Arrests at protest of coal facilities that threaten school

Thirteen protesters were arrested on Mar. 16 at the West Virginia governor's office at the state capitol in Charleston. The 13 were among 50 or so who had gathered there to demand that Gov. Joe Manchin sign a pledge to build a new school in a safe location for the students at Marsh Fork Elementary School in West Virginia's Coal River Valley. The protest was sparked by a ruling earlier in the week by the politically appointed state Surface Mine Board approving the building of a new coal silo less than 300 feet from the school, at the coal preparation facility operated by Goals Coal, a subsidiary of Massey Energy. People concerned about the ill effects of large-scale strip mining have been trying for years to persuade state and local officials to close the facility or move the school to a safe location in the same community. Students at the school breathe air laden with coal dust and the toxic chemicals used in processing coal at the facility. In addition, directly behind the facility, 400 yards upstream from the school, an earthen dam holds back the contents of a 2.8 billion gallon capacity lake of coal sludge and runoff from the mountaintop removal mine site behind the school. Former workers at the site say the dam was poorly built. If the dam were to fail, hundreds of people downstream could die, including everyone at the school. Among those arrested was Ed Wiley, 49, of Rock Creek, whose granddaughter attended the school. Last summer Wiley walked 455 miles from Coal River Valley to Washington, DC, to call attention to the conditions at the school. The protesters were primarily residents of West Virginia, although those present included supporters from North Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee and Virginia as well as college students who'd come to West Virginia for Mountain Justice Spring Break, a gathering of young people concerned about strip mining and energy issues. Protesters ranged in age from children to a woman from Coal River Valley celebrating her 87th birthday that day. The group occupied the reception area of the governor's office late in the morning, singing and chanting. Several protesters entered the vestibule between the reception room and the governor's office and refused to leave. Joe Martin, deputy chief of staff for the governor, came out to talk with the protesters, primarily addressing Ed Wiley, who'd met with the governor before concerning the school. At one point, Martin approached Wiley, took his hand, and privately asked him to help him out with quieting things down and persuading the crowd to leave. Wiley shouted: "Enough of this whispering in my ear, telling me to settle this down. We'll raise the roof off the dang place." Other protesters in the room cheered and applauded. Early in the afternoon, Martin read a statement from the governor asserting that the decision about whether to build a new school to replace the one at Marsh Fork was up to the voters of Raleigh County, not the governor. Immediately after the statement was read, state troopers and capitol police asked the protesters to clear the vestibule leading to the governor's office and part of the reception room nearest the door to the vestibule. More than a dozen police approached the vestibule and began arresting protesters who refused to move. Many of those present said that police used unnecessary force in arresting people who obviously posed no threat of violence. One protester, Hillary Anne Hosta, 34, of Naoma, who was asked to move and agreed to do so was nonetheless pursued across the room and arrested there. Police pinned her on the floor, handcuffed her with her hands behind her back, then carried her out in a painful hog-tied position, face down with officers carrying her by her handcuffs and ankles. "She was in no way behaving in a threatening manner," said Paul Corbit Brown, a photographer who'd come there to document the protest. "She was simply targeted by the state police as the [apparent] leader of the rally and was taken down with excessive and abusive force. She was neither resisting nor bullying the police." The 13 who were arrested were charged with misdemeanor obstruction. All were released from jail later that day on personal recognizance bonds. Their bonds specify that they may not return to the capitol to protest.