Inside Appalachia Story Archives - Page 60 of 124 - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Failure To Prioritize Worker Safety Leads To Illness, Injury And Death: Inside Appalachia

What is the human impact of a failure to prioritize workplace safety? In this episode, which we originally aired in 2019, we’ll hear how weak regulatory…

What is the human impact of a failure to prioritize workplace safety?

In this episode, which we originally aired in 2019, we’ll hear how weak regulatory laws, and a failure to prioritize worker safety, may be contributing to more deaths, and a higher risk of workplace accidents — both at the state and national levels.

According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, or OSHA, website, on average, about 14 people a day in the United States are killed while working. OSHA is the government agency responsible for regulating workplace laws in the United States.

OSHA doesn’t have a big budget or staff. In fact, just a little more than 2,000 OSHA workers are charged with making sure employers across the country comply with regulations.

In December of 1970, nearly 50 years ago, President Richard Nixon signed the Occupational Safety and Health Act into law, and OSHA was formed soon after.

"And so we see a bill that represents the American system at its best. Democrats, Republicans, the House, the Senate, the White House, labor, business, all cooperating in a common goal. Saving of lives. Avoiding of injuries. Making the places of work for 55 million workers safer and more pleasant places to work. This is certainly a great goal."—President Richard M. Nixon in 1970.

Five decades later, people are still being killed and injured in workplace accidents. In some states, the federal OSHA program works alongside state safety programs.

Lisa Hobbs holds a picture of her husband, Gene “Pius” Hobbs.

Kentucky Investigation

That’s the case in Kentucky. A 2018 report by the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting (KyCIR) found that the state worker safety program regularly misses workplace safety violations, fails to interview witnesses and doesn’t figure out the cause of the accident. These shortcomings leave Kentucky workers at risk. An audit by the federal OSHA program backs up what Kentucky journalists found in their series of stories called Fatal Flaws. This reporting was part of a collaboration between KyCIR, the Ohio Valley ReSource, and the Center for Public Integrity.

In 1970, OSHA estimates indicate there were as many as 14,000 people who died on the job in the United States that year. Since then, safety regulations have helped to significantly reduce the number of worker deaths. However, since 2015, the number of worker fatalities has actually risen, slightly.

Unions, like the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), point to laws that weaken regulations. Budget cuts to OSHA and state safety programs have also affected the number of inspectors who regulate dangerous workplace violations.

Since the KyCIR Fatal Flaws series first aired in the fall of 2018, and following the federal OSHA audit, there have been several personnel changes in Kentucky’s worker safety program. In 2019, the new commissioner of the state Department of Workplace Standards, Dwayne Depp, acknowledged that there are failings in Kentucky’s system, but said they are improving the way they investigate and prevent worker fatalities. Families who lost loved ones in workplace accidents have been waiting for these changes for years.

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Nationwide Problem

Many workplace fatalities across the nation are preventable. So why aren’t they? When it comes to worker compensation, why are state politicians in a race to the bottom to offer lower insurance premiums to lure businesses? What is this race to the bottom costing workers?

Howard Berke s has been reporting on these issues for nearly forty years. He retired in 2019 from NPR after 38 years investigating topics like black lung disease, mining disasters, workers compensation, and other worker safety issues here in Appalachia and across the country. Inside Appalachia producer Roxy Todd interviewed him to talk more about some of the reasons workplace fatalities continue to kill thousands of Americans each year.

Commentary from Jessica Lilly

In this episode, we hear from several families looking for answers after their loved ones died while on a job. Host Jessica Lilly said she can relate to so many of these families’ stories. Lilly’s father, Chuck Lilly, died while on a job site in 2001. He was electrocuted. “I feel in my heart that his death should have been prevented. He should be here with us now,” Lilly said.

“My dad worked so hard. So much in fact that he would often fall asleep in the driveway after he got home from work. He would often tell me to get an education so I wouldn’t have to work, ‘like a dog like me’ as he would say. But he did it anyway. Until that day, when he didn’t come home from work. The human impact? My family has never been the same. The traditions and special moments just don’t seem to matter or even happen anymore. And I still get mad and terribly sad to see my kids grow up without him.”

We had help producing this episode of Inside Appalachia from the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting, the Ohio Valley ReSource and the Center for Public Integrity, and NPR.

Music in today’s show was provided by Dinosaur Burps, Matt Jackfert, Michael Howard and Ben Townsend.

Roxy Todd is our producer. Eric Douglas is our associate producer. Our executive producer is Glynis Board. She also edited our show this week. Our audio mixer is Patrick Stephens.

You can find us online on Twitter @InAppalachia.

You can also send us an email to InsideAppalachia@wvpublic.org.

Appalachians Reclaiming Their Stories And Means Of Earning A Living

Most people rarely think about where food comes from. We go to the grocery store and have so much to choose from. But global experts say small and…

Most people rarely think about where food comes from. We go to the grocery store and have so much to choose from. But global experts say small and medium-sized farms are critical to future food systems. That’s what we’ve got here in Appalachia, but more and more farmers across our region are facing economic challenges.

On this episode of Inside Appalachia, we’re exploring ways people are trying to reclaim their own story, including how conversations about earning a living are playing out across our region. We’ll hear how people are impacted by unreliable internet access and why small farmers can’t afford to stay in business. We’ll also hear from people who are rediscovering their own families’ racial history, and how that’s impacted their work in their communities.

In This Episode

The Future Of Hemp And CBD

Many people believed the hemp industry could change the economic future of Appalachia. It can be used for fabrics and it can be used to produce CBD oil — a compound that many claim has medicinal benefits.

But the hemp industry is struggling, as Liam Niemeyer reports, in part because the market for CBD is flooded with so many farmers growing it.

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Apples From Appalachia

One food crop in high demand across Appalachia is heirloom apples. But not enough farmers are growing them. West Virginia produces about 110 million pounds of apples every year, just a third of what we used to grow in 1979, according to the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service. We hear from several farmers who talk about the economic challenges they face.

Helping Home Canners

Canning food so it can be eaten throughout the year is a practice that used to be critical for our ancestors to survive the winter. There are some efforts to revive the art of canning, and make it easier for people who grow their own food to can their veggies safely and cheaply.

This story, reported by Caleb Johnson, originally aired on the podcast “Gravy,” a production of the Southern Foodways Alliance. Johnson teaches writing at Appalachian State University in Boone North Carolina.

Staying Connected

Broadband internet can be spotty and unreliable in parts of Appalachia. In some communities, residents can’t work from home if they need to do anything on the internet. There are lots of federal grants offering rural communities help to improve their broadband infrastructure, but they often need a match to get these funds.

Recently, Emily Allen visited Calhoun County, West Virginia to learn more about how this struggle for broadband access is affecting people in this remote mountain community.

Just Transition

Kentucky entrepreneurs show their products at the 2019 SOAR Summit.

Four years ago, when President Trump was a candidate for president, he made headlines in Appalachia by promising to bring coal miners back to work. And while that promise did pay off for some miners — layoffs, and widespread bankruptcies have plagued much of our region’s coal community in the years of Trump’s presidency.

At a recent public meeting in Charleston, West Virginia, a group of activists, scientists, and community organizers gathered to talk about what this could look like for people here in Appalachia. Brittany Patterson was there and has this story.

Student Storytelling

As part of a storytelling mentoring initiative with West Virginia Public Broadcasting, members of our newsroom have been meeting with high school students at the Fayette Institute of Technology in Fayette County, West Virginia. Students there have been exploring issues important to them, including the constantly asked questions they get about what they plan to do after school.

Students Ashton Huffman, Timothy Ellison, Dayton Copeland and Stormie Surface are learning radio storytelling through a project with Inside Appalachia. We’ll be hearing more of their work later this year.

Cultural Identity — The Melungeon

The Melungeon people of east Tennessee were isolated and discriminated against throughout much of their history. Their dark skin often meant they faced prejudice. Many from this community describe their family’s history as one of feeling “outside” the rest of their community.

Eric Douglas spoke with two people who are Melungeon about how they’re trying to reshape the narrative.

We had help producing Inside Appalachia this week from The Ohio Valley ReSource, which is supported by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and West Virginia Public Broadcasting, Report For America and the Southern Foodways Alliance and their podcast Gravy — we are big fans, check them out if you’re interested in conversations about food, cooking, and the increasingly diverse food culture that exists across the south.

Our theme music is by Matt Jackfert. Other music this week was provided by Dinosaur Burps, Spencer Elliot

Roxy Todd is our producer. Eric Douglas is our associate producer. Our executive producer is Glynis Board. She also edited our show this week. Our audio mixer is Patrick Stephens.

You can find us on Twitter @InAppalachia.

Finding Meaning And Authenticity In Hot Rods, Dollywood and Everywhere Inside Appalachia

One could spend a lifetime learning about Appalachia, and just scratch the surface. On this week’s episode, we take a deeper look at traditional cultural…

One could spend a lifetime learning about Appalachia, and just scratch the surface.

On this week’s episode, we take a deeper look at traditional cultural practices found throughout these mountains.

We’ll hear stories spanning from fiddle music, to Appalachian style food. We’ll also hear how moonshine getaway cars turned into an Appalachian subculture of families who rebuild and race hot rods.

In This Episode

Learning A Unique Fiddle Style That’s Rooted In Geographical Place

A lot of traditional Appalachian practices would be lost if it weren’t for experts sharing their knowledge with the next generation. And the West Virginia Humanities Council has been promoting that exchange through their Folklife Apprentice Program.

One master and apprentice duo that completed the program recently spent a year preserving a style of old-time fiddling. Our folkways reporter Caitlin Tan brings us this story.

Does Dollywood Offer Tourists An Authentic Experience?

And we’ll travel to a theme park that’s crafted its facade off of the fantasy of being authentically Appalachian: Dollywood. Yes, glorious Dollywood, with a water-powered gristmill that really makes cornmeal and a campy stage show that performs music that’s loosely based on the traditional music Dolly Parton grew up on. Among many other things, Dollywood is a masterfully crafted business, and a gem to many of us Appalachians. But does it give travelers an authentic mountain experience? Reporter Betsy Shepherd went to find out for a story she originally produced for the podcast “Gravy”, produced by the Southern Foodways Alliance.

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Jeremy (left) and Jeff Bennett stand by a 1937 Ford pickup they rebuilt.

Hot Rods In Roanoke

Americans love cars, period. But in Appalachia, we’ve always had a way of tinkering with objects to make them perform the way we want them to. On any given Friday night, amid the glow of stoplights, fast food franchises and international grocery stores, along Williamson Road in Roanoke, Virginia, you can see cars and trucks modified with neon lights, spinning rims and streamlined spoilers strutting from north to south and back again.

As Inside Appalachia Folkways Reporter Mason Adams has discovered, this is especially true with cars.

Drivers propel themselves around the asphalt track at the Ona Speedway in Ona, West Virginia. Built in the early 1960s, the track was the first of its kind in the Mountain State and hosted four NASCAR races in the small town.

A Little Bit Of Daytona — Close To Home

In the early 1960s, short-track racing put Ona, West Virginia on the map. As West Virginia’s first and only oval asphalt racetrack, the Ona Speedway has been at the epicenter of regional racing culture. The road has been bumpy at times, and the track has survived its fair share of challenges and changes. Yet what hasn’t changed is that year after year, many families return to race, watch and impart their hard-earned wisdom to the community’s upcoming generations of drivers. Inside Appalachia Folkways Reporter Lexi Browning recently spent some time with one of those families, the Siglers, and brings us this story.

Mason and Lexi’s stories are part of the Inside Appalachia Folkways Reporting Project, a partnership with West Virginia Public Broadcasting’s Inside Appalachia and the Folklife Program of the West Virginia Humanities Council. The Folkways Reporting Project is made possible in part with support from Margaret A. Cargill Philanthropies to the West Virginia Public Broadcasting Foundation. Subscribe to the podcast to hear more stories of Appalachian folklife, arts, and culture.

Glynis Board guest hosts this week’s show. “I find that whenever I tell folks I’m from Appalachia, people respond with a lot of different kinds of questions,” Board said. “And maybe like you, there are some questions that are, well, ridiculous. Like, ‘do you have running water in your home? Or indoor plumbing? Do you have all your teeth?’”

“But honestly, the more I travel outside our region, I find there’s a growing appetite for authenticity in general, and a lot of folks with a genuine curiosity about life here and in our people. And I find these interactions so encouraging.”

We had help producing Inside Appalachia this week from The Southern Foodways Alliance and their podcast Gravy. Special thanks to the West Virginia Folklife Program at the West Virginia Humanities Council.

Our theme music is by Matt Jackfert. Other music this week was provided by Dinosaur Burps, Adrien Niles, Larry Groce, Bruce Springsteen, DougVan Gundy, Mose Coffman, Annie Stroud, and Dolly Parton.

Roxy Todd is our producer. Eric Douglas is our associate producer. Our executive producer is Glynis Board. Brittany Patterson edited our show this week. Our audio mixer is Patrick Stephens. You can find us on Twitter @InAppalachia.

Love For Mountains And Each Other, Inside Appalachia

This week’s episode of Inside Appalachia is all about love. Not the florist and jewelry store version of love, but love for something deeper: love for…

This week’s episode of Inside Appalachia is all about love. Not the florist and jewelry store version of love, but love for something deeper: love for home, family, for the mountains.

We also have a variety of personal love letters from listeners, and we’ll talk a little bit about being in love, too.

In This Episode:

Home and Change

Jeff Kanode is a pastor at the Alderson United Methodist Church and a nonfiction author. He sent us an audio essay about home and what it means for him, offering his own love letter to the Greenbrier Valley. We included an excerpt in the show, but you can listen to the full essay below.

Love/Hate With Winter

This time of year the darkness, and the cold, can become exhausting. And driving in the winter can be treacherous — especially in remote, high-altitude regions. But sometimes, in rural communities, help is there, when you need it the most. Glynis Board experienced that a few years ago when she was traveling in Preston County.

Eagle Love

Humans aren’t the only animals who have long term monogamous relationships. In 2015, Roxy Todd visited the Three Rivers Avian Center to hear the story of a couple of “married” eagles who made the New River Gorge their home. This is a story about love, tragedy, and new beginnings.

According to Wendy Perrone with the Three Rivers Avian Center, they are seeing a new pair of eagles around the nest that Streaky and Whitey once called home. But Wendy says all the eagles are slower to nest this year and she isn’t sure if there will be a young eagle hatchling at the Brooks River nest. Still, the eagle numbers so far have continued to rise across the New River Gorge the past couple of years, according to the wildlife experts who conduct the yearly eagle survey each fall.

Love Letters to Appalachia

A few weeks ago, we put out a call to our listeners through our newsletter and on Twitter to send us audio love letters. We used a couple new ones and a couple older ones in this week’s show.

Rance Garrison is a singer/songwriter and graduate student who currently lives in Norton, Virginia with his wife, Andrea.
Betty Rivard is a community organizer and a transplant to Appalachia who fell in love with the mountains and never left.
Alan “Cathead” Johnston is a musician who lives in McDowell County, West Virginia.
Willa Johnson is the director of the Appalachian Media Institute at Appalshop in Whitesburg, Kentucky.

For Love of Earth

Mel pours clay soil onto a window screen. He uses it to filter the soil into a five gallon bucket.

Most ceramics are made in factories these days, but many of our Appalachian ancestors made their pottery by hand. It was something often done out of necessity and love – creating utensils, plates and bowls for their family to eat with. Today, a lot of artists still make pottery, but it’s rare to find someone who sources their own clay. Our folkways reporter Caitlin Tan visited with potter Mel Sword in Preston County, West Virginia, who puts his own twist on a traditional Appalachian craft.

Love Letters From Thomas

For a lot of people Valentine’s Day is difficult, especially when they aren’t in a romantic relationship. But what if it could still be something special? A few years ago, we learned of a project one small West Virginia town did to exchange hundreds of love letters with strangers from across the country. A few years ago we reported on a project folks in Thomas, West Virginia launched where they sent hundreds of love letters to people across the country, in another small town in New Mexico that was selected, basically at random.

Love Ballads

There are so many lovely songs about love, murder, love lost, and longing across the Appalachian mountains. One example is “The Soldier and the Lady,” performed by Tab Ward in the 1960s. It’s a true “love song”, and is about a soldier who comes back from the war in a disguise and stops to talk with his lover in her garden.

Thanks to the W.L. Eury Appalachian Collection in Beech Mountain North Carolina in for this recording. The song was recorded by a North Carolina toy maker and song collector named Jack Guy.

Couple Who’s Been Married 67 Years

There is a man who works at West Virginia Public Broadcasting who is something of a legend. Frank Stowers is a part-time host of our classical music programming. Roxy Todd sat down with Frank and his wife of 67 years, Emita Stowers, to hear their story.

Our theme music is by Matt Jackfert. Other music this week was provided by Dinosaur Burps, Alan Cathead Johnston, Marteka and William, Andrea Tomasi and special thanks to our friends at Mountain Stage who helped gather songs from their archives by Tyler Childers and Mandolin Orange. Also thanks again to the W.L. Eury Appalachian Collection in Beech Mountain North Carolina for their help finding old time music for this episode.

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Roxy Todd is our producer. Eric Douglas is our associate producer. Our executive producer is Glynis Board. Kara Lofton edited our show this week. Zander Aloi helps promote our show. Our audio mixer is Patrick Stephens.

You can find us on Twitter @InAppalachia. You can also send us an email to Inside Appalachia@wvpublic.org.

A West Virginia Morning Love Story

This morning, we’ll hear the love story of a couple who met in Mexico, and then moved to West Virginia nearly 70 years ago. Our listeners might recognize the voice of Frank Stowers. Stowers is a part time host of our classical music programming. Inside Appalachia producer Roxy Todd sat down with Frank and his wife of 67 years, Emita Stowers, to hear their story.

The interview is part of this weekend’s episode of Inside Appalachia. This episode is a special Valentine’s show- dedicated to Appalachian Love stories. Listen Sunday morning at 7 and again Sunday evening at 6 here on West Virginia Public Broadcasting.

Charles Wesley Godwin can be heard on this week’s new episode of Mountain Stage with guest-host Kathy Mattea.

Morgantown, West Virginia native Charles Wesley Godwin’s song “Coal Country” is out Mountain Stage Song of the Week. A song to remind us that the coal’s impact reaches far beyond Appalachia, broadening the definition of what many think of as “Coal Country.”

West Virginia Morning is a production of West Virginia Public Broadcasting which is solely responsible for its content.

Support for our news bureaus comes from West Virginia University, Concord University, and Shepherd University.

One Appalachian Potter's Twist On The Craft: Digging Clay

In rural Preston County, West Virginia, potter Mel Sword’s house is located at the end of a gravel road, near a road called “Wildflower Way” and a creek that feeds into the Cheat River. His home nestles rolling fields of green grass, and behind that are mounds of dirt, clay that to Sword is half the reason he bought this property about ten years ago.

In a special report exploring folkways traditions, as part of the Inside Appalachia Folkways Project, Caitlin Tan spent time with Sword to see how he is leaning on an old tradition to create modern day pottery.

Mel shows the string he uses to cut his clay. He tries to make all of his tools out of things he has around his shop.

The Pile

Sword practices an old kind of pottery technique – digging and processing his own clay, a practice of pottery that Appalachian’s ancestors did out of necessity for many years. It was a way to create plates, bowls and other ceramic tools. It is rare for a potter to dig their own clay today, but Sword still does it as a way of preserving an old technique.

While building his home, he created a large clay mound, made entirely of the dirt that surrounds his home. The pile is about 7 feet tall, 15 feet wide.

This is not any ordinary looking mound of clay one typically sees — it looks more like heavy dirt. Technically, it is clay soil right now, but it is the timely process of turning that soil into a moldable product that potters had to do before the industry was commercialized.

“Pottery is just something that is a necessary thing to have in your life.,” says Renee Margocee, a professional potter and executive director of the Tamarack Foundation for the Arts. She says in the early days in Appalachia, people had to source their own clay too, much like Sword. “And clay is something that can be found everywhere. And so you can literally use what is close at hand to create an object that is utilitarian.”

A Potter’s Love Story

Sword has been making pottery for much of his life, but he only started digging clay about 15 years ago. His reason, he says, was love. He took his then girlfriend, now wife, camping outside of Morgantown.

Mel’s “West Virginia Pearls.” He first made them for his wife on a camping trip at Cooper’s Rock.

“We were hiking through the rain, and I saw the clay and water coming off the hill. And I knew there was clay there so I just went over there a scooped a little up,” Sword recalls.

And he formed the clay into little round beads and left them in the campfire coals. And in the morning he said, “Here sweetie, here’s some West Virginia pearls.”

And that has become Sword’s side business in retirement. He is the person who can make you “West Virginia Pearls.”

The Process

Hand digging clay is labor intensive. In fact, Margocee says in her training to become a potter she learned how to process clay, in an effort to appreciate the medium.

“There will be a lot of organic matter in it, like twigs, rocks and burs,” Margocee says.

To break down the larger pieces of dry clay, Sword uses what looks like a very large mortar and pestle he hand made from a garage door spring, pipe and a few other things lying around. The contraption crushes chunky clay into fine sand.

He then puts the pulverized chunks of clay through a screen, which filters out twigs and rocks as clay sand is poured into a bucket.

Sword says it takes him about four hours to fill one five-gallon bucket.

“I’m the kind of person who likes to do monotonous jobs, and this is very monotonous,” he says.

Later, he adds water until it created a thick, muddy substance using a drill attached to an old paint stirrer to mix the clay together.

Mel crushing the chunky, hard clay soil into a fine sand. He made this contraption out of things lying around his garage, including a garage door spring and some pipe.

After several days Sword removes any excess water that does not absorb using a turkey baster.

The clay then sits in a mold that absorbs any remaining moisture. And after that, Sword’s ready to work.

Turning The Clay Into Something

Sword uses the clay to make pots, bowls and mugs, shaped and molded with a foot pedal powered table — or a kick wheel. Although there are electric powered tables these days, that is not Sword’s style.

In his studio, the surface of the table spins around and around, much like a spool.

The hunk of red clay sits in the middle as Sword shapes it with his hands to make a mug.

He works year-round, and though he sells some of his work, he says it is not his objective. He says he just enjoys the process of it all.

Margocee suggests that every potter should try working with clay, like Sword, at least once. Although she admits that if one wants to sell pottery on a large scale, processing found clay is not the most efficient. However, it is still a part of our Appalachian history.

“There’s a romantic element to understanding it from beginning to end. And there’s extreme value in that,” Margocee says.

Sword hopes to invite students to his clay workshop, to show them his love for the process.

A mug Mel is making. He still uses a kick wheel, which is a traditional way to shape pottery.

And, if you want to try to find some West Virginia clay, Sword suggests keeping your eyes peeled after a rainstorm, especially on muddy backroads. Look for red spines in the banks of rivers and roads. Who knows, maybe you will even be able to try your hand at a West Virginia Pearl for someone you love.

This story is part of the Inside Appalachia Folkways Reporting Project. Subscribe to the podcast to hear more stories of Appalachian folklife, arts, and culture.