May 2013 - balancing the scales

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Kentuckians For The Commonwealth P.O. Box 1450 London, Ky. 40743

balancing the scales Volume 32 Number 3

May 2, 2013

NON-PROFIT U.S. POSTAGE PAID LEXINGTON, KY. PERMIT NO. 513

What’s Next?

What will you do?

pg. 9 In Memory of...

Danny Cotton

pg. 4

Organizing for non-discrimination at Georgetown College pg. 5 Bowling Green Housing Coalition expands fair housing work pg. 6 Member Commentary Kentucky voices: Prisons won’t unlock prosperity in EKy pg. 7 ACHE Act would place moratorium on MTR permits pg. 13 Beshear administration pushes weakened selenium standard pg. 14 Now’s the time to reach out locally for tax reform pg. 15 Former felon voices: Mantell Stevens, Lexington pg.16 General Assembly wrap-up pg. 17

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balancing the scales, May 2, 2013

Table of Contents Executive Committee Corner page 3

Kentuckians For The Commonwealth is a statewide grassroots social justice orga­­ni­ zation working for a new balance of power and a just society. KFTC uses direct-action organizing to accomplish the following goals:

In Memory of...

Danny Cotton – Kentucky was lucky to claim him as a friend Kentucky loses Bob Sloan, passionate voice for the mountains

page 4 page 4

Local Update Organizing for non-discrimination at Georgetown College Bowling Green Housing Coalition expands fair housing work NKY chapter plans full spring, summer

page 5 page 6 page 6

Member Commentary Kentucky voices: Prisons won’t unlock prosperity in EKy New Power Leader Profile: Nancy Reinhart Annie Ormsbee – Life experience provides glimpse of “other” side

page 7 page 7 page 8

New Energy and Transition Update Excitement, hope generated at Appalachia’s Bright Future Reflection on Appalachia’s Bright Future conference Excitement, hope at ABF …

page 9 page 11 page 12

Canary Project Update ACHE Act would place moratorium on MTR permits Community water testing pairs organizing with science Beshear administration pushes weakened selenium standard

KFTC membership dues are $15 to $50 per year, based on ability to pay. No one is denied membership because of inability to pay.

Membership is open to anyone who is committed to equality, democracy and nonviolent change.

page 13 page 13 page 14

KFTC Steering Committee

Economic Justice Updates Now’s the time to reach out locally for tax reform Kentucky hangs up on AT&T

page 15 page 15

Voting Rights Updates Former felon voices: Mantell Stevens, Lexington Rally emphasizes immigration reform and legalization with dignity

Sue Tallichet, chair Dana Beasley Brown, vice chair Rick Handshoe, secretary-treasurer Megan Naseman, at-large member Steve Boyce, immediate past chair

page 16 page 16

Chapter Representatives

2013 General Assembly wrap-up:

page 17

Officer nominations, platform review start annual process Nominations for officers and committees Calendar

page 18 page 19 page 20

Name: Address: City, State Zip: Phone: Email: I want to make my donation to the following organization (check one): ____ KFTC (not tax-deductible) ____ Kentucky Coalition (tax-deductible) B a n k W i t h d r a w a l / C re d i t C a rd P a y m e n t Authorization: I authorize KFTC/KY Coalition to debit my account or charge my credit card in accordance with the information provided. I understand that this authority will remain in effect until cancelled or changed by reasonable notification to KFTC/KY Coalition.

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• foster democratic values • change unjust institutions • empower individuals • overcome racism and other discrimination • communicate a message of what’s possible • build the organization • help people participate • win issues that affect the common welfare • have fun

Homer White, Scott County Christian Torp, Central Kentucky Ted Withrow, Rowan County Ben Baker, Northern Kentucky Shekinah Lavalle, Jefferson County Travis Lane, Southern Kentucky Jack Ball, Harlan County Cleveland Smith, Perry County Meta Mendel-Reyes, Madison County Elizabeth Sanders, Letcher County Whitney Blackburn, Floyd County Daniel Morgan, Wilderness Trace Leslie McBride, Shelby County Alternates: Rosanne Fitts Klarer, Scott County; Greg Capillo, Central Kentucky; Lisa Bryant, Rowan County; Rick Traud, Northern Kentucky; Nan Goheen, Jefferson County; Alan Smith, Southern Kentucky; Carl Shoupe, Harlan County; Katie Pirotina, Perry County; Steve Wilkins, Madison County; Ada Smith, Letcher County; Leah Bayens, Wilderness Trace; Patrick King, Shelby County. balancing the scales is published by Kentuckians For The Commonwealth and mailed third class from Lexington, Kentucky.

Reader contri­butions and letters to the editor should be sent to 250 Southland Drive Suite #4, Lexington, KY. 40503 or tim@kftc.org.

Subscriptions are $20 per year.

balancing the scales, May 2, 2013

Executive Committee Corner

by Dana Beasley Brown KFTC Vice-Chairperson

What would a New Power candidate look like?

The buzz in the media around the 2014 U.S. Senate race has got us thinking: What kind of candidate would KFTC members get excited about? What would that candidate look like? What would a “New Power” candidate look like?

We know what an “Old Power” candidate looks like, because that’s what we are used to. They use negative campaign ads, manipulative talking points, suppress the vote, and are submissive to those who demand prioritizing their profits over protecting our people and land. Old Power candidates lack a vision for Kentucky. Unfortunately, they also make us lose hope in our democracy.

A New Power candidate will restore our hope in democracy. The candidate’s campaign will work to create a healthy democracy in Kentucky by:

• communicating a New Power vision

•really listening to all Kentuckians

•empowering folks to become engaged citizens

•running a true grassroots campaign

A New Power candidate shares our vision for Kentucky. For example, as a parent, I hope that my children, and all of the children in Kentucky, will be loved, will be safe, have plenty of healthy food to eat and good medical care, and have access to an education that will enable them to reach their potential. I also hope they can find their dream job right here in Kentucky. To me that is the vision of economic justice.

We need candidates who share this vision with us.

A New Power candidate listens to ALL Kentuckians. There is wisdom to be gained from sitting around the kitchen table listening to ordinary Kentuckians.

Instead of holding a town hall meeting, a candidate

could learn about our local job economy by walking into a locally owned restaurant and listening to the hard working employees. They could learn about the real life problems in our healthcare system by listening to families at the children’s ward of a hospital. If they took the time to listen to the residents of a nursing home, they could learn about where we have been, and if they went to a school and listened to our children and their teachers, where we could go.

A New Power candidate will empower Kentuckians to be bold and demand that candidates who are asking to represent them listen to and respect their collective wisdom and values. A New Power candidate will know that the people who are directly affected by a community issue are the ones most qualified to speak to it, and as the candidate listens, they will learn the solutions we need to solve it. The New Power candidate’s campaign will be empowered as the people are empowered, creating a mutual investment in a shared vision instead of owing a toxic debt to a few wealthy campaign donors.

A New Power candidate will work to make sure everyone who calls Kentucky home has a chance to vote. They know that unless we all have an equal chance and are encouraged to voice our vote, we are not practicing true democracy.

KFTC members could get excited about a New Power candidate as I’ve described. I know I would get excited.

If someone came to mind as you read this article, encourage them to run for office! If you have thought about running for office, I encourage you to run. KFTC offers trainings that will give you the tools you need to run and win as a New Power candidate.

Another way to encourage New Power candidates to run is to be a New Power voter. As New Power voters we: • educate ourselves, neighbors, and candidates about important community issues and how they are connected to us and to the people for whom we vote • expect candidates to listen and not just talk •engage in the electoral process, and encourage others to do the same

Building a bright future on Pine Mountain Saturday, May 11th

Join the Letcher and Harlan chapters in our next big adventure. Building toward a bright future, we plan to get Wiley’s Last Resort, Letcher County's favorite campground, in great shape for the upcoming season of camping, hiking, music, art, tourism, and community.

Clean up begins at 11:00 am; food at 6:00 pm; music, poetry, and art at 7:00 pm, including murals, mosaics, and much more!

All our friends across the state are welcome to join us and camp Friday and/or Saturday nights. Come when you can. Leave when you have to. Bring friends, food to share, tools, gloves, good shoes, and your good humor!

Wiley’s Last Resort is located on US 119 at the top of Pine Mountain in Letcher County.

Contact tanya@kftc.org or call 606-632-0051 for more details or to RSVP.

Page 3 •vote and hold our elected officials accountable after election day (by paying attention to how they vote, writing letters and op-eds, contacting our representatives, and lobbying).

If we do these things we can change the face of our government – and the face of our society.

Our voices are important; we – the people “on the ground” – are in the best position to know what is needed. What we say to our families, friends and neighbors is what will create change.

When my voice joins your voice, and my vote joins your vote, we can build economic and democratic New Power that will create the Kentucky we want and deserve for our families and our communities. That is what KFTC membership has done for my voice, and each new member makes our voices stronger.

We know that with the right leadership, we can be a better state. We can invest in our people so that all Kentuckians have a chance to succeed. A New Power candidate will see Kentucky’s reality squarely, and will help us fix it. This is our state – not the highest bidders’ – and we are looking for leaders who respect the potential that we have.

KFTC Offices and Staff MAIN OFFICE Morgan Brown, Robin Daugherty & Burt Lauderdale P.O. Box 1450 London, Kentucky 40743 606-878-2161 Fax: 606-878-5714 info@kftc.org

FIELD OFFICES Louisville Jessica George, Jerry Hardt, Alicia Hurle Carissa Lenfert, and Colette Henderson 901 Franklin Street Louisville, Ky 40206 502-589-3188 Whitesburg Tanya Turner P.O. Box 463 Whitesburg, Ky 41858 606-632-0051 Central Kentucky Tim Buckingham, Jessica Hays Lucas, Beth Howard, Erik Hungerbuhler, Heather Roe Mahoney, and Dave Newton 250 Plaza Drive Suite 4 Lexington, Ky 40503 859-276-0563

Northern Kentucky Joe Gallenstein 859-380-6103 Floyd County Kristi Kendall and Jessie Skaggs 154 North Lake Drive Prestonsburg, KY 41653 606-226-4159 Bowling Green Denney Breeding 270-779-6483 Berea Lisa Abbott, Beth Biss­ meyer, Amy Hogg, Sara Pennington and Kevin Pentz 140 Mini Mall Drive Berea, KY 40403 859-986-1277 Teri Blanton 118 Baugh Street Berea, Ky. 40403 859-986-1648

e-mail any staff member at firstname@kftc.org except for Jessica Hays Lucas -- use jessicabreen@kftc.org, Beth Howard -- use BethHoward@kftc.org, and Beth Bissmeyer -- use BethBissmeyer@kftc.org

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In Memory of...

Danny Cotton – Kentucky was lucky to claim him as a friend

Danny Cotton, a KFTC leader and member of the Central Kentucky chapter and the statewide Voter Empowerment Strategy Team, passed away in April. He was 27 years old.

He was a writer, an activist, a great thinker, and a great friend to many.

KFTC first got to meet Cotton at Fancy Farm, a political event in far western Kentucky. He was holding a big sign opposing a massive state subsidy for Peabody Coal.

After that, Cotton became one of KFTC’s most prolific citizen lobbyists, visiting Frankfort day after day to talk to legislators about a range of issues important to him, though he focused most on voting rights issues.

And he returned to Fancy Farm and dozens of other events every year, usually in his trademark green KFTC t-shirt with its sleeves cut off.

He was also a KFTC intern while he studied at the University of Kentucky, and he helped to form the UK KFTC group, which is still doing great things today.

Cotton also loved registering and mobilizing voters, and he was good at

it. He participated in large-scale voter registration events in Lexington that brought in hundreds of new voters to strengthen our democracy.

After his funeral, more than a dozen former UK KFTC members who went to school with Cotton gathered for a cook out, to listen to some of Cotton’s favorite music (Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Led Zeppelin), read some of the things he’d written, and tell stories about Cotton’s life.

Stories shared from around the room shifted from off-color tales of shenanigans and misadventures to moments of profound levity, admiration, regret, and hope – the kind of sense one might get from reading Mark Twain or talking to Danny Cotton.

He will be missed.

“Danny was a good friend and a good man. His loyalty and friendship was always something I could count on.

His passion and empathy will truly be missed,” reflected John Ghaelian.

“He was a genuinely kind and understanding person – the kind that we need more of in this world,” said Wesley Robinson.

Appalachian author Bob Sloan – a passionate voice for protecting the land and culture from the destruction of mountaintop removal – died on April 17. He was 65 years old.

“He was a fine ally and fine company, so it’s a double loss,” said Wendell Berry, whose invitation to a Kentucky authors mountaintop removal tour with KFTC in 2005 provided Sloan with the experience that fueled his commitment to stopping the destruction.

“This has been a life-changing experience for me. I keep going back and forth between rage and wanting to cry,” Sloan said after listening to the stories

of eastern Kentucky residents and flying over Perry County.

He put those strong emotions into his writing.

“If you love a place, you don’t allow it to be poisoned and polluted, gouged and leveled,” he wrote in an op-ed for the Lexington Herald-Leader a week after the tour. “If you love Kentucky you’ll get involved in stopping mountaintop removal.”

Sloan wrote numerous other articles on this topic, including a piece for the book Missing Mountains and a more in-depth article for the Earth Island Journal (www. earthisland.org/journal/index.php/eij/ article/moving_mountains1/).

“Bob had a deep affection for the hills and hollers that had nurtured his family for generations. When he learned that mining companies were blowing up mountains and dumping the earth they had spoiled into streams, he was overcome with righteous indignation,” recalled George Brosi, editor of Appalachian Heritage, a literary quarterly that published Sloan’s short stories.

Kentucky loses Bob Sloan, passionate voice for the mountains

Sloan was quick to accept any invitation to come talk about mountaintop removal, and traveled throughout Kentucky to do so. He also participated in several author events sponsored by KFTC.

“He joined KFTC and embarked upon a crusade to build awareness and opposition to the practice, speaking to any group, no matter how small and remote,” Brosi added. “Bob’s spirit lives on in our lives and our commitments to the future of the mountains.”

Sloan was slowed in recent years by a series of serious illnesses. He died at home in Morehead, on the farm where his grandparents and later his parents

lived. He is survived by Julie, his wife, a son and a stepson.

Sloan’s other published works include two novels, a collection of short stories and numerous articles and commentary in various other media. He was a guest columnist for the Lexington Herald-Leader; his commentaries have been on radio and television including National Public Radio and CSPAN’s Book TV. Many of his writings can be found at bobsloansampler.com.

Dan Conti, with Morehead State University, did a nice tribute to Sloan that can be found here: http://bit. ly/15MKe03.

Save The Date: 2013 Annual Meeting August 16-18 General Butler State Park

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Local Update

Organizing for non-discrimination at Georgetown College

Students, faculty and staff at Georgetown College have been organizing for the past few months to put pressure on their Board of Trustees to enact a non-discrimination policy pledging not to discriminate against people in either employment or enrollment because of their sexual orientation. The board declined to vote on the policy after the faculty overwhelmingly passed it last year.

This isn’t an abstract issue, as Georgetown College dismissed a faculty member for being gay just a few years ago. A current faculty member is openly gay.

The work has been spearheaded by the Non-Discrimination Work Group on campus, but is supported by many organizations including KFTC mem-

bers in Scott County.

The Scott County KFTC chapter has worked with activists on campus, helped think through strategy and pitched in as they could. A series of events, meetings and local communications work have helped to move the campaign forward.

At the end of the semester, the chapter participated in a relentless 10day push on campus with an incredible series of events including speakers, lectures, a concert, a day of silence, a vigil, rally, silent disco, and even a camping expedition on the campus’ main lawn.

The rally was the single largest event with more than 100 Georgetown College students, faculty, staff, alumni and allies coming out to show support for a non-discrimination policy pro-

tecting members of their community who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender.

At a college of just 1,200 students on a Friday just before finals, that’s a pretty huge turnout.

But not content to stop there, students camped out in tents that night so they could greet Board of Trustees members as they arrived at their monthly meeting the next morning.

Forty supporters made it out at 8 a.m.

Supporters of gay rights on campus are also meeting with candidates for the presidency of the college and are otherwise planning and organizing for the long-haul.

They have a lot of work to do over the summer and fall semester to

continue to push for equality of opportunity at Georgetown College, but for now students are proud of what they’ve been able to accomplish.

Jaime McClard, a Georgetown College student and KFTC member, reflected, “I’m beyond exhausted from this amazing week. I’ve never felt such a strong feeling that this is what I was meant to do. I’m so proud to know the people I’ve worked with this semester, and hope to continue my life with them all.”

This campaign has made a powerful space for students to witness, experience, shape, and lead a campaign to make their community a little better – changing their ideas about what might be possible.

More than 100 members of the Georgetown community, including many Scott County KFTC members, attended a rally encouraging the Georgetown College Board of Trustees to create policies protecting LGBT students, faculty, and staff.

Why invest in Kentuckians For The Commonwealth?

Your donation to KFTC supports the important work we do to build a stronger democracy, including supporting constituents in talking to their legislators, monitoring activity in Frankfort while legislators are in session, and giving members opportunities to take action on important bills. You also support our work to educate voters about where candidates stand on the issues we all care about.

Contributions to KFTC are not tax-deductible. Make your Coalition if you wish your contribution to be tax-deductible.

check payable to

Kentucky

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Local Update

Bowling Green Housing Coalition expands fair housing work

Southern Kentucky chapter members have always shared a strong commitment to helping local community members have access to homes that are safe, stable and affordable. In recent years, as members set to work to learn more about their communities, they quickly learned that too many families in area neighborhoods were living in substandard conditions, often controlled by rental leases that offered them no legal protections and very few ways to improve their living conditions.

KFTC members addressed this by working with allies to help found the Bowling Green Housing Coalition in the summer of 2010. Immediate work began in helping tenants navigate the current lease system with a long-term goal of adding Bowling Green to the other 19 jurisdictions in Kentucky whose tenants have protections under the Uniform Residential Landlord-Tenant Act (URLTA.) URLTA was approved in Kentucky in 1974, but municipalities across the state must individually decide to adopt it in their communities.

With progress slow in passing URLTA,

the Housing Coalition continued to work with area residents through housing workshops and individual counseling.

Collaboration and research began last year on an educational handbook that will guide tenants through the steps of inspecting a property for existing health and safety concerns, educate them on how to review their lease, and empower them to negotiate a lease that will protect them from predatory clauses. It also explains the eviction process and where to get legal assistance if eviction occurs.

“It’s practical advice to help tenants better navigate the current system,” said KFTC and housing coalition member Dana Beasley Brown.

Wi t h t h e h a n d b o o k n e a r i n g completion, the housing coalition realized it would soon need to locate funding to assist in the costs of layout, translation and printing. Though a seemingly daunting task at first, the need for funding soon opened new doors, brought in more allies and expanded the scope of the tenant handbook project.

A community development grant opportunity that seemed to meet the needs

The Northern Kentucky chapter has been gearing up for the spring and summer by preparing for festivals and fundraisers aimed at raising the chapter’s profile in their community.

The chapter has teamed up with environmental groups like Keep Covington Beautiful to take part in the Great American Cleanup on April 27, tabling at Northern Kentucky University with the Environmentally Concerned Organized Students (ECOS) on April 24, and having a house party to celebrate the work ECOS and KFTC have done together and plan for further collaboration.

The chapter also is preparing for various upcoming festivals, ranging from Whispering Beard Folk Festival in late August, Browngrass Festival at Rabbit Hash in June, the Covington Farmers Market, Relay For Life Yardsale, Northern Kentucky Pride in Covington on July 6, and the Appalachian Festival at Coney Island in Cincinnati on Mother’s Day Weekend.

The chapter also has several fundraisers planned, including a euchre tournament at Pike Street Lounge on May 19, a barn dance in Rabbit Hash on July 20,

and Music For The Mountains 2 at the Southgate House Revival on October 12.

We hope you’ll join the chapter for these exciting events, and help us continue to build our strength in northern Kentucky to raise awareness about the too oft ignored issues in Kentucky.

The chapter recently joined with other organizations and agencies to form a coalition working to ‘ban the box’ from employment and housing forms from asking about criminal convictions.

The goal of the work is to help reintegrate former felons into society and help them find decent paying work and adequate housing. The coalition is not asking employers or landlords to not do background checks, but hope that by removing the box it removes an intimidation factor that keeps many qualified applicants from applying for positions, or help others get their foot in the door.

Chapter members are excited about this opportunity and feel that being an active part of this coalition helps bridge a lot of the economic justice and voter empowerment work that so many members are active and passionate about.

NKY chapter plans full spring, summer

Dana Beasley Brown and Molly Kavier at the Fair Housing Unity Fair. and goals of the tenant handbook project was soon identified by Beasley Brown.

But with a fast approaching deadline, little grant writing experience, and only volunteer coalition members, it seemed a hard road ahead.

That’s when KFTC member and Western Kentucky University student Molly Kaviar happened to be looking for a nonprofit community grant writing project to join as a class requirement. Timing couldn’t have been better. With Kaviar’s help, members of the BGHC went into action and the grant began to take shape.

In hopes of finding support via a fiscal agent, Kaviar and Beasley Brown met with faculty members in the sociology department at WKU. They left those meetings with not only a secured fiscal agent, but another ally. Dr. James Kanan

and Dr. Holli Drummond contributed to the grant project with letters of support, offers to enhance the project by dedicating students to complete community surveys and handbook evaluations, and the service of a student intern who would contribute 150 hours to the grant project and the housing coalition’s general goals.

In her letter to the grant committee, Dr. Drummond writes, “While meeting with representatives of the Coalition, Dana Beasley-Brown and Molly Kaviar, I was very impressed with the project and believe it will have a substantial impact on the quality of life within the local community.”

Housing coalition members successfully submitted the grant proposal on April 1, but aren’t waiting on the results to continue working on the project.

Jefferson County KFTC chapter members participated in the annual Mighty Kindness Earth Day Hoot on April 13. The chapter recruited three new members, talked to dozens of people about KFTC’s work, and received 20 Canary Project petition signatures. New member Carolyn Van Zant also led a workshop on mountaintop removal mining. The chapter is lined up to table several community events this spring and will host the fifth annual Louisville Loves Mountains Festival on Friday, May 17 from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Longest Avenue at Bardstown Road.

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Member Commentary

Kentucky voices: Prisons won’t unlock prosperity in EKy

by Sylvia Ryerson

U.S. Rep. Harold “Hal” Rogers recently announced major progress for efforts to bring a new maximum-security federal prison to Letcher County, one of the many eastern Kentucky counties hard hit by the declining coal industry.

The Federal Bureau of Prisons awarded a contract to conduct an environmental impact study on two potential sites. But even as that process moves forward, no funding has yet been allocated for construction of the proposed $250 million to $350 million project.

If built, this will be the fourth new federal prison to come to eastern Kentucky, and the sixth federal prison built in Central Appalachia since 1992 – in addition to new state and private prisons. Indeed, in the last quartercentury of skyrocketing incarceration, Central Appalachia has become one of the most concentrated areas of prison growth in the country.

Each prison came with the promise of hundreds of jobs and broad-scale economic growth. So as Letcher County waits, we should ask, what happened in these other prison-host communities.

Did the promises come true?

McCreary County, where a federal prison opened in 2004, provides one example.

In 1990, McCreary County had the lowest per capita income in the state, and a staggering 45 percent of the population was living below the poverty line. So when rumors began to circulate that a new prison might be coming to town, it was welcome news.

“At that particular time it was the biggest thing, it was like Santa Claus has come,” said Jimmie Greene, who was then McCreary County judge-executive.

“He’s given us a gift that we didn’t expect, didn’t know anything about.

And I was just overjoyed.”

Officials were told the prison would have an operating annual budget of $25 million, with 80 percent of the money spent locally, and that it would bring hundreds of jobs. So the county rolled out the red carpet to ensure the prison’s arrival – running new sewer lines, paving roads, building a whole new water treatment plant.

But it wasn’t until 2001 – a year into the prison’s construction – that the qualifications needed for getting a prison

job became apparent. All applicants would be drug-tested and backgroundchecked, need a clean credit history and no prior criminal record, have to pass a rigorous physical exam and be younger than 38 years old. County residents would be given no preference in the hiring process, and a four-year college degree and previous institutional experience were “highly recommended.”

As Blaine Phillips, who succeeded Greene as McCreary judge-executive, recounted in 2009, “Of the 300 and something employees that work at the prison, I don’t think we have over 25 or 30 local people that are working there,” he said. “It was not what they were telling us at first.”

Transferring employees filled the vast majority of positions and most chose to live in nearby cities outside the county.

They did not buy local real estate, shop at local businesses or put their children in county schools. The prison purchases supplies from national wholesalers,

not local businesses. And the county’s property tax base was permanently reduced when the prison land transferred from private ownership to the federal government.

It’s been almost a decade since the prison opened in McCreary County, and it remains one of the poorest counties in one of our nation’s poorest congressional districts. The situation is so dire the school board is facing a $1 million shortfall in the upcoming year, and one proposal is to cut kindergarten to a half-day.

Clay and Martin counties, where federal prisons opened in 1992 and 2003, also rank among the 10 poorest counties in the state.

Kentucky’s experience is not unique.

One 2010 study analyzed data on every rural county in the country from 1969 to 2004 and found no evidence that prison construction leads to economic growth, and furthermore that the poorest counties are the most likely to have a net loss from prison construction.

Prisons do not bring prosperity to the communities that host them. And in addition to failing the struggling regions where they are built, we must also ask why prisons are being offered as a tool for rural economic development in the first place. Why should the federal government spend $300 million to build another one?

Eastern Kentucky needs real investment, in its schools, its small businesses, its people. It doesn’t need another prison.

Sylvia Ryerson of Letcher County is a KFTC member and journalist for WMMT Mountain Community Radio, a project of Appalshop.

Opposing prison expansion as economic development was added to the KFTC platform last year after being proposed by the Letcher County Chapter. To read more, visit www. dailyyonder.com/speak-your-piece-prisonprogress/2013/02/12/5651 Originally published in the Lexington Herald-Leader on April 28.

New Power Leader Profile: Nancy Reinhart How long have you been involved with KFTC, and why did you decide to join?

I’ve been involved since 1998. I was living in eastern Kentucky at the time and I became familiar with their work. I was proud that such an organization existed in my state. Later I ended up working with KFTC for four years before recently switching jobs.

Why did you decide to become a New Power Leader?

Two reasons: One, it gives me a more structured way to reach out to friends and acquaintances so that we can get involved in important issues together. We talk about the issues socially, but this role gives me actual steps we can take to get active and express our voice about the things we all care about. It’s also a great organizing tool and an empowering role for me.

How did you decide who you wanted to invite into your New Power cluster?

I chose people that are close friends that are involved in the justice world in some way, that might have already been directly involved with KFTC or that I knew would be very interested in becoming members and getting involved.

What are some of the things you’ve done with your cluster members?

One of the things I was able to do was to reach out to them during the voting season and remind them to vote.

What are some of the outcomes you’ve seen?

I have had one friend say “I don’t know what KFTC does,” in response to an email I sent about voting, which gave me an opening to tell her more about KFTC and the work it does.

The NPL sparks have prompted us to have really good conversations, deeper discussions about what we believe and the implication of current news, which I think motivates people to get off of the couch. Of particular concern to my cluster are issues of privilege and racism, so we’ve really been talking about these things a lot.

What are some of your plans with the New Power Leader program moving forward?

I hosted a Crepes of Wrath party in March – which was modeled after a Letcher County one hosted by Jeff and Sharman Chapman-Crane. I invited cluster members over to eat crepes and to write letters to our legislators and discuss what we think are important issues.

What impact do you think 1,000 New Power Leaders could have on Kentucky?

Imagining more than 1,000 people in Kentucky that are out there, organizing, motivating and helping others to get involved – that’s powerful. I would say that one of the most important aspects of the program to me is that it allows the New Power Leaders to network with each other. 1,000 New Power Leaders networked together and empowering their own cluster members could go a long way in shaping the political discourse in Kentucky.

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Member Commentary

Annie Ormsbee – Life experience provides glimpse of “other” side

There is something strangely vacuous about being born into the American dream. As a child, I never wanted for anything – except, perhaps, a feeling of purpose. The Kentucky I knew growing up was privileged and white-washed.

Even at a young age, I had the haunting sensation that behind the security gates, cul-de-sacs, and half-a-million-dollar facades, the mass of men and women were living lives of “quiet desperation.”

I certainly don’t want to appear ungrateful.

My parents sacrificed so much – perhaps even their own happiness – to ensure that I had the best of everything. Consequently, I had the luxury of being existential, seeing the world as absurd.

As soon as I could, I escaped the banality of life in suburbia and moved overseas. I learned that there were parents who actually struggled to provide for their families, and I met women on the streets who were barely surviving. They were philosophers, economists, and some of my very best teachers.

The pain that they had experienced made them appear more alive than anyone I had ever known. I decided at that point that I was going to pursue a master’s in international relations and devote my life to working for a humanitarian NGO.

I believed it was incredibly unfortunate that some individuals didn’t have the opportunity to flourish, simply because they weren’t born in the United States.

I’m ashamed to admit that I was in my mid-twenties before I finally realized that America is not immune to the effects of poverty and injustice. I’m also ashamed to confess that it took a personal experience to change my classist attitude towards individuals living in poverty.

A failed marriage and a series of health issues landed me in the Fayette County Health Department in 2009. I was beginning again in Lexington – no husband, no job, no home and no assets.

I was sleeping on friends’ couches, and trying to subsist by selling the few items I had brought back with me from Ireland.

I remember my cheeks getting warm as I completed the necessary paperwork for the health department. Like everyone else, I had to “prove” how poor I was in order to qualify for discounted services.

I thought about walking out, but I really didn’t have much of a choice: I had visited a family practice just a month before, and was humiliated while trying to explain to the receptionist that I didn’t have health

insurance.

I was still paying out-of-pocket for that experience. I found myself fighting back tears as I completed the department paperwork – why would I be here unless I didn’t have any other options? Why indeed. I recalled how I was taught growing up that “poor” people simply didn’t possess the great Puritan work ethic. This was the land of opportunity; if someone was poor it was because they had chosen to be so. Sitting in that waiting area, I realized for the first time what a bunch of crap that was.

Four years later, I now have an

amazing job with benefits, along with an apartment, a car, and a cat. I have wellintentioned people tell me how proud they are that I was able to pull myself up by my bootstraps. I’m always amazed by that comment. What bootstraps? I simply stepped out of my glass slipper and society was quick to return it back to me.

What about the people who had no shoes to begin with? As a social worker, my clients are constantly teaching me that they don’t have access to the resources and relationships that I did when I was living in poverty. Their childhoods began

in want, not excess, and society has been making withdrawals ever since.

I now realize that poverty is insidiously systemic, and it takes organizations like Kentuckians For The Commonwealth to advocate for change and dismantle classism.

Today, I don’t spend as much time feeling isolated and disconnected. I’ve found that hell is not other people, but regarding some people as the “other.”

I believe that my life has purpose and direction, and I’m so thankful for KFTC and the opportunity to collectively advocate for social change.

2013 Chapter Annual Meeting Locations Chapter

Date

Time

Location

Perry County

Tues., June 18

6 p.m.

Rowan County

Thurs., June 20

Hazard Community College Technical Campus, 101 Vo-Tech Drive, Devert Owens Building, Room 118, Hazard

6:30 p.m. St. Alban’s Church, 145 E. 5th Street, Morehead

Southern Kentucky

Tues., June 25

Wilderness Trace

Mon., June 3

6:30 p.m. The Foundry, 531 West 11th Street, Bowling Green

Madison County

Mon., June 24

Scott County

Thurs., June 6

Floyd County

Mon., June 10

Northern Kentucky

Central Kentucky

Shelby County

Thurs., June 20

Thurs., June 20

7 p.m.

6 p.m.

The Episcopal Mission House on the corner of 4th and Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., across from the Living Arts and Science Center, Lexington

Stratton Community Center, 215 Washington Street, Shelbyville.

6:30 p.m. Inter-County Energy Community Room, 1009 Hustonville Road, Danville

6:30 p.m. Berea College Appalachian Center Gallery, 205 N. Main St., Berea 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Georgetown Public Library, 104 S. Bradford Lane. Georgetown, KY

Tues., June 18

7 p.m.

Harlan County

Mon., June 3

6 p.m.

Roebling Point Bookstore, 306 Greenup Street, Covington

Letcher County

Tues., June 4

6 p.m.

Jefferson County

Mon., June 10

6 p.m.

7 p.m.

KFTC Prestonburg office, 152 North Lake Drive, Prestonburg

Linda’s Bear Lodge, Putney Trailhead, 8331 Hwy 119 N, Putney

Valley of the Winds Art Gallery, 2356 Highway 806, Eolia. This is an outdoor location and there is a rain location.

First Unitarian Church, 809 S. 4th Street, Louisville

balancing the scales, May 2, 2013

New Energy and Transition Update

Page 9

Excitement, hope generated at Appalachia’s Bright Future

It was an “incredibly exciting conversation,” in the words of Justin Maxson, as more than 200 people gathered in Harlan April 19-21 for the Appalachia’s Bright Future conference.

Folks came to help find a way forward by sharing their knowledge, experiences and hopes, and by crafting a vision for a region too long dominated by absentee interests and an extractive economy.

By all counts, they were successful.

KFTC Chairperson Sue Tallichet introduced the idea of a just transition during the first session Saturday morning.

“A just transition in eastern Kentucky is an intentional effort to improve

our quality of life, create jobs, strengthen communities, and protect our health and environment.

“A just transition means that many people must be involved, and many perspectives must be taken into account as decisions get made.

“It means taking steps to build skills, wealth and opportunities that stay here in the mountains. It means creating the conditions for our communities to thrive, not just survive. And it means protecting the natural resources on which our health and economy depend.”

The weekend was full of speakers and stories that highlighted many things already happening in the region,

(continued from page 14) committee that if they voted no they would only be voting to do away with any acute limits on selenium.

This was only partly true. The original proposal did eliminate the acute selenium limit of 20 ppb and keep the chronic limit of 5 ppb. However, the proposed amendment raised the acute limit to 258 ppb and made the chronic 5 ppb water test simply a trigger for then having to perform a fish tissue test.

Finally, Bell and the committee staff, with the help of Henson, accurately explained to the committee what they were voting on and its implications.

On a role call vote, only Sen. Perry Clark voted “no” and Reps. Turner and Bell passed. The five remaining committee members – Reps. Damron and Jimmie Lee and Sens. Ernie Harris, Joe Bowen and Sara Beth Gregory – voted “yes” and the amendment received the necessary votes.

In explaining his vote, Turner said that he felt the committee did not have enough information to decide one way or the other what appropriate selenium limits are for Kentucky.

Turner added, “As I walk around eastern Kentucky and in my district what I do see is that all of the streams are dead.

And that tells me someone is not doing their job,” he added as he looked directly at Scott.

Next, the selenium regulation needs to be approved by the interim joint Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee before going into effect.

The U.S. EPA also will have to approve this change to the selenium standards.

That’s where KFTC believes there will be an opportunity for the public to provide the EPA with comments on these proposed changes.

Weakened selenium standard

successes and some failures. Presenters described what’s working and sometimes doesn’t, and what offers the best possibilities for a just transition.

“We know a whole lot more than we think we know about the way forward,” Maxson said as he described the need for vision, strategy and leadership.

“All of these stories, and so many others, are important pieces of a larger mosaic. No one strategy or project holds the answer,” said Tallichet. “But taken together, they point a way forward.

They show us what’s possible.”

“Your stories and examples provide hope that a just transition and a bright future in eastern Kentucky is, in fact, possible – even in the midst of rapid economic changes in the coal industry and the broader economy,” Tallichet added.

Parallels between the transition that

happened in the last generation for tobacco farmers and that happening now for coal miners was explored by Martin Richards, the director for the Community Farm Alliance.

“I see so many similarities between tobacco communities and coal communities,” Richards said, citing agricultural policies that were replacing farmers with machines and money. However, “even when it seemed the world was against them, tobacco farmers clung to tobacco. I think people were more afraid of losing their communities than losing their tobacco. What was a future beyond tobacco?”

He said that tobacco communities where transition has been successful started with a “vision for what communities look like … and how they get (continued on page 12)

Some conference participants came early on Friday to tour Benham and Lynch, including a tour of Portal 31 Exhibition Coal Mine. Photo by Shawn Poynter.

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balancing the scales, May 2, 2013

Tom Hansell addressed the crowd in the opening panel “After Coal: Welsh and Appalachian Mining Communities.” Panelists included Hywel Francis, a labor historian and member of British Parliament; Mair Francis, a founder of Dove Workshop, a community development program in Wales; and Appalachian scholars and filmmakers Helen Lewis, Pat Beaver and Hansell. Photo by Shawn Poynter.

The conference was a great starting point for a strong conversation about “What’s next?” And for many, it also was a time to reunite and get energized to continue working for a brighter future in eastern Kentucky. Photo by Shawn Poynter.

Silent Auction: In true KFTC fashion, Appalachia’s Bright Future Mimi Pickering was part of a crew from Appalshop and WMMT-FM that worked hard to capture on film all the discussions and ideas. Photo by Shawn Poynter.

featured a locally grown silent auction of nearly 50 items, raising $742 for the Harlan and Letcher County chapters. KFTC members and allies from Harlan and Letcher counties worked for months to gather everything from typewriters and artwork to home grown black berries, mostly from close to home but donations also came from Morgan, Elliott and Pulaski counties.

balancing the scales, May 2, 2013

New Energy and Transition Update

Page 11

Reflection on Appalachia’s Bright Future conference

Meta Mendel-Reyes is a KFTC Steering Committee member and former organizer with the United Farmworkers Union. She teaches at Berea College and is a mentor to students and community members alike. She shared this reflection on the Appalachia’s Bright Future conference, held April 19-21 in Harlan.

“In times of transition, process really matters.”

- Brendan Smith, ocean farmer

A spirited plenary session is a long way from a coal miner’s pitch, but they are connected. The people at the conference believe, against heavy odds, that there is a bright future for Appalachia and for that coal miner putting his faith in a dying industry. The conference on Appalachia’s Bright Future envisions a transition to an economy beyond coal that can lift up the region and create a brighter future for the coal miner and environmental activist alike.

Who are the faces of transition? At the conference, they were the young journalist who wants to stay where she grew up, the grizzled coal miner who envisions a better life for his children

and grandchildren, the researcher documenting the decline of coal, the local entrepreneur creating a small business, the organizer trying to identify and develop grassroots leaders, the community leader trying to bring miners and environmental activists together.

What are the lessons of transition?

From the coast of Newfoundland, Brendan Smith tells us that “in times of transition, process really matters.” Change doesn’t come from the outside in, but from the people rediscovering themselves through shared decisions. From the former tobacco fields of Kentucky, Martin Richards suggests building on the culture of community that grows from shared work in industry. The successful move from tobacco shows that, in transition, there is always a “moment of change, created by opportunity or crisis.” From the Arizona desert, Wahleah Johns shares the importance of a mutual relationship to nature in the recovery of stolen resources. The Navaho quest to reclaim their water parallels the Appalachian struggle 2000 miles away, to regain the legacy of our pristine streams.

What are the principles of transition? Vision, leadership, process, community. Without imagining a better future, how can we undertake the hard work to get there? A “culture of leadership in place” (described by Justin Maxson) makes it possible to identify and develop the grassroots leaders who

will not tell us what to do, but point us toward our shared goal. We need inclusive, transparent, and accountable processes, because how we get there shapes the future, for good or ill. Community is the goal and the means - what sustains us on the journey is our love for each other, which goes beyond paychecks. As Brendan Smith says, “We have to feed our families, but also our souls.”

What can I do to help Appalachia

transition? It’s time to undertake the difficult conversations. Take the risk to talk with co-workers, neighbors, even family. It is not going to happen unless the “us” and “them” become a “we.” At the conference, participants practiced those conversations. Stepping on to the stage was scary but also invigorating, learning how to walk the talk. And we are not alone. As everyone sang together, “It’s been a long time coming, but I know, the change is gonna come.”

Word Cloud:

Above are the words repeated during the “Expanding broadband Internet access” workshop. See more word clouds from the weekend at www.kftc.org/abf

What’s Next Visit www.kftc.org/abf to see presentations, videos, photos, word clouds and more from the Appalalchia’s Bright Future conference. We will add materials as they become available so make sure to check back often.

Ray Tucker, candidate for South Kentucky Rural Electric Cooperative Corporation board, addressed a question to the panelists concerning a new economy in eastern Kentucky. Photo by Shawn Poynter.

What are you going to do?

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balancing the scales, May 2, 2013

New Energy and Transition Update

ABF opening session set tone of challenge and hopefulness

Appalachia’s Bright Future conference got off to a hopeful and challenging start Friday night as participants explored lessons learned from efforts by communities in Wales to “regenerate” after a dramatic loss of coal mining jobs.

Though coal mining is still a part of Wales’ economy, much changed when tens of thousands of jobs were lost over

a span of a few years in the 1980s, said Hywel and Mair Francis.

Recovery did not come quickly or easily – and is still very much in process – they explained. But it is happening because people in the region took the initiative, relied on the assets they had in local communities and found supportive partners outside their valleys.

(continued from previous page)

for centuries,” Howard added. “Transition doesn’t start from the outside and work its way in … it starts in all these small communities.”

Two of the communities where residents have created economic opportunities are Benham and Lynch in Harlan County. Some conference participants visited there on Friday afternoon to tour the Coal Mining Museum and Portal 31, an underground coal mine exhibit.

The highlight of the weekend for many was Saturday dinner and music at the Eastern Kentucky Social Club in Lynch. Folks were treated to Bennie Massey’s famous barbecue chicken and ribs, a concert of energetic and diverse music including the Mount Sinai Spirituals, an after-concert dance party, and generous hospitality from Social Club members.

The conference ended Sunday morning with participants talking about how to take the weekend’s inspiration and lessons back home, and what some next steps might be.

“This weekend has been rich, full of amazing conversations,” said Elizabeth Sanders, who helped emcee the weekend activities.

Carl Shoupe, who emceed with Sanders, acknowledged that “we still have some naysayers – who say there’s no chance for us to have any other kind of economy. We disagree with that.”

He reminded the crowd how eastern Kentucky workers and communities helped fuel the nation’s growth over the last century with coal. “Why can’t we, in the 21st century, do the same thing with renewable energy, with sustainable energy? We deserve to have a shot at that.

“It hasn’t been easy and it’s not going to be easy. But we can make it happen.”

Ivy Brashear believes it. “I know it’s possible … I’m seeing it happen.”

Excitement, hope at ABF …

there.”

He added that there needs to be an intentional process that has transparency and accountability, and “has to include grassroots community folks. The conversations have to include everyone.”

Another transition story was provided by Brendan Smith, a commercial fisherman from Nova Scotia. He recalled the experience when, “overnight, cod fishing shut down. Fishermen did not know it was coming.”

That transition did not go well. “The failure of the transition was political.

We thought we wanted the same things as the big companies wanted … [but learned] they did not care about job generation or sustainable communities.”

The fishermen learned that they needed “to find some new friends” because so many decisions were made elsewhere, not in – and with – those folks most affected by those decisions.

Several speakers said that the change needed is also within ourselves.

“I believe our biggest challenge is imagining ourselves differently – and believing it’s worth it,” said Gerry Roll, director of the Foundation for Appalachian Kentucky in Perry County. “We can imagine ourselves to be whatever we want to be.”

“For too long we’ve been told – and many of us have come to believe – that eastern Kentucky can’t, eastern Kentucky won’t, eastern Kentucky doesn’t, eastern Kentucky isn’t,” said Maxson.

“When did we start believing that? More importantly, why?

Todd Howard said he was glad he didn’t believe the naysayers. “If we had listened about a farmer’s market in Floyd County it never would have gotten off the ground.”

“Forward-thinking progress is something we Appalachians have done

“We always felt our dreams should become a reality,” said Mair Francis, a founder of Dove Workshop, a community development program in Wales. But, she added, “it was something we had to fight for ourselves.”

She described Dove as a “a bottomsup organization – we respond to the needs of the community.” Success has come because what they’re “doing relates to what the people want in the community – good child care, good transport, good jobs.” She also noted that “what made the local struggles so different was the role of women. They did not simply support; they led.”

A variety of projects have helped diversify local economies, explained Hywel, ranging from mountain biking trails to a wind farm to reclamation of toxic slag piles left by the mining and other projects to draw wealth to their region.

The history of Welsh coal mining communities is well-documented by Appalachian scholars Dr. Helen Lewis and Pat Beaver and filmmaker Tom Hansell, who also were on the opening night panel. In 1975, Lewis and others started visiting Wales. And in 1979, with Beaver’s involvement, they began an ex-

Word Cloud:

change of Welsh and Appalachian coal miners.

Lewis said she was drawn by a similar history of industrialization based on the extraction of minerals, and experience of colonialism. She wondered, concerning both Wales and Appalachia, “How could an area that created the greatest wealth be the poorest part of the state?”

The panel’s presentation After Coal: Wales and Appalachian Mining Communities helped participants be challenged by the question, as stated by Hansell: “How do you create an economy that works for the majority of people” where there will no longer be a single major employer, a single major driver of the economy?

In her opening comments, conference co-emcee Elizabeth Sanders of Letcher County gave some guidance and set the tone for the rest of the weekend. “We know we have to work together to build it. And we all have something to bring to the table,” she said. “We come up with what’s going to work by bringing these ideas together … and creating a shared vision. That’s why I’m excited about this weekend.”

Above are the words used during the “Building local economies and communities through arts and culture” workshop. The bigger the word, the more times it was repeated.

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balancing the scales, May 2, 2013

Canary Project Update

ACHE Act would place moratorium on MTR permits

Two media events April 23 helped focus attention on the Appalachian Community Health Emergency Act, legislation in Congress that would place an immediate moratorium on new permits while the health impacts of mountaintop removal mining are studied.

Known as the ACHE Act, H.R. 526 was introduced earlier this year by Reps.

John Yarmuth of Kentucky and Louise Slaughter of New York, who was born in Harlan County, Kentucky.

“I’ve talked to citizens in the area – towns where 25 percent of the people suffer from some kind of disease, way beyond the national average,” said Yarmuth in an afternoon Congressional briefing. “I’ve talked with teachers whose students color creeks orange.”

“I travel throughout our state. I’ve seen the orange water. I talked to the people and I know what my own eyes have seen,” added Yarmuth, who said shortly after he took office the coal industry visited and told him to not

believe anything he heard or read about mountaintop removal. “What is going on is immoral and a tragedy on many, many levels. What we are trying to do with the ACHE Act is the most effective way to put an end to mountaintop removal mining.”

“Certainly we owe a better life for the generations to come,” added Slaughter, the daughter of a Kentucky coal miner and who has a master of science degree in Public Health from the University of Kentucky. However, she expressed some doubt about the fate of the legislation in the current Congress. “We are working with some people here who don’t believe in science. As a microbiologist, that always troubles me.”

Earlier in the day, the Center for Health and Environmental Justice released an independent analysis of the research that links mountaintop removal mining with a variety of increased health problems.

That National Commission on the Health Impacts of Mountaintop Removal Mining included an epidemiologist, biologist, neonatologist and pediatrician from four

leading universities.

After reviewing the body of health studies, the commission found that there is sufficient documentation of the hazards of mountaintop removal mining to warrant an immediate moratorium on mountaintop removal as the only way to ensure the health and safety of the affected residents of Appalachia.

Martin County resident and retired school teacher Mickey McCoy spoke at the morning press conference and said that he and his neighbors are seen as collateral damage by an industry focused only on profit.

“Martin County leads the state in bladder cancer cases, also kidney loss.

Total cancer deaths per capita is one of the highest in this nation,” McCoy said, pointing out that nearly 30 percent of the total land area in Martin County has been leveled by strip mining and mountaintop removal. He described hot water tank tests conducted a few years ago at the church he attends that found sediment at the bottom of the tank had 23 times more

In 2012, more than 50 KFTC members from around eastern Kentucky gathered at two different trainings to learn how to become community water testers.

They learned how to use the tools and practices of community science to gather data about the quality of streams in their communities. Now they can tell the health of their water by testing conductivity, total dissolved solids, and pH.

Members also learned how to discuss their findings within their communities and to raise awareness about the importance of water quality and the need to protect our most valuable resource in the mountains.

To consolidate the information and to make a larger impact, community water testers are encouraged to upload their data to an online database. The collected data is used to prioritize where additional lab tests are needed and ways community members can support local organizing efforts.

In May, KFTC will offer the first of four additional trainings as part of the ongoing Community Science and Public Health project.

On Saturday, May 4, at the Cordia School in Knott County, all past participants are encouraged to come for

a field day to conduct a group test of the waters of Cordia and Lotts Creek.

For those who have never attended a training and want to get involved, three other trainings will be offered throughout the summer to add other elements to the testing and discuss ways to move forward with the program. All trainings are free and open to the public.

June 22 – Floyd County July 27 – Harlan County September 7 – Letcher County

For more information about upcoming trainings or to help with any of the upcoming workshops, contact Jessie Skaggs at jessie@kftc.org or 606-2634982. Or visit www.kftc.org/campaigns/ community-science-public-health.

arsenic than the drinking water standard.

He said he stands behind the commission’s “recommendations and the scientific evidence which it derives from.”

In response to a question in the afternoon briefing, Dr. Michael Hendryx, who has conducted or been involved in many of the studies, said that elected officials are ignoring the strong science and conclusions of the health studies.

“There has not been an acknowledgement at the state level, from the governor to other state officials. The people in positions of leadership need to acknowledge [the studies] and what the results show.”

The commission’s report and recommendations can be found at www. chej.org/wp-content/ uploads/MTR_Mining_ Final_April_18_2013.pdf

Community water testing pairs organizing with science

KFTC members came together on October 6, 2012 to learn more ways to test their water, about health impacts and make some plans going forward!

Appeals court finds EPA has authority to revoke permits The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency won a major court victory in April. The U.S. Court of Appeals determined that EPA does have the authority to revoke a permit issued by another agency if that permit does not meet the standards of the law.

In this case, the Bush administration issued Arch Coal a permit for the Spruce No. 1 mine, one of the largest mountaintop removal operations in West Virginia. But the EPA revoked that permit after the Obama administration found the impacts were not properly considered.

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balancing the scales, May 2, 2013

Canary Project Update

Beshear administration pushes weakened selenium standard 34

On April 9, the Beshear administration pushed through another step toward weakening water standards for Kentucky’s streams and rivers while shielding coal companies from liability for their pollution.

Using misinformation and confusion, the Department for Environmental Protection (DEP), led by Commissioner Bruce Scott, got a majority of members of the Administrative Regulation Review Subcommittee to weaken the regulation that protects people and the environment from selenium contamination.

Three KFTC members along with allies testified before the subcommittee asking them not to go along with the weakened and unenforceable standard.

The Kentucky Chamber of Commerce and the Kentucky League of Cites testified in favor of the change because, they said, it would be beneficial to Kentucky businesses if the state had its own regulations rather than allowing the U.S. EPA to set those standards.

However, when they were asked by committee co-chair Rep. Johnny Bell to explain the science that made them so sure that these regulatory changes would not have a significant impact on the health of Kentucky’s streams, representatives for both organizations said that they had smart people working for them, trusted their opinions and would not be able to explain the details to the committee.

Bell explained that he had studied this issue for several months and that he was still uncertain of the implications of these changes.

KFTC members Ted Withrow, Carey Henson and Jim Porter spoke against the change.

Withrow explained that Peters Creek in Pike County has chronic selenium levels well above the current limits, according to DEP data. And, also according to the DEP’s records, there are no living fish in the stream. There are several coal mines upstream of Peters Creek.

If the cabinet moves to this standard

of testing for fish tissue rather than simply testing for selenium in the water, then the cabinet will have to go far downstream to find fish to test. And if they do find that the selenium levels are elevated in the fish tissue samples, the cabinet will not be able to determine which coal company is causing the selenium pollution. It will be impossible to hold any company responsible.

Carey Henson told the committee how the cabinet on one hand said that the two meetings between stakeholders and the cabinet were not public meetings and were by invitation only, but later in a press statement on April 4 described these as public meetings. “I think this is a prime example of a lack of clear communication from the DOW [Division of Water],” Henson said.

Henson explained that the selenium standard the administration is pushing is based on a 2004 Bush Administration proposal that was “soundly refuted during the peer-review process.” The 2004

How can they do something like this? Here is how

To understand how the Energy and Environment Cabinet and the Department for Environmental Protection (DEP) have tried to circumvent any public scrutiny of the proposed selenium changes, it is important to understand the entire process the agencies have used.

There are two different limits on selenium discharges into streams and waterways. One is referred to as the “chronic” limit and the other is the “acute” limit. The chronic limit means the level is measured multiple times and if it is consistently over a certain limit then it is considered a violation.

An acute limit is for a one-time release of selenium.

Kentucky has an acute limit of 20 parts per billion (ppb) and a chronic limit of 5 ppb for selenium (though it is inconsistently applied). In August 2012, the DEP announced it was proposing to change Kentucky’s selenium standards by dropping the 20 ppb for an acute selenium discharge into a Kentucky stream river or lake. They were not suggesting changing the chronic selenium limits at all.

The DEP took public comments on

this proposed change. There were very few public comments, partly because one-time large discharges of selenium are extremely rare. Some ally organizations such as the Sierra Club, Kentucky Resources Council and Kentucky Waterways Alliance submitted comments about other parts of the proposed regulatory change.

However, a review of the public comments shows that the Kentucky Coal Association and other industry groups such as the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce, which is chaired by coal operator Jim Booth, made comments suggesting that the cabinet adopt the EPA’s 2004 fish tissue criteria for measuring the impacts of chronic selenium discharge rather than the water testing limit of 5 ppb.

In its response, the cabinet said that they “acknowledge that a fish tissue-based criterion for selenium is an alternate approach. However, the cabinet believes retention of the chronic criterion is appropriate at this time until an alternative approach can be developed.”

But sometime between November 2012 when the cabinet responded and February 2013, when the cabinet

proposed the amendment to their proposed selenium regulations, the cabinet changed their minds and decided that the fish tissue based criterion for selenium would be an appropriate approach.

Selenium is a trace element found in the rock layers throughout eastern Kentucky. As coal companies blow up the different rock layers to get to the coal, they push the pulverized rock and dirt over the hill into valley fills. Over time, the groundwater and rain cause metal and trace elements to leach out of the fills and into the streams of eastern Kentucky.

Selenium builds up or bio-accumulates over time in the tissue of fish and birds and causes developmental problems. Studies have shown selenium to cause fish with crooked spines and two eyes on one side of the head and birds with severe deformities that do not live once they hatch.

Selenium also tends to settle and stay in streams more than some other pollutants, making it all the more important to not allow low levels of selenium to be released into streams over a long period of time.

Se

“EPA (selenium) proposal was criticized because its standards were not stringent enough.” After a lot of public criticism, that proposal was never implemented.

Porter also asked the committee to not adopt the proposed amendment to the original selenium standards proposed by the Cabinet.

After the KFTC members spoke, representatives from the Sierra Club, Kentucky Headwater Association, the Kentucky Student Environmental Action Coalition and a small business owner in Whitesburg all spoke out against the proposed changes.

At this point the committee meeting got very interesting.

Rep. Tommy Turner said that he would like to see more studies done on the effects of selenium on Kentucky’s streams so that they would know what selenium limits are appropriate.

Turner made a motion that the committee defer voting on these regulatory changes until such studies had been completed. However, the committee was not able to vote on this motion because, in order for a regulation to be deferred, the cabinet has to agree to defer. DEP commissioner Bruce Scott said, “No, the cabinet does not agree to defer.”

Next, in a procedural matter, the committee had to vote whether to adopt the cabinet’s amendment to the original regulation. If the committee did not get the five votes necessary to attach the cabinet’s amendment, then the original regulation would continue without the amendment.

At this point both Scott and Rep. Bob Damron were successful at confounding the issue for the rest of the committee.

While the committee staff and committee co-chair Bell were trying to make it clear what the committee was voting on, Scott and Damron were trying to convince the (continued on page 9)

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balancing the scales, May 2, 2013

Economic Justice Updates

Now’s the time to reach out locally for tax reform

KFTC members are adjusting the strategy for passing comprehensive tax reforms, given the disappointing shift in the legislature’s priorities over the course of the 2013 General Assembly.

While the session started with some attention to comprehensive tax reform – with at least the expectation that the governor would call a special session this spring to deal with tax reform and pension system funding – it ended with only a deal on the pension.

Kentucky is challenged by several funding needs. One of these has been the pension for retired state workers, which is woefully underfunded. During the course of the session, attention on the pension shortfall eclipsed all of Kentucky’s other funding needs.

The legislature’s response was not to redirect the conversation to the whole of Kentucky’s funding needs, but instead to barely address the funding gap for pensions by passing a bill that raises $32 million in new revenue. This is a positive start (in that it’s not a negative number), but it diminished the expectation and energy for a special session on tax reform.

Now Senate Republicans say they’ve already raised revenue and nothing more is needed, and neither House leaders nor Gov. Beshear have done much to correct them.

What We Need to Know About the Revenue Bill

Legislators claimed, and the media widely reported, that the revenue bill (House Bill 440) passed to “fund” the pension liability will raise $100 million.

That’s not true. It will raise only about $31.7 million in new revenue and shift another $34 million from the Road Fund to the General Fund. So the General Fund will get $65.7 million more revenue resulting from the bill. The other $30 million cited comes from anticipated new revenue resulting from the federal fiscal cliff deal, and would have been realized without HB 440.

Overall, these changes will make the system slightly more regressive.

And the additional General Fund revenue is not designated for pension funding, so there is no guarantee that it actually will be used for this purpose.

Kentucky hangs up on AT&T

For the second year in a row, Kentuckians stopped the AT&T bill that would have allowed telecommunications companies to opt out of providing landline service for new customers across the state.

AT&T said that it would make more investments in wireless across the state if it didn’t have to pay for landlines in more rural areas.

In 2012, AT&T made $7.3 billion, up 84 percent from 2011. Its CEO, Randall Stephenson, made $21 million in 2012. KFTC members expressed skepticism that AT&T needed to stop providing landlines to Kentucky’s rural residents to make lucrative investments in wireless service. They noted that if AT&T wanted to build its base in Kentucky, it has plenty of resources to do it without having to leave rural Kentuckians without access to phone service.

The bill started and passed in the

Senate with a 24-13 vote, but despite House Speaker Stumbo filing an amendment (to create a “Coal Country Scholarship Program” – legislation that he also supported last year), which suggested that it might be gaining traction in the House, the AT&T bill was never called for a vote.

AT&T reported at one point that it had 38 paid lobbyists in Kentucky working to get this legislation passed to allow AT&T and other big telephone companies to end universal landline service. AT&T also paid for robocalls, print and radio ads, and set up Facebook pages to persuade Kentuckians to support the bill.

But Kentuckians across the state have been adamant that this bill is not in the best interests of Kentuckians. The Kentucky Resource Council, AARP, Appalshop and KFTC were among the groups that organized efforts against the bill.

There is much more to be done. Lots of Kentuckians will be impacted by the legislators’ failure to generate adequate revenue this summer, as the latest round of funding cuts take effect.

One notable example is the cuts to child care subsidies and kinship care. As of July 1, Kentucky will have the lowest eligibility threshold in the entire country for childcare assistance, according to a report from the Kentucky Center for Economic Policy.

This is when the income threshold will be lowered from 150 percent of the federal poverty line to just 100 percent of the federal poverty line – a move that will remove about 14,000 Kentucky children from childcare subsidies. This will mean that a single mother with two children will need to be earning less than $19,530 a year to quality for Kentucky’s childcare assistance program.

What you can do to help

KFTC members are jumping into the opportunity to keep building grassroots support for tax reform over the next year, and you can jump right in. Now is the time to plan at-home meetings with legislators, meetings with editorial boards or editors of local papers, and to reach out through presentations and workshops.

Charlotte Craxton of the Jefferson County chapter has designed a plan to reach out to parents and teachers in area school districts to engage them with KFTC’s tax reform campaign.

“My first thought was, ‘How can we get everyone on board with our tax plan?’ What does everyone care about in Kentucky regardless of race and class?

Education. Parents are great advocates for their kids. If we can show how this tax plan will benefit current education and future higher education, then they might be on board.

“I decided to work with PTA groups because I wanted to choose a group that I knew would be ethnically diverse and would have people of different incomes who were already collaborating,” said Craxton.

Craxton has developed a template for herself and others to use and hopes to start lots of conversations with parents, community members and legislators.

“It would also be great if we could get

people from every school to come with us to Frankfort to have a face-to-face meeting. Ideally, we would want every legislator that is not on board with the bill to have a meeting set up with PTA members.

“If we focus on the districts where we know the representative in that area did not vote in favor of the tax plan, we can talk to schools of constituents in those districts and hopefully they might call their legislators to tell them to vote yes for the Kentucky Forward Plan.”

Craxton has created an agenda for quick, 15-minute presentations that can help kick start a conversation with PTA groups, and she would love to share it with other interested members. If you’d like to see her agenda, or participate in any of the efforts to meet with local editorial boards and local legislators, contact Jessica Hays Lucas at jessicabreen@kftc.org or 859-276-0563.

What happened to pensions?

The Senate approved Senate Bill 2, a weakened pension benefits plan, and said no new revenue was needed – funding could be found next year during the regular budget cycle. House Democrats amended SB 2 to restore the pension benefits and passed a separate funding bill to raise more than $100 million in new revenue through various forms of expanded gambling.

That stalemate endured for about three weeks until, in the final two days of the session, Gov. Beshear helped broker a compromise. House Democratic leaders abandoned their previous position against a weakened benefits plan in order to get a little new revenue. The Senate relented on its insistence that no new revenue was needed in order to get the weakened benefits plan.

Both SB 2 and the new revenue bill passed by easy margins on the last day.

Save The Date: 2013 Annual Meeting, August 16-18, General Butler State Park

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balancing the scales, May 2, 2013

Voting Rights Updates

Former felon voices: Mantell Stevens, Lexington

Mantell Stevens is a lifelong Kentuckian who’s a smart guy, works hard, volunteers at Imani Baptist Church, and enjoys the outdoors. “I’m really a country boy. I like getting muddy and riding four-wheelers.”

But what he can’t do is vote. He’s telling his story to help change that.

“I was born and raised here in Lexington and been here all my life.

I’ve lived on the north side of town for the past 33 years. Growing up, life was pretty good. I grew up with both parents in the household. I was fortunate enough to witness a good marriage between my parents. I’m really grateful for that.

“In the early years I was into theatre. In elementary school I was a student in SCAPA – the School for the Creative And Performing Arts. When I transitioned to a public middle school is when I started to have more behavior problems – coming from a structured environment to a more chaotic environment. And struggling with a lot of identity issues coming from middle school to high school. I would get called “white boy” a lot because I had light

skin, I talked ‘different’ and tucked my shirt in. So, in my neighborhood I felt I had to prove myself and started getting into trouble. I was a big guy so I started trying to prove that I could intimidate people and that I wasn’t soft like they thought I was.

“Going into high school is when the drugs started – experimenting and selling drugs when I was a sophomore in high school. I really enjoyed math and this made me good at selling drugs.

I really, really liked selling drugs and was really good at it. I was able to plot and plan so that I wouldn’t get caught.

I didn’t get caught for awhile. But then I got caught. And that’s when I got a felony.

“My felony was back in 2000 – thirteen years ago. I was 20 years old and got a felony for possession of drugs.

And that’s when my life changed instantly. It was crazy. I spent 30 days in jail and three years on probation. And that’s how I lost my right to vote.

“Voting is very important to me because I think anyone who is a member of the community and a citizen should have a say in their local, state and federal government. If you don’t vote you really don’t have a right to complain. I think it’s the responsibility of every citizen to be able to have a vote on issues that concern them.

In mid-April, a number of Kentucky immigrant rights groups got together with allies, including KFTC, and held the Rally for Immigration Reform and Legalization with Dignity.

The event was timed in solidarity with numerous other immigrants’ rights rallies happening across the U.S., including a main event in Washington, D.C.

The purpose of the rally was to bring together Kentucky’s immigrant community and supporters to participate in the struggle for Legalization with Dignity and not just immigration reform.

Event organizers also stressed the importance of pushing for an immediate stop to the deportations of immigrants.

Legalization with Dignity is a process with no hefty fines, inclusion of most undocumented immigrants living in the U.S., and a real path to citizenship.

KFTC members from both the Central Kentucky and Scott County chapters participated in the rally to have their voices heard alongside allies.

Numerous members and allies said they are excited to continue to work in solidarity with the immigrant community.

¡Si Se Puede! Yes We Can!

To share more of the stories from former felons across the commonwealth, this is one part of a series of short interviews that will run in balancing the scales.

“I attempted to get my voting rights back. The first time I tried it was difficult because every time I went to gather the information or talk to someone about what I needed to do I always got a different answer or got directed to a different office. I think people had good intentions, but there was no consistency and a streamlined process.

“After a few weeks I got discouraged and gave up. Also, I had to worry about work, food and other struggles in my day-to-day life and let it go. I tried several times throughout these past thirteen years, but it was always the same inconsistencies and obstacles.

“I hate the fact that I became a felon, but if I had the choice to go back and change it I would probably make the same decisions because it has made me who I am today and given me the insight that I have today. Former felons have life experiences and insight about a side of the system that others do not understand. And they need to use that insight and experience to voice what matters to them in their community and use it to effect change.

“My experience going to Frankfort to lobby for former felon voting rights helped me realize the importance of our rights. Not only do I want to vote on issues that matter to me, but I want to run for public office and I can’t do

that. I can’t be a doctor, a lawyer or in law enforcement. All of these things I’m interested in – I can’t do it. It’s really embarrassing when someone says ‘you should be a lawyer’ and I have to think about why that will probably never happen for me.”

If you’re a former felon interested in being interviewed about the right to vote, or if you know someone who might be, please contact your local KFTC organizer or Dave Newton at Dave@kftc.org or 859-420-8919.

Rally emphasizes immigration reform and legalization with dignity

Save The Date: 2013 Annual Meeting August 16-18

balancing the scales, May 2, 2013

2013 General Assembly wrap-up:

Session ends, important work undone

The 2013 General Assembly ended literally at midnight on Tuesday, March 26th, as the House was forced by the clock to stop before it had completed its agenda (the Senate had adjourned a few minutes earlier). There was much fanfare and self congratulations as legislators reached last-minute deals on pension system changes, industrial hemp, voting by overseas military personnel and several other issues that had eluded agreement for the first 29½ working days of the session. While on Monday there were almost no bills voted on by either chamber, on Tuesday bills were flying through. And many bills that had not yet reached the floor of both chambers were attached to bills that had, and passed. One bill had five other bills attached to it as amendments.

But legislators ignored tax reform. They let voting rights die in the Senate. The potential for 28,000 clean energy jobs and lower electric bills was dismissed with just a short hearing. The health and environmental consequences of mountaintop removal and valley fills were barely mentioned.

That’s why the presence and actions of KFTC members – in the halls of the Capitol Annex and in at-home meetings and calls – was so important. We helped voting rights stay in front of the Senate and come as close as it ever has to a hearing. We worked with allies to make sure the clean energy bill got the hearing it did, and that a really bad water quality regulation was delayed.

We helped bring hundreds of folks and dozens of first-time lobbyists into the process. We had immediate impacts, and we built for longer-term campaigns and strategies. Here’s a summary of what happened to our priorty legislation.

The General Assembly adjourned without the Senate taking action on House Bill 70.

The bill died in the Senate State and Local Government Committee without a hearing or vote.

We had three weeks after HB 70 passed the House, 75-25, on February 20 to meet with senators, and made the most of that opportunity. We met with many of the senators, including some of the seven new members. Those conversations reinforced our belief that HB 70 would have enough votes to pass in the Senate if allowed a vote. However, we were not The annual Voting Rights Lobby Day and Rally brought able to get a meeting with committee chair Sen. Joe Bowen, hundreds of folks out to push for the passage of House Bill despite repeated attempts.

70. Dozens of first-time lobbyists participated, and gave us

What bills are allowed to come up in committee are a chance to work closely with several ally organizations. usually determined by that chamber’s leaders, so we also focused on Sens. Brandon Smith and Dan Seum, who have publicly expressed support for restoration of voting rights for former felons, getting more response and cooperation from Smith. But they were not able to win the support of other Senate Republican leaders Damon Thayer, Katie Stine and Robert Stivers in order to move the bill in the Senate.

House Bill 86 and Sen2013 Priority ate Bill 29 addressed mountaintop removal and valley fills by prohibiting the dumping of toxic mining wastes into any intermittent, perennial, and ephemeral streams. Neither received a hearing or vote in the respective House and Senate natural resource committees where they were assigned.

But the great turnout for I Love Mountains Day, including a strong showing by youth, helped the issue stay in front of the public and legislators. The speeches at the rally helped tie the belief in Appalachia’s Bright Future and the potential Visit for clean energy jobs to the need to stop the destruction. www.kftc.org/2013-legislative-wrap Read more at: www.kftc.org/love/2013 for a full wrap-up!

2013 Priority

Voting Rights

Stream Saver

Information on other legislation KFTC took a position Support (basic level) House Bill 29 (prisoner gerrymandering). No action – died in the House State Government Committee; House Bill 31 (public financing for judicial elections). Passed the House, 48-46. No action in the Senate; House Bill 48 (abolition of the death penalty). No action – died in the House Judiciary Committee; House Bill 129 (tax credit for low-income workers subject to Ohio River bridge toll). No action – died in the House Appropriations and Revenue Committee; House Bill 178 (limit abuses of payday lending). No action – died in House Banking & Insurance Committee; House Bill 223 (improve public safety around coal ash impoundments). No Action – died in the House Tourism Development and Energy Committee.

Page 17 Again we had one 2013 Priority of the best job creation bills offered in the legislative session with the Clean Energy Opportunity Act (House Bill 170), which is estimated to create 28,000 new jobs over 10 years.

“This is about jobs, jobs, jobs,” sponsor Rep. Mary Lou Marzian testified at a hearing before the House Tourism Development and Energy Committee. Four people involved in solar panel manufacturing or energy efficiency for residential and commercial applications talked about the benefits of their work and the potential for the expansion of jobs if Kentucky had programs in place to require more cooperation from utilities and promoted energy efficiency and renewables – as HB 170 would do.

John M. Smith of General Refrigeration testified electricity usage can be reduced 30% to 50% by cutting waste. His company specializes in improving energy use at supermarkets and refrigerated warehouses by reclaiming waste heat and water. “We’ve done this in several Kentucky area stores … and their electric bill was only $7,500 a month that would normally be in the $12-15,000 a month range,” Smith said. These energy savings translate into lower food costs for consumers, Smith added. “So it benefits the entire community.”

The coal industry testified that the energy benefits of HB 170 would “mostly come from out of state.”

There were some good questions after the testimony, but only about 45 minutes allowed for testimony and discussion. Getting a hearing at all and keeping this issue before legislators was an achievement in this session.

Clean Energy

Final agreement on industrial hemp

About 10:30 p.m. on the final night it was announced that a deal had been reached on industrial hemp legislation, Senate Bill 50, that we endorsed.

What had been blocking a deal was who should control the hemp project authorized in the bill – the Kentucky Department of Agriculture or researchers at the University of Kentucky. The compromise is that the Ag Dept. will control the growing part of the project and UK will control the research (which will focus on the energy potential of hemp as biomass fuel). The compromise passed the House 88-4 and the Senate 35-1.

The legislation sets up an industrial hemp research program, and a framework for the licensing of industrial hemp growers for both research and commercial purposes.

House Concurrent Resolution 15 (require action plan for reduction in energy consumption). Passed House 100-0.

Died in the Senate Natural Resources and Energy Committee.

Oppose (basic level) Senate Bill 39 and Senate Bill 40 (prevent Kentucky’s participation in the implementation of the Affordable Care Act). Both passed Senate on Feb. 22 and died in the House Health and Welfare Committee.

Active Support Senate Bill 28 & House Bill 171 (statewide fairness). No action on either bill in respective Judiciary committees.

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balancing the scales, May 2, 2013

Officer nominations, platform review start annual process

KFTC’s statewide Annual Membership Meeting is going to be August 16 through August 18 this year at the General Butler State Park in Carrollton. This is a change from the usual October annual meeting.

The annual meeting is a time for all KFTC members to gather together to celebrate great work over the past year, learn new skills and hold the yearly business meeting. During the business portion of the meeting, members will consider the proposed platform, elect statewide officers and accept new or renewing chapters for the coming year.

In preparation for the statewide annual meeting, all KFTC chapters across the state hold their chapter annual meetings two months prior, in June. At these meetings, chapter members provide input to the KFTC platform, set local priorities and goals and decide if they wish to continue

as a chapter and, if so, select officers.

“The chapter annual meeting is a great time to celebrate another great year of working for justice,” says Kathryn Dunn, Madison County KFTC member.

Chapters select a Steering Committee representative and alternate and chapter coordinators for membership, fundraising and publicity. They also agree to raise at least $500 for the statewide organization.

In return for their commitment to KFTC, chapters get a seat on the Steering

Committee and receive staff time and organizational resources to assist in their work.

Current officers are: Steve Boyce, immediate past chairperson; Sue Tallichet, chairperson; Dana Beasley Brown, vicechairperson; Rick Handshoe, secretarytreasurer; and Megan Naseman, at-large member. All are currently serving their first term in their respective positions and are eligible to be nominated for a second term in that, or another, position.

If you don’t live in a chapter area, you have the opportunity to nominate yourself or someone to one of KFTC’s statewide committees or statewide offices or offer a proposed change to KFTC’s platform. Read the descriptions of the committees and offices (next page) and the platform (at kftc.org/about-us/our-platform). Then, fill out the form and return it to: KFTC Leadership Development Committee, 140 Mini Mall Drive, Berea, KY 40403.

Are you a member of a KFTC chapter? If so, please consider accepting a position as a chapter officer for the coming year, starting this fall.

Chapter officers are: Steering Committee rep Steering Committee alternate Fundraising coordinator Membership coordinator Publicity coordinator All are important roles for which you will receive training and support. The responsibilities can be shared with others. If interested, please contact your chapter organizer for more information.

KFTC Annual Meeting August 16-18, 2013 General Butler State Park in Carrollton This year the KFTC annual meeting will focus on ways to build a healthier democracy in Kentucky.

Workshops may include running for office, efforts to protect and expand voting rights, and ways to get Kentuckians involved in the democratic process within their rural electric cooperatives, among other topics.

Nominations for officers and committees

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balancing the scales, May 2, 2013

KFTC is accepting nominations for statewide officers and members of its governance and issue committees (descriptions below).

All nominations will be considered by the Leadership Development Committee. Officers are elected at the annual meeting in August. New committee assignments will be finalized in September by the Steering Committee.

Personnel Committee — Members may participate in hiring process and review annual staff performance evaluations. This committee provides guidance and makes recommendations about personnel policies and issues. Meets as needed.

Finance Committee — Reviews and recommends budget and quarterly financial statements. Reviews and recommends financial policies and practices. Meets periodically in person and by conference call.

Leadership Development Committee — Develops, evaluates and helps implement KFTC’s leadership programs.

Nominates and reviews nominations of people to serve on statewide committees and offices. Meets several times a year as needed.

Land Reform Committee — Coordinates KFTC’s statewide campaigns on issues connected to natural resources.

Meets 3-6 times a year, as needed.

Economic Justice Committee — Develops and coordinates campaigns on economic issues, including tax justice.

Meets 3-6 times a year as needed, often by conference call.

New Energy and Transition (NET) Committee: Develops strategy and priorities for three related KFTC campaigns: Rural Electric Co-op Reform, Sustainable Energy, and Appalachian Transition.

Voter Empowerment Committee: Develops and evaluates KFTC’s strategies for registering, informing and motivating voters, including our restoration of voting rights campaign.

Litigation Committee: Makes recommendations about KFTC’s litigation strategies; monitors progress of legal cases in which KFTC is a participant; participates in communication among allies, lawyers, and KFTC decisionmaking bodies. Meets as needed with frequent conference calls.

CALL FOR NOMINATIONS

for KFTC Statewide Officers and Committee Members

It’s time again to start thinking about how you would like to be involved in KFTC’s leadership structure, or who else you would like to see involved. Every year, all chapters and the statewide organization select leaders for the coming organizational year. Chapters are selecting their officers at annual chapter meetings this month. Statewide officers are chosen at the annual membership meeting, this year in August. The Steering Committee appoints members of other governance and issue committees at its leadership retreat in September based on recommendations from the Leadership Development Committee.

KFTC members whose dues are current may nominate themselves or any other member to be considered as a KFTC officer or committee member, as listed below. For each statewide officer nomination, please list the name of the nominee, the office to which that person is being nominated and a brief statement saying why the nominee is qualified. Use a separate sheet of paper if more space is needed. Current officers have each served one year in their current position and are eligible for renomination to the same or another statewide officer position.

The Leadership Development Committee will recommend a slate of candidates for the four statewide officer positions to the Steering Committee for its approval. The candidates will be listed in the July issue of balancing the scales and presented at the August Annual Business Meeting for election. Nominations also will be accepted from the floor at the August meeting.

Officers serve one-year terms, and are limited to two successive terms.

Take a moment to nominate yourself or any other member for KFTC’s Executive Committee and other statewide committees.

This form must be returned by the last day of June.

Person making the nomination:

Phone:

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE NOMINATIONS Nominees for the Executive Committee will be considered by the Leadership Development Committee, which will recommend a slate of candidates to the Steering Committee. Candidates will be described in the September issue of balancing the scales. A final vote will be held at the August Annual Meeting.

You may nominate as many people as you like for any of the following positions: 1) Chairperson 2) Vice-Chairperson 3) Secretary-Treasurer 4) At-large Representative Nominee:

Office nominated for:

Why? Nominee:

Office nominated for:

Why? KENTUCKY COALITION BOARD NOMINATIONS Kentucky Coalition is the tax-exempt sister organization of KFTC. There are three elected positions on the KC board. Nominees for the Kentucky Coalition board will be considered and voted on using the process described above for the Executive Committee. You may nominate as many people as you like for the Kentucky Coalition board.

Nominee: Why? Nominee: Why? COMMITTEE MEMBERSHIP NOMINATIONS KFTC’s statewide committees include: Personnel; Finance; Leadership Development; Land Reform; Economic Justice; New Energy and Transition; and Voter Empowerment. You may nominate yourself or anyone else in the organization for these roles. Nominees for these positions will be reviewed by the Leadership Development Committee and appointed by the new Steering Committee in September.

Nominee: Nominee:

Committee nominated for:______ Committee nominated for:______

Nominations must be submitted in writing no later than June 30 to: KFTC Leadership Development Committee, 140 Mini Mall Dr, Berea, KY 40403 or emailed to lisa@kftc.org.

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balancing the scales, May 2, 2013

Calendar of Events

May 2

Scott County chapter meeting, 7 p.m., at the Georgetown Public Library. Email Dave@kftc.org or 859-420-8919 for more information.

May 6

Wilderness Trace chapter planning meeting, 7 p.m. at InterCounty Energy Community Room, 1009 Hustonville Road, Danville. Contact BethBissmeyer@kftc.org or call 859-3142044.

May 11 Building a bright future on Pine Mountain. Camping, Cleaning, Cooking, Music, Food, etc. Ad on page 2. Contact Tanya@kftc.org or call 606-632-0051.

May 13 Harlan County chapter meeting, 6 p.m., Harlan County Public Library. Contact Tanya@kftc.org or call 606-6320051.

May 13 Jefferson County chapter meeting, 6:30 p.m. at the First Unitarian Church, 809 South 4th Street in Louisville.

Contact Alicia@kftc.org or call 502-589-3188.

May 14 Letcher County chapter meeting, 6 p.m., Whitesburg KFTC office. Contact Tanya@kftc.org or call 606-6320051.

May 16 Central Kentucky chapter meeting, 7 p.m. at the Episcopal Diocese Mission House (corner of Martin Luther King Blvd. and 4th Street) in Lexington.

Contact BethHoward@kftc.org or call 859-276-0563.

May 16 Shelby County chapter meeting, 6 p.m. at The Stratton Center, 215 W Washington Street. Contact Carissa@kftc. org or call 859-893-1147 May 16 Rowan County chapter meeting, 6 p.m. at St. Alban’s Episcopal Church on 5th Street in Morehead.

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LONGEST AVE & BARDSTOWN ROAD BLOCK PARTY ( RAIN OR SHINE : Troubadours of Divine Bliss 5 : 30 Potluck Ramblers 6 : 05 Hog Operation 5:00 6 : 35 River City Drum Corps ( pipe drummers 7 : 10 Beady 7 : 50 Slow Charleston 8 : 30 Outdoor Dance Party with HAY DJ (

Celebrate Jefferson County KFTC Chapter's 30th Birthday!

Food and Drink by:: Morel's,, Grind,, Against the Grain,, BBC,, and New Albanian Brewing Company, Sponsored by

KFTC is a 31-year-old grassroots organization that believes in the power of people,, working together,, to challenge injustices,, right wrongs,, and improve the quality of life for all Kentuckians. Visit us online at www.KFTC.org

May 19

Euchre for Justice, Pike Street Lounge, Doors 2 p.m., games at 3:30 pm, more information contact Joe@kftc.org.

May 20

Madison County chapter meeting, 6:30 p.m. at Berea College Appalachian Center, 205 N. Main St., Berea. Contact BethBissmeyer@kftc.org or call 859-314-2044.

May 21 Northern Kentucky chapter meeting, 7 p.m. at Roebling Books and Coffee at 306 Greenup St. Contact Joe@kftc.org or call 859-380-6103.

May 21 Perry County chapter meeting and potluck, 6 p.m., Bring a dish to share if you like, or just enjoy some food and fellowship with us! HCTC Tech Campus Owens Building 115B. Contact Jessie@kftc.org or call 606-263-4982.

May 28

Southern Kentucky (SOKY) chapter planning meeting, 6:30 p.m. at The Foundry, 531 West 11th St. Contact Denney@ kftc.org or call 270-779-6483.