Prosecute Massey Billboards in West Virginia

[proud2BlibKansan]

Highway billboards calling for a manslaughter prosecution of Massey Energy are going up in West Virginia.

The billboards read: 29 Coal Miners Dead, Prosecute Massey for Manslaughter.

The first billboard went up today on Rt. 522 in Morgan County.

The billboards are sponsored by a new group — prosecutemassey.org.

“If I drive recklessly in West Virginia and accidentally kill someone, I will be prosecuted for involuntary manslaughter and thrown in jail,” said Russell Mokhiber of prosecutemassey.org. “Twenty-nine coal miners are dead. The federal government said the Massey Energy Upper Big Branch mine was operated with reckless disregard for the safety of the workers. We are calling on the state of West Virginia to prosecute the company and responsible officials for involuntary manslaughter.”

more . . . http://www.prosecutemassey.org/blog/?p=81

[Staph]

1. While I support this group for their idea . . . .

Their sign is more than 300 miles away from the mine itself. It is in the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia, in an area that is essentially a bedroom community of Washington, DC. There is minimal coal mining in that area. Think of putting up protest signs about the Gulf Oil spill in Madison, Wisconsin, an area with no oil wells, next to no one whose livelihood depends on the petroleum industry, and no one who will be directly affected by the blackened beaches.

If prosecutemassey.org wants to have a real effect, they need to put up billboards in the state capitol in Charleston and in the coal fields, especially in the large town of Beckley. Build support among the coal mining community.