A friend just sent me some good quotes about Mountaintop Removal, I intend to talk a lot more about this subject, in fact, I already used Fred Armstrong’s Removal by the State as a timely metaphor.

“Mountaintop removal is the biggest
environmental battle of our hemisphere.
You know, you can restore the Hudson River
in perhaps a hundred years. But you will
never, never, get these mountains back.
This is truly a crime against every human
being in the world.”

- Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

“Strip mining is rampant right now, and it’s raping, it’s raping the countryside,” she said. “What if you knew that every time you flip on your light switch a mountaintop in West Virginia just blows up? It’s crazy.” Kathy Mattea quoted by Ken Ward, Charleston Gazette, June 28, 2007

“If we destroy the mountain, do you know how much electricity we get out of that mountain for the coal? An entire mountain provides an hour’s worth of electricity for the U.S.” Mike McKinney, University of Tennessee Geology Professor, as quoted in the June 2007 Highlands Voice.

That quickly, Randall Reid-Smith has already found a replacement for Fred Armstrong, see news at West Virginia Division of Culture and History.

.. Joe Geiger of Huntington as acting director of the agency’s Archives and History Section, effective immediately.

He was just axed on the 2nd, see http://sustainability.osenergy.org/2007/11/02/armstrong-axed/ .

Not too surprising, there has been quite a bit of outrage over Fred’s firing as Director of archives and history at WV’s capitol.

In one article by Dawn Miller, Charleston Gazette’s editorial page editor, says:

He installed the ceiling in the archive reading room himself because ceiling tiles were falling on the heads of patrons, the state’s General Services division couldn’t get to the repair soon enough, and it would have cost more than $40,000 to contract it out. He painted the rooms as well.

This reminds me well of Fred back when I was a boy and he helped my father with various construction projects around our house. I don’t remember him wanting to be paid, he just seemed to love helping out and rather choose a good meal from my highly skilled cooking dad. My dad was going through a bad time, because he had just been through a suit against a contractor. The contractor saved money by hiring prisoners to build an attachment to our house. This was a disaster, the new part of the house leaked like a sieve. To solve the leaking problem on the porch that was supposed to wrap around the attachment (But the contractor had forgotten this, too, so only one side of the porch was built.), the contractor recommended that my father paint on sticky black tar like what is put on roofs, give that it was a rainy Summer, my father didn’t have much recourse. This ofcourse defeated the point of having a porch. The judge at the trial wasn’t too sympathetic which only inflamed my father more. However, I think Fred was a calming factor, we all worked on the porch and many other parts of the home attachment making it into a happier situation.

Fred even chaperoned us once when my parents were gone. He made one mean fried apple dish, I think everything he made involved apples. This was not surprising because he grew up in apple country in WV. I think people who don’t know him well may find him cold when they first meet him, but trust me, he has a warm interior. Fred showed this when he consoled the guard assigned to remove him from the workplace as mentioned by Dawn.

The article that really puts it into perspective is by staff writer Phil Kabler of the Charleston Gazette. He is the author of the breaking news article Armstrong Axed! Unlike Dawn Miller who presents a positive image about the new Cafe/Gift Shop in relation to the archives when she says:

Because it is a personnel matter, Secretary for Education and the Arts Kay Goodwin, like others in the Manchin administration, says she cannot say why Fred was treated so shabbily. I understand that Armstrong was a will-and-pleasure employee. But is this how nearly 30 years of stellar service is rewarded?

Goodwin has assured me that the collection will not be harmed, that it will not even be moved. Nor will the staff offices be moved. Researchers will enjoy service that is just as good or better, she said. Only the reading rooms will be combined. A gift shop will be restored to the Cultural Center and a café will be added, but there won’t be any cooking in the building.

I have a lot of respect for Goodwin, too. I’d like to trust her judgment.

Phil continues with his conclusion that the plans are really nefarious:

Clearly, this was a bald-faced pre-emptive strike to remove someone who might emerge as a voice of opposition as the Manchin administration moves forward with plans to convert the Cultural Center archives library into a café/catering service/mini-Tamarack gift shop.

Again, we observe Fred’s philanthropic spirit as Phil says:

In fact, the last time Armstrong was in the news was about a month ago, when he confirmed that he had found a company that has the technology to grind down and re-etch the names on the Veterans Memorial, saving the state $1 million over what it would have cost if the black granite panels had to be replaced.

Fred has been an asset to the archives, saving the State of WV millions of dollars, sometimes digging the ditches himself, so why is he a threat to the management of WV? Let’s look at his adversary according to Phil’s article:

It raises a red flag whenever I see someone with what I call a résumé-in-reverse, as Reid-Smith has — going from being an opera singer in Europe, to assistant professor of music at the University of Michigan, to being an administrative gofer for the Toledo Opera and then to Culture and History.

While Reid-Smith may exhibit an almost total lack of managerial skills, his tenure appears safe as long as he has the ear of first lady Gayle Manchin, and I understand they frequently go on shopping excursions together.

I just feel too certain why that red flag exists, it’s what some of my friends refer to as the “Good ol’ Boy” system. A system that is alive and well in WV. Not that it is unknown for people in government to hire their friends, it happens all the time, but in WV that system is heavily established on the old fashion way of doing things. It doesn’t take much imagination to figure out what that implies in WV. Unfortunately, the will to change the business as usual mentality in this State is stale and moldy, and anyone who challenges this mentality gets to experience just what Fred did. But, I’m an optimist, and I believe strongly that this State can change; it has already to some degree. Fred has proven that money can be handled wisely by passionate people, and that it’s not necessary to replace State archives with a for-profit unnecessary solution.

As Phil observes:

Back about a month ago, I wrote a little column blurb about how the architects and design consultants working on the Capitol cafeteria had done a walk-through of the archives library.

Within days, I received probably 80 e-mails from genealogists around the country voicing their strong objections to the prospect of losing the archives library — and virtually all were copies of e-mails addressed to the governor.

On Friday, an entourage from the Mining Your History Foundation, led by Virginia Gillespie, stopped by to deliver copies of about 200 pages of petitions signed by people from around the state who oppose moving the archives library.

Among the signees: U.S. Rep. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va.

The hunger for the documentation of accurate history is a strong force to be reckoned with.

But, Fred, the next time Blair Mountain Activists come to you for help and support, please don’t suck up to the Coal Industry. You have proven that the archives of WV don’t need to rely on the resources and sponsorship of the Coal Industry. You need not fear them anymore, especially the Governor and his cronies.

I originally posted this article November 04, 2007 @ 20:55 not completely sure of all the facts and adding my own kind of flair based on what I mentioned in a previous blog, but now (Tue Nov 6 23:38:32) the facts are in from Fred. He says “That his position on the proposed Blair Mountain project is erroneous and misleading, that in his role as secretary to the commission, he only took notes or minutes of the meeting.” The person at the Sierra Club meeting after reading all the commentaries that have been posted since Fred’s Axing transpired said “Apparently he was one hell of a worker. I hate to see his talent lost. Lots of people have benefited from the genealogical records. Let me know what you hear on this. I think we need to chastise the Governor for the shabby treatment of state employees.”  In fact she has told me to post a letter she is sending to the Governor on this blog, see it here. I just want to point out that while I am typing this, Fred is on a job painting, whether or not he is doing this for the love of working with his hands (I don’t have all the details), his salary as Director was mediocre.

Today at the West Virginia Sierra Club ExCom meeting, I told yesterday’s story about Armstrong’s axing to an individual. The reaction was happiness because in the past individuals who had approached him for archival information about MTR and Blair Mountain were met with a lack of support. Apparently, he was disinterested in being involved with their requests, and appeared to lack moral support for their cause. Perhaps his actions were influenced by fear of the Coal Industry. The joke is that the Culture and History Commissioner Randall Reid-Smith is a big patron of the Friends of Coal. While there is an appropriate moral to this story, it doesn’t justify the disgusting tactics employed to fire Fred Armstrong.

What comes around, goes around, and Randall who would rather replace archives with a Cafe is cosmically next in line for his own kind of medicine.

Wed Nov 7 23:08:09 EST 2007

I want to explain this blog entry further. I don’t know if some people know just how strongly many West Virginians feel about this issue. If you want to get a good overview about what Mountaintop removal issues are about in places like WV see this article: The Government Sanctioned Bombing of Appalachia . Anti-MTR activists like Regina Hendrix who have gotten a really close-up view of MTR and the land and people effected, have strong sentiments and feel this should be a major public issue, and I totally agree with this. One such contention is the site of the historic “Battle of Blair Mountain” in 1921 where tens of thousands of West Virginia coal miners rose up against armed federal troops in defense of their right to unionize and improve working conditions. This was the largest armed conflict on U.S soil since the Civil War, and now we find ourselves fighting this battle again, but this time against a coal company that wants to mountaintop Blair Mountain to remove the coal, thereby destroying the historical and archaeological significance of the site. MTR displaces huge numbers of well-paying underground mining jobs and relies instead on huge machines to rapidly bring down mountains to get to coal seams quickly and destructively. It would be far, far better if Blair Mountain were preserved and received nomination for the National Register of Historic Places, but there seems to be some in West Virgina government who appear to be working in the other direction, and they seem to be the same people who fired Fred. It would be so much better if Governor Manchin came out and chastised MTR and any efforts that would remove Blair Mountain from history, in the same way that it now appears the archives, themselves, are under attack. Regina gave me permission to quote her on a statement she made that clarifies her experience with Fred. It was the conversation I had with Regina at the ExCom that inspired me to make this blog entry in the first place. You can also read her letter to Governor Manchin concerning Fred Armstrong here:

Jonathan, I got miffed with Fred because he was short with me at the Commission hearing. I have no reason to believe that he did anything to hinder the Blair Nomination. For sure, the people at Cultural Center who are handling the nomination are getting lots of flack. I believe the Gov. is very concerned to help the coal interests who are opposing the nomination; however, he is hesitant to interfere openly because we’ve gotten so much publicity at the national level and because the Park Service has obviously been very interested in getting a good nomination. I feel sure Manchin is working behind the scenes. The head of State Historic Preservation Office, Susan Pierce, has taken much flack and I believe she is afraid of losing her job, since she’s also a will and pleasure employee.”

See, Armstrong Axed

This is ironic, but irony happens in my life just about every day. Even as my mother visits one of my father’s dissertation students in Baltimore. Another one is fired without an explanation from being Director of archives and history at the State Capitol of West Virginia. A job he held since 1985. Apparently, so that the archives library in the Cultural Center can be converted into a Cafe/Gift Shop. What?!

Here is Fred with Governor Manchin and his wife Gail showing them how to navigate an online exhibit at the Cultural Center. Wait isn’t this the same Governor who changed the slogan of WV to “Open for Business”? Yesterday, the results of an online vote were revealed; we can now return back to “Wild, Wonderful” West Virginia.

My father has been deceased since 1982, but I am sure he is keeping up with this piece of history about Fred Armstrong, one of three of his dissertation students.  After all, he was a highly esteemed History Professor at WVU, and his ghost follows me around everywhere I go. This situation smells suspiciously of what my father, a Holocaust Survivor, warned us all about. There are people who are intent about blotting out history. One type of history some people want erased from the public’s mind is WV’s turbulent Coal History. I am sure this is one type of history that Culture and History Commissioner Randall Reid-Smith wants replaced with a Cafe.

If you read the article you will observe that to add insult to injury he was “escorted out of the building by a security office” despite years of a proven work history of appropriately managing valuable records. It is easy for me to imagine what this was like because WV Government seems to enjoy strong-arming people who oppose its environmentally damaging Coal Industry, with practices such as Mountain Top Removal (MTR). Apparently, this also applies to anyone who is involved with the true history about WV.

This reminds me of a photo (searching for it) of someone who wanted to speak to the Governor about a Sludge impoundment pond a few yards away from Marsh Fork Elementary School, but who was roughly escorted away by a snarling Capitol Security Guard. In a similar fashion, Fred Armstrong was traumatically removed from a job without a good reason or even a previous warning. That is how it works in Open for Business West Virginia, oops, I mean Wild, and Wonderful West Virginia. Corruption abounds, we rank highly for that, however, we rank at the very bottom for sustainability and conservation according to this article at Forbes magazine.

The reason why I didn’t go with my mother to Baltimore to visit my father’s other beloved PhD student was because tomorrow I have an all day West Virginia Sierra Club ExCom meeting to attend. At this meeting there will be anti-MTR activists, and lawyers; people who understand issues like Blair Mountain and its historic Mine War. They understand how the Coal industry hates Blair Mountain History, and how they are extremely interested in erasing this history by mining it with MTR methods that would prevent the historical site from being listed in the National Register. Indeed, we are fighting the Battle of Blair Mountain again. Could Fred’s axing be related to this .. YES, very much so in a State that is in denial!