94-year-old ex-U.S. Rep. Ken Hechler : From activist to hell-raiser

Fresh off his arrest alongside James hansen, Daryl Hannah and 30 others in the fight against mountaintop removal, comes this column from one of W.Va.'s all-time greats.
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I used to be an agitator, then an activist. Now I am a hell-raiser. At the age of 94, and 95 in September, there's not enough time left.

It began rather suddenly on Oct. 21, 1966. Far off across the Atlantic in the little country of Wales, something happened which seared my conscience. In the little town of Aberfan, a joyful group of over 100 elementary school students in their morning assembly enthusiastically sang "All Things Bright and Beautiful."

Shortly after 9 a.m. a deafening roar resounded just after the assembly. Some of the teachers thought it sounded like a jet plane about to crash into the school. They hurried the students underneath their desks.

There had been a heavy rain the night before. On the mountain above the school a huge collection of coal refuse or "gob" suddenly broke loose. A 40-foot-deep mass of sludge roared down the mountain and crashed headlong into the school. More than 100 little students were entombed along with most of their teachers. They didn't have a chance.

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