The Post's Appalachia is not the one we know

I was disappointed with your article on Virginia's 9th Congressional District ["Appalachia is slipping from grip of Democrats," front page, Feb. 18].

I feel that you portrayed our region by looking at only one side of it while ignoring a large part. You said voters are mad about health-care reform, financial reform, etc., but that is true in most congressional districts. At the same time, people in Southwest Virginia are hurting and pushing for changes.

As a community organizer, I work with dozens of groups and citizens in our region on many issues, but let's take health care, for example. Before the recent debate heated up last August, we knocked on 20,000 doors in the district. About 70 percent of people said we need comprehensive health-care reform. This shouldn't be surprising, given that the 9th District includes some of the nation's poorest counties. Almost 40 people demonstrated in front of the office of our House member, Rick Boucher (D), in November after he voted against reform.

It's too easy to portray our region in a way that fits in with long-held stereotypes, but I hope that next time you'll also go to the hollers in Wise County, where people's homes and health have been destroyed by mountaintop removal, or to the county fairgrounds in July, when more than 3,000 people will gather for a free health-care event put on by the Remote Area Medical Volunteer Corps (which you covered extensively in the past) [Magazine, Nov. 9, 2008].

Why not include those voices when you're describing our region and the political system?

Brian Campbell Johns,

Abingdon,Va.

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Coal mining is part of the economy in Appalachia, but it hardly accounts for "most" of the region's employment, as The Post claimed.

In fact, coal mining jobs amount to only about 2 percent of employment in the central Appalachian region; the percentage is only slightly higher if you consider related employment. It does not account for anything approaching most of the employment. In Wise County, where The Post's story was set, there were 2,537 coal miners, or about 11 percent of total county employment, in 2004. That's fewer workers than hold jobs in retail trade (3,118).

Instead of inflating the importance of the Appalachian coal industry, coal counties need to face reality. It's time to diversify their economies, look at the facts and stop believing in a comfortable yet nonetheless fictional story of coal's overwhelming contribution to the region's well-being.

Justin Maxson, Berea, Ky.

The writer is president of the Mountain Association for Community Economic Development.