Dear Mr. Reed,

With the encouragement and suggestion of Joan Cassidy I am sending you this email to introduce myself [Joan is a WVHC member. Her son, Michael, sometimes does cartoons for the "Voice." Ed.]. My name is Brenda Jo Narog. I am a member and Youth Advisor for the West Virginia Native American Coalition. My present title is just one of the projects/interests I am involved in with WVNAMCO.

Linda Karus, my daughter Amanda, and I were visiting Joan this weekend. We were there to discuss a few matters of importance to the group with her, as well as ask her advice in a couple of organization matters. And as always were blessed by her company and guidance. She is an honored member and elder of our group. During our conversation she suggested that I get in touch with you in order to begin a partnership between your group and ours. It did not take too much to convince me, I might add. For years I have thought about forming partnerships with other groups, be they environmental or educational, in order to support and facilitate understanding and eventually make changes in these areas. We have a commitment to fight the corporate greed and ignorance of the public at large!

Therefore, I am offering our support, as a group and as an individual.

Joan sent me the July issue of The Highlands Voice and a membership application. I am sending my application with dues today via snail mail. I have read some of the "Voice" and am impressed with the objective way that you present the issues... one of our goals should be to make people "think" which doesn't seem to happen enough!

Please share your vision, ideas, and the advantages you see by this partnership. I can see many advantages beyond those of gathering bodies... they include support for various environmental emergencies and more exposure for the facts and solutions for many situations within our state.

Quite simply please let us know what we can do to help!

I am also adding a speech that was written and delivered by myself last year at Coopers Rock State Park. [We hope to have the full text of Ms Narog’s speech in a subsequent issue of the Voice. Ed.] There are other speeches that were given and we have taken these and bound them in a booklet – The Hills Are Exploding. If you would like to use this for a future publication of the "Voice" you have my permission. I will contact the other members who contributed their thoughts and if they are agreeable I will send them also.

Thank you for your consideration of this partnership and for all your efforts in ensuring the continued environmental health of our state.

Sincerely - and Peaceful Journey -

Brenda Jo Narog

July 21, 1999 ª

Dear Editor:

As a longtime supporter of the Highlands Conservancy, I would like to publicly thank those who have been doing the "grunt work"in educating the public on the problems associated with mountaintop removal strip mining. Many people have put in literally hundreds of volunteer hours trying to make things better for future generations of West Virginians. As often as not, their only thanks has been to have Cecil Underwood take personal "pot shots" at them.

Mountaintop Removal is not the first major project the Conservancy has undertaken. I remember as a young State Trooper my first assignment was Elkins, in the heart of the Highlands. It was 1971, and Richard Nixon was President. Arch Moore was in his first term as Governor. Even then, the Conservancy was working to make things better. Monongahela Power Company had purchased the whole northern end of Canaan Valley, and had plans for a pumped storage facility which would have virtually destroyed the area insofar as tourism and recreation were concerned.

When the Conservancy and others set out to stop that project, no one gave them a chance of succeeding. The Nixon administration wanted it, and the Moore administration wanted it. Local politicos wanted it. It seemed to be a "done deal." But after more than 20 years of name calling and finger pointing, they finally gave up and admitted they were wrong. Now, 30 years later, each time I travel to that magnificent area, I am thankful for what people did back then.

Thirty years from now, after all the name calling and finger pointing are over, I predict another generation of West Virginians will be thankful for the efforts of Conservancy members who took time to care back in the 1990's.

Thank you, and God Bless You!

Carroll Jett ª