I am sad to say that the use of meth and pills are unbelievable in this area. The use of food stamps are not being used for what they are intended. They buy product with food stamps and sell it to other places for cash and theft is at an all time high. It seems these people who are hooked on drugs will stop at nothing to get what they need. But I notice the same people or families are in power and that is a huge problem for this area. They wont allow businesses to come here, except for pike county. These people are a big part of the reason these areas are not growing. This area needs new leadership that will get these areas out of the 1950s and get in the 21st century. Then, you hear of the johnson county sheriffs office cutting their force in half because of budget cuts so the drugs will get worse. I plan on running for an office here soon and hopefully make some changes with the help of my hometown folks who are longing for change here
After you're elected, check into the 2.5 million the state TOOK that belong to coal producing counties of Eastern Kentucky, to renovate rupp arena and oh yah, the lexington center. I know money don't fix everything but, 2.5 million of a 300 million project that will end up being 600 million...2.5 million is just a drop in the bucket, did they need it that bad? As long as the rest of the state has the attitude toward Eastern Kentucky they have now....ain't nothing going to change...for Eastern Kentucky that is.
As an outsider I never specifically heard of E.KY as a poverty ridden place. To me that was kind of a given for rural Appalachia. That map seems fairly accurate with the places I've visited. I've chosen this area to live because oddly enough it met all the criteria I listed when searching a place to build and settle. Despite the sketchy reputation of the region, here were a few things in my criteria that were met in E.KY:
1. affordable
2. rural (for off-grid, limited code enforcement, not to mention more bang per dollar)
3. consistent rainfall
4. four seasons with relatively mild winters (ex. winter highs are 40 as opposed to 30 degrees)
5. reasonable taxes
6. gun friendly
7. abundance of nature
8. within half day's drive of NC
9. a hillbilly element
Many people demand things like jobs, good school systems, amenities, diversity, increasing property value.. for me to hell with all that, it aint always what its cracked up to be.
As an outsider I never specifically heard of E.KY as a poverty ridden place. To me that was kind of a given for rural Appalachia. That map seems fairly accurate with the places I've visited. I've chosen this area to live because oddly enough it met all the criteria I listed when searching a place to build and settle. Despite the sketchy reputation of the region, here were a few things in my criteria that were met in E.KY:
1. affordable
2. rural (for off-grid, limited code enforcement, not to mention more bang per dollar)
3. consistent rainfall
4. four seasons with relatively mild winters (ex. winter highs are 40 as opposed to 30 degrees)
5. reasonable taxes
6. gun friendly
7. abundance of nature
8. within half day's drive of NC
9. a hillbilly element
Many people demand things like jobs, good school systems, amenities, diversity, increasing property value.. for me to hell with all that, it aint always what its cracked up to be.
About what I was thinking. Sounds like eastern KY is a big pile of mine tailings! With stripped mountains. From these posts. Ill keep researching.
As an outsider I never specifically heard of E.KY as a poverty ridden place. To me that was kind of a given for rural Appalachia. That map seems fairly accurate with the places I've visited. I've chosen this area to live because oddly enough it met all the criteria I listed when searching a place to build and settle. Despite the sketchy reputation of the region, here were a few things in my criteria that were met in E.KY:
1. affordable
2. rural (for off-grid, limited code enforcement, not to mention more bang per dollar)
3. consistent rainfall
4. four seasons with relatively mild winters (ex. winter highs are 40 as opposed to 30 degrees)
5. reasonable taxes
6. gun friendly
7. abundance of nature
8. within half day's drive of NC
9. a hillbilly element
Many people demand things like jobs, good school systems, amenities, diversity, increasing property value.. for me to hell with all that, it aint always what its cracked up to be.
I live in eastern Kentucky, and there are many positives to my surroundings. You've made a pretty good list, but I'd like to add some more:
-Family-centered culture.
-Very low crime in general, unless you are hanging out with the wrong people. I feel completely safe everywhere in my community.
-True freedom- in my community no enforced building codes to deal with. My neighbor's yard may look like a junkyard, but I accept it as a testament to the freedom we have here, instead of choosing to care. I live in the middle of my own 50 acres, so I just don't worry about what he does.
-Cost of land is low, and since water is everywhere, you won't pay such a premium for a creek/pond/spring as you would in other places.
-Stats for schools may not be great, but I never worry about my child's safety when he's in school. Education starts at home, so I make sure he gets the most out of what is available to him.
-Gardening culture is huge where I live. Everyone with a bit of land (almost everyone) grows a vegetable garden every year. People still can and preserve a lot of food here.
Mining is huge here, but I don't have any mountaintop removal sites near enough to me that I've ever noticed. People write about eastern Kentucky like it is one big destroyed mine, with all of it's beauty and nature stolen, but that's not what I see when I look around. I own my own hilltop, and in the winter when the leaves fall, I can see far into the distance. Surrounding me is beautiful rolling hills doted with houses and small farms.
In general it is a great place if you appreciate family, nature, water and freedom. If money and material things are what drive you, then you will hate it here.
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It's more than that
