This article originally provided by Coal Valley News

December 20, 2006

Local activist honored in Washington

By Valerie J. Carpenter
Staff Writer

Maria Gunnoe of Bob White has made it her life's crusade to protect West Virginia's mountains, including those that overlook her Boone County home, from the ravages of mountaintop removal.

Because her efforts bring considerable risk to her personal well-being, Gunnoe has been awarded with the Joe A. Callaway Award for Civic Courage.

The Callaway award was established by the Shafeek Nader Trust for the Community Interest and honors those who, with integrity and some personal risk, take a stand to promote truth and justice and the common good by challenging unsatisfactory conditions.

The award was named for Joe A. Callaway who provided the Nadar Trust with the funds to present the annual awards.

Since 2000, Gunnoe's property on Big Branch Creek has been flooded five times, the worst in June 2003 and now the water has washed much of her yard away.

"You don't realize how fragile your life is and how much you really are connected to the land until that land starts deteriorating," Gunnoe said.

"The coal industry has turned us into activists."

Working for the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition, Gunnoe has organized others in non-violent protest against coal barons who would seek to make more money at the expense of the health and safety of the people and the environment.

The award was presented on Thursday, December 14, 2006 at 5:00 p.m. at the Carnegie Institution Building in Washington.

"It's easy to feel vulnerable in a land where coal is king and people don't matter," Gunnoe once said.

Gunnoe was one of two West Virginians to receive the Calloway award. The other was Ed Wiley, whose granddaughter is a student at Marsh Fork Elementary School situated 400 yards below a 2.8 billion gallon coal waste dam.

Wiley walked first to Charleston, then to Washington, to try to get the school moved to another location for the sake of the childrens' safety.

The Nader Trust was created to extend the civic values of Shafeek Nader, community advocate and founder of the Northwestern Connecticut Community College.

A tax-exempt organization, the Trust has the task of advancing the ability of citizens to participate and shape the quality of democracy in their community.