The Plan
Working with property owners in Twilight, OVEC could more successfully fight the multiple coal companies closing in on the last of the small communities on Route 26. This will be a learning process for community members hoping to learn about how to combat mining permits and their impacts on local residents.
As of now, we do not have access to safe local meeting spaces for our organizing efforts anywhere in Boone County. This could be a command center, if you will, for combating the impacts of MTR and protecting the people in the area. Making high-speed internet available through house computers and trainings could be very helpful in these areas, as most people do not have internet access. This could be a very useful teaching and learning center for all of us, as the property is perfect for seminars and trainings of all types.
There is abundant space for an education center, including a library full of information about the many aspects of our culture, including MTR and its impacts on our natural resources and culture. There is no better place than in the middle of the devastation to learn and teach how to stop it.
The space could be used to teach the youth here how to live a more sustainable life, and how this lifestyle is connected to the survival of our rural culture. There is much garden space for growing fresh foods, and ample space for workshops on prepare, can, and preserve their own foods in the traditional methods
The space could also be used for boarding the many volunteers and media folks that come to the area to document the fight against MTR. This could serve as meeting space and retreat house for the many organizations organizing around the issue of MTR. It would give them an education from a resident's point of view.
This property could be used as an evacuation center in the event of a flood. This is desperately needed in this town. The property and homes are above the flood plain and are the highest point in the town.
On the Mooney property, in Twilight, WV, the possibilities are endless. The need for a safe meeting space in Boone County, WV, is overwhelming. So is the need for a base from which people can study, document, and fight Mountaintop Removal. So is the need for a center for the preservation of the local culture and traditions. So is the need for a resource center for local residents. Here is our chance to make these things happen, deep in the heart of the coalfields.
