Broken Hallelujah

Mark Fiore takes a humorous look at the serious problem of the Mountaintop Removal going on in West Virginia. Link

Larry Gibson has lived on 50 acres of land in southern WV that has been in his family for over 200 years. Since the 80s, he has refused to sell this land, a mountain top that has been coveted by coal barrons for the sole purpose of stripping to top off and mine the coal. What had been one of the lowest points in this mountain range is now the tallest because the rest has been 'removed' by MTR, mountain top removal.Because Larry has worked for years as a social activist to try and stop this rape of his WV mountains, he has been the target of vandals and their violence. He is a leader of the Mountain Justice Summer movement that has had, this summer, some major successes in fighting Massey Coal Company, preventing them from building a processing unit within 50 yards from a school.

In the last few weeks he has lost his only power generator, a solar unit, security cameras, outdoor security lights, and gunshots have been fired into his cabin. One dog was shot and another hanged, motion dectors have been destroyed, all in an effort to scare him off his land.

This is the despicable work of the coal robber barrons who want his land and want him to shut up, all for the little bit of coal that sits under his land.

If any of you would like to help Larry, here is the information:

Larry Gibson, P.O. Box 86, Naoma, WV 25140
Keeper of the Mountains Foundation
(The above text is a copy of an email I recently received.)