The Highlands Voice is the official publication of the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy. Bill Reed is its editor. We pay Bill to edit the VOICE to our liking.

Recently Bill asked me what kinds of feedback I’ve had re. the VOICE. I tried to be honest.

Some folks tell me the VOICE is too big, too hard to read at only one or two sittings.

And some tell me that they want it to come out more regularly. (Recently, we skipped one or two as a money saving effort).

Some folks say the VOICE is not the mostly West Virginia environmental publication they’d like it to be.

Bill gets lots of VOICE materials from lots of sources- our members, other publications, environmental news networks, etc.

But Bill doesn’t do what previous VOICE editors did. Bill doesn’t whine that he can’t put out a good VOICE unless we members send him good written materials. If we send it, fine. He uses it. But when we don’t, he finds other environmental articles to fill the pages. Good stuff. Interesting stuff. But it’s not always directly about West Virginia happenings.

But is it what we want? Some of you say it isn’t. Why does this happen? I now at least partially why, I think. Bill can only edit what he has to edit. Although the editor writes some articles, he cannot be expected to be the writer of the whole VOICE.

I will not become Bill’s whiner. But a lot of us write things in the course of our committee work. We e-mail it to 6 or eight other committee people. Unless it’s somehow "confidential", or just ideas being sprung back and forth, why not send it to Bill at breed@wvwise.org ?

How important is it? Very important! Here’s why. A week or so ago we had a major announcement about our mountaintop removal mining lawsuit. But our editor was blind sided to first learn of it from the Charleston Gazette. The week before, we had a major announcement about our Blackwater Canyon project. Again, Bill had been left out of the loop. We didn’t even tell own editor what we were doing!

Bill shouldn’t have to take the Gazette’s or anyone else’s spin on our happenings. He should be making the spin, from our perspective, in our own publication!

Who’s to blame here? Probably me. I knew about both events, but I didn’t alert Bill. But if we’d all cc. to Bill our e-mail messages, he’d at least know when something big is about to happen. As it was, I just forget to tell him. And he had not learned from "intercepted messages", because they aren’t getting to him.

And if you’re not working on-line? Make Bill an extra copy of your written committee press releases (even drafts), letters to editor, quest columns, etc. Snail mail them to: Bill Reed, 350 Bucks Branch Beckley, WV 25801.

You need not worry that your articles aren’t exactly as would be for best appearances in the VOICE (press releases, for example). Bill’s job is to make raw material VOICE material. And he’s good at it!

We can’t have it both ways. If we want the VOICE to be a little about West Virginia, but mostly about global issues and happenings, Bill can find that material. But if we want the VOICE to be about West Virginia, we need to provide material about West Virginia. The two hottest issues in West Virginia just now are Blackwater and mountaintop removal mining. I see dozens of articles and e-mails about both issues every week. Many are by our members. Lets’ use ‘em. Keep Bill Reed in your loop.

Other issues are there, too. Four lane highway proposed through downtown Lewisburg historical district. Four lane highway through Pocahontas County. Governor blames Corridor H opponents for delay costs. If you wrote something about these events, sent a copy to Bill Reed. If someone wants to know how to get publicity about other issues, even if they are not WVHC members, have them send it to Bill Reed. Bill is an equal opportunity editor. All West Virginia environmental issue articles from all folks will receive his attention.

We will be a better organization with better informed, more active members as our official publication, the VOICE, has more information about what we care about, the West Virginia Highlands.