Editor:

I’m not writing this to start any trouble. I’m just at the end of my rope and want other people to know this.

What would you do if all of a sudden a big corporation came into your town and disrupted your lifestyle? You would be very upset. But what do you do about it?

Will you start by calling the company, then the state Division of Highways, then the state Department of Environmental Protection, then the sheriff of your community? What happens? Nothing!

Oh, the company says they will take care of it, but nothing happens. You have to call every day just to get something done. Then, that gets to be a pain. Then, all of a sudden, you just stop because you hit brick walls and get lied to. So, what’s the use. These corporations can come into your town and state and do whatever they want.

I live in the town of Ashford. This started about three years ago, when a mining company came into the area and started a mine back up after it had been shut down for years.

They told us at the town meeting they would use the single one-lane road that has a blind curve in it until they got a haul road open and then the trucks would start using that.

They also told us they were cutting through the mountain and when they got through, they would be using that and not the part of the road that runs by my house.

They also told us they would repave the road. This road is 1/6 off of W.Va. 1 in Ashford. School buses run on that road. The bridge on which you cross the creek is just barely big enough for a car to cross and they are letting coal trucks use it. They say they can use this when hauling to the river. Right.

The road was paved, but now it is back to dirt. Have you ever tried to drive your car out of mud? When it rains, this road is awful. When it is dry, it has nothing but dust. I cannot hang out clothes because of the dust. My mailbox, my house and my cars have dust on them.

Another thing I am going to mention is this: The main train tracks go right by our house. I have lived here for more than 30 years and we have had nothing from the train. But these coal trucks are a different story. We can wash our vehicles and in a few hours, they look as though they never had been washed. We have to hose off our vehicles every time we come in just to get the mud or dust off of them.

I know progress needs to occur and Wes Virginia is a coal state, but why can’t they do something?Since the trucks and mine have started running, the area beside the road has become so dirty with trash and coal that falls off the trucks. Does the mine do anything about it? No! Why should we have to call everyday to the mines and tell them what needs to be done?

I know the weather plays a part in what the road is like and I understand that, but the company needs to be a little bit better with the people in the community. I come into the hollow and the houses have so much dirt on them, it makes me cry.

The trucks fly in and out of the hollow. If someone was coming, they probably would get hit. With the dust from the trucks, you cannot see anything coming. The trucks use the road as though no one else uses it. Some of them scream over their CBs that you need to get out of the road. The trucks come in here so fast. There is a house beside the road in a curve and I am just waiting for one of them to go right into the house. Your sleep gets disrupted about 4 or 5 in the morning because of the trucks flying in and out to work.

But who cares, right?

Deborah Halstead,

Ashford

Editor:

Maybe instead of taking sides with the coal miners in and around the area, you should hear the people who have to live in the areas that are affected by mountaintop removal.

I lived in Twilight my whole life. It used to be a booming town. Now, it is scary just thinking about getting out of your house and going down the road.

We have hill slides because of the moutaintop removal. We have dust that is the result of the blasting from the moutaintop. It is killing people. The air has a lot of chemicals from the sludge ponds and the blasting.

To the coal miners, people shouldn't be worried about this because to them, they are safe on the mountains of the strip mines and don't have any problems. How about the people who live in the valleys? How about the grandchildren, children and families who have been affected by this problem? Some of the familes have been very sick from cancer to breathing troubles. Come to find out, it is due to the coal mines.

How about you come and live here for about two weeks and see if you don't get sick? And make sure you drink the water. See what happens then.

Michael E. Workman Jr.,

Twilight

Editor:

This is a story simply told of a running resume of terror in the Middle East since the days of Moses.

The laws of the Israelites were based on religious ideals of one god, "Yahweh," who would return them to the Promised Land. Those laws connected their relations with all other men to their devotion to one god.

After Moses' death, Joshua led the Israelites in conquering Canaan. The first city to fall was Jericho, and for years, city after city fell.

Joshua's battle plan was to annihilate all that was in the city, both man and woman, young and old, ox and sheep. He then was to burn the city in order to rebuild and populate it with the Israelites. This plan of terror and genocide was to continue throughout all of the cities and tribes conquered until Canaan was in Israelite control.

After Joshua's death, the tribes of Canaan became scattered and fell prey to the Phillistines, who now called that land Palestine. From that time on, there has been death and destruction for control of the land of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The meaning of the word Israel, "struggler with God," has become evident since Moses' exit from Mount Sinai.

After centuries of chaotic struggle of Judaism, a new belief appeared in the form of Christianity. The Christians were persecuted by the Romans and non-Christian Jews for 300 years until Emperor Constantine made Christianity the legal religion of the Romans.

Christianity was divided, with Rome the Capitol of the West and Constantinople the Capitol of the East. For centuries, there continued to be terror, death and destruction between the Christians of the East and West.

During the continued struggle of Christianity, around 600 A.D., another religion known as Islam was born out of Judaism and Christianity. Now, there were three religions of one God vying for control of Jerusalem and the Middle East. The Moslems took Persia, Egypt, Syria and invaded Palestine, capturing Jerusalem. For centuries, the Moslems and Christians fought for control of the Holy Land. Acts of terrorism were performed by both sides and continue today.

The Crusades were Christian armies of Europe, whose objective was to recover the Holy Land from the Arabs. The Christians of the East refused to join the Western armies, so their capitol was attacked and looted by the Crusaders.

The Crusaders moved on to take Jerusalem. Their performance of terror and genocide was carried out to the ultimate. The Arabs retaliated in form, killing all Crusaders they found. For thousands of years, the land of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob has produced untold death and destruction.

After World War I, the League of Nations placed Palestine under the authority of Britain, which had ousted the Turks from this land during the war. The British issued the famous Balfour Declaration, which promised the Jewish people that Palestine some day would become their homeland.

In 1946, Jewish terrorists began to stage raids against the British army, and in 1947, the British turned the Palestine problem over to the United Nations. The general assembly divided Palestine into two independent states, one Jewish and one Arab. When the British left Palestine in 1948, war broke out between the Arabs and the Jews.

With every victory, the Jews added to their territory originally granted to them by the United Nations. Most of the Palestinian Arabs fled the country during the fighting, and their land was taken over by the Jews.

To make matters worse, the hundreds of thousand of Arabs who had fled Palestine were confined to special camps. These refugees had nowhere else to go. Israel would not allow them to return and the Arab countries did not want them.

Since the United Nations divided Palestine into two independent states, it only seems logical the Palestinians should at least be restored their state as originally designated. Once the Palestinians regain their state, they also should be given economic aid such as Israel receives. It is only fair and it might finally bring some peace to the region and the world.

Radicals in the worlds of Christianity and Judaism are faced off against the radicals in the world of Islam as it has been for centuries.

Richard Carrico,

Danville